Up on the roof!

When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
On the roof, it's peaceful as can be
And there the world below can't bother me

~The Drifters

Being as how it's warming up in the desert Southwest, it's time to start thinking about air conditioning. Thursday I spent some time up on my mother-in-law's roof starting up her evaporative air cooler. (An annual ritual no longer missed at the Dada house since the advent of refrigerated air some years ago.)

While the disadvantages of the old swamp coolers are several, there's one huge advantage that's difficult to get around. And that would be, getting up on the roof. The view is so much better. It gives one a whole different perspective. It felt so nice to be - for a brief time - above the madding crowd. (The Bush gang, congress, the corruption - not my mother-in-law.)

When I was finished with the cooler, I announced I wasn't coming down, it had been so pleasant I didn't want it to end. But I was finally lured back to the abyss by Mrs. Dada, tempting me with an India Pale Ale. So okay, call me weak.