late at night again, and I'm out on the cool porch enjoying what has been a cool summer. the rain has let up a little. the valley is scorching as usual. but i came back from the valley - went down to el paso, to take my son to the train - and the desert, greener than usual, was also scorching as usual. you could drive on the fresh tar that was smooth but felt like it was sticking to the tires, or drive on the funky old road that felt like it would rattle the car a little. and it was a long desert. it snakes through this one town, orogrande.

orogrande is famous because it has a bar, and is the only town in that part of the desert for a hundred miles. well, one year they had a murder, and since the population fo the town is only about ten, they had a murder rate of 1/10 for that year, or even for that week. it was the highest murder rate in the world, possibly the highest ever anywere. and all because of one guy, presumably.

so i came through orogrande both ways; on the way down, we were held up a little by the fact that they were carrying some monstrous two-laned machine down the road, at a reasonable speed but still less than the 75 we could have gone if they'd picked some other day. on the way back, it was much smoother. the customs guy asked me to open my window, because he didn't believe i was alone. but i was. there was nobody hiding in the footwells of the back seat. back out into the blazing sun, i rolled into alamogordo where i finally mailed a covid test and then up the mountain and home.

the covid is really putting the pressure on people, especially on the schools, because they're well aware that one kid who walks in the door can infect the whole school, and we're sitting in a community that is maybe only half vacccinated and it's not the kids' fault if their parents are too dumb to take care of them. the school feels obliged to watch out for them, particularly if they are too young (<12) to even get one, but the school also knows that if they're unvaccinated, they'll take that covid home and get the parents, and it will indirectly be their responsibility. it's ravaging the town as we speak. it's coming around to about everyone.

i enjoy the night quiet. it's a busy time, but, i think i need a bit of mountain air to relax into it.