I have been a Wheatland citizen for almost 30 months now. That of course has an asterisk as I chased a rainbow down to Arizona last year at this exact week and instead of a promised pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, I found a pot of scorpions baking on the surface of the sun.

There are 50,000 people who live down there. Yeah, as someone not prone to that kind of heat, I was shocked too, but the people down there are just as shocked that we can withstand the cool winters here. All right, maybe more than just cool.

As I revisit the epilogue that I wrote last year, I can say that I must have had temporary insanity. I apologize. It won’t happen again. And… it’s so good to be home.

So. From last year’s thoughts sitting in a library in Arizona. I never thought I could EVER be that unhappy. And… I’ve experienced divorce, death and taxes.

“The grass is not greener on the other side of my career, in fact, it’s brown and is growing in sand with multiple cacti.

I have a special opportunity to send you one more column for the Record-Times and the Gazette.  I am writing from an air-conditioned library on a very warm Saturday afternoon. When I came down I imagined golf, softball, elk, wild horses in the Arizona mountains and taking pictures in the desert.

I underestimated the brutality of the warmth in the desert. But in its defense, I’ve never lived in a desert before. Suffice to say it is hot. Today it is 113 degrees and tomorrow will be 118.

It’s the kind of heat where the air conditioning in the car feels like a warm tropical breeze. So far, I saw dead horses on the side of the road in the mountains of Arizona around Starr Valley and I had to take issue with a place called a valley that was 7,000 feet above sea level and the drop-offs made me a little queasy.

Oh… and since this is more like a family Christmas card update, I will tell you that all working out is done inside, golf is for the brave and burned and swimming is done in pools where the water is 92 degrees.

I noticed that speed limit signs are not readily available on all roads so I guess you just have to be clairvoyant when knowing what the speed is. I thought to myself that it really doesn’t make any difference, because even if I speed, is there actually an officer that is going to stand outside my vehicle in the scorching heat and give me a ticket?

Absolutely not. Again, I misspoke. Had my first taste of being pulled over for going 55 in a 35 mile stretch that was out of town. The officer was nice enough, but I don’t think cars in Wyoming can go as slow as 35 miles per hour.

I will actually be sitting down in my new office officially, July 14, but it will be bittersweet as memories of a place I loved and called home is ever on my mind and will be for a long time. The complaints of that 34” snowfall that I was busting loose in March have all but melted in the heart of the heat.

Instead of being somewhat in command, knowing how things worked, I shall venture into a sort of Twilight Zone where I have some angst about the unknown.

I also am going to a town of almost 50,000 and compared to the traffic in Platte County, this is insanity. Heat and traffic. Oh that just makes me get my grumpy on.

All in all, though, they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I am looking forward to that.”

I came to my senses and came back to Wyoming where the wind continues to blow, the winters continue to stay a while and I now have over 25,000 pictures taken in a place I adore.

Oh, but on another note, I came toe-to-toe with death in the midst of a demolition derby. Another story for another column. I don’t own ruby slippers, but I quote the sentiment often… there’s no place like home.