Arizona 2
Leslie
1,729 Posts
YOU KNOW YOU LIVE IN ARIZONA WHEN...
• You buy salsa by the gallon.
• Your Christmas decorations include sand and 100 paper bags.
• You think a red light is merely a suggestion.
• None of your out-of-state friends visit during their summer vacation.
• You think someone driving wearing oven mitts is clever.
• Most of the restaurants in town have the first name "El" or "Los".
• You think 60 tons of crushed red rock makes a beautiful yard.
• Your house is made of stucco and has a red clay tile roof.
• You can say "Hohokam" and people do not think your clearing your throat!
• You no longer associate bridges or rivers with water.
• You see more irrigation water on the street than there is in the Salt River.
• You know a swamp cooler is not a happy hour drink.
• You can say 115 degrees without fainting.
• Every other vehicle is a 4x4.
• You can be in the snow and then drive for an hour and it will be over 100 degrees.
• People break out coats when the temperature drops below 70 degrees!
• You discover in July that it only takes two fingers to drive your car. (unless of course you have on oven mitts.)
• The pool can be warmer than you are.
• You run your air conditioner in the middle of winter so you can use your fire place.
• Most homes have more firearms than people.
• Kids will ask, "What is a mosquito?"
• The best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance
• The AC is on your list of best friends.
• Monday night football starts before you get off work.
• You know that valley fever isn't a disco dance.
• You can finish a Big Gulp in 1 minute and go back for seconds.
• The water from the cold water tap is the same temperature as the hot one.
• You can correctly pronounce the following words: Ocotillo (AUK-O-TEE-O), Tempe (tem-PEE), Gila Bend (HEE-LAH BEND), Tucson (TWO-SAHN), San Xavier (SAN HA-VEE-AIR), Canyon de Chelly (CANYON DEE-SHAY..never say Shelly), Saguaro (Su-WaR-OH), Cholla (CHOI-YA), and Ajo (AH-HO..not a HOOKER).
• It's July, it's noon, kids are on summer vacation and not one person is walking on the street.
• You experience third degree burns if you touch any metal part of your car.
• You know better than to get into a car with leather seats if you are wearing shorts.
• Announcements for Fourth of July events never end with, "In case of rain..."
• Footprints in asphalt.
• When someone asks how far you live from a location its always in terms of minutes, not miles.
• Everyone's smiling and talking about the great weather on rainy days.
• You have to explain to out of state folks why there is no Daylight Savings Time.
• You buy salsa by the gallon.
• Your Christmas decorations include sand and 100 paper bags.
• You think a red light is merely a suggestion.
• None of your out-of-state friends visit during their summer vacation.
• You think someone driving wearing oven mitts is clever.
• Most of the restaurants in town have the first name "El" or "Los".
• You think 60 tons of crushed red rock makes a beautiful yard.
• Your house is made of stucco and has a red clay tile roof.
• You can say "Hohokam" and people do not think your clearing your throat!
• You no longer associate bridges or rivers with water.
• You see more irrigation water on the street than there is in the Salt River.
• You know a swamp cooler is not a happy hour drink.
• You can say 115 degrees without fainting.
• Every other vehicle is a 4x4.
• You can be in the snow and then drive for an hour and it will be over 100 degrees.
• People break out coats when the temperature drops below 70 degrees!
• You discover in July that it only takes two fingers to drive your car. (unless of course you have on oven mitts.)
• The pool can be warmer than you are.
• You run your air conditioner in the middle of winter so you can use your fire place.
• Most homes have more firearms than people.
• Kids will ask, "What is a mosquito?"
• The best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance
• The AC is on your list of best friends.
• Monday night football starts before you get off work.
• You know that valley fever isn't a disco dance.
• You can finish a Big Gulp in 1 minute and go back for seconds.
• The water from the cold water tap is the same temperature as the hot one.
• You can correctly pronounce the following words: Ocotillo (AUK-O-TEE-O), Tempe (tem-PEE), Gila Bend (HEE-LAH BEND), Tucson (TWO-SAHN), San Xavier (SAN HA-VEE-AIR), Canyon de Chelly (CANYON DEE-SHAY..never say Shelly), Saguaro (Su-WaR-OH), Cholla (CHOI-YA), and Ajo (AH-HO..not a HOOKER).
• It's July, it's noon, kids are on summer vacation and not one person is walking on the street.
• You experience third degree burns if you touch any metal part of your car.
• You know better than to get into a car with leather seats if you are wearing shorts.
• Announcements for Fourth of July events never end with, "In case of rain..."
• Footprints in asphalt.
• When someone asks how far you live from a location its always in terms of minutes, not miles.
• Everyone's smiling and talking about the great weather on rainy days.
• You have to explain to out of state folks why there is no Daylight Savings Time.
Comments
A swamp cooler, Sonny, was the precurser to air conditioning. The device throws water cooled air into your home and works great when you have about 16 percent humidity - which is why you in Florida have never heard of it.
The swamp cooler is WAY more economical than AC and a lot of folks have what is called a "piggy back," where you can switch from the swamp cooler to AC at the drop of a switch on your thermostat.
And Sonny, I did exaggerate - I think a swamp cooler works until about 40 to 45 percent humidity. Anything 50 percent and above and your house begins to resemble what the cooler is called - a swamp.
But yes, May through about the middle of July we sometimes have humidity that low, sometime single digit - rare but happens. When the sun's beating down at 118 degrees, it has a tendency to suck all the moisture right out of the air.
People who use swamp coolers actually watch the dew point more than the relative humidity. The hotter it is, the more moisture the air can hold, but the dew point is the same for all temperatures. So the lower the dew point, the better the swamp coolers work.
Earlier this summer, there was one day that had 12% humidity in Phoenix.
Rob S., Casa Grande, Arizona (yes Casa Grande is really the name of a town in Arizona)
Casa Grande? I didn't know there were any companies down there large enough to warrant an HR person x:7!
I normally don't check the site often enough to answer/make a timely comment. I also usually don't feel smart enough to make an inteligent HR comment, but when I see a post about swamp coolers, I just have to get involved.
The company (The Mahoney Group - insurance sales) I work for is based in Casa Grande, but it has 9 offices around the state with around 170 employees. I am a one person department, but each office manager does a lot of what a HR department would noramlly do.
Casa Grande is now over 30,000 people and growing fast.
Don't worry Don, if they throw you to me, I'll throw you back. By the way, I have a name.
Elizabeth