The Wind, She's a Blowin

Today around noon, I pull up to my house after giving blood and running a few errands, to find this, in front of my garage!  Yes, I've seen tumble weeds before, they are no big deal.  Tumble weeds are ubiquitous in rural Arizona, along highways, stuck to cattle fences, in drainage ditches and canals, stuck to an occasional cholla.  But I live in the middle of a nautilus shaped sub division (the roads, when viewed from google maps, look like a spiraled nautilus).  The nearest open field, which is a large farm field that grows (alternately) sorghum, cotton, and corn is 6 city blocks away and separated by a raised 4 lane highway from my neighborhood. 

So yeeeeee haw! Alrighty there, young missy, you just giddy up and get along now, ya hear!  A nearly 3 foot diameter ball of tumbleweed, blowing across my driveway.  And here I thought I lived in the Big City, since Phoenix has nearly 5 million people in it (the 5th largest US metro area).

I checked my pool filter's skimmer, and it was JAMMED FULL of pin oak leaves, blown from adjacent yards over the wall and into my pool.  The hummingbirds are enjoying the one feeder that is covered, hanging in the patio, out of the rain. 

I've found Arizonians treat "rain" the same way South Carolinians treat "snow" (or the possibility that there MIGHT be snow).  Since it is often sunny, rarely cloudy (most years), and rains typically at most 2 weeks out of the year here, when a storm does come blowin' in, local residents are FASCINATED with looking out the window of their homes and businesses. "Didja see the lightening!?!" (yes, I've seen lightening many times in my life)  "Do you think it'll snow??" (it was 65F today, and we are at 1100ft elevation. Um, No, it won't snow).  Spend some time in the Midwest, and rain and snow and lightening and wind don't impress you much, unless a tornado is lifting your home or car.  But a tumbleweed, up against the garage door, in a suburban driveway?  That's funny.  =)