B-R-R-R-R-R!!!

An early winter storm is scheduled to move through the northern part of Arizona this weekend.

It looked like it was already starting this morning.

The sky is alive with clouds moving briskly and much cooler temperatures.

There's a 30 degree temperature drop and some snow forecast.

I'm staying inside.

It looks like my Gratuitous Critter is feeling the chill also.

UNBELIEVABLE!

Oh I bet you've all been worried about me since my Monday post, right?  Well, I'm okay.  Except that I ran my foot into a leg of my bed this morning and split the end of my little toe open.  I'm so used to running into things that I didn't think anything of it.

UNTIL!  As I was walking around in the kitchen I suddenly looked down and saw spots of blood all over the floor.  Oh, hell!  But I put a bandaid on my toe, cleaned up the floor and SWMBO never knew anything about it.  Until I told her later.  So it goes in the life of the old and clumsy Catalyst.

But there's better news.  At late afternoon I passed an electronic sign and was amazed to see this.

Oh, not that, you idiot.  The next one.



Can you believe that?  Nearly 5 o'clock in the afternoon and only 73 degrees.  That's California coastal weather!  Amazing.

But even more amazing was the sight just a few hundred feet away that SWMBO called my attention to.



That my friends is a double century plant, rising perhaps 25 or 30 feet into the air.  Since they reportedly bloom only once in about 100 years, that's pretty darned amazing.



All hail the plant of the century!

AUTUMN . . AND THE TEMPERATURE IS DROPPING

It looks like Autumn has finally gotten serious.  The high temperatures on the past balmy weekend were in the lower 80's.  Even today it is forecast to hit 79.  But tomorrow, ah tomorrow, that's when the temperatures will begin to drop.  Tomorrow's high is forecast to be 70, Wednesday's 69 and by Thursday the forecast high is 60!  That's SIXTY DEGREES, folks.  Flagstaff, only about 80 miles from here but a couple of thousand feet higher in elevation, has a possibility of SNOW!

Yes, I'm afraid the balmy days of summer are gone for this year and it won't be too long until we see something like this.

And then we'll be right back to complaining about the snow, the ice and the cold weather and wondering if summer will ever come.

RAIN

Finally, after what seemed like a failed monsoon season, the rain came yesterday in short but recurring thunderstorms through the afternoon and early evening.  For my friends over in drought and fire ravaged Texas then here is the sight and sound of what you need.



So far today no rain but the temperature was just above 60 degrees when I got up this morning.  It feels wonderful.