As the cowboys used to say in the spaghetti westerns I grew up watching….”Boys, it’s time to get out of Dodge”. Dodge, of course, originally referred only to Dodge City, Kansas…but as time went on the expression has come to mean getting out of any place (or situation) that has gotten too dangerous, or too uncomfortable for many reasons. i don’t know if Wyatt Earp (the sheriff of Dodge City back in the 1870’s) ever used this expression when escorting the bad hombres out of town (the ones he hadn’t shot yet), but I like to think that maybe he did.
And now, I’m going to borrow it.
It snowed here last night! In Arizona. What???? We thought Arizona was a Winter haven for the rich and famous. This is where you come to warm up from the harsh conditions that hit much of the US this time of year. Play golf in shorts… lounge by the pool. Well sports fans, this might just be the new normal. This has been one of the coldest and wettest Winters to hit Arizona in over 100 years. Last night it went down to 32 in our part of the county. No big deal in the rest of the country, but here in the desert regions near Scottsdale, that’s earth shaking. A lot of homes here don’t even have heat. True. Not long ago, we looked online at a really cool house not far from here that had no air conditioning and no heat, other than a very inefficient fire place or two. That’s the way they used to build the adobe style homes here in Arizona. The thick concrete walls insulated the home against both heat and cold. That was then….this is now. Good luck with having no A/C or heat.
I walked Tuck last night around the fountain in the only warm clothes I own….a hoodie, a rain parka, two tee shirts, a knit North Face beanie and tennis shoes (they stayed dry for about 10 seconds). Yep, I froze, but Tuck loved the snow. Since the walks are all for Tuck anyway, I suck it up. In town, a huge annual art show is being set up. Vendors come from all over the country to sell their crafts and….enjoy the sun. It is going to warm up later in the week, but not in time to help the poor vendors. We’re going anyway….they always have great kettle corn booths.
It’s time to get out of Dodge!
Cheers!
Wayne, Claudia & Tuck