Questa notte

The winds have been out of control for two days now. It is just an integral part of springtime in New Mexico but it gets very tiresome.

I mean, y'all know I waited until we were supposed to be past freezes (and only one week after the last one) before planting vegetables. Well now my tomatoes are blasted by desert wind all day long, and half the night.

Tonight's forecast:

Mostly clear. Windy. Lows in the 30s to mid 40s. West winds 25 to 35 mph becoming northwest 10 to 15 mph after midnight. Gusts up to 45 mph.

This, mind you, is after the severe weather advisory was lifted at 8 PM. Hah!

We all know about mad dogs and Englishmen being the only ones to go out in the midday sun. Well, what about the evening gusts? Mad bears. Yep.

I have been thinking about setting up a trellis perpendicular to the south wall near where one enters the yard from the side of the house. The area between the houses is a bit of a wind tunnel. I figured if I could get some vines going that this would provide a bit of a windbreak to protect the likes of the America rose on the south wall that has been so battered by wind and cold that I am not sure it will ever be healthy again.

So I have my eye out. I was thinking maybe another grapevine as they grow so rapidly and some other vine or two. Honeysuckle, whatever grabs my fancy.

Yesterday evening at Home Depot I noticed some rambler roses looking healthy. Tonight I bought one. And another Thompson seedless grapevine. The winds were crazy (the wind actually opened the balcony door of our office several times today as though a ghost were walking in from outside). But I waited for them to die down. A little before 8 PM, when the wind advisory was supposed to lift, I went outside.

The wind had not relented, not even a little bit.

But I had the plants and decided I would not put this off.

So as it was beginning to grow dark I dug an eight-foot-long trench. At the spots where the vines would go I had to take a small adze to break the clay and sand up to enlarge and deepen the hole. I filled the trench with lovely compost. And I planted them with the wind howling around me. Their trellises are behind them, reinforced with 2"x2" stakes driven into the ground. A few other plants are in but most still wait to join them. When the winds die down in a few days I will add a 4'x8' trellis behind the current supports so they have lots of room to sprawl but it was too windy to even think about that tonight. Everything would have been blown over by tomorrow morning had I tried.

So I planted until about a quarter to nine.

I have rewarded myself with the very last of the Easter chocolate and some congratulatory rum. these are consumed with the sand in my teeth.

Mad. Absolutely off my chump.

If anyone has suck, please stop the winds. Thx.

--the BB