On Monday, July 19, 2004, at 09:34  AM, DEREK STANLEY wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Bruce Johnson 
>
>> On Sunday, July 18, 2004, at 07:13  PM, Adunaphell wrote:
>>
>>> The golf course?
>>
>> Well that's what they label it, but only about a third of that
>> green is actually golf course; the rest is a park.
>
> That's a whole lot of tan and brown...  The Inuit have 18 different 
> words for snow, do you desert dwellers have different words for sun 
> baked dirt?

Only a few: dirt, dust, mud (on the rare occasions it's wet) and 
%#$@@#$, which is what we call it when we have to dig holes in it. We 
have varying amounts of carbonate salts that end up in layers, making 
stuff called 'caliche' which can be hard as concrete.

>  I know where I live we have 5 or 6 different words for rain.
>
> You know you're from the northwest coast when the following forecast 
> makes perfect sence.
>
> "Rain turning to showers this morning, lessening to drizzle and 
> eventually mist by noon. This afternoon the mist will intesify to 
> showers eventually turning to rain with periods of heavy rain late in 
> the afternoon."

Ah, we're in the rainy summer, aka Monsoons. Moisture routed up from 
Mexico by seasonal weather patterns tunrs into late afternoon 
thunderstorms here. 40-50 MPH winds and up to two inches of rain in an 
hour...if it lasts an hour.

We get around half of our annual rainfall (usually 10-14 inches) during 
the summer now. I suspect you get 10-14 inches a month...

--
"Wherever you go, there you are." - B. Banzai, Ph.D.
Bruce Johnson