• the “cold” tap water is too hot for hand washing (in the afternoons)
• you hibernate in your house and don’t come out till November
• the weeds stop growing
• you nearly burn your arm on the car door when trying to make a deposit at the ATM
• bottled water is a must EVERY time you get in the car–even if it’s to run a quick errand
• it seems like it will be hot for the rest of your life
• water sprinklers adorn the eaves of public stores (and even though you’re standing directly beneath the sprinklers, you still can’t feel any water, but it is a few degrees cooler)
• lawns only survive if they’re watered (this is pretty much true year round)
• the thermometer reads in the triple digits through the end of October
• door handles to public buildings are covered in cloth or rubber to prevent burning clients’ hands
• you start to wonder why you have sweaters in your closet
• schools issue heat warnings limiting the amount of time kids can play outside
• the news announces a recent epidemic of scorpion stings due to a spike in outside temps
• any temperature in the 90’s sounds heavenly
• your electricity bill easily doubles in the “hotter” season (when we first moved here, I was told Phoenix has 2 seasons: hot and hotter)
• you take a mini-vacation to San Diego to reward yourself for surviving the summer(These sunsets are actually from several months ago, because–as you now know–I’ve been hibernating in my house for a while.)

Now, I’m admittedly a newbie when it comes to desert summers, so leave me a comment to add your take on the “hotter” season in the Valley of the Sun.