Homer'sWorld

Well a month passed. After I received my second vaccination I had a slight rash, and a weeknlater a couple of weird days of probably unrelated hives. But now I am safe from Covid and it is a weird thing. Still wearing a mask around strangers though.

Vaccination rash.

Early in the month Matt and I went up to Casa Grande National Monument, only to find it was closed on Sunday. As we were driving there I spotted this BLM mural on the abandoned Selma Cotton  Gin. I was surprised to see it, Eloy is kind of a redneck community. Matt noted the many bullet holes.

BLM Mural.

Spring is turning into Summer, my house is gradually heating up. It is difficult to sleep, not helped by Clyde scratching at the door demanding to be let in and out. The cactus bloomed, it was pretty, the blooms are ephemeral, lasting only a day.

Purple cactus, yellow flowers in my front yard.

Ironwood blossoms.

Matt and palo verde tree blossoms.

The dig came to a somewhat frantic end. I completed excavation of several houses, finding interesting architecture and artifacts. This Hohokam site was unusual, not what we expected and many one-of-a-kind finds. At 57.5, I can still dig an entire pit house in a few days (faster than the kids!). It was time for the work to be done, at least that is what my hands tell me. One of the fingers on my right hand is numb from a pinched nerve and the metacarpal for that finger aches, perhaps from a stress fracture.

The silt at the site covered me every day.

One pit house that I excavated had a dense layer of trash at its top, with very silty soil down to the floor. Large amounts of small animal bones, so I screened through 1/8 mesh, finding a lot of bird bones and tiny beads. A number of shell ornaments also in the fill (see below).

Excavated pit house.

Ring pendant and shell lizard from the pit house.

Shell bird head and sun burst from the pit house.

Shell "bow tie (probably a stylized butterfly) from the pit structure.

A Hohokam pottery sherd from a neighboring house.

One night I woke up in the middle of the night, looked at my phone, and discovered that a 30-year-old man I was acquainted with had been murdered. Hunted down by an 18-year-old brat in broad daylight while out walking near his home. So David is dead, his mother and brother devastated, and this little brat is going to spend most of his life in prison. I did not know David very well, it was still a shocking thing. I think of the other people I know who were murdered- Phillip from grad school, the woman from the Mission bus tour, the disabled guy from across the street. It all seems so random and pointless.

The Safeway had rhubarb and I bought as lot and made two pies and a cake. I perfected making pie crust, although they don't look as nice as Martha's. The trick- freeze the butter, grate it, and incorporate it into the flour.

Rhubarb pie.

My hoya plant, which I grew from a cutting from the going-away present plant Grandma F got in 1947, decided to bloom a few weeks after I drenched it in the shower, washing dust off the leaves.

Hoya blossom.

The Presidio Museum is having an auction in August to raise money, so I bid on some things and ended up getting things for myself.

I stopped by Patrick's house to get some cigar boxes and it was nice to talk with him. I have only seen him twice in the last year. I have hardly seen anybody, but as people get vaccinated that is going to change. Currently 41 percent of eligible Pima County residents are vaccinated.