Cooler weather brought with it a bellowing fury during the night. At 2:30am the increasing buffetings on my trailer shot the dust backwards through my air-conditioner and window cracks. I looked out the door and the air was orange with dirt. Mercifully, I had the ever-usable duct tape nearby and in a few minutes my wall was airtight.
Too late. A fine dust film coated everything in my room that was face up, desk, toothbrush, pillowcase, floor, etc. But even as I stood pondering in a still-somewhat sleep-like stupor, the first heavy raindrops began to fall. Soon torrents removed the orange tint from the air, leaving the air in my room the dustier, compared to the air being cleansed outside by the rainfall as I watched from my door.
I left the door open and went back to sleep, hoping the dust in the air would decide to join the rest of the elements outside. When I left for work in the morning, I could already feel the plants contemplating a good pollen season motivated by this overnight deluge, and the air in my room was clean.
Can you imagine the soldiers that are out in the towers along the wire, or even worse perhaps, out on patrol? The turret on top of the humvees remains open just about no matter what the weather. The guys manning the guns literally eat a lot of dust for us. On the good side, I’m sure the bad guys weren’t able to pull anything off either…anyway, that’s life in the desert.
1 comment:
I've been sharing your blog with friends.
Thank you for balancing the news.
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