An Observation.

[Sister Fracture]

The season of Bake and Boil, which runs from WTF It Was Cold Yesterday (February for those of you in wonky, non-holy areas) to O Tucson It Is Hot, Is It My Turn To Shoot You Or Am I The One Getting Shot Today (late August, mid September, even as late as early October) has come to an end, but our normal season following that, Burn and Haze, hasn't begun.  In fact, the strange amount of rain that we've had (are still having, someone send Pixie some chocolates), pretty much assures us that there won't be one, either.  This leaves the inhabitants of our God-City feeling anxious and uncertain, if vastly more comfortable. 

You see, Burn and Haze serves a very important purpose.  When the weather turns nice after Bake and Boil ends, people are more apt to go do stuff like camping and hiking.  However, this is dangerous, since any exposure to the wild parts of Tucson result in a powerful urge to wander emanating from the land itself.  Most people who've already gone that far out of the city already can't resist such an alluring call, and so they disappear, feeding Tucson and making it stronger.  Burn and Haze prevents these doomed excursions by activating some survival instinct in certain people who are more, umm, malleable and are prone to silly acts.  These people suddenly decide it would be a good idea to go camping, usually up Mt Lemmon or out Tombstone's way, get out for the weekend, have barbecques, get some friends together, yeah it'll be awesome!  And one thing that is a camping staple anywhere is the campfire.  The unprotected and unwatched campfire is the ritual that summons Burn and Haze itself by setting the entire county on fire, surviving the ritual is optional, and after this point it is too dangerous to go [alone, take this!] out there, and Tucson remains in a perpetually weakened state once again.

But there is more danger than just Burn and Haze not beginning as planned.  The wilderness has actually infiltrated the city proper with all the rain.  The winds smell not of heat and bile, as during Bake and Boil, nor do they smell of smoke and death.  The wind smells like green, green growing things.  The panorama doesn't make one say "Fuck that, it even looks too hot," and isn't covered in smoke.  Everywhere you look, inviting plants (I think it's called "grass") and flowers and bushes cover every square inch of soil that is poisoned with hate.  This City is more dangerous than ever, because it is falsely alluring, begging everyone, even the prodigal meth heads, to ravish its unexplored places, to run forever down forgotten roads, to laugh alone in the bright sunshine in the wide expanse and hear what it's like to speak into a void, to see the marvels that only exist in the pure and undefiled places. 

And therein lies our danger.  To follow this age-old call is to be destroyed utterly, for rare is the return from a spontaneous, ill planned venture into a God who is also our Enemy.

[the last yatto]

I could never be a desert creature, since I bitch and moan anytime its over 70.

But this, burn and haze, goes a long way to explain the crazy you and Dok says thrives out there.

[Freeky]

Oh yeah, there's like three seasons out here.  Burn and Haze, Bake and Boil, and Juuuuust Right.  It's like we're a fairy tale gone bad.

[Luna]

The Juuuuust Right lasts for, what, three days?   

[Freeky]

The Juuuuust Right lasts for, what, three days?  

Two to three months or so, when the rest of the country is locked in an ice age.

I bet you won't be laughing when is blizzarding over your house and we'll be posting about how freezing cold it is at 65F.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I LOVE THIS, FREEKY!

I wish I could see Tucson right now.

Also, would you consider mailing a copy of it to you-know-who?

[Luna]

The Juuuuust Right lasts for, what, three days?  

Two to three months or so, when the rest of the country is locked in an ice age.

I bet you won't be laughing when is blizzarding over your house and we'll be posting about how freezing cold it is at 65F.

Pft, it doesn't blizzard for crap, here.  Oh, people bitch and moan about a lousy six inches of snow, but that's not a BLIZZARD...

[Freeky]

The Juuuuust Right lasts for, what, three days?  

Two to three months or so, when the rest of the country is locked in an ice age.

I bet you won't be laughing when is blizzarding over your house and we'll be posting about how freezing cold it is at 65F.

Pft, it doesn't blizzard for crap, here.  Oh, people bitch and moan about a lousy six inches of snow, but that's not a BLIZZARD...

Am going to save this comment for when is Juuust Right here.  Hee hee hee.

[Luna]

The Juuuuust Right lasts for, what, three days?  

Two to three months or so, when the rest of the country is locked in an ice age.

I bet you won't be laughing when is blizzarding over your house and we'll be posting about how freezing cold it is at 65F.

Pft, it doesn't blizzard for crap, here.  Oh, people bitch and moan about a lousy six inches of snow, but that's not a BLIZZARD...

Am going to save this comment for when is Juuust Right here.  Hee hee hee.

Feel free.     I'm aware that I just put out the welcome mat for a foot of snow, here. 

[Freeky]

I LOVE THIS, FREEKY!

I wish I could see Tucson right now.

Also, would you consider mailing a copy of it to you-know-who?

Absolutely!  

I want to take some pictures here in the next couple days.  I discovered that very close to here is the point where the siren calls never stop, and I only saw about fifteen feet of that.  I want to know what it looks like at the top of that hill.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I LOVE THIS, FREEKY!

I wish I could see Tucson right now.

Also, would you consider mailing a copy of it to you-know-who?

Absolutely!  

I want to take some pictures here in the next couple days.  I discovered that very close to here is the point where the siren calls never stop, and I only saw about fifteen feet of that.  I want to know what it looks like at the top of that hill.

and then Freeky never came back.

Be careful, Freeky! This is like when people just take their shoes off and walk into the ocean.

[Freeky]

I LOVE THIS, FREEKY!

I wish I could see Tucson right now.

Also, would you consider mailing a copy of it to you-know-who?

Absolutely!  

I want to take some pictures here in the next couple days.  I discovered that very close to here is the point where the siren calls never stop, and I only saw about fifteen feet of that.  I want to know what it looks like at the top of that hill.

and then Freeky never came back.

Be careful, Freeky! This is like when people just take their shoes off and walk into the ocean.

That's probably exactly what is like, but I'm going crazy not knowing.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I LOVE THIS, FREEKY!

I wish I could see Tucson right now.

Also, would you consider mailing a copy of it to you-know-who?

Absolutely!  

I want to take some pictures here in the next couple days.  I discovered that very close to here is the point where the siren calls never stop, and I only saw about fifteen feet of that.  I want to know what it looks like at the top of that hill.

and then Freeky never came back.

Be careful, Freeky! This is like when people just take their shoes off and walk into the ocean.

That's probably exactly what is like, but I'm going crazy not knowing.

Carry a walkie-talkie so Dok can reach you...

[the last yatto]

I LOVE THIS, FREEKY!

I wish I could see Tucson right now.

Also, would you consider mailing a copy of it to you-know-who?

Absolutely!  

I want to take some pictures here in the next couple days.  I discovered that very close to here is the point where the siren calls never stop, and I only saw about fifteen feet of that.  I want to know what it looks like at the top of that hill.

and then Freeky never came back.

Be careful, Freeky! This is like when people just take their shoes off and walk into the ocean.

thats my favorite scene in cthulhu

[Freeky]

I LOVE THIS, FREEKY!

I wish I could see Tucson right now.

Also, would you consider mailing a copy of it to you-know-who?

Absolutely!  

I want to take some pictures here in the next couple days.  I discovered that very close to here is the point where the siren calls never stop, and I only saw about fifteen feet of that.  I want to know what it looks like at the top of that hill.

and then Freeky never came back.

Be careful, Freeky! This is like when people just take their shoes off and walk into the ocean.

That's probably exactly what is like, but I'm going crazy not knowing.

Carry a walkie-talkie so Dok can reach you...

I'll have my cell.  If I took a walkie talkie it'd probably be something like this at Dok's end:

-kssh- "Okay, I parked, now I'm walking up the hill." -kssh-
"You know there's nothing over there, right?"
-kssh- "So?" -kssh-
"All right, but I'll say I told you so when you never come back."
-kssh- "So?" -kssh-
"Point."
-kssh- "Oh, wow.  It's so beautiful... -kssh-

Five minutes later:

"I told you so."

And then I was never heard from again.