"100 Degrees until Halloween" Day 80 ~ Watering the Cactus.

It's so hot...you have to water your cactus.

"100 Degrees until Halloween" Day 79 ~ Painted Rocks

It's so hot, we have to decorate with painted rocks because it's the only decoration that will survive.  My kids painted these and left them by the mailbox, much to my surprise!

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 78 ~ Twinkle Lights

Leaving a lively (and HOT) 17-person family shoot last night I saw this...love the twinkle lights this family leaves up and on all year round in their mesquite grove.

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 77 ~ It is hot. And that is all.

Record breaking heat (for August) here.  In a desert, you KNOW that can't be good...Just pant and get through it.

"100 Degrees until Halloween" Day 76 ~ View of a Storm

"Storm at Sunset," maybe this picture should be titled...or, "Orange."  Whatever.  It was incredible.  I was driving home from a family photo shoot and it took me 45 minutes (rather than the usual 15 min) because I had to keep pulling over to try and capture the sky, and the mountains, and the gorgeous light.  I am lucky I made it home alive.  (P.S. My house STILL didn't get any stinkin' rain...)

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 74 ~ Follow Up (Yellow)

One from my small but mighty group of blog followers (thanks Hilary Lustig!) asked if we could eat the yellow cactus fruit from yesterday's post.  (This project is making me realize how little I know about the desert considering I have lived here since 1996.  Is this thing called a fruit????  CAN we eat it???).  So I plucked it right off the barrel cactus in the front yard and sliced it open.  It smelled peppery (not sweet, like I was expecting) and did not look appetizing.  I suppose you COULD eat it...but I didn't chance it.   (Doesn't the poor thing look parched?  The interior skin looked dry and desirous of some water...)

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 74 ~ Yellow. (Uh oh, a new theme)

A theme within a theme.  Anything to get this project thru these dry, non-soon, days...