The Desert Lifestyle

Sure, living in a desert has it's advantages.  I'm a big fan of red rock, red sand, mesas and dry riverbeds.  But there are other, less obvious things that I just adore about living in a desert.

Dry, cracked, chafed, itchy and pealing skin.  I would sure be bored if I didn't have to spend 30 minutes a day lotioning, chapsticking, and Gold Bond Foot Creaming my skin.  What on earth would I do with all that free time?  

Not to mention how boring it would be if I didn't have to make my weekly grocery store trip to restock my moisturizing supplies.  Talk about a dull life, stuck at home, marinating in humidity.  That life is for pansies with no sense of adventure!

I also love that most of our vegetation here is scratchy.  Some of my favorites are cactus, skunk brush, stink weed... you get the gist.  You've never really lived until you've fallen into a cactus patch.  Then you can get all your friends together for a good old plucking party.  Good times, good times. 

I also enjoy the daily struggle of winning the war against a lawn that just wants to die already.  Drought be darned, we water that sucker for like an hour every night, after dark, while running supplemental sprinklers for those stubborn places.  Our goal isn't necessarily green, but more that our children can walk barefoot across the lawn without serrating their poor little tootsies.  Nothing gives you a sense of accomplishment like having your dead spots be few and farther between than the neighbors.

(not my house)

Snakes, beetles, lizards and coyotes are another on my list of awesome desert perks.  I love to be working in my sand box of a flower garden and have a little snake pop out to say hello.  Keeps the heart rate up without actually having to exercise.  Lizards provide hours of entertainment for the kiddos.  And finding the dead carcases of a recent coyote kill while enjoying a serene hike through the mountains is like the icing on the cake.

Overall, I can't imagine living anywhere else.  Nope, it's the desert for me.

Now, pass me some Vaseline!