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 Our home in Tucson is a 1941 adobe with one-foot thick walls. And yes, they are really made of mud! So why doesn't our little house melt in the rain? Well, first of all, it hardly ever rains in Tucson (15"/year). A coat of stucco on the sides and tarpaper on the roof is enough to make these little "casitas" last quite a long time. |
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| The house is only 900 feet square and has 10 windows and 11
doors--NO wall space, in other words! But the nine-foot-ceilings
make it very airy and cheery. This house, incredibly, still has all its original, unpainted hardwood floors, doors and windows. Yes we have bars on our windows. Nobody knows if window bars are really necessary, or just a Tucson "fashion statement." Either way, you don't want yours to be the only house on the street without them!
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 All utilities are outside--electricity, telephone and even the
washing machine! Apparently, the old-timers cooked, ate and even
slept outside, with the bedposts in cans of water to ward off the
bugs! The "furnace" is no more than a pint-sized gas space heater like you'd find in a trailer house. I keep wondering if it will be enough for the winter ... and then I remember, this is winter!
Meanwhile, there's an evaporative cooler the size of a Volkswagen perched on the roof ...
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| Our
yard is deep--and full of trash--but mixed in with the scrap metal
and construction debris are some spectacular natives plants: huge
beaver-tail prickly pear cacti, palo verde with their
smooth green bark and tiny yellow flowers, a heavenly flowering
citrus something-or-other, creosote bushes and a huge overgrown mesquite tree that
will keep us stocked with sweet-smelling firewood for years to come. Mesquite-grilled tofu, anyone?
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Some Things We Like About Life in the 'Hood:
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