Signs of Spring in Chinle

Snow melts in the mountains, water runs in the canyon.

Greening mesa, birdsong and nest building (even though my phone still says 10 degrees in the AM).  Grass turns green.  One tiny patch in our back yard has taken hours of coaxing and why grass in the desert you ask?  Anything green brings joy.

Winds have started with a vengeance which means dust everywhere.  It piles up on window sills and this is just the beginning.  This will last until nearly autumn.  Gusts up to 70MPH.

Steve attacks red silt on the patio with equal vegeance and the leaf blower.

 
Spring finds us shoveling manure for the garden.   Our neighbor carts over a wheelbarrow full of chicken poop too(Maybe chick eggs will prout in our little plot ;))

One never knows what might or might not grow or survive out here.  It is cause for great frustration.

 The wind and dust and a bad knee(torn meniscus?) has me in the gym at the Chinle hospital Wellness center.  Young Navajo males all muscle and brawn..... and little 61 year-old me.  Intimidating?  You bet.  

Note 260.4 calories burned...that's lunch!

I will beat this knee thing.

And be ready to slog through the dust for a hike in the canyon when the water disappears.