Desert observations

It's really hard to imagine that this landscape will soon be the norm for me. It has all the basic elements of home - sky, dirt, relief, trees, water, rocks, plants, animals, etc., but everything is wackier.

The sky is big and mostly cloudless. When I wake up at 6am, the sun is well above the very big mountains to the east. This may have something to do with the fact that Arizona does not do Daylight Savings Time for some reason. I have been meaning to ask when the sun rises, but seeing as it is unlikely I will get up that early, I'll focus on the sunsets. And the stars. The bazillion stars.

The dirt is dry. Like, really dry. I know, I know, it is the desert... but seriously - I am pretty much constantly covered in dust. Yesterday there were HUGE gusts of wind and I was driving around the New Mexico desert. There were dust clouds everywhere. I was driving north on hwy 80 with my windows open and all of a sudden the wind kicked up and practically burst my ear drum! I went to this store, literally in the middle of nowhere, that sells organics and natural products (very surreal in a place where most businesses are taverns or churches), and I couldn't get the door open to get out the wind was so strong. Here is a very creepy video to give you an idea of the wind and dust (and absence of people and children... *shiver*:



The trees are all different - small leaves and short compared to ours. The sycamores are cool, I'll try to get some shots of them. The bushes are pretty much all thorny and there are cacti EVERYWHERE! They are as common as our dandelions almost. So weird. A lot of the plants look like they're right out of a Dr. Seuss book. Very weird.


As for water, well, coming from the land o' lakes and rivers, this place is pretty bare. Better than New Mexico where there are endless river beds and the water has clearly decided to sleep somewhere else. Here there a whopping two creeks. Luckily the water at the station is very drinkable. In fact, I don't think I've ever drank so much on a daily basis. Way more than 8 a day, that's for sure.

Now the rocks, they are something else (JJ - you have to visit this place sometime). The patterns and colours and commonness of geode-like shiny bits have ruined me for Canadian shield rocks forever. Check these out:




Look at the many weird things growing out of this rock:


As for the fauna, well there is a resident mule deer here named Mickey who just wanders around the property that I hope to befriend. Her mom, Molly, was famous here for her approachability, which may have been the cause of her untimely demise by a mountain lion two weeks ago. She is much missed - people come here just to visit her.

Yesterday on our hike we heard what was likely the rattle of a rattlesnake. And there are scorpions around. I'm not too too concerned - watch your step and don't bother them and they won't bother you.

Now that you are all worried for me, let me tell you about the non-deadly animals. There are obviously birds galore. This place is a birder's mecca. I don't know much about them yet, but hope to go on some tours. Maybe see the mythical trogon everyone keeps talking about. Birder culture is weird though. And a little obsessive. So I think I'll stay on the periphery and avoid becoming a lifelister [people who spend all their time trying to see new species just to add to their list]. The hummingbirds are pretty amazing. And big! There are feeders here and I have never seen so many all at once. We're talking ten fighting over each feeder. They are beautiful.

And would you believe it? The lizards here are as common as squirrels back home. They are so cute.

And that's just a small taste of the differentness of this place. I have much, much more to talk about, but if I sit here all day and do that, I won't be experiencing more things to talk about.

Speaking of, in case you are worried that I am spending too much time on the internet rather than enjoying my surroundings, the other very different thing here is the pace of time. It's been a long, long time since I felt it passing so leisurely. I can write an incredibly longwinded blog post (like this one), eat three meals, work my four hours, go on long hikes, read many chapters of a book, sit around, lie down, have a shower, drive to Rodeo and back, and still feel like I have hours to kill.

Speaking of, my porch, my book, and some coffee are calling. It's 10am here and there are still two hours until lunch.

Talk to y'all later!