December 11 -- A Whiskered Screech-Owl, And More Water In The Well House (where it's not supposed to be)

The water is the well house is supposed to be in the pipes, not on the floor... But first, another spectacular predawn looking both east and west --

And remember the day before when I put the trash bag weighed down with rocks over the fan on the well house? Well, here's how well THAT idea worked out -- 

It blew off entirely shortly after this. (In talking with friends, I finally decided I didn't need it anyway -- the pipes in the well house have survived for over 7 years with this setup, and there's no sign of a leak, so they should be ok.) 

I got a call from a friend who said he had an owl in his back yard. I was making breakfast, and it was windy outside, so I was more inclined to stay at Faranuf, then my friend Mark called up and "admonished" me for not coming over to photograph the owl,so I went over. I'd assumed that after a half hour the owl would be gone anyway -- but  there is still was, in a tree and being mobbed by other birds. At first glance it looked to be either a Western Screech or Whiskered Screech-Owl, with the latter being much rarer, being in the US only in SE Arizona "sky islands" like the Chiricahuas. I went back to Faranuf, processed 2 of the best photos, e-mailed them to a group of knowledgable friends -- and Lori ID'd it as a Whiskered Screech-Owl from the closeup photo as it had the defining ID markings of a greenish bill -- and whiskers. 

Boy, am I glad Mark shamed me into going!  It was a Life Bird for me -- the first time I've seen a Whiskered Screech-Owl. And it was in someone's back yard. Only in Portal...

Before the well house debacle, my friend Helen sent me an e-mail concerning the RV canopy. We'd taken the course of the water line from the well house to Faranuf into consideration when plotting the canopy -- but how about the electrical lines that obviously run from the well house to the circuit box? DOH!  The pump is electric, there are electrical outlets, along with a fluorescent light -- DOH!  But, alas, there's a catch to that -- the electrical lines are "homeowner lines", meaning the local electric company didn't put them in, are not responsible for them, and can't tell me where they're located.  And they're not on the diagram of the property, drawn up in 2007, so the well must've been dug later. I e-mailed up Rob, informing him of our oversight, and he said Mel, the fellow behind the Rodeo Tavern who had 2 canopies installed, one for his trailer and another for his truck, has a metal detector and a pin locator, so he'll be coming out here on Sunday to see if he can locate the lines. In the meantime, I'll call the fellow who may have put them in. And if the lines are in the way of the canopy, which we've already plotted -- then we'll have to plot it again. Grrr...

Those of you who have been following my blog may remember that I had an episode a few weeks back where I found water on the well house floor. Here's the photo taken at the time --

I was baffled as to where it came from. It wasn't from the pipes; I checked for leaks, and there weren't any. I ended up thinking it was the blue hose, as a bit of water was dribbling from it, and the off/on handle was slightly loose. So I put the end of the hose over the drain where the hoses from the soft water tanks were running inside; it was for the waste water from the soft water system. At the time, I didn't try to figure out where that drain went to. The drain field? That was way over on the other side of the house. When I found the water again on the floor today, that made the third time it's happened since I've been a Faranuf, so I called Bob, a retired local plumber, and he said he'd be over later to check it out. Later that afternoon, my friends Lori and Mark, along with Kiwi, a visiting friend who's living in a travel van and roaming around the country, came by. I explained the situation with the well house and we all trooped over to it. Mark and Lori, through a process of elimination, figured out that it was the drain where the hoses from the soft water tanks were running into; it was probably clogged, and would fill up and spill onto the floor. Bob the plumber came by at the same time as Lori and Mark, checked around the well house to see if we could find the location of the waste pipe -- and Lori saw a wet area on the ground, which looked as if it might be in the direction of the pipe. Bob and I dug around, and discovered the pipe. It looks like it goes further into the ground, and ends up -- who knows where.. Bob says one solution may be to make a hole in the wall of the well house next to the hoses, run the hoses out of the well house, and let them drain out on the ground. It's just brine water and may kill the grass, but I don't need the grass anyway. And since we now know that the electrical lines run to the outside utility box, and not the inside circuit box, we know the direction where they're buried -- and it's right underneath the plotted area for the RV canopy. Grrr again, and so far it has no solution..

Sorry, no sunset photo(s) today, as I had dinner over at Mark and Lori's where we ended up watching South Park's movie with marionettes, "Team America". It's hilarious, though totally irreverent, politically incorrect -- and quite scatalogical in parts. So another full day ends...