Low Tech Again

What the heck is the "make your phone your wallet" thing?  Is the new eye(I)phone going to have a compartment for bills and credit cards?  That would be pretty cool except for when you put the phone up to your ear and your wad of cash is interfering with reception.  You genius fellas at the fruit named tech device company are probably liking this cash compartment idea and starting to work on it right now.  You've got to get the bugs out, i.e., be sure the cash does not cover up the internal antenna.

Here is a low tech solution:  Just invent an eye(I)phone shell that is hollow.  It looks like the prestigious phone, but no innards.  It opens like a cigarette case and you put your money inside it.  It could have internal pockets for bills and credit cards.  There you go.  I made your phone your wallet.  It just isn't your phone any more.

How's your cell phone bill?  I think my cell phone is the cell phone company's wallet.  Whenever they need money, they tap me.  Maybe the slogan should be "make your cell phone our wallet."  This is a short blog.  I don't want to go over my allotted minutes.

Breaking a sweat in the 100 degree heat,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011

100 Degrees

It hit 100 degrees here yesterday afternoon.  The weather folk predict 100 degrees again today.  Then below 100 for a few days.  June appears to start with a string of over 100 degree days.

It has been an unusually cool May.  The 100 degree days can start around the beginning of May.  We made it to May 27 below 100.  You have to understand that when it is under 100 degrees we are not complaining about the heat.  It is a dry heat, i.e., the humidity is low so it does not feel as hot as it would in a high humidity climate.  In fact, a few degrees over 100 can be tolerable if you stay in the shade. Weeks of days over 105 degrees get intense.  Sometimes the weatherman tells us how many days in a row it has been 105 degrees or more.  I hope for a cool summer.  Everyone here laughs at the idea.  By "cool" I mean days primarily under 100 degrees.

We can't remember the last time it rained.  Its been that long.  Monsoon rains usually come after July 4th.  That's not a hard and fast rule, but it is fairly accurate.  Those rains are heavy and of variable duration, sometimes as much as 4 inches at a time, but usually an inch or less. 

It is dry now.  How dry?  Your skin feels dry all the time, especially face, hands, feet, lips.  The air you breathe is dry.  The inside of your nose is dry.  The earth is dry.  The plants are dry.  The coyotes are lean.  The cacti are starting to slim down a bit.  A drink of cold water is the best drink you can have.  Laundry dries on the line in more or less one hour depending on sun and wind conditions -- two hours tops, even for blue jeans.

Stay cool,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c) 2011

An Invite

Got any invites lately?  Anyone invite you to dinner, a dance, a wedding?  I did get invited to a nice dinner at a fine home with an interesting host and hostess.  The food was organic.  There were exotic mushroom in the mixed vegetables and small black things that looked like little tiny pieces of cooked mushroom, but the hostess said it is fungus.
Mushrooms are flowering fungus (as are molds!), but this black product is just fungus.  Fungus are in the kingdom Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, bacteria.  Yeast, used in making wine, beer, and soy sauce, is fungi also.  Fungi have been used in the production of antibiotics and biological pesticides. Many species can be toxic to humans and other animals.  Kingdom Fungi contains approximately 1.5 million species.  Less than one-tenth of these have been formally classified.

Hostess gets the dried fungus and crumbles little pieces into the food.  I'm not sure if it needs to be re-hydrated first, or it re-hydrates itself while cooking.  The pieces were so little that I could not distinguish a specific taste.  The red (actually orange) lentils had a nice texture and a subtle hint of balsamic vinegar.  The quinoa was cooked to perfection.  Quinoa is all about texture, too.  After this meal and after-dinner conversation I slept better than I'd slept in a long time -- seven hours, maybe more.  I felt refreshed in the morning and went for a hike in the desert hills.  It was a wonderful day.

Now I'm sending you an invite.  You are invited to send your comments.  I am told I have the power to post your comments on my blog. I know that this month there have been readers from Germany, Denmark, and the USA.  Got comments?  What do you like about this blog?  What do you dislike?  How's the weather out there in Denmark?  Do you sleep well in those long summer days?  Do you folks in Germany have any cacti?  Any City Slickers in the USA out there?  NuYawkas?  Cali surfers?  [That Cali is short for California, not to be confused with Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction.]  Bible belters, corn belters, hip folk from Seattle, San Francisco, Manhattan?  Anyone up there in Maine?  Anyone down there in Texas, Florida, New Mexico?  Let me know you're out there.

Shoutin' out to all of you, and you're invited to shout on back.
Waitin' for your comments,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011

Got Sleep?

Is anyone out there sleeping a solid 8 hours anymore?  Heck, I'd be happy if I could sleep a solid 7 hours.  Six is not enough and 4 or 5 leaves me especially drained.

There are the neighbor's wind chimes clanging at any ungodly time of night the wind chooses to gust.  What on earth possessed them to get those 6 foot long wind chimes that sound like Westminster Abby on a Royal Wedding day.  There are the neighbor's dogs barking, the coyotes hollering, some kid hot roding around.  When one dog starts barking, they all join in.  Some fool decided to have a loud party with high volume, bad music broadcasting for the displeasure of those of us trying to sleep.  If you manage to get some shut-eye in the early morning, the newspaper delivery vehicle that needs a muffler is making the rounds, and sometimes, on a Sunday morning, some one will run a power tool at the crack of dawn.

Let me tell you City Slickers, roosters do not only crow at the crack of dawn; they crow all night long.  And out here we have pecker birds pecking on metal in the early morning.  Those birds manage to find some metal near the bedroom so it is loud and irritating.  With all that racket, you might as well just get up, even if it is still dark.

The early morning hours, three, four, or five AM, are a nice time of day.  The air is clean and cool.  Open the patio doors and turn on the radio.  You can pick up radio broadcasts from distant cities.  Learn about the traffic in San Diego or the temperature in Albuquerque.  Hear shows about UFOs, Jesus, ghosts, politics, and news.  The far-away radio signals sometimes fade as if blowing away in the wind. Try dial switching and you may find that station again.  A pastor in another state is asking for money and reminding you the the Lord loves you.  O Lord, if you love me, grant me a solid 8 hours sleep.
Amen.
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011

Got Cookies?

I was cleaning up and cleaning out the junk in the mysterious cyber places in my computer.  The computer can do some big clean up jobs if you ask.  I got some shocking results.  I had 264 cookies!

When I say "I had" I do not mean I ate them.  I mean that someone or something is tracking me in a big way.  I don't know whether these are 264 different cookies, or repeat cookies from a handful of sites I visit over and over again.  Either way, that is more cookies than I eat in a year.

I thought I deleted them, but I know some sites require cookies be enabled, so I think they are back.  Psycholinguisticly the use of the cute, likable term "cookies" makes them appealing and even desirable.  Want more cookies?  Just one more?  They're free.  Another won't hurt.  They don't even have calories.

If I were a computer geek, and I were to invent a bigger, badder, cookie, I would call it a "chocolate cookie" to make it even more appealing to the average unsuspecting low techoid.  The really super strong cookies could be "cookies with icing" or perhaps even "cupcakes."  Cupcakes are really trendy.  They are hipper than cookies.  Just remember you heard it here first:  the newest super sleuth tracking device, "cupcakes" has been upgraded to "cupcakes with icing."

The cupcake knows where you go.  Are cupcakes with icing compatible with Windows Vista?  Cupcakes and Apple?  Cupcakes and eye(I)phone?

Cookie crumbs and happy trails to you,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011 

Forwarded email

This email got forwarded to me.  You know the sort of cute and trite things you get from some of your friends and associates.  I do not know whether this email is a true story or merely instructive, but it is worth the few minutes it takes to read.  I hope it makes you think.  Let me know what you think.
Yours truly,
Southwest Desert Blogger 

 

Two Choices:

What would you do? You make the choice. Don't look for a punch line. There isn't one.  Read it anyway.  My question is, "Would you have made the same choice?" At a fund raising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?" The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child." Then he told the following story: Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps. I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.' Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!' Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . The right fielder was the smallest guy on their team and now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay' Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay, run to third!' As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team "That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world." Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day! AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces. If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the 'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.' So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process? A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats the least fortunate amongst them. You now have two choices: 1. Delete     2. Forward May your day, be a Shay Day. MAY GOD BLESS EVERYONE WHO DECIDES TO PASS THIS ON IN MEMORY OF SHAY.   Happy trails to you,  C.

Flowers in the Southwest Desert

Some of you remember when I purchased my 99 cent store flower.  Here it is, going strong.

  my 99 cent store flower  

I am so pleased with this purchase.  If there are more of these at the 99 cent store next time I am there, I will pry out the old wallet and purchase another.  The color is even more vibrant in person than in this photo.  It thrives in a partially shaded location with watering when dry.  The pot is a six inch diameter at the widest point.  The plant is just over seven inches tall.  The flowers are long lasting and as you may guess from the size of the pot, it does not require much water, although I tend to overindulge it with a nearly daily glass of water. 

Contrast that with some free cactus flowers. 

  cholla flower, 1.5 inch diameter, with wilted  flowers and bud below 

This is a very wicked plant.  You do not want to get too close.  Notice the sharp, needle-like spines.   The spines are modified leaves.  The spines actually shade the plant.  I am using a stick to hold the arm of the cactus down low enough to get a photo of the flower and all it's delicious yellow pollen.  Until corrected I will state that this is a cholla, a spiny cactus with cylindrical stem segments, of the genus Opuntia.  There are over 20 species of Opuntia.  Cholla are native to the Southwest United States and Mexico.  They are found in all the deserts of the Southwest.  Different species have adapted to different elevations and conditions.  They are indigenous to the Southwest Desert.  No additional water required.  

The word cholla may come from obsolete Spanish, old French, or Germanic words.  Because the double "l" in cholla is pronounced like a "y" as in the word tortilla, I will bet on Spanish derivation of the word.  Say "choy'-ya" and "tor-tee'-ya" not "choh'-la" or "tor-til'-la".

The prickly pear cactus is also a species of  Opuntia.  There are said to be about twelve different types of prickly pear in the North American deserts.  Here is a yellow flower typical of one of the many prickly pear in the Southwest Desert.  Notice all the flower buds behind the flower.   

"smooth" prickly pear flower, 3 inch diameter: notice the tiny dots on the "pads" are tiny clusters of very fine spines 
The prickly pear typically has flat "pads" that are like round or elongated pancakes, one connected to the other.  The pads will vary in size from one type of prickly pear to another, from as small as 2 inches, to as large as 13 inches.  Some varieties of prickly pear, such as the Southwest Desert's plentiful Englemann's prickly pear, have long, easily visible clusters of needle-like spines.  The smooth prickly pear does not have easily visible spines.  The little yellow pin-head size dots on the pads are clusters of very fine spines (see photo above).  You do not want to get the fine spines on your skin as they are quite hard to see and remove.  Those of us who live and garden here either become very graceful and avoid contact with cacti (plural for cactus, pronounced kak'-tie), or we learn to remove spines when we can, and live with the spines that we cannot remove.

Prickly pear pads can be cooked and eaten.  I am not that hungry but it's nice to know it is there if I need it.  The fruit of most prickly pear can be eaten or made into jams, jellies, syrup, and candy.  But let's face it, they add sugar or some other sweetener to the prickly pear fruit for most commercially viable products.  Prickly pear juice is said to have healthful properties.  I have nothing against products with healthful properties, it's just that so many of them are just so darned expensive.

In some stores prickly pear fruit is called "tuna."  Think: chicken of the desert.  Don't tell the ahi.  The fruit often has very fine spines, so watch out when handling it.  To protect your fingers from the spines, you can hold the prickly pear fruit with pliers, or any tool you have that functionally resemble pliers.  Are you that hungry or that curious?  If you want food with a lot of procedure for a small reward, you can always opt for artichoke.

I hope you are inspired to learn more about the wonderful world of Opuntia or perhaps just make yourself a tuna sandwich.  Either way, take time to enjoy the flowers.    

A special howdy to the folks in Malaysia who read my blog, and a happy trails to all you readers in the good old USA.

Yours truly, 
Southwest Desert Blogger
C.  (c)2011

Low Tech and Proud of It

Yep, I'm low tech and proud of it.  No smart phone here.  My phone is dumb as a stump.  No texting; it's a phone; you're supposed to talk using a phone.  You want to type, get a typewriter.  When did phones turn into typing devices?  Does it seem like we are going backwards disguised as progress?

No tweeting.  I'm not a bird.  And what is the international obsession with Facebook?  Why do I keep getting emails from friends urging me to join Facebook so that I can see the photos that I do not want to see anyway.  Why would I want to friend popular strangers who don't give a damn about me?

I want to get a beautiful paper card in the snail mail.  I will display it and enjoy it's beauty.  I want to hold quality stationery in my hand and read your thoughts.  I can read it when my computer, phone, or eye(I)pad [if I had an eye(I)pad] is turned off.  I can reread it as I please and save it in a special box with other paper letters and cards that  please me.   Cards and letters are tactile and visual.  No pressing keys involved.

I want to hear a voice on the phone.  I want to laugh with you and respond spontaneously in real time.  I want to hear the joy in your voice when you answer your phone and recognize my voice.  I want to hear your voice on the phone saying you got my voicemail and were so happy that I called.

I promised myself that I would technologically challenge myself by posting a photo of a blooming cactus in today's blog.  I want to show you my cactus flowers, but they bloom so briefly.  They are so ephemeral that if I do not stroll in the garden areas at the right time of day or night, (yes, we have night blooming cacti), the flowers will wilt and shrivel in the heat.  So, enjoy today's flowers.

Wishing you were here,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011

Talk About the Weather

They finally got Osama so let's talk about the weather.    It has been unseasonably cool for the past 2 days.  That's wonderful.  We are looking forward to the start of 100 degree days any time now.  There are contests to guess when the mercury will hit 100.  But it is a dry heat, so anything under 100 is tolerable.

Let me clue you in about how to survive the desert in summer. 
-First rule: Stay in the shade.  If you have to walk, or choose to walk, look for the shady side of the street, the shady route, and walk in the shadows. 
-Second rule:  Get a large brim hat and wear it. 
-Third rule:  Close the blinds, shades, drapes, or any other window coverings you have during the day to insulate your home.  Windows are a puny R1 which is just a little better than nothing, so any way you can help keep the heat and direct sunshine out is going to make your home more comfortable.  Folks used to put aluminum foil on windows.  Is that illegal now? 
-Fourth rule:  Wake before dawn and get going early.  That's the coolest time of day.  You want to get as much done before noon as possible.

That's it.  You want 10 Commandments, read Moses' blog.