A cloud with wisps of virga --
Fire in the sky as the sun was rising over the Peloncillos --
The clouds were given a soft pinkish hue over Cave Creek Canyon --
And the sun finally comes over the horizon and lights up the high Chiricahuas, still with patches of snow from the winter storm over a week ago --
I've mentioned I am a member of Friends of Cave Creek Canyon. I've taken on a few duties, and one of them is to put items such as photos on the FOCCC bulletin board outside of our post office. Though the fall color show here has pretty much run its course, I printed out and laminated a few 8.5 x 11 pics of the autumn display, with Cave Creek Canyon landmarks as a background. Here is Cathedral Peak, taken November 9 --
And here is nearly the same scene 4 days later, showing that you really have to jump on it to get the autumnal brilliance --
So I put up the first photo on the bulletin board, along with another fall photo from a friend, and a view from the McCord Trail that I took during a hike a few weeks ago. But Postmistress Joan said this was her favorite photo, from November 12 --
And about a week later --
Having lived in southern California all my life, with its one season, seeing the changing of the colors comes as a visual revelation... I mentioned laminating the photos. FOCCC bought me one, along with pouches to place the photos in that then get run through the laminator. It's pretty cool! And we got it from Amazon, of course. But I'm thinking of expanding on its uses. I checked on the Web and discovered that you can laminate leaves. Ever since the cottonwood/ash ID controversy mentioned in an earlier post, I've done some reading up on IDing trees, shrubs and plants through their leaves. I collected leaves during my hike up South Fork the day before, carefully placing them in a folded paper towel (I should have been more prepared and brought, say, a Zip-loc along) and gingerly put them in my fanny pack, hoping they wouldn't fall apart before I got back home. (They didn't.) Once at Faranuf I put the leaves between the pages of a book -- FOCCC's Cave Creek Canyon book, appropriately enough. I wanted to keep them flattened until I could run them through the laminator. I looked at leaf photos on the Web, found what I thought was a match (still not definitive yet), wrote down both their common and Latin names on matte heavyweight paper -- less chance of it being caught in the laminator --, arranged the leaves on it, then ran it through. It sorta/kinda worked, as the leaves aren't totally flat, especially the stems. But it's a test page anyway; here's how it turned out --
It doesn't have to be perfect as they'll be displayed outside, and as time goes along I'll refine my technique -- but not bad for starters, and it's a great way to spread the knowledge around to those folks, like me, who don't have a clue as to what type of flowers, plants, trees and shrubs they're seeing.
I also bought some plants to be put temporarily on the back deck.
It's a pretty spacious, protected area as you can see. The birds perch in the mesquite behind me in this photo -- but the area where the feeders are is totally out in the open. I know that at least some of the birds are residents, meaning they'll winter here, so I bought two plants, for the moment in their original pots, and put them on the deck. Here's a Pyracantha --
And Artemisia --
I'll keep them on the back deck during winter so the birds can have a bit more protection from the weather, and the Pyracantha berries, which grow during winter, can provide some of the bird species with food. which will provide a nice change from the ol' bird seed. (I'm sure the birds don't care what they eat, but what the hey.) Then come spring, I'll plant them in the back yard. So as you can see, modifying the back yard is a continuing process. And another project is a Say's Phoebe bird box for nesting; more on that coming in future blogs as I build it...
And I end this blog post with a view from this morning of Cave Creek Canyon taken from my back yard --
Some birds are very fussy, they won't eat safflower seeds, squirrels don't like safflower either, (that's good) but really go for the black oil sunflower seeds, another is the white millet seed, have some birds just throw them away, doves will pick them out of the grass. Then there are those that eat anything and crap all over your car, Oh well.
ReplyDeleteGood Thanksgiving morning, Ron -- Luckily I have a garage (a rare thing here) so the birds can't use my truck for "target practice". ;o) Right on the black oil sunflower seeds; I'll have to buy a bag before I head for So Cal and Nevada. Until then, the birds will have to eat what I can afford until I win the AZ lotto.
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