Stay or go where the wind blows

Should I stay or go?  Over the last week the weather has been almost every other day of calm, clear, and delightfully warm versus wind blows with gusts up to 45 mph.  It’s spring in the desert and March winds blew in like a lion.  Nice clouds but sadly not much rain and the wind just dries out the land that is already stone and dust.

I tried to go for walks on days the wind wasn’t too brutal.  Never got very far from camp as that’s my way.  I’d be gone for at least an hour only to discover I’d only walked 1/2 mile.

I have this thing about trees, especially in the desert, where they work hard and must live long to attain tallness. This twisted Mesquite with crooked zigzag branches and shreddy bark towers over 20 feet competing with the Saguaros in height. Small spines, almost imperceptible, will catch your clothes if given a chance.  Mesquite is 2.5 times harder than oak so good for cook fires providing long burning coals.  The tree produces bean pods up to 8” long that can be ground into meal and used like flour.  This one has a large burl covered with bark.  A burl is usually caused by stress, injury, virus or fungus.  This tree may look dead but it is not.

If the wind blows lightly enough I sit outside in the afternoon using the camper as a wind block reading interspersed with short meanders looking at rocks.  BTW, don’t walk in the desert in slippers.  Had to get pliers to pull a few spines.  I love warm enough to be wearing shorts, which I rarely do.  Been working on a slow tan on my legs.  I’ve mentioned how the fridge just decides not to light some days and I worry about food thawing.  Then after a few hours it works.  One night the fridge froze everything, literally.  I had to chip cream out of the container for my coffee in the morning.  That day I actually turned the fridge off for hours and even left the door open to thaw the food.  Then hoped it would start again and just refrigerate and not freeze, except for the freezer.

Morning temperatures continued to increase and by 10 am I had the door open at 60°.

Suddenly the wind blows again with 45mph gusts from the SW and the camper is rocking.  Very annoying.  With dust flying the Castle Dome Mountains to the south disappeared and the Chocolate Mountains were on the way next.

Had a brief bout of rain that didn’t even dampen the ground either evaporating or carried away on the warm dry air.  There is no off switch for the wind.

Then as suddenly as it began, the wind dropped and the storm moved off to the northeast leaving behind some marvelous light that called me outside with camera in hand right through sunset.

It’s still challenging to shoot with a 55mm lens that doesn’t do a very wide angle.

Sunrise

Another challenge in this ultra beautiful place tests my internet addiction.  Morning until about 10am is the most reliable signal, sometimes.  Two bars and 4G is the best and inconsistent.  Daytime is my personal best and most productive time.  I have enough power to work on the computer during the day and in the evenings processing photos from the day.  Biggest problem is lack of signal to share them, or even get a post out.  I tell myself, it’s OK and not the end of the world, but…  What I don’t understand is, why I can stream a movie on my phone but can’t get on FB to upload some small photo files.  The last Foto Friday Fun post took three hours to load.  And so I find myself up way too late at night using up my Hulu free trial binge watching “Atlantis”,  possibly a BBC series from a few years ago.

Helicopters at sunset

OK, enough ranting about the lack of signal.  With the temperatures heading into the low 80s for a couple days, I am a happy camper.  Unless the wind blows too hard.  I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy this Sonoran Desert for most of the winter.  Around Kofa I’ve missed seeing birds, more than a couple Ravens and an occasional hawk too far away to identify.  Must be less food than around Congress where there might be more water as well.  It’s a harsh life in the desert.  Anything that lives here long is truly a survivor.

Under partly cloud skies with a light wind 84° felt perfect for another short walk from camp.  I keep trying to go a different direction without intruding on any distant neighbors and avoiding the power line that parallels the road to the south.

Not long before I discovered an interesting nursery tree, a Palo Verde that’s given shelter to a short and stout Saguaro with many arms.

Once again the late afternoon light played games across the land.

Warming temperatures also means time for a little cat grooming.  Sierra is a long-hair extremely furry cat, therefor so is my little house.  Cat hair everywhere, furniture, walls, it’s in the air.  Literally everywhere.  I am constantly pulling a single hair out of my mouth.  Surprised I don’t spit up hairballs, she doesn’t either.  She’s not tolerant of brushing and gets matted like felt.  I’ve been cutting out chunks all winter but that doesn’t go to far with her either.  Last year, I bought a pet trimming kit.  Dug out the battery operated clippers and she’s pretty good with that.  It’s quiet.  I’m not shaving her to skin.  Just slowly working the length down.  So her fur is looking a little choppy these days (no photos please), but then so am I even with no trimming.  My bi-annual hair cut should happen in a few weeks.  Because warmer weather also means it will soon be time to leave the desert behind and make a move northward returning to work for the summer at Bryce Canyon National Park.  Just not quite yet.

Then another afternoon as the wind blows and rocks my house with prediction of more to come in following days so I decided it’s time to dump and fill the tanks again which means time to move.  The calm morning with glorious sunrise including clouds that told a story of the predicted afternoon winds to come made it hard to go.  But like a timer set, at 11am the first puffs grew into gusts.  That was my sign to go where the wind blows me, which was north less than 20 miles to Shady Lane RV Court in Quartzsite for at least one night.