Desert Memories
Speaking of the
Environment
Desert Memories
Desert
Walks
"I used to take walks in the desert when
Candy was in school. I could identify most of the plants, but not one. One
was a small, gray shrub with red heart-shaped berries or fruit. They were
bright red and perfectly heart-shaped. I never marked it's location so I
could never find it again. I bought books of desert plants and never found
it." Marjorie
"I used to run to and from
school across a rocky field. My shortcut became a
challenge, as I taught myself to quickly navigate the endless clutter of
various sized rocks without turning an ankle. I picked up some of the rocks
and kept them, including a nice piece of rose quartz." Candy
"The mountains are full of caves and the
Indians used them to live in. There are lots of natural basins that would
fill with water and stay full for a long time." Marjorie
"There were old mine shafts
as well. We never explored the gypsum mines as they were actively used. But
my mom, dad and I did take a hike into the foothills of Big Maria. We found
a small cave and a mine shaft. My dad did not allow me to enter them for
fear of unstable dynamite, but we did find evidence that it was a small
copper mine, and collected some pretty peacock ore. We also found two grave
headstones. I don't remember the dates but they were very old and the names
were written in Spanish." Candy
"My dad taught us to always
carry a pocket full of small pebbles. They were for pelting the bushes and
rocky outcroppings to startle rattle snakes so we could hear them and walk
around them. In out 8 1/2 years in the desert we only saw three and heard
one in the bushes." Candy
The
Woman's Club
"I was instrumental in the integration of our
Woman's Club. I was elected president at a time when the nation wanted
people to integrate. The club used to be exclusively white, but there was
one Hispanic member. Midland had a "white section" a "Mexican section" and a
"black section". When I walked to the commissary (store), I would walk
through the other sections and say hello to the neighbors there. I knew it
was time to act. I encouraged the club members to contact these ladies and
some became members." Marjorie
"I don't think any of us kids
understood the "sections". I know I didn't. Most of us all played together.
Most of us just saw kids, not black and white and brown. If any of us kids
were prejudiced, I was too naive to see it." Candy
Our
Town & the Drive to Blythe
"Midland had a small church, a commissary, a
post office (with boxes, we had no mail delivery) a one-room library, and a
first aid headquarters headed by a nurse. The town didn't have TV
reception until later, when they put up an antenna on the top of one of the
Little Maria mountains, but we didn't buy a TV.
Doctor visits, hospital emergencies, and
shopping for anything other than the most basic items required a half-hour
trip to Blythe." Marjorie
"The drive to Blythe was
long in summer, when temperatures were in the hundreds and the only air
conditioning was '4-40' (four open windows at 40 miles an hour). I usually
felt nauseated because of the constant dips the road made in and out of the
washes (dry riverbeds that were formed by rainwater draining from the Maria
mountain range) on the way.
I loved the washes because
they were sandy and full of desert bushes and interesting boulders. But one
time we were driving home and it began to rain. Silver threads appeared on
the sides of the Maria mountains.
My dad told me to listen for
a roaring sound, because that meant a flash flood, which could wash away our
car. Once we saw boulders three feet across in the road after a sudden
storm. So here I was, a kid, trying to listen for a roar so I could tell my
dad not to drive into the wash. Talk about relief to be home!!" Candy
Ants
"I used to play with the fire
ants that lived in a colony near the telephone pole behind our house. It was
a challenge to approach the nest undetected by the huge-headed soldier ants
and perch quietly on a rock. I would bring offerings of crumbs and insects.
They were ever fascinating to me.
One day I came home from
school to find red paint dumped all over the nest. Someone had painted the
fire alarm boxes (we didn't have phones in our homes. If we needed to make a
call, there was a pay phone in the commissary). But I was upset! 'My' ants
were in terrible trouble! They were dying all around me. Surviving ants
struggled to pull dead ants from the sticky paint. They carried the bodies
off to the side and dug tiny holes with their legs. I watched in amazement as they covered
the bodies in the sand. Then I noticed a group of ants, four or five rows of
ants, with maybe four ants to a row. They were all facing forward, toward
one ant that was facing them. They were all wiggling their antenna and
making the tiniest squeaking noises. I told my mom the ants were having a
meeting and that they were talking. She didn't believe me. The next day the
ants moved." Candy
"I never believed your story about the ants
until after you were married. There was an article in the LA Times about a
scientist that discovered ants could talk. The funding for the study was
$50,000. They should have paid you!" Marjorie
Update---the ant colony is still there! After
all these years! I took picture at the reunion.
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