Tucson Hiking Clubs
Posted: May 26 2012 6:18 pm
I give up. I've held out on this. I know Joe would prefer I don't and might delete this, but after several days of it, and yet another Memorial Day Weekend ruined by high winds, my Colorado Trip canceled due to high wind and cold, and nothing do to but sit and think, I take to the key board. When it comes to my location, I give up.
As some of you know, I moved to Kayenta on September 30. Liz knows I was cautiously optimistic at that time, but generally trying to stay positive about the move. I was getting excited about many aspects of the move, such as renting a house instead an apartment (something I later learned was sort of silver cloud with a gray lining), having a yard, living in a rural area and so on. The house is in terrible shape and isn't even 10 years old. Let me put it like this, "the building should be condemned. There’s serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members, the wiring is substandard, it’s completely inadequate for my power needs". Then there's the neighborhood (though this was obvious before the move). It's a disaster area. You might say, "the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone". The yard is pointless and nothing but dirt, blowing dirt, unless it is mud, or hard packed clay, depending on season. Mostly, the yards seem to function as catchments for the blowing trash and people's 8 trucks they park on them. The rural area, is more of a prison of isolation, hours and hours from anything not this place. Then, there is the air pollution. Not from cars, but coal that people burn. It stinks like an old 2-stroke lawn mower idling with the choke clamped down, and it hangs around on cold winter nights.
All of that pales in comparison to the high winds made so much worse with fierce dust. I never thought it could be that bad. No wonder people in Oklahoma went insane in the 30s during the dust bowl. I had gusts so bad this afternoon, the house shook like I was in an earthquake. I mean windows rattled, the roof shook, and dust hit the windows so hard sounded like they were going to break.
Still, you would think that at some point, it has to get better. Summer is nearly here, it's time to enjoy the yard, the house, the warm weather and enjoy it by starting a garden to get food from. And, I did. I bought some stuff when I moved out, a peach and plum tree, and some other plants, as well as two pines. Virtually everything is dead. Dead, dead, dead. Stuff that looked fair after the last big wind event is now dead. Dried out and dead. All the leaves on the fruit trees, the sage brush I planted, the grapes (long since), and now all of the stuff I had planted in the last month and had come up. I really liked seeing some life, something green, something growing in the world of virtually nothing. My broccoli is shredded and dried out to stalks on the ground. My corn that came up is dead, my watermelon seeds, honey dew seeds, and sunflowers that had come up, all dried out and dead. My tomatoes, my basil, my radishes, my lettuce, and my gramma grasses, all dried out and killed in the last 48 hours. All dead. Even one area where I put in corn and it started growing, not only is that dead, but the wind has been so fierce that the soil I had planted the corn in- that is blown away. Completely gone! I have seedlings in pots that I could re-plant, but I am having a hard time wanting to bother again. I mean, what is the point? I put a lot of work in out here, just to have the wind destroy it. I had a lawn that got buried under 6 inches of dirt. Gave up on that, as you can't shovel your lawn. I had a native plants garden of grasses and wild flowers I planted and seeded last summer right after getting in. That was blown away in April. Not doing that again. I shoveled the dirt out of the street. That came back. Not doing that again. Seriously, I give up. Time to get up on the Model-T and move on.
As some of you know, I moved to Kayenta on September 30. Liz knows I was cautiously optimistic at that time, but generally trying to stay positive about the move. I was getting excited about many aspects of the move, such as renting a house instead an apartment (something I later learned was sort of silver cloud with a gray lining), having a yard, living in a rural area and so on. The house is in terrible shape and isn't even 10 years old. Let me put it like this, "the building should be condemned. There’s serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members, the wiring is substandard, it’s completely inadequate for my power needs". Then there's the neighborhood (though this was obvious before the move). It's a disaster area. You might say, "the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone". The yard is pointless and nothing but dirt, blowing dirt, unless it is mud, or hard packed clay, depending on season. Mostly, the yards seem to function as catchments for the blowing trash and people's 8 trucks they park on them. The rural area, is more of a prison of isolation, hours and hours from anything not this place. Then, there is the air pollution. Not from cars, but coal that people burn. It stinks like an old 2-stroke lawn mower idling with the choke clamped down, and it hangs around on cold winter nights.
All of that pales in comparison to the high winds made so much worse with fierce dust. I never thought it could be that bad. No wonder people in Oklahoma went insane in the 30s during the dust bowl. I had gusts so bad this afternoon, the house shook like I was in an earthquake. I mean windows rattled, the roof shook, and dust hit the windows so hard sounded like they were going to break.
Still, you would think that at some point, it has to get better. Summer is nearly here, it's time to enjoy the yard, the house, the warm weather and enjoy it by starting a garden to get food from. And, I did. I bought some stuff when I moved out, a peach and plum tree, and some other plants, as well as two pines. Virtually everything is dead. Dead, dead, dead. Stuff that looked fair after the last big wind event is now dead. Dried out and dead. All the leaves on the fruit trees, the sage brush I planted, the grapes (long since), and now all of the stuff I had planted in the last month and had come up. I really liked seeing some life, something green, something growing in the world of virtually nothing. My broccoli is shredded and dried out to stalks on the ground. My corn that came up is dead, my watermelon seeds, honey dew seeds, and sunflowers that had come up, all dried out and dead. My tomatoes, my basil, my radishes, my lettuce, and my gramma grasses, all dried out and killed in the last 48 hours. All dead. Even one area where I put in corn and it started growing, not only is that dead, but the wind has been so fierce that the soil I had planted the corn in- that is blown away. Completely gone! I have seedlings in pots that I could re-plant, but I am having a hard time wanting to bother again. I mean, what is the point? I put a lot of work in out here, just to have the wind destroy it. I had a lawn that got buried under 6 inches of dirt. Gave up on that, as you can't shovel your lawn. I had a native plants garden of grasses and wild flowers I planted and seeded last summer right after getting in. That was blown away in April. Not doing that again. I shoveled the dirt out of the street. That came back. Not doing that again. Seriously, I give up. Time to get up on the Model-T and move on.
yeehaw!