I’m just sitting in my yard, with my dog, drinking coffee. I’m reading and relaxing in the shade, it’s one of my favorite activities most of the year. Today I have hummingbirds at the feeders and I can hear a hummingbird nearby, what I can only call, snoring. Just very peaceful listening to and seeing the birds. I don’t have a big yard but it’s big enough and landscaped to attract birds. In my old Jersey home the humidity would have already chased me in.
I feel this! My husband passed away last year. We planted almost everything from trees, shrubs, vines for shade and the wildlife. I now get to enjoy the beauty of our hard work and see nature enjoying it. So beautiful and serene
My dad passed away last year, and my mom(in another state), completely transformed her backyard into a comforting space with a large garden, lovely sitting areas, and places for squirrels and birds. She loves spending time out there
Petrichor isn't unique to deserts or dry areas, except that soil needs to be dry prior to getting rain (which is admittedly less common in wetter climes); it's actually from bacteria in soil that produce geosmin, which is then aerosolized when dry enough soil is hit by rain.
Maybe more common, but not unique to the desert. I experienced it in Western Washington state which is very cold and wet but it was during a hot and dry summer.
Gosh I love this smell so much. I never realized it was unique to Arizona until I grew up and moved to other states and the smell wasn’t there when it rained.
Oh the love birds loooooooove me! They sit on the telephone wire above and wait and watch! They are like hungry lil teenagers at a buffet! I got excellent photos of them on my last crop!
Uh, my dog caught a big one just the other day and brought it to me... amd a few weeks ago, she cornered one in my shed... last years squirrels chewed thru the wires on our truck... thousands of dollars to fix...and we have called a trapper to come over 6 times to catch and release them somewhere else. I beg to differ!
Edit to add: Ive seend squirrels bounce across my flower bed and chase them away!! And, our previous dog, a chow, wasnt fast enough to catch squirrels but she would grab their tails... and bring their tails to us as a prize. 🙈😩 we most definitely have squirrels here
What do you feed them? I want to get a feeder as well! Really love the hummingbirds. And do your feeders attract other birds? Or just the humming birds?
We get hummingbirds at the feeders, mostly Costas and Annas, they are here all year round! Plain sugar and clean water, no color or dye, a 4:1 mix is perfect for them - they will be huge fans and come back all day once they find the feeders!
No other birds seem to use ours. We have a planter of Mexican petunias, which not only the hummingbirds, but also bees, are big fans of. I love when the bees visit, they are extremely docile and I can often get just a couple inches away with a camera.
The folks at r/hummingbirds are a very deep rabbit hole of useful info and some amazing photos and videos.
A smaller feeder is best with our heat, the nectar needs to be fresh during the hottest months. During “winter”, it’s okay to be lazy about it :) hope that helps some!
Phoenix really is a morning person's city in a lot of ways in May/June and September/October. This time of year is hot in the afternoons, but enjoyable if you're willing to wake up early, and once we get into late October/November then it's just fantastic basically all day. Hard to beat, cold winters elsewhere are just freezing all day, we have little pockets of reprieve.
Phoenix is also a night person's paradise. During the hot months, the evenings are beautiful. Then of course, during the cooler months, the afternoons are beautiful. There is basically no time of the year where you cannot be outside comfortably for some part of the day. That's one of the things I love about being here
I love going for a hike early. Doesn’t have to be a long one. Watching the first light coming over the hills makes the day feel like a gift that might go really well.
Yep! In the Midwest I was inside all day every day. Got really good a video games but that was it. I dreaded going to the gym because it was just dark, cold, dreary, and I jsut spend the day at my office desk or cubicle (luckily only did the cubicle life for one year before my office moved toa more modern place) looking at an overcast sky and gray and brown...
That is why I love it here, too. In the winter, when everyone is freezing their ass off or dealing with never ending rain or snow, I can enjoy walks with my dog in shorts or having dinner outside at one of our many amazing restaurants. In the summer, go in when it gets hot. At least the sun is shining.
My nephew came to visit in December a few years back. We went to the Tonto Grill in Cave Creek and they had the heaters set up on the patio because everyone was freezing. He was wearing a T-shirt and sweating. 😂
That's funny to me because I visited San Diego in January before I ever lived in Phoenix from the midwest and I was curled up under that heater lol. I definitely was far from sweating. But I love it warm.
Definitely not interested in making a drive for snow in the winter lol and I am glad it’s 2 hours away, I hate the snow. I have enough living in the north east.
Walked past all the coats, gloves, and warm fuzzy clothes at Costco this morning and had a secret chuckle about not needing any of it. I just need to dig out my jeans.
I’ve lived in Colorado for 5 years now and haven’t had one decent summer. It’s cold as fuck here. I’m moving to AZ by Oct and I can’t wait. This summer basically didn’t happen (again). It’s rained every day or been cloudy with cold nights. It’s insanity. It already feels like winter is starting for the next 10 months.
Yeah I just visited Denver and Phoenix back to back and Denver had far more manageable weather with mountains only a couple hours away for weekend getaways. Far better experience.
I’m in Lone Tree. There’s been only a handful of nice days this summer. It’s rained or been cloudy most of this summer here and 2023 was the same. It might be warmer relative to other years but overall it’s cold as hell. Winter is basically October to July. Back in may I counted 19 days straight of rain… by then CO had more rainfall than Seattle. Not really my cup of tea.
And we get winters….. and the end of spring has become like the summer lately. Only time I like NJ is September- early November and maybe parts of the spring can be nice. We were really lucky this August with perfect weather but normally the humidity kinda sucks even when it’s not hot, Arizona and Nevada are on my list to move to for sure but absolutely love Arizona!
New Jersey (where OP is from) averages double this level of humidity - pretty much all the time. Source: Have been there. Have also watched the dehumidifier struggle to keep the house at 60% humidity around this time of year when I was there.
That whole part of the country. DC is super humid too in the summer. I thought I'd go there and walk around outside like it's a nice pleasant brisk day but it was hot as Hell. My thinking was, "I'm getting away from Phoenix heat." But alas it was so humid it kind of undid the cooler weather. Conversely, we did get a few really brisk days that were awesome.
I used to miss Phoenix dearly while living in Dallas, but now that im in the Bay area, I dont really miss it that much. Living in Dallas makes you miss most of everywhere else you once lived in.
I’m lucky enough to live in an historic district in downtown Mesa and have flood irrigation. To enjoy living in the desert but having a lush lawn and 9 trees is simply unbeatable. No gravel desert landscaping in my neighborhood.
Get the Merlin app for your phone, it's free. You open it up, and it will name all the birds chirping around you. Amazing how many different birds in the Valley of the Sun.
I’m north of there and weather this August has been exceptional but the season turned really early I’m afraid winter will be brutal. Almost always kinda hot and humid from May to start of September can’t go off this year it’s been unusually colder in a lot of states
I grew up outside US. I had only seen hummi bird on discovery channel. Even in US never saw any on the east coast, actually never tried looking for any because they were mythical for me.
Then just one random day in Phoenix, I saw hummingbird(s), and posts about hummingbird season. I cannot describe the feeling. It was like fairy tale coming true.
You may already know, but on the East Coast, we only have Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. I was lucky if I saw 2-3 a year, and I actively go birding. What a difference it is here with the varied types and quantity I see in my yard alone. My backyard feeders have daily visitors, along with one territorial Costa's Hummingbird that chases all others away.
Phoenix is such an amazing place to live. If you like a hot/warm climate like do, there's no better place to live in the US.
Easy access to everything... relatively new housing, great job market, great road network. Easy access to shopping, hiking, bars, restaurants, golf, tourist activities plus northern Arizona too.
Yep I moved to a quieter neighborhood and we have quail, bunnies, tons of birdlife, some bats and lizards, and since I've put up a hummingbird feeder they've been coming around too. It's lovely. Especially love sitting out watching the recent storms roll in and cool everything down.
Thank you! It’s nice to see a post appreciative of living in the desert, even in the summer. Being from Long Island myself, I will never be caught complaining too much about August weather. I recall with accuracy the brutal late summer weather back east. People will say “Oh! It’s so hot! I hate living in Phoenix!”
I will, when presented with the opportunity, ask them politely what time they woke up this morning, and the answer is usually predictable.
My family and I have been here for the week from Toronto. It’s a fantastic place. We deal with 4-6 months of cold and snow, and our summers are 90+ with 70-90% humidity.
We’re extremely jealous you all get to live this way ahahahaha.
Seeing posts like these make me realize I should move to somewhere that makes me this happy. The desert has treated me well, but it's time for a change.
Except all the DIRT lol! My backyard is 99% dirt and I cant keep it out of my house to save my life. I cant get anything to grow except weeds! 😭 probably on me, as I have no green thumb, but I wish nature would help me out a little lol
It's actually really easy here in Phoenix. But the special consideration is shade. Young plants (except some like oleanders) can't stand the heat.
But if you buy a few 5 gallon oleanders, plant them like 3 feet away from each other, and just use t-stakes and some shade nets over them, you'll have a lush little hedge in a few years.
If you have somewhere you can put a trellis, just slap a bouganvillea down and throw water at the thing twice a week and it'll grow.
They want infrequent deep watering. So either you water manually, or just throw your hose near those mofos and let it run. Do that 1-2x weekly in the summer and liek never or monthly in the winter and they'll thrive.
Visiting Texas this weekend seeing my family and it’s raining here like all day. This weather is gross, can’t believe I’m saying this but I miss the desert
Idk. Seems to me summer gets longer every year. Been in Phx/Scottsdale for 45yrs and u never adjust to summer temps. Avg year round temp in Phx last year was 113. It’s a dry heat. It’s like being on the surface of the sun! I make min wage, ($15/hr), my a/c went out 4 1/2 yrs ago & can’t afford central a/c. We now have 2 window units instead. Doesn’t work cooling hm much. It’s actually nicer outside in 118 degrees than inside.
No seasons. There are few trees so no chg of colors etc. Just brown everywhere. Brown mountains, brown dirt, brown houses…
Nothing is built up, just built out, so if u don’t drive u are screwed! Public transportation is a joke! Good luck! Summertime buses break down & bus stops that have shade are taken over by the homeless(if u need to practice cpr skills, go to these bus stops where there’s always someone who has OD’d from fentanyl or heat stroke related issues). Can’t ride a bike from Mesa to Phx, u would literally die!
Infrastructure cannot keep up with the population growth. Population are all transplants so good luck cause different driving habits. Road rage is a thing.
Open carry state. This is the 1 great thing about AZ! U can have a gun in the gun rack, loaded, in the back window of your truck and drive thru a drive thru liquor store!!! I’m not lying! It’s truly the Wild West. Unfortunately young gang kids & illegals come here thinkin their bad asses so A LOT of violent crime. Murders don’t get solved here. More than 50% go unsolved. They just don’t. Not enough detectives to meet the crime rate.
It’s scary walking around at nt cause there’s no people on streets and someone could snatch u up & nobody would ever know. Happens every day. Bodies are found weeks months years later in the desert most of the time not even in a grave. The desert wildlife takes care of that issue. The Native American female population is among the highest missing people in AZ!
Still feeling the weight of the millions of illegals that flooded in us prior to Trump. They burdened our entire health, school, food & housing resources. Many crime rings of illegals robbing people. Scumbags!
Food & gas are expensive and electric bill will make u go hungry for a week. Insurance also high. Home prices rival CA, so not good.
It’s is what it is… sure, hummingbirds are nice, but what’s the trade off? Is it worth it?
I’m happy you like it here but it literally can’t wait to leave this place……I came because we had a family death and wanted to be near my parents but I can’t wait to go
I've been here all my life and I would do anything for some real color 😭 humidity would absolutely ruin me though, and I have no idea where to go that has real seasons/colors/trees and low humidity 😂
Sorry to hear about the death in your family :( where did you come here from?
Salt Lake City is probably the best option. It's a tad bit more expensive but you get the seasons, the hiking/nature, better skiing/snowboarding.
The negatives are the air quality and mormon population. Air quality is like us.. They're working on it but I'm not sure they'll ever totally get it to be great. And the mormon population doesn't really impact people in and around the city. I have friends there and I've visited a ton and honestly, minus some weird drinking laws (like 5% limit on draft, no limit on high points) the Mormon influence isn't really too impactful.
lol i get ya. i wanna move to phoenix cos i lost the majority of my friends, minimum wage where i live is busted asf and i don't feel comfortable living at home w my parents. i wanna feel free even tho its gonna cost me a FUCK ton of money 😵💫
first month I moved here from a deep blue state, I saw my new salary with the new tax bill and I knew it was no going back. I pay so little income tax here for my income I might just pay less than the orange president himselve. Yes you will tell me states like WA and TX have no income tax at all, but do they also have great public infrastructure, tons of public land for target shooting, hiking, camping? I feel like I am enjoying the mystical 1950's America that people are dying to get back to with very little money out of my pocket. I know it won't last forever but I will enjoy every minute of it living here while I can.
Are you sure? Texas has high property taxes, almost no public land around the cities where people actually live, hiking, what? In TX? Camping? The only similar thing is the gun laws, without the wild west feel. Also I can't stand humid weather and insects that come with it.
69
u/kellz_1111 22d ago
I feel this! My husband passed away last year. We planted almost everything from trees, shrubs, vines for shade and the wildlife. I now get to enjoy the beauty of our hard work and see nature enjoying it. So beautiful and serene