BLOW THE MAN DOWN

There are many good things about living in Yuma, AZ. Among them: some 360 days of sunshine, temperatures that never go below freezing, lots of things to do, in easy driving range of Tucson, Phoenix, San Diego and good friends and neighbors. I knew about the summer triple digits heat before I moved here and have learned to adjust to that. What I wasn't warned about were the winds. In the past month there have been several extremely windy days. Today is one of those: steady winds at 35 miles per hour and gusts of up to 40 MPH. At that level, plastic bags discarded by trashers become kites. Blooms of many of the beautiful bushes end up on my patio as does some of the nearby Sonoran Desert sand. Stray styrofoam peanuts can look like big snow flakes in the air. At times it is even hard to make out the outline of the Gila Mountains several miles away. When you can't see the mountains it's a clue you should stay in the house with the windows closed just as you have to do with triple digit temperatures and be thankful for air conditioning.