The Only Thing Frozen In Tucson are the Daiquaris

Heat, Age and Tucson

Winter is for Barbecues

I’ve lived in Tucson now for almost 10 years.   It was August of 1999.   In just a few months I will have my “native” status.   Those 10 years have gone by quickly and now I’m pretty much a full fledged desert rat.   This means when it gets below 60 degrees “IT IS COLD”.   Cold is a relative term.   I’ve always been “Nordic” by blood type.   The cold feels good, the heat is too hot.   But time and age have shifted this, not to mention the addition of a blood pressure med which seems to lower my body temp by 10 degrees.   But again I digress. . .

This topic came to mind from two different sources.

The Cold Snap   In the Midwest

I have family and friends in Minnesota and Iowa.   It is cold there.   Pipes are frozen, cars won’t start and it is COLD.   High’s in the minus 0 range are COLD.   I used to live there I know what that cold is like.

The New McDonald’s AC Stuck

I’ve been going to a new McDonald’s close to my house, less than 3 mi.   but they have a problem.   The air conditioning has been stuck on since they opened.   When you walk in from an outside temp of 57 to an inside temp of 50 and the AC is running, it is cold.   There have been heating techs there on several occasions but to no avail.   They were there again this morning, it was a little better.   But it was cold.

Snowbirds come to Tucson to get out of the cold.   They don’t stay long or come back to places where it is Cold.   Remember cold is relative to each individual.   World Traveler used to think 80 was cold.   She would sit on the couch with blankets over her and a sweater on if it was 80 in the house.   Now she is a golden gopher and coming home for Christmas break.   It has been much colder than 80 in Minneapolis lately.   We haven’t turned on the heat in the house yet.   (World Traveler is in Minn : )

Getting to the Point: Heat Age and Tucson

Before I moved here I would come down a couple of times a year to visit my parent who have lived here since retirement.   One of those visits had a huge impact because of the timing of events.

During the years of ministry in Des Moines, Iowa I would from time to time do services at various nursing homes.   It was winter and cold.   There were a lot of people in wheelchairs, some using walkers, others with canes.   We went around the room and most told their age and where they were from etc.

The next day I was on a plane to Tucson.   The next day I went up to the volleyball courts and there was a group of people there playing volleyball.   They were glad to see a fresh face and went around introducing themselves and bragging about how old they were and still playing volleyball.

Many of them were older than the people in the nursing home from two days before.

It’s the heat or the lack of cold

Dad In His Golf Cart

It isn’t so much the heat. It is the lack of cold.   It allows all of us to be far more active than we could be if it was cold.   We can walk almost everyday without winter coats.   The activity level of Tucson residents during the winter is higher than during the summer when we dodge from car to store and back home again staying out of the heat.

This time of year we are having outdoor patio parties, barbecues and get togethers.   Hiking, biking, photo walks, etc.   Just about anything you can do outside we are doing here in Tucson during the winter when others are trying to stay warm, thaw out pipes and jump their cars.

We don’t shovel snow and risk heart attacks because it is the only activity in an otherwise sedentary lifestyle.

The lack of cold is one of the key reasons Tucson real estate has faired better than many other parts of the country.   The lack of cold makes Tucson a very desireable place to be in winter.   The lack of cold does keep the body fitter and more flexible.   I notice it, so does my Dad who is now heading toward his 90′s and still very active.