*waves goodbye to Haystack*

*waves hello to Brentwood*

So here I am in the Delta Valley. It’s going to be hotter than Hades soon, and I dread the coming months. Although my years in Chico prepared me for the coming sweltering heat, I am still not looking forward to it.

I lived all my life along the coast, up until my 30th birthday when I moved to Chico. From Hayward to San Diego to San Francisco to Long Beach and Orange County the weather was always the same: mild winters and summers… a perfect 75 degrees year-round. It was all I ever knew. All this time I never lived with air conditioning–I never needed it.

And then I turned 30 and had, in no uncertain terms, my mid-life crisis. I decided to go back to school and finish college. Oh, and party my motherfucking ass off while I was at it. Oh, oh… and do a little fly fishing too.

Anyway.

Moving to Chico in January was nothing special. Sure, it was cold. But I like the cold. And then the summer came. Six months of 100+ degrees weather every damn day. I knew it was going to be hot. But I had never lived in that kind of heat. I did not enjoy the summer weather in the Sacramento River valley. I took every opportunity to flee to the cooler mountains nearby. I think one year I ran my AC for six month straight.

So then.

Here I am back in the valley. The heat is looming, like a hammer waiting to strike a nail, and I can feel it every morning when I walk out the door.

Thankfully I have AC.