dancinghorse | It's a GOOD Life

For anybody who remembers Jerome Bixby's story (which has been filmed in a version or two or three), today's weather in Tucson will strike a chord. For those who haven't read or remembered it, this is the story of the evil mutant child who has "disappeared" the whole world except for a small town full of very nervous, widely smiling people who make sure never, ever to offend Him. "It's a GOOD life!" they keep repeating.

Woke up excessively early this morning to find a silvery-grey light over everything. No stars or moon. No sun. No mountains. The world stopped on the immediate horizon. The air was full of faintly glowing dust.

Dust storm, a big one. It's still blowing out there. It's not the sort of thing you get from the movies--blinding sand and all that--but more of a dry fog with visibility of about a mile. Sometimes Tanque Verde Ridge is dimly visible, five or six miles away, but the mountains are gone: Rincon Peak, Mt. Lemmon and the Catalinas, the Tucsons, the Santa Ritas. In the past hour the dust has lifted somewhat and there's a weird buildup of clouds and dust above the shadows of the mountains.

It is also very, very hot. It's hovering between 100 to 102 here now, and was 98 degrees by 10 a.m. The evaporative coolers aren't working all that well--it's 83 in here--because we're getting an early moisture fetch from Mexico, and evaporation isn't as efficient at this dewpoint. Said fetch may bring a few thunderstorms later, but probably not much if any rain.

Early in the morning it was just barely tolerable--so after feeding and barn chores, I saddled up Capria and ponied keed and went for a slow ride around the block. Came back to find that the ones left behind had drunk about two-thirds of two water barrels (30 gallons apiece), and were clamoring to be hosed off. Ephiny parked right in front of me as I was filling the barrels, and got us both gloriously wet drinking from the hose spray. (She uses it like a WaterPik.) She's the biggest and darkest and feels the heat the most. The lighter they are, the better they reflect it--the black skin/white coat complex is admirably adapted for desert conditions.

This is lizard weather and butterfly weather. And, of course, dragon weather. I've given the horses a short break from work to help them adapt. Capria in particular does not drink enough water and will get sick, so I have to make sure she has plenty of fresh water available. I feed her dinner in a water barrel, which is a sneaky way to get water into her--the others all dunk their hay, but she never does. Pook is obsessive and will make hay soup. I never worry about him staying hydrated, though he hates to be hosed off so has to be sponged off instead. I fuss about overheating since he has so much body mass, though he never seems to be in any distress. He's smart and he was born here--and he hates cold. Heat is his element.

This of course is perfect weather to work inside, and both drafts are humming along. I've read a chunk of proofs and will finish them this weekend.

Oh--and--the Wild Hunt won. I ended up deferring the trip to town a day and spending the day writing instead. Said trip proved to be a complete waste of time. "It's not your transmission, it's your oil pan. We Don't Fix That." After sitting for two hours (reading proofs, so something constructive got done) for nothing. I still have to take the stupid car in and get the stupid thing fixed.

At least I finally got paid today. It's nearly all gone already, what with bills and backed-up commitments including the stupid car which will cost a stupid lot of money, but it's there, a mere four months to the day after the project was delivered.

One must remember. This is a Glamour Profession. It's a GOOD Life.