In a message dated 5/11/00 12:23:17 AM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< meaning that the air coming over the top of the mountains is as dry as a
bone, and that is where I live. >>

Cuyler,

You live at the top of the mountain (I would think more likely at a somewhat
lower elevation) or on the Eastern side of the Cascade Mountains? I never
lived in Forest Hills or Cayuga Heights though I have an aunt who lives on
the edge of CH across from a golf course with, I think, the idea that
affluence creeps geographically. At least I know she creeps. My interest in
the Sonora Desert is that I lived for a while on the Warm Springs Reservation
in Oregon. I knew that I was in desert. There was not much in the way of a
library with resources on local geography, flora and fauna. I did read
Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" while there, a memorable encounter at the right
place with a great book. I was not aware of the hazardous vermin other than
some irrate natives that would visit us late in the night wanting to party.
For a while I was living in a tarp on a mesa up behind the restaurant
(Alice's, Alice Florendo) that I worked at. I had an incident in which I was
missing for two days as a result of my being paralyzed and hallucinatory,
stuck under a tarp in full sun. I have often wondered if I was not bit by
some small critter in the night. One night we drove 65 miles in the snow in a
lemon yellow T-bird to The Dalls (sp?) to see a Disney movie but when we got
there it turned out to be triple X. We went anyways. Another memorable
experience. I was a year underage and allowed to go to the movie -- I can
still remember a few of the scenes and shards of the plot, but was thrown out
of the bar we went to following the show. I had an opportunity to stay in
Warms Springs long term, offered twenty acres and a horse, but moved on,
hitching back to Ithaca. Another story.

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