AM I PARANOID?

 

A POEM

 A good friend who supplies much of the comic material on these posts sent me a poem this morning.

It was a poem that he wrote was "just for me".

But knowing the meaning of poetry as defined by the Mighty Google: "It can . . . allow writers to express their emotions and allow readers to connect to those emotions . . ." I thought I could and even should share the poem with all of you.

I hope you can appreciate the angst that brought forth this poem from a troubled (and anonymous) soul.

So I shall share it with you now.

It is titled "A Winter Poem".

AN OLD FAVORITE

 

The clafoutis!

Fresh from the oven.

I hate it when they cool because they sink.

But SWMBO says they taste just as good.

I made this one with blueberries.

I've made the same recipe with cherries and with plums.

Any fruit seems to work well.

And SWMBO is right.

Of course.

They all taste wonderful.

Thank you, France.

THE VALLEY

Today's lesson about my state is about what we here call "The Valley", more formally "The Valley of the Sun".

The facts are thanks to a posting by my old employer, KPNX-TV, on its website 12 News today.

 

What is the Valley?

“The Valley” is what locals call the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is considered the largest metropolitan area in the Southwest. 

The Valley is made up of various major cities other than Phoenix, including:

• Mesa
• Chandler
• Scottsdale
• Tempe
• Glendale
• Surprise
• Peoria
• Gilbert
• El Mirage
• Avondale
• Litchfield Park
• Goodyear
• Buckeye

Whether a city is in the “East Valley” or “West Valley” depends on where it is in relation to Phoenix.

The cities of the Valley have a combined population of 4,845,832 people, according to the 2020 United States Census. This makes it the 11th largest metropolitan area in the country right behind the Boston and Atlanta areas.

How big is Maricopa County?

Maricopa County is the United States’ 4th largest county in terms of population with 4,485,414 people, according to the 2020 Census.

The county contains around 63% of Arizona’s population and is 9,224 square miles. That makes the county larger than seven U.S. states (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire).

One of the largest park systems in the nation is also located in Maricopa County. The county has an estimated 120,000 acres of open space parks that includes hundreds of miles of trails, nature centers and campgrounds.

The county’s seat is located in Phoenix, which is also the state capital and the census-designated 5th most populous city in the United States.

By the way, where I live is another valley - Prescott Valley.

It's population is 48,188 at last count.

Prescott, about 8 miles to the west of us, has a current population of 46,833.

Prescott Valley used to be considered a suburb of Prescott.

Who's the suburb now!!!

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Me: "Gadfrey, is it ever going to warm up?"

SWMBO: "It's only January, you idiot!"

Me: "I know. Isn't it ever going to warm up?"

It seems like we've had an interminably long cold winter so far and I know it's not going to be over until late March but jeeze!

Isn't it ever going to warm up?

Well, as we sit huddled around the fire in the living room (and we don't even have a fireplace!) about all we can do is exert ourselves to get the blood flowing.

Like try laughing maybe.

Just think about it for awhile, it'll come to you.

As for the rest of you, let's go out there . . . no, wait, let's stay inside where it's warm . . . but endeavor to have yourselves an enthrallingly exciting and entertaining weekend!

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(. . . oh yeah . . .)

SUNNY ARIZONA

 

It may be sunny but it's only 37 chilly degrees!

SNOWY ARIZONA

 At the risk of beating a dead horse (sorry PETA), I feel compelled to tell you that Flagstaff, Arizona has recorded just shy of 58 inches of snow this month.

That's only 23 days into the New Year and it's already the fourth most snow ever recorded in a January and third place is within reach.

I was provoked by opening the blinds this morning and discovering that there was a fresh dusting, and it was only a dusting, of snow on the ground around my home.

Now we don't get anywhere near the snowfall that Flagstaff does because the elevation here is right around 5,000 feet and Flagstaff is almost 2,000 feet higher.

It is considered a mountain town but it's only about 140 miles north of Phoenix, which is considered to be in the desert.

And Phoenix is where one finds the cactus and the extremely high temperatures of summer through several months of the year.

Now I live in Prescott Valley about halfway between the two cities, even though our elevation is closer to Flagstaff than it is to Phoenix.

So we get views like this from the edge of town.

Those are the snow-topped Black Hills and not the ones that house Mount Rushmore.

Those are in South Dakota, well to the north of here.

The two highest peaks are Woodchute Mountain and Mingus Mountain.

For whatever reason, most people just refer to the whole range as Mingus Mountain.

As you can see from these pictures, the snow stops accumulating about halfway down the mountains.

I took these photos this morning and, as you can see, the sky to the north is looking dark and stormy so Flagstaff could get more snow today and tonight.

And so ends our climatology report for today.