A Strange Awakening

I will wager none of you has ever arisen as promptly as I following my strange wake-up call! It happened only a few nights after our return to Borrego following a two week vacation. The moon was full and brightly shining into the bedroom ...normally a sound sleeper, something must have bothered me. A noise? An odd sensation? Something strange, for sure. I woke up and immediately KNEW that something was on my arm. I flicked my arm away from the bed and actually SAW A MOUSE fly over the bed and land on the floor! I opened my mouth and shrieked, shrieked, shrieked, waking the household. The mouse ran under the closet door with the dog close behind. The time? 3:18 a.m. We looked and looked, in shoes, behind luggage, under the bed , around the room. No mouse. The dog was certain it was in the room but it had found a safe haven and is probably still in the house. Just another adventure in the desert.


LET ME IN, LET ME IN!
Can't blame the mouse for wanting to come in and take a look around. It had happened in the past, when children had left the door open all night. Another time, the screen came out of the drier vent and they again gained entry. Both times, more than one was present so, now, if we see one, we assume their brothers and sisters are also inside. Anyone who has had a mouse in the house knows how fast they are. They seem to only run along the sides of a room, along baseboards. Often you see them but deny your sighting. If you are watching TV, reading or are otherwise occupied, you just think you've seen a shadow or imagined seeing something. That's how fast they are.


LOLA ALWAYS KNOWS
However, THE DOG ALWAYS KNOWS! She jumps up , sniffing and wagging her tail and on the hunt. She has caught mice before, but the only way we have devised to get rid of them is the Have a Heart live traps. The animal enters, lives and can be put back in the yard, unharmed. Our trap has had a lot of use and when the small creature within looks at you with his tiny black shining eyes,you are so happy you did not resort to poison or sticky glue traps! Once, the trap captured more than we had barganed for-a female had given birth during the night to four little babies! The release is always a satisfying activity and makes us feel good.

LIVE TRAPS AND ULTRA SOUND EMITTERS
Mice, squirrels and other rodents can ruin a house. I am reminded of a snow-bird's house in DeAnza which hosted squirrels during their absence. Upholstered furniture was completely destroyed. Tiny rodents can enter through an opening the size of a nickle. Vents should be screened and checked frequently, as should cracks under doors. Garages also should be checked...look for scat to detect habitants. We have found the ultra sound emitters to work well in our garage.

We consider living close to desert wildlife a great privilege. The sights, surprises and close encounters make desert living irresistible!

Update

Morning of August 26th. It worked! Not one ant could be seen anywhere - and we were happy in the knowledge that no poison needed to be sprayed or placed around the house or grounds but was, instead, carried to the colony by the little pests, themselves. For us, ant traps are the lesser evil of insect control.

Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, influenced my views on pesticides many years ago. Though many new pesticides have been introduced since then and have been considered "safe", you only have to look at the record to see the myriad problems resulting from insecticides. Remember, DDT, once acclaimed as a miracle product was subsequently banned from use.

The more food you can grow in your own garden is a benefit to you and your family both financially , health wise and it also can offer you peace of mind ! For example: The other day, we drove through Coachella Valley and noticed acres and acres of citrus trees coated with a whitish dust - not from a dust storm but from some chemical. That sight made our little home vegetable garden and fruit trees seem like a wondrous gift. We are assured that anything we harvest from our garden will be healthful and safe to eat!

Small, Medium, Large

They come in all sizes - some are almost microscopic - others vary - extra small, small, medium, large and extra large - just like tee shirts. If they bite you, you experience a hot stinging sensation. They seem to appear when you least expect them and often go about their unwavering chores and duties when you are away on vacation. They are inside and outside here, in Borrego and often attack a desert gardener ferociously. They are extremely active during this time of year and we are trying to cope with them, at present. I've found them before, in my vegetable garden, entering the tiny crack in a melon or covering some gooey unknown. Sometimes, they run along the top of a hose or other times, swarm in the thousands when I have disturbed a nest with a trowel or shovel. I've always ignored them before and never used insecticides in the garden, thinking that they MUST do some good - perhaps loosening soil or harvesting weeds. The big black varieties, seen in the desert, I am sure do not harm much and actually cut down weeds. They leave many hills and underground tunnels. In spring, you will often see a " fairy ring " of green grass, marking their abode. Many old tunnels will collapse under foot, if you step on one, similar to rodent tunnels. By now, you have guessed I'm talking about ANTS!

We went away for a few weeks and returned to find hundreds of ants in the kitchen. During summer, if we leave for a period of time, we leave the swamp coolers on timers to keep the interior of the home moist and to keep the indoor plants healthy. I believe ants like this type of environment because several times, after a vacation, we have experienced the same problem...but never before, this acute. These ants are voracious feeders. They bite through sealed plastic to get to the food in the package. They have a taste for almost anything but seem to prefer dry dog food, crackers, honey, cheeses, meats, fish or oily products. Looked at under a lens, they appear to have a multicolored body - red and black. Their bite, in every way, is as fiery as the garden ants! To combat them, we bought two different types of ant traps available at the Center Market or Ace Hardware. The ants completely avoided the ant traps on stakes and, at first, skirted the little plastic igloo traps. I thought the traps might have been lacking in moisture so I added a few drops of water to each trap. Now, they are actively feasting. We have tried this technique before and it has always worked. If all goes as planned, within a few days the ants will disappear as if by magic. In the meanwhile, all potato chips, honey, crackers, cheese and snacks are in the freezer for safekeeping.

If all else fails, we will call Earl Pratt, the person who solves Borrego bug problems!

The Vegetable Garden, Big Plans

Staying mostly in the house, due to the heat, but venturing out early morning to pick squashes...only four plants giving us way too many squash! Still picking melons and watermelons starting to mature. I have been pouring over Burpee's catalog, planning next season's garden. Called them and asked if they had last year's seed order on file...they did, and I determined the succulent, juicy melon, a heavy producer, and the unknown in the photo is creme de la creme - the best melon we have ever tasted...and it seems to love Borrego! We weren't much impressed with our cantaloupe, though ( they were too firm, even when ripe ) so have put honey bun hybrid on the list for next season. Fordhook limas , golden heirloom beets, bull's blood beets, super sugar snap peas and am trying sugar snax hybrid carrots. The carrots are longer and thinner than the carrots I grew, this year. The soil in the planted beds is so loose and good, I expect they will do well. Haven't decided yet on chard, lettuce and spinach. Plan to plant herbs where the corn was planted.

Melons are hard to spot, even in the raised beds. The vines are thick and I have been piling vines on top of each other in the raised planters. That method is keeping the melons out of the hot sun but making them harder to find. Every time I pick up vines to look under them, I notice white flies but they haven't seemed to have harmed anything, yet. I am placing immature melons on top of flat rocks, to keep them off the moist soil.

Early Shade

Where else except Borrego Springs would you expect an answer to the question, “ You get early shade, don’t you?” In the desert, we LIVE by the sun- as did the earliest desert dwellers, both human and animal. On the west side of Borrego Springs is a massive, rugged , rocky mountain range, the San Ysidro, which rises abruptly to an elevation of 6, 132 feet and looms over the tiny town of Borrego Springs. If you are a peak climber, find San Ysidro Mountain by refering to the topo map, Borrego Canyon USGS quad. The mountains are granitic- strewn with gigantic boulders . Anyone who has entered Borrego Springs from Ranchita via S-22 can attest to the numerous huge rocks along the route. Many Borregoeans have given whimsical titles to favorite rocks...the monkey, smiley face, the wave, split rock, needle, tilting rock, the fish, the whale and sitting squirrel are just some of our pet names. People driving the eighteen mile stretch from Ranchita to Borrego for the first time often refer to it as a “white knuckle drive”, but the road is much improved from the first time we used it, when there were few pull-outs and just a low rock retaining wall on a few curves. First time visitors to our desert home have arrived with hair standing on end and vowing not to come that way again, but even they become used to the curvy road and soon enjoy the unmatched views offered by S-22! Most Borrego folks refer to it as merely “the hill”.

Perhaps my imagination is extra vivid, but , after a vacation away from home, when returning from the east, along the Salton Seaway, as we get closer and closer to our tiny little village, I swear the mountains have grown during our absence. As we pass the elementary school, Roadrunner, then the Circle, the mountains look larger, larger, LARGER! As we move closer and closer, I tell my husband, “ They have grown...I’m positive !”. Paul Remeika would agree...those mountains are growing! Do you think I can really discern the difference? I am sure I can!

These mountains provide what we call “early shade”. Along with micro climes within Borrego are what I call macro spaces. The early shade areas typify a macro space. Examples of other macro spaces would be blowing dust areas, sand dune areas...even Sahara mustard growing areas! Those of us living at the foot of the San Ysidros absolutely experience shade before the rest of the basin. Parts of Indian Head Ranch, De Anza Country Club, Palm Canyon Campground, The Estate area, and Tubb Canyon area all experience early shade as the sun drops behind the mountains. During the fierce August heat, we live by the shadow, often postponing a swim until the pool is shaded. One of our favorite summer pastimes is to watch the shadow move east, little by little, covering the valley in shade. We love to see Font’s Point still in the sun while we are in the shade! Gently, the shadow moves east until the entire area lies in shade. If you listen carefully, you can almost hear the sigh of relief as the desert welcomes the coming evening hours...a coyote howls in the distance, rabbits emerge from under the citrus trees, birds chirp as all of the summer desert dwellers give thanks to the early shade!