SMELL OF RAIN IN THE EVENING CLOUDS

Technically, I do not live in the desert.

We receive enough rain to classify as "high chaparral", which means twice a year we get enough rain to keep our yuccas, mesquite and broom cactus alive.

But we receive little enough that we do refer to it locally as "moisture", not rain.

And it's more than a little bit of an event when it falls.

We're on the cusp of our summer monsoon season, and every afternoon, we look with eagerness to the gathering dark clouds over the mountains.

And we rejoice even when a few sprinkles come fluttering down.

We need the rain badly.

DANGERS OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN

I live in what is called upper chaparral in lower Arizona.


Most people call it the desert, but that really isn't correct.

We get enough rain throughout the year to have mesquite trees, yucca, grasslands and even a green green landscape a couple times a year if we get the good monsoons.

And right now it looks like the garden of eden.





But us natives have mixed feelings about this.

The more greenery, the more that will end up dead and dried and potential fire fuel

And since we still have the scars of our Monument Fire from 2011 - 31,000 acres burned - and more than just the landscape was burned.













So personally? I'd rather just settle for year-round dust and brown, barren landscape.