April 13 -- desert storm

Actually the storm was after I posted yesterday's blog. Just before dinner, we noticed a dust cloud coming from the north along the shore. We moved stuff inside because the wind was picking up and soon we were in the middle of a dust storm. Unfortunately we did not close all the windows -- our bedroom window and the bathroom windows were open and there was find dust over everything -- you actually left tracks on the floor when you walked.

Guess what was for dinner ? or rather, guess who was preparing dinner -- me -- barbecue -- well, that was a challenge. With the sand and dust whipping around I had to cover everything in and out, but I expect that we did eat some sand -- my grandmother always used to say "you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die" -- well, we didn't injest a peck last night ...

Today the only remnants of the storm were high winds -- and I mean high winds -- riding my bike north on 5, I was challenged to keep my speed over 10 mph -- but on the way back, I could cruise at 30. I turned around after 25 miles because a) I was tired of struggling against the wind and b) I didn't want it to switch direction before getting the benefit of it on the way back.

Right now, as I look out over the sand bars left by low tide, there is barely a ripple on the water. Earlier there were good sized waves and whitecaps.

Speaking of the tide -- it is really something here -- the difference between low and high tide is about 15 feet, varying of course depending on the phase of the moon. The first 6 feet simply exposes some of the steep slope about 20 feet from Arlene's place, but then the rest of the drop exposes a couple of hundred yards of sand flats, and we have not even seen the lowest tide according to the calendar. I suppose that the effect of the tide is magnified by the length of the Sea of Cortez.