Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Don't Have a Plow Guy Any More

I was just reading something about a plow guy in New England. I love that phrase, "the plow guy." We used to have a plow guy when we lived in New Hampshire, and he was an important part of our life because he meant that we could get out into the world again after the snowstorms came.

Waiting for the plow guy; buried Volkswagens in our New Hampshire driveway. Of course, the plow guy would plow only the driveway. It was up to us to rediscover our little cars under all that snow
and dig a path from them to the scraped driveway. All this might be happening before driving to work on a Monday.
Is it any wonder we love being retired in the desert Southwest?

Now that we live in New Mexico, I guess the plow guy's place has been taken by the adobe guy, who is an important part of our life here in the desert because he knows how to keep our adobe buildings from melting back into the earth when the monsoon rains come.

Waiting for the adobe guy; melting adobe garage wall

In some parts of the state, women traditionally did the adobe maintenance, re-plastering the old walls by hand with new mud every year. Where we live we have the adobe guy, who has saved our poor old neglected garage by spraying the adobe bricks with a stabilizer. Remember, we only got here last November, so we weren't responsible for the condition of the garage. We are working through our list of home improvements as fast as we can.

Adobe detail; part of an earthy lifestyle in the desert

And before you worry about us living in a big, messy mud puddle--the adobe bricks of our main house are covered firmly with an earth-colored stucco that keeps the whole business from melting away in our spectacular summer rainstorms. 

5 comments:

Jean (aka Auntie Bucksnort) said...

Having lived in NH and ME, I have fond memories of watching snow fall and the quiet of a windless snowfall. Not so much once it landed on the ground and buried everything and hid ice patches and turned to ugly brown slush in the spring. But watching flakes falling like "snow white" feathers really was magical.

becky said...

Wow, Clair, what a difference in weather from New Hampshire to Las Cruces! How cool that you live in a real adobe house!

JC said...

No matter where one lives there is always something ....

We have MOSS everywhere.

Nan said...

Just the same, but different. This was a wonderful posting. I keep hoping when Tom retires he will buy a great new truck and put a plow on it, and have a number plate that says, 'plowboy' - so far I haven't convinced him. :<)

Deb from WhatsInMyAttic said...

I never gave it a thought...the upkeep on an adobe home! I'm guessing it's like everywhere else: the upkeep on a home is directly proportionate to it's charm and character! We lived in a 150 year old home for 5 years. It about did us in. You are living an adventure out there in the desert!