Sun Lakes Kids Chase Me To An Oasis Before Haboob Monsoon

My days of pooling in Arizona during this current visit are drawing to a close.

Due to an 8 in the morning breakfast date with Bruno and Mary, Miss Daisy sent me to the pool well before 7 this morning. That pooling is at the location I call the Big Pool at Miss Daisy's Community Club. The Big Pool is actually multiple pools, not just one Big Pool.

Then later, following that early morning breakfast I decided to go swimming again. But, when I returned to the Big Pool it was full of little kids. Not the usual Sun Lake Ladies. Little kids. Where could so many little kids come from in this elderly desert?

With the Big Pool over crowded I opted to go to the pool closest to Miss Daisy's. That pool is known as the Oasis Pool. It is a small, rectangle shaped pool. I had the pool all to myself, which you can clearly see via the photo documentation above.

There is no deep end to the Oasis Pool. It is only 5 feet deep at its deepest. Due to the time being near the noon hour I did not last long once I was out of the pool, what with the temperature being somewhere north of 100, with some clouds somewhat mitigating the direct sun misery.

Out of the pool I tried to take what is known in Texas as an Elsie Hotpepper style selfie, but I could not see the phone screen in the bright sun, with the result being the photo you see here where everything in the photo appears crooked and it does not even remotely resemble an Elsie Hotpepper style selfie.

Last night nephew Jeremy arrived right on time for his regularly scheduled dinner date with his Grandma. This involves driving to a fast food joint then returning to Grandma's TV viewing room where Jeremy and Grandma have their weekly Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy competition.

Soon after the visiting Uncle's latest correct answering of the Final Jeopardy question Jeremy headed east to Chandler to his current home location.

Jeremy was gone less than a minute when my phone alarm suddenly became alarmingly loud.

MONSOON!

HABOOB!

The phone warning from the National Weather Service said something like "SEVERE DUST STORM IMMINENT AT YOUR LOCATION. STRONG WIND, RAIN, ZERO VISIBILITY EXPECTED."

The phone warning had barely shut up when the wind hit like a slap. With thick dust which made for a thick haze dimming outdoor lights. I tried to make it to the road to drag the recycle bin back under cover. But I was unable to make it to the street due to being slammed by dust which felt like sandpaper.

Soon rain began to downpour. The Monsoon Haboob lasted about a half hour.

And then peace and quiet returned. Except for Miss Daisy asking a few more times what day it was...

Her Boob Brought Lubbock A Chance Of Rain

Yesterday, via the local TV news, I saw a news story start up with a big wall of dust looking like what I have seen when I am in Arizona.

A Haboob.

And then the news part of what I was seeing told me that this Haboob was doing its Haboobing a few miles to the west and south of my location, that being Lubbock, Texas.

No dust made it to my location, as far as I can tell.

And then this morning, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy, on Facebook, I saw that which you see here, that being the WFAA ABC out of Dallas weather guy, or maybe he's a news guy, or both, reporting on the Lubbock Haboob.

Only the captioning turned that news into "HER BOOB WILL BRING US A CHANCE OF RAIN'S".

Mr, Kennedy identified the WFAA reporter as being named Jesse Hawila, who took the "HER BOOB" fiasco good naturedly, saying “Closed captioning hates me and strikes again... I said, the storms that created the “haboob will bring us a chance of rain.”

I've lately been a little annoyed at the weather guys on the local stations at my current location, that being NBC and CBS here in Wichita Falls, and ABC beaming out of Lawton, up in Oklahoma.

Yes, the weather here can be dangerous. But, when the skies threaten a possible tornado, if you are watching network TV, during a possibly storm you are warned with a graphic in the upper left, and a screen crawl at the top, which announces itself every few minutes with dialogue obscuring beeping.

But, the most annoying is when the local weather guy on the CBS affiliate breaks in to the regular programming. He did that the first time I tuned in to check out the James phenomenon on Jeopardy.

You're already aware that Doppler Radar has detected some possible tornado rotation, via the info you've already seen. And then this guy goes on and on and on and on, repeating the same thing over and over and over and over again, til it begins to seem like a Cry Wolf syndrome type deal, particularly when he goes "live" to his storm spotter, who shows us some clouds which do not look particularly menacing.

I have seen the local CBS weather guy get all bollixed up, losing control of his graphics.

I do not watch all that much TV, so I imagine I miss a lot of the inept Ted Baxter type moments.

Recently, I do not remember what I was watching, the inept Wichita Falls CBS guy broke in and could not stop coughing. This went on for several minutes. Highly annoying. During a subsequent interruption he apologized for the previous coughing fits, explaining he had been eating when he was told to go into Weather Drama King mode.

A few weeks ago, I think it was on CBS, the local weather guy broke in, started in with his "warning" and then something happened to what he was trying to show the viewers, which had that guy saying "Oh crap", which really did not seem to me to be a professional TV broadcaster type utterance. Another voice then said "We are returning to regular programming". A few minutes went by and the guy tried again, apologized for the previous foul up and then proceeded with his tornado warnings.

I suspect, given enough time, if I watch enough local Wichita Falls TV, one of these guys will surpass the Dallas WFAA guy's HER BOOB faux pas....

Survived First 2018 Arizona Monsoon Haboob

Last night my favorite Jeremy nephew managed to make it to grandma's slightly ahead of the Haboob Dust Storm.

Soon after Jeremy arrived so did the Haboob.

The blowing dust was quickly replaced by rain, followed by lightning strikes.

Jeremy's uncle Jake called from Scottsdale to let us know he had lost power and was taking refuge in his vehicle in order to keep cool.

After Jake called we located emergency lighting in the form of four flashlights.

We did not lose power, but it was a good thing to be prepared.

Last night's storm did not last too long at our location, Elsewhere, according to the morning news. the Valley of the Sun took quite a Monsoon Haboob hit last night.

Below is video taken a couple minutes after the Monsoon arrived....

Stuck In My First Arizona Haboob Dust Storm With Miss Daisy & Jeremy

Miss Daisy and I were about to head north to Mesa to go to the Superstition Ranch Farmers Market when the phone went into Emergency Alert Warning mode, warning us of an impending dust storm, from which we were advised to seek shelter.

And get off the road if driving.

Incoming Haboob.

Last night, around ten, the phone made the same warning, multiple times. We noticed nothing, til this morning when the morning sun revealed an outer world covered with a coating of dust.

And this morning when I went pooling I learned some emergency warning went off at 3 in the morning which had the pool maintenance people busy dealing with clogging filters.

Now this most recent Emergency Alert Warning has been extended another 25 minutes.

I stepped outside a few minutes ago to photo document the incoming wall of dust, which is what you are seeing.

Nephew Jeremy just arrived, chased by the dust storm, says lots of lightning is on the way. It's getting real dark. Brother Jake just texted that power is out in Scottsdale.

The dust has arrived. Must hit the publish button and batten the hatches...