Pete and I have been living in Coyote Howls for almost two months now and I have to say that I have
grown to love the place. Not so much because of the scenery and
vegetation which is not so good but for the people that live here in Coyote Howls, the village of Why and the small town of Ajo (pronounced
Aw hoe). True to the name the coyotes howl at night several times
a night....and they prowl around hoping to make our chihuahua Tilly a
meal...so we are very careful with her.
It seems that all the trees,bushes
and plants have thorns on them..the ones that are native to the
Senora desert....and many of the creatures are poisonous like rattle
snakes, scorpions, and Gila monsters. Truthfully have not come across
any of these. Besides the coyotes ...are wild burros, and javalina
pigs which I have not seen yet but have heard the burros heehawing in
the distance ….there are also pronghorn antelope and tiny deer ,as
well as jack rabbits and white tail rabbits. As for birds...hardly
any that I know except for the screechy doves and a vireo that
visited us one day as well as humming birds.. The weirdest bird
being the Road Runner. They are very large and one ran into our
place the other day. Stopped and looked at me for five minutes then
ran on.
I miss the Great Basin which is a
high desert with its miles of sagebrush which I love and real trees
and animals that I know. Yet what I like about here as I mentioned
before is the people and the conveniences.
Seems most of my life I have spent
putting out fires and the fires just got bigger when I married Pete.
It seemed that anything that could happen ...did happen...to
us....and we were just plain tired when we drove into this place set
up for Rvs and trailers and retired people. Many younger
people park here as well as it has so many amenities …..
Coyote Howls sits next to the
village of Why with the main gas and goody store called the Why Not
really caters to the people here..most
being snowbirds as very few spend the summers here as the summers reach up
to 120 degrees. There are a lot of trailers and Rvs here....small
houses on wheels and even tents,vans and cars that people are living
in..The range goes from wealthy to the poorest guy living out of his
car....We fit somewhere in the middle and probably more on the poorer
side of the spectrum.
For 550 dollars a year you get a
very large lot...at least 40 feet by 40 feet with a water hook up.
You do need your own source of electricity ...we have a generator and
solar panels that Pete makes very cheaply......and we intend to have
enough of them to spend the summer here with a swamp cooler and a
window air conditioner as a backup. It will be a very strange
summer as we will be part of a handful of people who stay.
The other amenities we enjoy are
the 25 cant hot showers that go a whole five minutes. Cheaper and
easier then heating up your own. And restrooms all over the place as
well as a laundry. A tank dump for black water,a number of trash disposal
bins,a golf course and a mini golf course,shuffle board court,,,picnic
areas. A computer room a kitchen with fridges and freezers that you
can use, a community center where people go to jam(lots of musicians
and artists here)and the thing that draws a lot of people is free
internet...although gets tied up at times.
Coyote is a couple miles from a national park called Organ Pipe Park and we are 28 miles from the
Mexican border.
With the closeness of Mexico and
sitting right next to an Indian reservation we have a lot of border
patrol running around.....which at first bothered me but now it is
just part of the makeup of this area. They have all been friendly
and kind and we have had no objection to them...but sometimes their
helicopters annoy me...but that is not ongoing...just once in
awhile....
What annoys me is that every so
often the air force nearby like to bomb certain areas or give us a
sonic boom....but also does not happen so often.
When we got here on Oct 9 the
temp was in the low nineties but zoomed up to 100 degrees in a few
days. Was a little warm but we were here a little early as I will
explain later. Still we came here because the north was cooling down
and we did not want to put up with snow or minus zero temps.
Now this last week as proven to us that
one can acclimate to the climate and when it plunged down into the
seventies I was shivering. (I am sure my friends are feeling very
sorry for me as they are suffering from temps in the twenties) I
have been told that the coldest part of the year is in January as the
temp lies somewhere between 35 and sixty...chilly but warmer then
most of the rest of the country.
The mountains surrounding this
area are very strange and I am not sure I would call them mountains.
It looks as if someone dumped piles of rocks and boulders and then
the cacti and bushes grew all over them. We are making yard art
with these rocks as all you have to do is dig them out and cart them
home.. We have been making circles of rocks on this dusty ground and
filling them with rocks,cactus skeletons and such. We have had
people drive by and take pix of it and we have actually only started.
I also intend to build a castle and and a water wheel in my pretend
brook. (No flowing water in Arizona just dry gulches but I can
pretend.) Any who will be taking pix of these rock formations as we
build them.
By the way after writing about
the wild pigs above actually saw one yesterday...a baby pig. Told
Pete that I thought I saw an opossum or a a armadillo but they have
neither of these animals here...and as I thought about it realized
that it was a pig. Also we saw hoof prints in our yard as Pete leaves
carrot gratings out for the bunnies and we thought deer were coming
and eating them. Wrong again it is those little javalina pigs. No
more carrot gratings for the bunnies as the piggies leave calling
cards as well .lol
The winds have not been a
problem until yesterday and we really got hit with some heavy ones.
Lots of dust swirling up and over everything but by night died down
so was glad of that. I do have a great fear of a dust storms as I
have been through a few in Utah but everyone has said that they
have never seen one here so I feel better about that.
Our neighbors on both sides are
Canadians ...many Canadians down here and are very friendly
and kind.....have no complaints. I can think of only one person that
I do not like but no one likes him so no big deal. In fact have found
most of the people living here and moving in are kind and helpful...a
first for a very long time...and so refreshing to be surrounded by
caring people.
The management is fantastic
here...if it were not for them this place would not be so
comfortable...they are angels as far as I am concerned. They make a
place like this for those who have no home so very livable.
Another option if this does not
appeal to you is coyote Howls Rv park with all the hookups. This
will cost you 1700 dollars a year...but you can live in it for six
months during the summer for 600 dollars an option that we have if
our solar panels fail.
I will tell you about the village
of Why and the town of Ajo when next I write and as soon as I get a
chip will take pix....love this place.
Kristina
December 8, 2017
Thank you very much. I am up here in Tucson. We have a lot of the same wild life. There are things i like about such a small place but usually i like a larger town like tucson better. I have no car. Having a good bus system to get me around makes things easier. Yall drop into tucson any time and say hello. brothercraig64@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteThank you very much. I am up here in Tucson. We have a lot of the same wild life. There are things i like about such a small place but usually i like a larger town like tucson better. I have no car. Having a good bus system to get me around makes things easier. Yall drop into tucson any time and say hello. brothercraig64@gmail.com
ReplyDeletethank you brother craig lol I am sure Tucson is lovely but just too big for me
DeleteI am enjoying your stories and love the place more each time cant wait for some pictures that you take....x
ReplyDeletethank you my lovely friend....I do love writing and have many stories to tell...life has not been boring
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