Life in the Desert

Quote of the day:
“I’m a secretary. On a good day I type ninety-five words per minute, on a bad day I show up drunk in my pajamas.”
--Mary Beth Cowan

Quote of the day no. 2:
“Figure it out. Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there’s no one to live in it.”
--Arthur Miller

Southern Californians sometimes complain that the drive to Las Vegas is incredibly boring because most of it is through the desert.

The desert is far from boring, of course. And this is especially evident in Arizona, where you can watch the landscape and terrain gradually transform as you drive. Seemingly slight changes in altitude and proximity to moisture cause significant variations in the amount and type of vegetation.

The saguaro cactus may be the most obvious example of this. It is quite common in southern Arizona, but it needs a very specific climate to thrive. When you drive anywhere in the southern half of the state, it’s common to see a few growing for a mile or two, and then none for a long time, and then some more for a few miles.

If you aren’t familiar with it, the saguaro is the tall cactus with arms that was featured with Snoopy’s grandfather in the Peanuts comic strip. It’s also the state symbol of Arizona. Saguaros take a long time to grow--they don’t sprout arms until they’re 80 years old.

The organ pipe cactus is also fascinating. It prefers the very hottest part of the hottest desert. That’s why it’s confined to the Sonoran Desert, which stretches from Mexico into southernmost Arizona. The organ pipe thrives in that blazing desert, wherever there is no shade during the day.