Someday I’ll get back to history

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A Medjool Date Palm

As most of you know, I love the real life stories that make up the history of the Southwest. But, my time is now taken up with living through what will be tomorrow’s history.

While most of California has been very quiet as we try to stay at home, I live in an agricultural area where life goes on with many, many precautions. We have fruit trees, dates, figs & sweet limes, so we’re in a “Critical Infrastructure Industry. ” We wear home made face masks, wash our hands constantly, & try to talk to our workers at a distance, which is a challenge to my hearing as I get older. My knees and back are also complaining.

Often the beginning of April is marked by a heat wave, and the attendees of the Coachella and Stagecoach Music Festivals walk around sporting lobster red sunburns from standing in the sun. However, this year even the weather is sad this year as the sky cries rain. I took this picture during a clearing in the middle of the storm that is slowly making it way east.

To anyone who reads this, STAY STRONG & WELL. I pray we will all come out safe on the other side.

Published by History Trover

I grew up in the Coachella Valley; my parents were "heavy earthwork" contractors, mostly building government projects, so I spent a lot of time on the back roads of the West. I'm a graduate of Vassar College (history major) and the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary. Retired from the Law, I now grow dates, sweet limes & figs on the family ranch, and am the State Senate appointee to the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy.

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10 thoughts on “Someday I’ll get back to history”

  5. We grew date palms, tangerines, grapefruit, pomegranate, and alfalfa at the family farm In the Imperial Valley. Our farm was located across from Imperial Valley College at the Southwest corner of Ira Aten Rd and Old Hwy 111. We never missed the Indio Date Festival which was a 90-minute drive north on the 111 past the scenic Salton Sea which was much healthier in those days.

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  6. Yes, it did change over the years. Our farm was bordered to the south by Cruikshank Rd., and to the west, the Central Main Canal. IVC was built in ’61. Then we were faced with eminent domain as the state granted right-of-way to the power company to build transmission lines across our farm (for which they did pay rent). In 1992, The Pioneers Museum moved to the site where our house once stood.

    I agree, the weather has been sad this year. I know, people will say, “We need the rain,” but isn’t it so depressing? I mean, that’s why we have rivers to bring us the water. Right? The mountains and higher elevations collect the snow and rain, the lakes store the runoff, and the Colorado distributes the water. At least, that’s what I was taught in geography.

    In any case, I live here for the sun! Take care, be strong, stay positive, ignore the headlines, and fill your home with good music and laughter. You know, people tell me, “You should watch that movie, “Containment.”

    Why?

    Why should I watch a fictional movie that only elevates the stress level of living through a real-life pandemic? That’s not healthy.

    No, I choose to laugh and stay positive.

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  7. “Laugh and stay positive;” those are great words. The other slogan I’ve like is “take the I out of illness, substitute we and you have wellness.” We’re all in this together.

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