February 3, 2011

February 3, 2011

Everything in Tucson is designed for warm weather. Chicago winters just don’t occur here, so water pipes can be left unprotected and we plant palm and citrus trees in the yard. Apparently Mother Nature didn’t hear about Global Warming; she hit us with a sucker punch to the gut last night. And not just a few hours below freezing. We dropped to a 100-year low of 17F. That is enough to burst pipes and cause natural gas shortages around here.

I can dig my old winter clothing out of storage and delay my shower till the pipes thaw, but my garden isn’t as understanding. It looks like my citrus orchard days have come to an abrupt end. Despite my best efforts of covers and heating lights, the trees look very sick. If there was any chance of recovery, it was dashed with a second hard freeze again tonight.

Not seeing value in a tree of frozen orange juice, I picked everything that looked close to full-size. I guess Aimee and I are going to be drinking lots of Margaritas, Screwdrivers and Limoncello shots for the next few months.