Monsoon Season?

I’m sitting at my picnic table, watching a giant thundercloud roll across the north of me.

I do not yet have desert weather patterns down, at all. They are so foreign to me. How is it that at the hottest, driest time of year, there are monsoons? I thought monsoons were a tropical phenomenon. And what is a weather app’s batting average predicting those pop-up storms?

Yesterday afternoon I saw a giant cloud to the west. The apps said sunny. Nothing happened. Then at 11:30, just as I was laying down in bed, I caught a flash through my window. At first I thought someone was taking a picture, but no. Lightning. Some of the largest, most aggressive bolts I’ve ever seen. Something giant floated over from Arizona and took its sweet time blowing through.

It’s probably been a year-and-a-half since the dogs experienced a thunderstorm, so they felt compelled to defend the Homefront. I can usually calm them down with cuddles, which worked with Sasha, but Pippa was so distraught she couldn’t quite settle down. That meant that neither could I.

And it was hot. For fear of weather issues, I turned off the AC and closed the windows. For all the hours of thunder and lightning, though, either we didn’t get much rain, or I passed out after waiting for it and consoling the dogs. At 2:16 a.m. I woke up to calm. Time to open the windows. The rush of cool air that flooded my bedroom was such a blessing. For the first time in a few months, I pulled my covers over me and slept… for another few hours until the dogs woke me up for a spectacular sunrise, of which I missed half, because this made two sleepless nights in a row.

We got up at 8, I missed 9 a.m. yoga. I’m a little hot and cranky even though it’s under 100 so I’m typing this outside. The desert plants sure are excited about life, though. This morning, over coffee on my blessedly water repellant outdoor sofa, they released an incredible bouquet of beautiful scents over the course of an hour or two. It was unlike the normal smell of creosote, and I did not sneeze.

Maybe I’m getting used to this ecosystem?