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 My home in Tucson is a 1941 adobe with one-foot thick walls. And yes, they are really made of mud! So why doesn't my little house melt in the rain? Well, first of all, it hardly ever rains in Tucson (12"/year). A coat of stucco and a tarpaper roof is enough to make these little "casitas" last quite a long time. |
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| The house is just 800 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. It still all its original, unpainted hardwood floors, doors and windows. Yes there are bars on the 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 a pint-sized gas space heater like you'd find in a trailer house. Meanwhile, there's an evaporative cooler the size of a Volkswagen perched on the roof ...
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| The
yard is deep and full of spectacular natives plants: huge
beaver-tail prickly pear cacti, palo verde with their
smooth green bark and tiny yellow flowers, creosote bushes, a lovely lemon tree, and a huge overgrown mesquite that
will keep me supplied with sweet-smelling firewood for years to come. Mesquite-grilled tofu, anyone?
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 Some Things I Like About Life in the 'Hood: |
