Dear Phoenix,   It’s now been 4 months and 11 days since we hit our first 100 degree day this year and quite frankly, I’ve had enough. I tried to make it work, I really did. But now I just can’t wait to be rid of you. Your ongoing assault of sunshine and relentless teasing […]

My formative years occurred during the tail end of the Cold War, so in addition to earthquake drills (since we lived on a fault line), we also had frequent “nuclear” drills. These drills consisted of exercises like “Duck and Cover” (we climbed under our desks and covered our heads), or “Basement Shelter Drills” (we formed […]