[AGL] Houston Retort

[Gerry]

During my many years on the road I used to observe the dark brown haze
enveloping cities as I approached them. Lord, Lord, I would think, people
live under those clouds and convince themselves that it is OK, that the
clear days make it all defensible, that their lives are good. At some point
I could no longer accept that perspective and I moved out of the cloud.

Here in the desert the nights are quite cool and that coolness lingers in
the adobe and strawbale houses until evening. After midnight it starts
getting cool again. No need for A/C, just a house that holds the cool and
sometimes a ceiling fan. I am addicted to this cycle and have grown to love
the desert, way out where there is never a brown cloud and the mornings are
delicious.

I always hated the Texas weather and the dependence on A/C. When I was a boy
there were very few homes with it, just business'. Remember the Vulcan Gas
Co.? You talk about hot! 800 sweaty, writhing bodies, used to sweat through
all my clothes. Outdoor work in the daytime was punishing but I did my share
of it when there was no other choice, once steam-cleaned air conditioners on
a concrete slab in the afternoons. Now I relish outdoor work and burn brown
in the garden each year. By 4PM there is lots of shade on my little place.
Now, if we only had some of those West Coast showers.

So dry here at present that the Forest Service has closed most of the hiking
trails in the mountains. The big pan of water I put out for the birds and
the cat is half empty by the end of each day. And, of course, there is a new
resident skunk and ground squirrels who share the water. I would like to
have a time exposure film of the activity around that source in a day's
time.

Some of the regular birds are late this year, may not come. I have spotted
Vermillion Flycatchers in the orchard,  just one pair. Saw a Robin yesterday
gathering straw for a nest. So nice to see them. Mexican Black Hawks have
not arrived. Northern Harriers still around, must be lots of cottontails
this spring. The preponderance of life last year that came along with the
flood shifts so radically with the drought. Makes you appreciate the rare
wet years but not necessarily to relish them, I am still making bonfires of
flood debris deposited here last February.

No sweat in the desert,
G


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Ford" <jonmfordster at hotmail.com>
To: <austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 6:26 PM
Subject: Re: [AGL] Houston Retort


>
> Houston is the hottest, muggiest, most humid swamp of a city on the entire
> gulf coast, definitely in the top three in North America. It has always
been
> like that, a miserable place for humanoids to live. The main reason it is
> still inhabited is the air conditioner. Take away A/C and the population
> will go away. It is literally a life line for human beings who live
> there.--Gerry--
>
> Hey, Gerry is right-- Houston is a real hole. On the other hand, I'd say
the
> weather is pretty horrible in most parts of Texas (way too hot!). That's
why
> I live in the California Bay Area-- moderate temps, maybe a little too
much
> rain and fog,but nice breezes, and no mugginess. I have never lived in a
> house with an air conditioner since I left Texas in 1968.
>
> Jon
>
>
>