Progress Notes
Summer comes to the Mojave Desert
by
, 06-01-2012 at 07:29 PM (8816 Views)
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It is 9:30 AM. The temperature is 92 degrees. It will be 100 degrees by 2 PM. The humidity is 12%.
Sometime in the Spring, the pale yellow color of the Winter sunlight turns a richer shade. That is the first sign. Grass begins to grow on its own, very fast if you water it at all. Then you no longer need a jacket or sweater when you go out in the morning. Soon, you start to arrange your activities so you can be someplace with air conditioning in the heat of the day.
Winter trips out in the desert are marked by cold winds blowing sand. Now, there is a heat that presses on the back of your neck like an insistent hand. Any wind is a drying wind you can actually feel drawing the moisture out of you. They say bring two gallons of water per person for a day trip in the desert. They aren't kidding. If you are out there in the heat of the day you will drink one quart of fluid an hour and still feel thirsty.
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Every plant and animal that survives here has adapted in some way to the extremes of climate every year. Shade and breezes are coveted no matter how small.
The climate is inhospitable, challenging, daunting. Some people cannot wait to get out of here and go elsewhere. Some of us would never be happy anywhere else. I remember long ago coming down out of the mountains around Flagstaff Arizona and into the northern boundary of the the Sonoran Desert. Something washed over me like a ripple or a tremor when I was surrounded by that very first patch of desert. Words came to me, "This is it. This is home. " And so it has been ever since.
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