Driving to Tombstone

“The monsoon season is officially over!” said the meteorologist on KVOA. I still have a few days of harvested water for the garden. I used the one that had small mosquito larvae swirling at the surface.

Nigh time temperatures are slowly slipping below 60F. The autumn cool-down is approaching.
I drove to the Tombstone Unified School District this morning to drop off my application, but my reception there was nothing like Bisbee. A lone secretary took my packet, made copies of the important stuff, smiled and told me “The superintendent will call you for an interview.”

And that was it. If the school faculty is this tepid to its potential employees then I’d rather work in Bisbee, where the pay is low but the attitude is up-beat.

Still, I want to get my feelers out there. I’ve heard good things about the Tombstone High School. It’s a new building on the northeast side of town, with dramatic views of the Dragoons. How much more Old West could I possibly need?

Tombstone was more dead today than last Tuesday when I strolled the main street with Mom, Jason and Marcela. You get away from the touristy main street and the town looks like a forsaken desert Meth lab. There just isn't anything for the local kids to do.

I drove through the dusty town back the way I came and went straight to the extension office where I put in 4.5 volunteer hours as a Master Gardener. It was quiet today. There were no messages on the answering machine, no email to answer, just one leaf sample that had been brought in on September 4th (!) for identification. It looked like a boxelder leaf suffering from anthracnose.

I stopped at the UA-South bookstore, bought my education textbook and talked to the cashier, Diana from Indiana. Another Hoosier in the Old West Outback! In her late 50s, she still sported long blonde, thick hair and an infectious smile. She asked me about the teaching requirements for AZ and I rattled them off. I would love to have her as a co-worker at Bisbee High!

But as of today, no one’s yet called. Diana said I have all the requirements for a great teacher, yet the phone was mute this morning.

I even called Qwest to activate broadband internet starting Thursday, so that I no longer need to drive to the library or linger on campus for the internet. The first 1-888 number connected me to a sales office in Dubuque, Iowa where the lady said broadband was not available in my town. I called the 1-877 number on my Qwest bill and got through a “Ken” who got me signed up for broadband. I snagged at the deal of $14.99 a month for the first 12 months (plus all the BS add-ons for my phone line, surely making my bill a $60 monthly commitment).

As for Sprint, well, I accidentally washed my cell phone a few days ago and killed the thing. A replacement phone was quoted at $260 since I didn’t sign up for replacement insurance (it’s not valid for water damage anyway). At that rate it would be cheaper for me to cancel my Sprint plan and go with a cheaper carrier. I now have a Tracphone that cost me $9.99 plus pay-as-you go minutes. The 450 minutes I bought for $79 will last me over two months. That’s twice as long and half as much as what we are paying Sprint.