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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Nov 8, 2008, at 9:11 AM, bob ford wrote:

> I have shade, rock yards are still hotter than grass yards.  In the  
> summer, if you walk across a grass yard, put down your hand; the  
> grass will feeler cooler than the 114 degree air.  If you do the  
> same thing with a rock yeard, you will burn your hand.  You can feel  
> the heat radiating off of desert landscaping in the same way it does  
> from concrete ...bobford

Yes. You are feeling evapotranspiration, water coming up from the  
grass. Just as sweating cools us, evapotranspiration cools the soil.  
The pertinent point here is water usage.

Full disclosure. I use so much water here in Phoenix that I have  
received a letter from the water people and I have been visited by a  
water employee who thought maybe I had a big leak somewhere. No leaks.  
Just a homeowner who does not much like conditions here except for the  
absence of bugs and the mild winters.

My position is simple. I like lots of vegetation. Vegetation likes  
lots of water. I pay whatever the price.

When golf courses are shut down I will take water rationing seriously.

If I were planning to stay here I would construct a graywater system.