Desert Memories

Desert Memories by Marjorie Balfour & Candy

Desert Walks

"I used to take walks in the desert when Candy was in school. I could identify most of the plants, but not one. One was a small, gray shrub with red heart-shaped berries or fruit. They were bright red and perfectly heart-shaped. I never marked it's location so I could never find it again. I bought books of desert plants and never found it."  Marjorie

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"I used to run to and from school across a rocky field. My shortcut became a challenge, as I taught myself to quickly navigate the endless clutter of various sized rocks without turning an ankle. I picked up some of the rocks and kept them, including a nice piece of rose quartz." Candy

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"The mountains are full of caves and the Indians used them to live in. There are lots of natural basins that would fill with water and stay full for a long time."  Marjorie

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"There were old mine shafts as well. We never explored the gypsum mines as they were actively used. But my mom, dad and I did take a hike into the foothills of Big Maria. We found a small cave and a mine shaft. My dad did not allow me to enter them for fear of unstable dynamite, but we did find evidence that it was a small copper mine, and collected some pretty peacock ore. We also found two grave headstones. I don't remember the dates but they were very old and the names were written in Spanish."

"My dad taught us to always carry a pocket full of small pebbles. They were for pelting the bushes and rocky outcroppings to startle rattle snakes so we could hear them and walk around them. In out 8 1/2 years in the desert we only saw three and heard one in the bushes." Candy

Our Town & the Drive to Blythe

"Midland had a small church, a commissary, a post office (with boxes, we had no mail delivery) a one-room library, and a first aid headquarters headed by a nurse.  The town didn't have TV reception until later, when they put up an antenna on the top of one of the Little Maria mountains, but we didn't buy a TV.

Doctor visits, hospital emergencies, and shopping for anything other than the most basic items required a half-hour trip to Blythe." Marjorie

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"The drive to Blythe was long in summer, when temperatures were in the hundreds and the only air conditioning was '4-40' (four open windows at 40 miles an hour). I usually felt nauseated because of the constant dips the road made in and out of the washes (dry riverbeds that were formed by rainwater draining from the Maria mountain range) on the way.

I loved the washes because they were sandy and full of desert bushes and interesting boulders. But one time we were driving home and it began to rain. Silver threads appeared on the sides of the Maria mountains.

My dad told me to listen for a roaring sound, because that meant a flash flood, which could wash away our car. Once we saw boulders three feet across in the road after a sudden storm. So here I was, a kid, trying to listen for a roar so I could tell my dad not to drive into the wash. Talk about relief to be home!!" Candy

Ants

"I used to play with the fire ants that lived in a colony near the telephone pole behind our house. It was a challenge to approach the nest undetected by the huge-headed soldier ants so I could perch quietly on a rock. I would bring offerings of crumbs and insects. They were ever fascinating to me.

One day I came home from school to find red paint dumped all over the nest. Someone had painted the fire alarm boxes (we didn't have phones in our homes. If we needed to make a call, there was a pay phone in the commissary). But I was upset! 'My' ants were in terrible trouble! They were dying all around me. Surviving ants struggled to pull dead ants from the sticky paint. They carried the bodies off to the side and dug tiny holes with their legs. I watched in amazement as they covered the bodies in the sand. Then I noticed a group of ants, four or five rows of ants, with maybe four ants to a row. They were all facing forward, toward one ant that was facing them. They were all wiggling their antenna and making the tiniest squeaking noises. I told my mom the ants were having a meeting and that they were talking. She didn't believe me. The next day the ants moved." Candy

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"I never believed your story about the ants until after you were married. There was an article in the LA Times about a scientist that discovered ants could talk. The funding for the study was $50,000. They should have paid you!" Marjorie