visit Arizona?

I know Arizona is taking some hits lately and the purpose of this post is not to judge or even comment on the whole immigration thing. My question about Arizona is really more basic.

WHY DO YOU PEOPLE LIVE THERE?

I base this on my personal experience visiting Tempe Arizona over one particular 4th of July weekend.

Let me start at the beginning. My brother and his wonderful wife and beautiful children moved to Arizona for their careers. After hearing about how wonderful it is out there I decided to visit. For reasons that are entirely irrelevant to this discussion, I went out over the 4th of July weekend. BIG mistake.

When I got on the plane in Milwaukee it was 5AM and 68 degrees. When I got off the plane in Arizona it was around noon and 104 degrees. Don't give me that bunk about it being a "dry heat". If the ambient temperature equals a reading on my meat thermometer, people should not be living there. My oven is a dry heat too but I don't curl up in my oven with a book and call it a vacation.

My brother proceeded to take me on a tour. We drove past a development in some foothills of a mountain and he said "Yeah, we looked at a house over here but they have a problem with scorpion infestations and fire ants so we didn't buy there" Good choice. Seriously? There are times when nature gives us messages. Scorpion infestations and fire ants are nature's way of saying

"PEOPLE. you should not be living here. we claimed this spot in the name of insects"(I am not sure scorpions are insects but you get the point).

As we continued to tour, he kept commenting on the wonderful landscaping in some of the areas we were driving through. I am thinking. "That is sand, some rocks and a cactus. That is not landscaping, that is creatively rearranging DESERT" I also noticed that there were homes that were desperately trying to grow lawns. There is nothing about Kentucky Bluegrass or Blue Fescue that cries out to be planted in a desert. Besides which, if you have to get up at 3AM to mow this plot of grass before it gets too hot, you probably should rethink your landscape.

My sister-in-law took my daughters and I on a tour of the Hohokam Indian ruins. It was 114 that day. As we were walking through the ruins reading about this ancient people, one of the signs struck me: "we don't know why the Hohokam people abandoned this site...." Really? you don't? I have a clue... Maybe some native people from a more temperate area were visiting and said "JEEZ it's hot here... why don't you go up in the hills or go down by the gulf or something? You are crazy for living here. Besides, have you SEEN the scorpions over by those hills? It's an INFESTATION."

Almost everyone has a pool and my brother is no exception. Except no one HEATS their pool which means that the water is cold as ice. Given that the air temperature is hotter than the hinges of Hell I guess it evens out. It is quite an adventure to have your toes turn blue at the same time your face is getting blistered. And don't get me started on the dust storms....

I know that in Wisconsin we have bad weather in the winter. However, in defense of our weather, there are only about 4 or 5 days every winter that are really intolerable either because of extreme cold or a lot of snow or both. In Arizona it gets hot in early May and stays hot until November. It you don't believe me check the weather channel. Also, in the winter if I need to go out I can put on layers of clothes, a warm hat, thick gloves,toasty boots and be safe and comfortable. There is only so much you can take off in 114 degree heat and not get arrested. And P.S., Arizona, wearing gloves so you don't burn your hands on your steering wheel is just not right.

So that is my beef with Arizona. Lovely people, questionable climate. At least it is not for me. I like my four seasons and lack of venomous insects. But to all of you who love that climate, more power to you- but don't think you're getting our water.