Hot

Many people think of Arizona as all desert, with cacti and not much else. In fact, only about a third of the state is low desert. The elevation of Phoenix is about 1,200 ft and that of Tucson about 2,400 ft.

Central Arizona is a high desert transition zone. It's mountainous, with trees such as scrub oak, boxelder, hackberry, juniper, cypress, cottonwood, ash, maple, elm, oak, and pine. We have our share of cacti, agave, and yucca, but the elevation is much greater. My house in Wilhoit is at about 4,925 ft. Prescott is at about 5,200 ft.

Northern Arizona is even higher and cooler, with Flagstaff in the pines at about 7,000 ft. The highest point in Arizona is Humphreys Peak at 12,633 ft.

So when I say it was 102 degrees today in Wilhoit, it was unusually hot. I don't want to even think about the insane 118 degrees it reached in Phoenix.

Logan, my very long-haired dog, has been following me around all day, I think in hopes of finding cooler places to sleep. He's been pretty lethargic. Then again, so have I. Although I grew up in Tucson, I've lived in Wilhoit almost 13 years. I'm not used to this heat anymore.

Other than making sure the sheep have shade and water, there isn't much I can do for them. They seem all right, but they've certainly shown no interest in leaving the relatively cooler barn. Although I usually feed them outside, I tossed the hay in the barn today to, again, keep them shaded. I imagine they'll lay outside tonight once it cools off.

That's a distinct advantage of this area. The low is forecast to be about 64 degrees. The low in Phoenix is supposed to be 88 degrees. Yuck.

Weather, Sheep, Dog, Etc.

The wind has finally settled down. Not that it's still, but at least large, heavy objects aren't flying around anymore. The very strong winds we had through much of May and June were exhausting, both physically and mentally. Almost continuous wind gets on a person's nerves after awhile.

Now it's just hot and dry. We haven't had any precipitation since April, and even then it was a below-average amount. There's a slight chance of rain this weekend.

I didn't plant a garden this spring. Too many things have been going on. I think I'll put in some squash, though; pumpkins would be fun.

I've sheared all but two of the adult sheep, Minerva and Gimli. I'm going to try to shear those two this weekend. I know they're hot, but they were the last ones sheared in the fall, so their wool isn't quite as long. I had delayed shearing because of the heavy winds, so now I'm catching up.

On December 28, I lost my amazing, beloved dog, Dierdre, to degenerative myelopathy. It was an incredibly difficult time. About four months ago, I adopted Logan. He's two and still very much a puppy. He's doing well with the sheep, though, and even behaved pretty decently during shearing.

I'm taking advantage of the hot weather and decreased winds to wash wool. It dries fast in the sun, but I have to be careful that it doesn't blow away (even with less wind). I also have to keep Logan from taking it to play with, which is an even bigger challenge. He'll learn, though.