Essays

Moseying: Living La Vida Llanero

Pioneering in the city – adventures in urban ecology
April 25, 2007

Deborah and I have been slowly but surely refurbishing a house near downtown Midland. Deborah is in charge, for she has a passion for the process. She has opened my eyes (and my mind) to “urban ecology.” Ecology is often defined as the study of relationships within the natural world, but we use a definition that states ecology is a study of relationships between associated things over time. The history of houses and popular architecture is part of the ecology of a town.

The house is stucco over a pier and beam wood frame and dates to 1938. For many years it was a rent house and according to a neighbor, “It went unloved a long time.” An absentee landlord only allowed minimal upkeep. We are not sure what to call the style – but labels such as Pueblo Revival, Spanish Revival, Spanish Revival, or Spanish Eclectic tell the story – it is a flat roofed house with stucco exteriors. Inside is an arched doorway and arched ceilings over the bath and vanity.

In other words, the style of our house is associated with indigenous Southwestern architectural history. I was raised in another flat roofed house, hand built by my father and uncle, so it also brings back many wonderful family memories. Flat roofs can be extra outside living space – and a child visualizes the facades above the actual roof as miniature forts. Flat roofs also bring to mind North African architecture. Both North African and Spanish architecture makes use of colorful tile work. Deborah has incorporated extensive tile work into her reinterpretation of the house.

The proximity of the house to downtown Midland influences my imagination. Sitting in the sunroom I can see the “cliffs” of the high-rise office buildings. Deborah works in one of those buildings and over the years has observed there an associated aerial avian ecology of hawks, falcons, pigeons, nighthawks, owls, butterflies, and migrant songbirds, which reinforces my concept of the downtown buildings as cliffs.

In my fifty-two years I have rarely lived on a typical street lined with houses. I have always been rural, spending much of my time observing the “doings” of the creatures and flora of wild pastureland. As a naturalist, in town I have been observing my “fellow colonizers of the urban forest” – the birds, bugs, squirrels, and weeds. I feel like a pioneer, for I am moving into a new habitat for me.

I am learning about how tree squirrels, mourning doves, white-winged doves, great-tailed grackles, English Sparrows, robins, and mockingbirds use our little plot of land. We have been introduced to the neighborhood tomcat, which does not live with any one person, but cruises about accepting donations from the kindhearted. We have had only one dandelion at Gone Native, but now we have hundreds, along with henbit and little barley grass (which are also rare at Gone Native.) Alley Mustard is at both places.

There is very little remaining of the original landscape– a few Italian Cypress, an Oleander, English Ivy, and two Pomegranates. Three species of aggressive exotic ornamentals no longer in favor -- Siberian Elm, Tree of Heaven, and Mexican Paradise -- have planted themselves. Ligustrum, Iris, English Bluebells, Redbud, Blue Flax, Wisteria, and Vinca have been added sometime in the past. This not a very diverse flora, and even adding the plants of the neighbors, the total diversity is limited – maybe at best there are only 100 species of plants.

In the future we plan on creating a diverse drought-adapted landscape. We have already planted a Texas Hawthorne, a rougeplant, a crepe myrtle, some Rosemary, a few Cannas, a patch of Purple Heart Setcreasea, California and Iceland Poppies. After taking care of over two acres of gardens with over 700 species of plants at Gone Native, we are looking forward to intensively managing a much smaller area.

The creation of the landscape is another “pioneering” endeavor. Both processes of reinvention are slow and methodical, dictated by when we can find time to do the work, or to afford a new addition or a change. This slow rate enhances our attachment to the place – hard-won accomplishments are immeasurably satisfying!

Another new activity for me is to determine the ecology of passerbys and neighbors. At Gone Native we see vehicles zipping by at 45 miles and hour over a hundred yards away and half hidden by the plantings and its surrounding mesquite and prickly pear thicket. In town we have walkers (neighbors out for a stroll and who will stop by and chat), runners (from the YMCA a few blocks away), and some traffic (mostly neighbors headed to the main arterial streets.) Until recently most of our neighbors at Gone Native have been middle-class Anglo. In town, we have neighbors of all ages and a number of ethnicities and of more socioeconomic levels.

At Gone Native we have to plan a trip to town. Even the nearest convenience store is over two miles away. In town a convenience store, several restaurants, a gas station, and a number of shops are less than five blocks away. The intimacy of our “personal map” in town is so much more detailed than our mental map at Gone Native. Only beginning in 2006 with the construction of the I-20 Walmart has it been possible to do a quick and easy supply run (but that is still a five mile round-trip.)

After a lifetime of secluded rural privacy, moving to town is an adventure!