Undesertly

San Francisco Bay. Digital Photograph. © 2006 Shawn Kielty. All rights reserved.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Old Bag's post about the the OBJoes. So I am going to start calling women on my blog Janes.

This past week is interesting. I went to San Francisco -- saw old friends. When I was young the bay was never healthy like this. It was sick and dirty. I went for this hike with my friend John ... Later I turned down a fair offer to stay there. Why? You might ask. Several key personal issues, among them, the new Jane, who is becoming a friend (for those of you that remember the old Jane ... the new Jane is not the old Jane, she's the new Jane). In all fairness, the truth is that I don't feel prepared to leave Arizona -- I am just not done here -- and I felt incredibly rushed and annoyed by the implications of urgency and ... other things ... to be found in that offer. I dread the bad commutes and expensive houses. And the long hours. And frankly there's the new Jane.

I am now earnestly trying to teach the hoppy bird to say "Hi Jane" for the second time. Just in case the new Jane wants to come over. The Hoppy bird asked me today if I had changed his name to a girls name without asking him, because I keep calling him Jane. "Hi Jane."

He wants to know what happened to the cat. He says "Hi girls" (in the old Jane's voice -- I might add), but there are no girls left. Pearl the Cat ran off into the desert during last week's monsoon with a crazy look in her eye, the same way her nutty sister did, and hasn't been heard from since. I think it must be a spell cast by a coyote. So now I am catless. The rodent population is on the rise, as are the rabbits, quail, doves and rattle bull snakes, not to mention scorpions. Maybe I should start encouraging the bobcat to hang around and play. Since there are no cats left to harass the birds -- I have started filling the feeders again (this should perk the birdchick's interest -- maybe I should get a bird cam). I had to stop feeding the birds previously because Pearl the Cat turned it somewhat abstractly into a cat feeding. Now -- it's becoming an oasis here -- especially with the irrigation for the three palms going. "Here at Three Palms Oasis, East of Pheonix ..."

You might notice that I have grown more aware and comfortable here in the Valley of the Sun, in just two years it has grown to feel like home. I have managed to make a few friends here, and like the fact that it's hot enough to fry an egg on the sidwalk every day. I don't know what life would be like without my ever happy hiking buddy to work out with once or more a week. I am glad that our acquaintance grows into a friendship. The friendships have been slow to develop. But there they are. I am growing these roots -- and suddenly I am feeling like I have two homes. I have grown to know the birds, plants and wildlife. I sweat freely and frequently. I know the desert just as well as I know the freeway map of the San Francisco Bay Area.

I rode in to town to spend dinner with the new Jane. My odometer vanished. The best guess is it's like riding to work, so ten each way. Half in daylight, half in the dark. She offered to take me home -- what was I thinking, when I said I need to ride.

Jane? I can hardly wait for you to come over.

Date: 17 June 2006
Miles Riding: 20.00
Weather: 108 °F. SunStars.
Ipod: Fleetwood Mac, The Way that I feel.
Bike: Commuter.
June Bike Mileage: 142.03