Desert Rain

Last week, we had a bit of rain late at night.  I had gotten up to take Sadie out at around 2am.  There was a cool breeze, and the minute I opened the door, even in the dark I knew it had rained.  The air was damp, and smelled fresh and clean.  The smell of a wet desert is like nothing else.  It comes from the creosote bush leaves that secrete an oil. (Yep, I checked it on Google!)

Why does creosote smell so good?  It's the result of many compounds:  terpene (found in pines) limonene (citrus), camphor (pines and rosemary), methanol (wood alcohol) and 2-undecanone (spices)

For me, I think it's the pine and rosemary smells that appeal to me.

This is the creosote bush in bloom.  They are all over here in our desert!

I can't wait for our monsoon season to start ... more rains coming our way!