Healthy Soil Makes You Smile
July 1, 2010
In several interactions with others, the mystery of soil was discussed, and it made me rethink my approach in gardening. A basic definition of soil is: The loose top layer of the Earth’s surface, consisting of rock and mineral particles mixed with decayed organic matter (humus), and capable of retaining water, providing nutrients for plants, and supporting a wide range of biotic communities.
Letter to President Obama, Senator McCain, Senator Kyle, and Governor Brewer
July 1, 2010
Dear President Obama, Senator McCain, Senator Kyle, and Governor Brewer,
Is it getting better? Have all your efforts, building a fence, installing surveillance towers, setting up “Inner Border” checkpoints all along the border, continually increasing the size of the Border Patrol Army ( 50-60 thousand now), helped? Have they stopped drug traffic and illegal immigration? Or just monitored it? You’ve spent billions of dollars for a “virtual fence. This boondoggle has all the earmarks of a wildlife study – should have been Game and Fish monitoring the migration of the Hooded Scratched Back. A thousand passed by; eighty-seven were captured and relocated! Did anyone ask—will this solve the problem?
Letter from Terris N. Teale
July 1, 2010
I sympathize with the situation in which Ms. Tucker found herself at the border checkpoint in May. But I believe she expended too much effort and too many words writing about why she was detained rather than about where it happened. If she takes the time to think about some of the efforts that have been made to commit terrorist acts upon the United States, why would she think the detention of a traveler emitting radiation from their person or vehicle would not be detained? And, even though the request for documentation of her medical procedure, and the length of time they detained her seems unreasonable, consider the issue from the point of view of the folks whose job it is to identify possible terrorist perpetrators. If she were they, would she disregard a person emitting radiation? I imagine she would not. She would have reacted in much the same manner the checkpoint agents did. So let’s get on with what her letter likely was really all about: Protecting the Border at the Border.
M.O. Davidson and the Cerro Colorado Mine
July 1, 2010
Arivaca in the 1860s. Abandoned? That’s what J. Ross Browne reported when he came through in 1864: “Up to the abandonment of the Territory in 1861 it [the Arivaca Ranch] was in a progressive state of improvement under the auspices of the [Arizona Mining] Company’s agent. The reduction works of the Heintzelman mine were situated on this ranch for the convenience of wood, water, and pasturage, and were projected on a costly and extensive scale. Little now remains of them save the ruins of the mill and furnaces, the adobe store-houses and offices, and a dilapidated corral. We camped in the old mill and spent a couple of days very pleasantly in visiting the mines and exploring the gulches of the neighboring mountains. Game was abundant. ” But that’s not all the story. At about the time that Browne came through, Colonel M. Oliver Davidson was arriving to take charge of the Cerro Colorado Mine (Heintzelman). He was listed in the census as in residence there in April, 1864, having been named as Superintendent of the mine in late 1863, taking over from Eliju Baker. From other documents we have, we know that Browne knew very well he was there but for some reason doesn’t mention it in this book.
My First Arizona Summer
July 1, 2010
Stewart and I have learned that farming during the summer rainy season is hard. As we bake in mid summer heat of June with temperatures soaring into a scalding 109’ some days we look forward to the relief of the first rains of July but we are also apprehensive as to what the years’ monsoon season will bring. Monsoon rains come hard and fast. They cause flooding and erosion and storms are often accompanied by hail. Too much water at one time causes tomatoes and melons to plump up too fast and split. Hail can pock squash or completely destroy crops. Heavy rains make it impossible to get tractors into the field to cultivate and soon weeds, as opportunistic as desert critters, take over in earnest. Harvesting in muddy fields is exhausting. I usually start out with shoes on, but soon go barefoot. Rubber boots become so laden with mud that it is like carrying ten-pound, slippery weights on each foot. Crocks or tennis shoes don’t even stand a chance. Bare foot is the only way, but my feet soon get sore from sliding against wet, gritty rocks hidden under the slippery mud.
July/August 2010
July 1, 2010
