Tucson Monsoon - July 2013


Last week we had a Tucson monsoon.  I was working at the hospital.  When I came out of the hospital the monsoon was over, and only the puddles remained.  While driving home I saw two large trees were knocked completely over by the road near my house.  When I got home I was surprised to see this.



This bush was perfectly healthy before the monsoon.  It grows like a weed, and looked great in the front yard (with the emphasis on the past tense).  Jami thinks it may have been hit by lightning.  Maybe it was just the wind, I don’t know.  I already lost a tree in the front yard (that was dead before we moved in), and the bush in the background has seen better days (lost some branches due to underwatering).  I didn’t want to lose another plant on my watch.  So I got resourceful like MacGyver.  I got out my always faithful rope, and asked Jami to come outside and help me.  She said, “You’re not going to tie that bush back together with that ghetto rope, are you?”  My dear wife knows me so well.  She pushed the bush back together, and I tied it in place.  Many thanks to first and foremost my Dad for teaching me the trucker’s hitch knot, and secondly to the Boyscouts of America for teaching me many other basic knots including the clove hitch and two half hitches which were used in fixing my bush.  Jami and I laughed as we worked, and at the ridiculousness of tying our bush back together.  Here is the finished product.
It looks pretty good.  I tried to cover the roots back up, and I poured water over them.  So far the bush seems to be doing pretty good a week after it got split in two.  Here is the ghetto work inside the bush.

Hopefully the bush makes it.
            Then when I went to check the garden in the back yard I found that five of our corn stalks were knocked over by the wind.  They are just starting to produce ears of corn for us, so I wasn't going to let that happen either.  I solved that problem with a similar solution. 




Lincoln and Atley had a great time working outside as well.



Since Atley was already in the stroller and Lincoln was on his bike with the helmet, I decided now was a good time for a walk, especially with the rain having cooled everything off.  I was surprised to see the wash was actually running with water in it—cool!  It was the first time I have ever seen water in the wash, and the water was moving very fast.  It was so nice to hear a river flowing.


 
 
 

Lincoln spotted this toad while we were out walking.  Toads come out after it rains.

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