Monsoon Stories from Monday

The heavy monsoon rains in the Southwest this last Monday made national news and prompted family and friends to inquire whether we were alright. Yes, we are, but not without some stories. Probably everyone in the Southwest has stories.

Our major story is four days suffering internet withdrawal due to the loss of our telephone connection. More on that in the It-Takes-a-CenturyLink post below, postscript 4.

The broken pieces might make a nice feature in Coat Hanger Valley.

Major damage at our portion of the San Simeon ranch was limited to one of our three large Oaxacan clay pots, blown over by the wind.

Actually, this had happened several years before. When we brought it home, I just stood it up and stuck an old century plant agave shoot in it. I figured I could stabilize it with earth and rocks inside later, as I had the other two identical pots we had set up in the backyard.

One should not underestimate the power of wind in the Sonoran Desert. The thin skeleton of the agave shoot was enough to catch the wind one night and knock the pot over. When we found it in the morning, we were devastated. Shari had painstakingly collected the pieces, glued and caulked them together, and we set it up again. I loaded dirt and rocks inside, then planted the old agave stalk inside.

It held up that way a long time, but I noticed the gaps in the repaired breaks were getting disturbingly wider and wider. Until Monday's monsoon when the repairs failed and the pot resumed its former, fragmented configuration.

Caught in the act at the
Stratosphere, Sin City.

The origin of our third story from San Simeon and Monday's monsoon lies with the idiots who laid out our backyard. It's a large area paved with concrete and brick that slopes towards the house. When it rains heavily, it floods inside through two back doors.

One should not underestimate the power of rain in the Sonoran Desert. For some reason, they too often build houses here with little regard for monsoon rain. My theory is that the long periods of sunny weather addles their critical thinking.

I had caulked strips of wood to the concrete outside the two vulnerable doors to serve as dams. Even so, when it rains heavily, I enjoy taking our shop-broom and sweeping water in the rain. The heavy rains usually last maybe ten or twenty minutes. I also had installed a two inch drain pipe that can handle the rest.

Shari, with her bad back, swept water for three hours on Monday.

Moi?  With psychic premonition, I skipped town on Sunday for Las Vegas and enjoyed the much more gentle Mojave Desert monsoon rain on Monday, leaving Shari at home to deal with flooding and the phone outage. I should add that she was happy to see me on Wednesday.