It is gusting at 40 miles per hour today. My cats are edgy. My heels are so dry, I could grate cheese with them. While I was cooking Valentine’s Day dinner a line of storm squalls moved right over my house. Squalls! In the desert! There was hail, then thunder, then lightning which flashed a vivid blue into the hallway. I hurried to get dinner in the oven in case the power went out. This February has been full of the strangest weather I have ever witnessed here in Arizona. Some days Phoenix has been colder than New York City. Flagstaff (a three-hours’ drive north) has been colder than Quebec.
One stormy morning I stepped out on the front porch to listen to birdsong. A Gila Woodpecker flew just above my forehead so fast, had I stuck out my hand I definitely would have been injured. I heard the whoosh of wind being displaced by the woodpecker’s body hurtling toward the west. Woodpeckers can fly at speeds between 20 and 30 mph. It is one thing to see birds in flight at a distance. Seeing and hearing this woodpecker up close gave me a new appreciation for the flight paths of birds in the sky.