Adobe Architecture, Aeroplane Graveyard, Decorated Car, Gila Monster, Hummingbirds, Lotusland, Martha Schwartz Design Garden, Prairie Dogs, Pueblo Indians, Rio Grande, Roadrunners, Route 66, Wild West.
Adobe Architecture
Many cultures have used adobe or mud brick rendered with mud plaster to construct dwellings. Both the Spanish and the native American Pueblo Indians used adobe methods of construction for their buildings. After the colonisation of the south-west United States by the Spanish, the two different building traditions were combined to create a unique style which over time has come to be known as Santa Fe style.
Historic links
The Pueblo Indian style developed directly from the cliff dwellings of the Pueblo ancestors (the Ancient Ones), which were made from mud brick built into the sides of mountains. The Spanish, who occupied New Mexico from the early 1600s for some 200 years, developed and modified the building style they discovered in the region. Modifications they made included sculptured wooden doors and Spanish terracotta tiles on the roof to protect the mud bricks from the rain. Drainage systems were also improved to take water away from the roof and the mud brick walls.
Mud Church
Adobe is not only used for houses, it is also the building material of public buildings. The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (or the San Francisco Mission Church) at Taos, near Santa Fe, is an adobe or mud construction. It is considered the finest example of Spanish Franciscan architecture. It is one of the most photographed churches in America.
The church was begun in the 1700s and completed in 1815. It is built in the shape of a crucifix. Its monolithic shape has been derived from the huge buttresses that support the walls. In places the walls are 2m (6′) thick. There are only two doors and three windows in the entire structure.
The simple elegance of the design of the structure also served defensive purposes, as the mission churches of the Franciscans were fortresses as well as places of worship as the native people refused a ‘peaceful’ conversion to Catholicism.
Santa Fe style
Today Santa Fe style architecture is characterised by simple, clean lines and shapes that are in harmony with nature. Wooden windows and doors, sometimes painted, have introduced colour to the otherwise subdued earth tones.
The Santa Fe style has become popular world wide over the past 50 years. Architects, including the pre-eminent Frank Lloyd Wright, have adapted the style to modern living.
In Santa Fe today a strict building code maintains the uniformity of the Santa Fe style by limiting the height of buildings and restricting materials and colours to earthy tones in the mud or cement rendered adobe buildings. Even the trim of the wooden windows and doors is prescribed by the local council. The colours can be either brown, blue or white to symbolise earth, sky or cloud which melds the community together.
Maintenance
The elements partly erode the earthen construction. While winds can scar the walls, the primary problem is the combination of the extremes of winter temperatures with rainfall. Traditional mud rendered buildings need regular and on-going maintenance. Today the mud is being replaced by a cement finish that maintains the colours but requires less maintenance than the mud.
With the Church of St Francis of Assisi, regular maintenance is carried out each year. In June the locals gather to replaster the surface of the building with a mixture of dirt, straw and water. The new protective surface is hand-applied.
Further reading: Under the Sun Desert Style and Architecture by Suzi Moore with photographs by Terrence Moore (Bulfinch Press Book, Little, Brown & Co, 1995 – ISBN 0-8212-2226-0).
Visitor details: The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi is 6km outside Taos, New Mexico.
Aeroplane Graveyard
‘Burke’s Backyard’ visited a place known as the aeroplane graveyard. It is actually a place where planes and helicopters that were once part of the US defence forces are mothballed or decommissioned for spare parts.
It is located near the Davis Monthan Airbase on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona.
To preserve the planes should they be needed again in the future they are parked on a hard desert surface in a climate that receives little rain. The interiors are filled with silica and the exteriors are covered with white vinyl to protect them from the harsh desert sun. There are well over 5000 planes as well as parts stockpiled at the airbase.
Visitor details: The airplane graveyard is on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona near the Davis Monthan Airbase.
Decorated Car
Kathleen Pearson has a car which would stop you in your tracks. It’s an 1983 Ford LTD that’s a monument to Americana. It is encrusted inside and out with more than 4800 items, including figurines of debutantes, pretzels, harmonicas, cartoon characters, buddhas and psychedelic patterns, all held onto the duco with silicon glue.
Kathleen, who is a painter, sculptor, watercolour and collage artist, describes the car as ‘moving sculpture’. It has been a work-in-progress for seven years. She says she decorated her car to ‘match her spirit’.
Kathleen believes that art should be taken out of museums and galleries, and be made accessible to the public. She says she has been influenced in her art by the work of Pop Art guru Andy Warhol.
The Ford receives a largely positive response from other motorists, and has never been pulled over by the police. Despite being a work of art, the car is washed at the local car wash with a pressure hose, and is not garaged.
Bisbee, Arizona
Kathleen lives at Bisbee in Arizona. She says she first heard of the small town in 1979 and moved there a few years later. Bisbee has gained a reputation as an artists’ colony, and has many unusual attractions such as an original 1950s diner, still functioning as a restaurant.
The diner was imported from California by an enterprising couple, Ed and Rita, and restored to its original beauty. Nearby, the couple keep a collection of reconditioned vintage caravans, including the classic silver ‘Airstream’, whose shape mimics that of an aeroplane fuselage.
Visitor details: Bisbee was recently voted in the 100 top residential cities of America. It is located 45 minutes away from Tombstone, Arizona.
Gila Monster
Gila monsters (Heloderma suspectum ) are one of only two species of venomous lizards in the world. The genus name Heloderma comes from the Greek meaning warty skin. They have been popularised by wild west cowboy movies and western folklore. They produce venom in their mouths, in their lower teeth, as a defensive weapon but it would also subdue larger prey.
Appearance
Gila (pronounced ‘heel-a’) monsters are a similar shape to the Australian blue-tongued lizard. They are stocky with broad heads and have small, bead-like scales. They are typically black with varying amounts of yellow and pink spotting. The lizard’s broken colour pattern is a camouflage but also warns potential predators that they are venomous. Their short, stumpy tails store fat to aid survival during periods of drought.
The venom
Gila monsters have venom glands in their bulging lower jaw (unlike snakes, which have venom in fangs in their upper jaws). The individual ducts lead from the glands to each of the lower teeth which have grooves in the front for carrying venom. For humans the bite of a gila monster results in localised swelling and severe pain and may cause vomiting or faintness but is not usually fatal.
Habitat
Gila monsters inhabit a variety of habitats but are most often associated with rocky slopes in the desert scrub, grasslands or oak woods of the US. They hibernate in burrows in damp soil of canyon bottoms, spending 96% of their lives underground. Gila monsters live for 20 years.
Temperament
Despite their fearsome appearance and reputation, gila monsters are quite gentle. When provoked they will bite but they will primarily hiss a warning and back away from any potential predator. Their dangerous image is part of the popularised Wild West of cowboy movies and Western folklore.
Breeding
Mating takes place in summer and mated females deposit one to eight eggs in a shallow depression dug in damp sand shortly before or during the rainy season and the young hatch one month later.
Pet potential
The gila monster is not considered an endangered species but it has been protected in Arizona since 1952. They are kept as pets in America and sell for as much as US$750. The banded gila monster sells for about US$2000.
Feeding
Gila monsters feed on eggs, defenceless prey or young mammals. They also eat ground dwelling bird eggs and desert tortoise eggs. Their high protein, high fat food is converted into fat which is stored in their tail, sustaining them through nine or more months of hibernation.
Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are named for the audible whir of their wings. They are remarkable for their tiny size, the speed at which they can beat their wings as they hover over flowers feeding on nectar, and because they are the only bird able to fly backwards.
These native American birds are not found in Australia but frequent the southwestern region of America as well as parts of Central and South America. There are some 112 genera and 320 different species of hummingbird.
Appearance
Hummingbirds are tiny birds with a long beak for extracting nectar. They come in many different colours and range in length from 6cm (2.3″) to the giant hummingbird (Patagona gigas) at 23cm (9″) in length, of which 3.8cm (1.5″) is bill.
The bright colours seen in hummingbirds are an optical illusion. The feathers are blackish and achieve the superb colour variations of red, blue, green and myriad of other colours through diffraction grading (in the way colours can be seen on the surface of a compact disc).
The wings of a hummingbird can beat up to 80 times a second allowing them to fly at up to speeds of about 50 kilometres/hour (30 miles/hour). These birds can also fly backwards, using their broad tail as a rudder allowing quick, precise flight and aerial acrobatics.
Their heartbeat is about 1260 times a minute, however, when they sleep or if the weather is cold, they lapse into a torpor that lowers their body temperature. At this time their heart rate can drop to 36 beats a minute.
Temperament and life expectancy
Most species of hummingbirds are described as obnoxious, anti-social and territorial but different species can have differing temperaments. These birds are not kept as pets but are often attracted into gardens within their natural area of distribution by the planting of nectar rich plants or the setting up of feeding stations.
Hummingbirds are relatively short-lived birds that live for only three or four years in the wild.
Feeding
Hummingbirds are voracious feeders, snacking about every 10 minutes on insects, spiders and nectar. They have the highest metab
