The Tucson trip was successful in terms of all the work done on the house. It didn't allow for any real play time and a lot of what I had hoped to do, with a whole month to be there, didn't happen. I can't believe how fast the time went.
The complication was the heat. Most of what Farm Boss had to do was outside and with temps above 100°F, he really could only get that work done during the mornings and evenings. The energy that might have gone into hiking simply was gone then for doing much else.
My plans had been to visit the Arizona State Museum for research-- didn't happen. Spend time at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum for wildlife photos-- quick trip but no photos. Hike a lot-- nope.
What did happen was a lot of great landscaping and repairs; so that the house looks much better than when we arrived. Also Farm Boss got work done on his consulting business, and I had many beneficial hours writing with one more book now out on Kindle and a couple of trailers either done or on their way.
Some ask why do trailers if they don't sell books. Well I don't know if they do sell but here's the why-- it's more places to have the book titles show up. Frankly the biggest problem for an indie writer is getting their work seen at all. Every single place you can put them, is a benefit. It's all about marketing, marketing, marketing because without that, the books disappear from view.
We also had one very nice day-trip down in the San Rafael Valley. That is the Old West even today (although some of it is very yuppified). It is wild and potentially dangerous with long distance between water sources, roads with very little traffic, and the potential of meeting up with smugglers (warning signs up from the Border Patrol in the most likely areas).
That country brought back fond memories to me as when Farm Boss was at the UofA, we would go out there with our friends (parapluie and fisherman) and walk up the gulches looking for minerals. Back then the only danger would have been rattlesnakes, falling, or getting lost. I don't think I'd hike up those gorges these days.
We had one amusing moment in one of those places. I heard a turkey gobble but didn't see it. Farm Boss stopped the truck and I gobbled back to the bird. Then the bird would gobble again. Each time I'd make the sound, he'd reply but didn't come out of his tree or hiding place. It was funny and so I laughed... Big mistake. After that when I gobbled, he didn't reply. I would say he was a little put out.
When I have time, which will be next week probably, I'll put together some of those photos from that day into a video. I was thrilled with all I got and want to spend more time there... Which might happen if we get back down this year sometime... or might not. There is a lot to do up here too.
15 comments:
On Kindle? Must check that one out! The desert is lovely but gets hot so early in the spring. Glad you feel like you got some work done.
That Heat sounds so oppressive--especially when work has to be done outside....You are both very brave, by my standards...
I look forward to seeing the pictures---The Desert is so beautiful this time of year...!
No laughing at the turkeys please!
That was a fast month!
I very frequently buy books after sampling them on my Kindle. It's a good thing to do.
Nice to read your more personal take on Arizona, with all the negative press the politicos are generating. I can't believe what is going on, but maybe it's due to insanity caused by being out in the sun too long.
There are some very nice people in Arizona but unfortunately too many either don't vote or are being duped as nobody can justify what has been happening and totally from the Republican party. I am hopeful that Ron Barber will get Gabby Giffords seat in the special election. Every time I saw the sign for the 'other' guy, it was irritating as it tried to equate Obamacare with damaging Medicare. So vote for him and save Medicare. No Republican is out to save Medicare, but how much attention will the voters pay to facts and do those kinds of signs scare the elderly?
An example of the niceness of Arizonans was when we were in the southern part of the state, our only fun day-trip actually, and on a lonely gravel road, a white truck came the other way, slowed and opened his window. We stopped and had a lovely chat with the guy who reads the meters in that area. He was smiling and wanted to talk about the area and what we thought of it-- It's gorgeous.
Our neighbors down there are why we can rent our home as a vacation home because they are so good at taking care of things and just lovely people.
But who can deny what the right has been doing with their attacks on Planned Parenthood, even their Secretary of State wanting to deny Obama the right to run in Arizona based on the phony birther thing Arapio did. You can get really mad at a state with so many elected officials doing such things.
But I also sympathize with some of the problems they have had on the border. I think though under Obama that has been way reduced. We used to see illegals being bused every trip. This time all we saw is Border Patrolmen all over the rugged outback country.
That was a very fast month, rain. It does seem too hot to get much work done. Here in the foothills, the temps get hot like that too in the heart of the summer. We get the outside work done really early, and then hide out in the cool house.
I spent one summer in Phoenix. I had a car with a black interior and no air conditioning. I had just moved there from Oregon. That summer knocked me out. I've never been back. I'd like to try it again, though. The desert is such a rich and beautiful place.
When our children were small, we would come down here with a car that didn't have a/c and a small vacation trailer again with no a/c. They spent a lot of time in swimming pools and we had a few really miserable times like driving up out of Death Valley with scorching heat and to not damage the vehicle, Farm Boss had to turn on the heat. I was so miserable I was in tears. It changed our plans and we went to Grand Canyon before Tucson. In May that kind of heat doesn't last that long-- usually. By June it's every day and no change until September sometime.
I do not understand why we can not be better neighbors with Mexico. The reason so many try to sneak into the United States is because living conditions appear to be better here. If we were better neighbors, we would figure out which optimal manufactured products are most suited to us and which are better made in Mexico in regards to geography. Choosing products close to raw materials and easy routes for shipping the product to markets. Considering energy conservation is the right thing to do for the planet, the right thing to consider when selecting what industries should not be out sorced and which ones will make our neighbor rich enough to buy our products. The right neighborly thing to do for the world! Where everyone cares about each others country, unhealthy migrations would stop. Populations from have not areas would not swarm to a richer area which would become poorer.
It is not bringing in workers, Diane. It is drugs going one way and guns the other. With 49 headless bodies again found on the Mexican side of the border this month, this is not something you can fix by neighborliness. Dangerous people run drug syndicates and it didn't help with America sending guns down there. There are very few immigrants coming up right now due to no jobs. That does not make it safer because drugs still move.
Legalize pot and it would be a start to solving a piece of it.
And we cannot dictate to other countries no matter how we might think we know better ways. Look at how countries like Afghanistan treat women. Neighborliness has nothing to do with it. It's about religion. One nation cannot dictate to another's sovereign rights.
Dealing with corporate raping might help not just our country but the world's where you have the richest man in the world in Mexico and also have the poorest of people.
and our rich eager to exploit others here and anywhere else. It's not new but can't the world find a better answer to it?
that month flew by! With that heat, I can understand not hiking and getting other things in. Still, sounds as if you two had a productive time with some needed 'down time' as well. Though I hate heat, I do like that it forces me inside to take it easy!
I live in an agricultural area and we do need the Mexican workers in the fields. What the US needs is a worker visa that will allow them to come into the country for six months to work, leaving their families in Mexico but sending some money down there. At the end of the visa time the worker would return to his family in Mexico where they could live much better than up here on that same amount of money and the worker would know that he (or she, but not whole families) could return for the next season.
I thought that was a priority on Obama's to do list but as far as I can see, there was nothing done. I think the state efforts in Arizona relating to illegal immigration are mainly an attempt to force the Feds to do what they said they would do. It really doesn't seem that it is all that complex of a problem, at least as far as farm workers from Mexico are concerned.
Farmers who need the workers, homeowners who want reasonably priced gardeners, shops who need clerks, etc. they all need to pressure their states and the feds to get the worker programs. Right now Obama is cracking down on illegal workers in this country and that should pressure those who care to get on the ball to get rules changed. If he didn't do what he did, he'd be accused of being soft on crime, etc etc.
The biggest problem though are the drug cartels. They have killed reporters, murdered anyone in their way and they are about a lot more than workers in our country. They are vicious, highly trained in what they do, and not all Mexicans!
Farm workers need to be legal; so they have rights. the ones who haven't wanted it that way just wanted cheaper labor.
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