Day 5 of the 90 Days of Awesome is in the bank! What made today awesome? Desert rain!
Water Puddle by paweesit from Flickr (Creative Commons License)
I love the smell of rain. After living in Oregon for 6 years I can pretty accurately predict when it’s going to rain by the way the air smells.
It’s usually 100+ degrees in June in Phoenix, but thanks to today’s rain, the high was only in the 90s. It was cool and fresh outside first thing this morning with the world recently rinsed down courtesy of last night’s rainfall. It was a refreshing start to the day despite being really tired.
It’s been raining off and on for the last 24 hours – and it was wonderful. It never rained hard enough to cause troublesome flooding. It was just enough to wash down the world.
This afternoon I took Rosie for a walk and it was simultaneously sunny and raining. I loved it. Rosie loves it when it rains. She walks with her nose perpetually next to the ground taking in the post-rain smells. Rosie loved one section of the grounds so much she started rubbing her head against the ground. It’s so cute when she does that.
Day 2 of the 90 Days of Awesome is in the bank! What made today awesome? Taking my dog everywhere with me!
Typical Day for Rosie at the Office
I adopted Rosie from the Arizona Basset Hound Rescue a little over three years ago. She completely changed my life. My schedule is based on her needs – especially now that she has glaucoma. I smile every time she wags her tail or puts her head on my knee. I love this dog.
Rosie goes where I go. The backseat of my car has a washable seat cover for her and she has a car harness so she can be secure on the road. When I joined Venjuris, I negotiated her into my contract so she can come to work with me. I have to make sure the baby gate across my door stays closed otherwise she’ll get curious and start wandering around the office.
Rosie went to work with me today. She spent most of the day sacked out on her plushy bed while I worked on clients’ projects. One of the challenges with taking her to work in the summer is the hot parking lot at the office. She doesn’t like wearing or walking in her booties. Instead of making Rosie wear her booties, at the end of the day I’ll pack up my stuff, put her in her car harness, load up my stuff into the front seat, open the door to the backseat, and then carry her 65-pound body the fifteen feet from the front door of the office and load her into the car without her feet ever touching the black top.
We stopped by the Toyota dealership on our way home today. I forgot to bring my coupon yesterday and I wanted to see if they’d apply it retroactively. I parked near the dealership door and before I let Rosie out of the car, I stepped out of my sandals to test how hot the ground was. The rule of thumb I heard is if you can stand barefooted on the ground for seven seconds with being uncomfortable, then it’s safe for your dog. One of the sales people saw me do this and said he liked me just for that.
It was so cute to see the Toyota employees gush over Rosie. She plopped herself down on the cool tile and graciously let them rub her belly.
Now that it’s getting warmer, I’ve been brushing Rosie every night with her Zoom Groom brush to help her shed her winter coat faster. She loves it.
One of the things I love doing during The Undeniable Tour was taking walks. I often spent my first evening in a new city getting my bearings by walking around the neighborhood. In many cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle) I could easily find a grocery store, drug store, coffee shops, things to do, and plenty of people watching within a mile of my hostel. I loved it. I barely drove when I was in the cities because it was more convenient and more fun to walk. My friend to relocated to Seattle from Gilbert, AZ said they gave up their car because they could walk to most of the places they needed to go. For everything else, there’s public transportation, taxis, Uber, and rental cars.
Phoenix Arizona Downtown Night Aerial Photo from Helicopter by Jerry Ferguson from Flickr (Creative Commons License)
I didn’t have any plans last Friday night and I decided I wanted to get out and take a walk around 7 p.m. And then I thought about what’s in my neighborhood within walking distance and there really isn’t much, so I loaded up Rosie the basset hound and we drove a few miles to Tempe to walk along Mill Ave. She loved all the new smells and letting everyone love on her. (My apologies to the staff at The Handlebar. I let her walk into the bar when a group of patrons near the door was excited to see her.) I enjoyed getting out to relax in the warm night air.
It’s ironic that Phoenix, a desert city, is so spread out. You would think that the hot weather would inspire builders and people to want to stay close to work and day-to-day conveniences. With a walkability score of 38 (out of 100), that is definitely not the case. (Phoenix’s bikeability score is 52.) The walk scores for my home and work zip codes aren’t that much better, at 49 and 54 respectively. I looked up Tempe since I lived near the Phoenix/Tempe border and they fared better with a walk score of 50 and a bike score of 75.
I think there is hope for Phoenix. It appears that more people are moving closer to the city and there seems to be a higher demand for conveniences within walking distance and effective public transportation. I’m lucky than I’m not as dependent on my car as others since I lived right next to a bus stop and I’m close to two light rail stations, one of which that has a park and ride. I’m starting to consider what I would have to do to be able to bike to work, especially on the days when I don’t see clients and I’m just working in my office. I friends gave me some recommendations about the best way to transport my laptop with me.
One of the things that’s missing from many neighborhoods is having grocery stores, drug stores, and similar conveniences close to home. Even downtown Phoenix and many places along the light rail lack these essential businesses. Our transit system is doing a great job at getting us to major venues and town, but they’re not necessarily getting us to where we need to go on an everyday basis.
For now, I will have to drive most of the times that I need to go somewhere but I hope that will shift and Phoenix will become a place where transit lines and bike-friendly routes will become the most desirable locations for day-to-day conveniences.
