Sheesh it's hot around here. Today's reported high, 106 degrees. Welcome to the desert. I suppose technically we're not a desert because we get more than the maxium 10 inches of precipitation (epecially on those rare occassions where we get a foot an a half of snow!). We're actually a steppe/scrub landscape, home of the world's tallest, treeless mountian. What does that mean? It means, that unlike Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Rainer, there are no trees anywhere on the mountian. From base to summit, not one tree. Oh, but it's covered in sage brush a plenty. And shrubbery. Lots of shrubbery. (You must bring us a shrubbery! Ni!) And if you really want to get technical, Rattlesnake Mountain isn't even a mountian! It is defined by geologists as an anticline, a folded section of bedrock that has become mountainous in appearance, but isn't actually a mountain. (Eh, that definition will do, but if you really want to know what it is, click here.) Interesting place, I live. I also live on the world's largest basalt flow (Hawaii, eat your heart out). You know Yellowstone National Park (really pretty place, I want to go back sometime)? Yeah, the hotspot that's under it used to be where my town is located. So there was a lot of basalt magma flows that have now created huge, barren landscapes that's affectionately known as the scablands around these parts. I'm located about a two hour drive from Dry Falls, which make Niagra Falls look like a leaky faucet. Four times as long and twice as high, to give you some sort of perspective on it. Ice age floods, you know. Hundreds, possibly thousands of them.

Wait a sec, this blog started out about the temperature and now I've moved on to the geological features? What's wrong with me? Gah! I'm such a dork!!!