December 2 -- More Faranuf Birdies, And A Trip To Get The Closest Gas

I'm sure it has something to do with the below-freezing nighttime temps, but as soon as I go out to refill the bird feeders and water features in the morning -- still around 6:30am, when it's hovering just below 32 -- birds scatter in all directions, having been scrounging around for any morsels that might be left. I whistle a kinda "come and get it" tune to my friends, put out more seed, crack the ice in the water holders so they can re-hydrate (and they DO drink first thing, as I've seen them; you're thinking "its freezing weather, and they're drinking freezing water? I'd get brain freeze!") then bring out the hummingbird feeders; I keep them inside at night so they too don't freeze. Then I leave them to it, and peek out the back sliding glass door to see if any new critters have dropped on by. Once the sun comes up and hits Faranuf, the birds fluff up on the mesquite branches -- once again, how they can avoid all those sharp spines I do not know -- and the activity in the sunshine starts --

Mr. Broad-billed hummingbird (at his own special feeder)

Black-throated Sparrow (can't tell whether it's a Mr or Mrs)

More Usual Suspects start coming out -- 

Mrs. Pyrrhuloxia (red eye-ring, neutral gray-brown breast)

A shy Green-tailed Towhee (love the 'do!) 

And then there is the "special guest. Yesterday the Mr dropped by, today it's the Mrs --

A female Ladder-backed Woodpecker. Surprisingly, and yesterday's male Ladder-backed ignored it, she goes to the suet. And stays around for about 15 minutes, mostly in the mesquite -- 

After watching the birds for awhile, you detect a pattern. They'll come out from where they spend the night and go to their perches on the mesquite where they fluff up and warm up in the morning sun, then one by one go to the seed trays. Finally there's a whole mess of them, feeding frantically -- and sometimes pushing each other off the feeders -- then they scatter back into the mesquite all at the same time. And repeat the cycle.

Later that morning I drive east, first to Rodeo, Mexico then to Animas, 25 miles away. I'm in the market for buying a canopy for Discovery II , my travel trailer. I've already checked one company, but they only sell kits with no customization, and the real killer was the roof was only 9 feet from the ground -- and even minus the air conditioner and TV aerial, Discovery is 10 feet from top to bottom. So Rob, owner of the Rodeo Tavern along with Deb, is a dealer for a canopy company (serendipitous once again as I didn't expect something like that to be available in a rural area -- and only 10 miles from Faranuf), and he said to check out a fellow who had an RV canopy behind the Tavern. I parked next to the Tavern and saw a fellow walking around by himself. We started talking and I told him about my being interested in a canopy for my RV, but I had my reservations about the company since, according to their Facebook page, some buyers had bad experiences dealing with them. I had no idea who the fellow was, or why I was mentioning all this to him -- until he told me he's the guy behind the Tavern with the RV canopy!  This serendipitous stuff is getting kinda weird -- in a good way. He took me around the back where he had 2 canopies, one for his RV and another for his truck. He lived in his trailer, spending 6 months in Rodeo and the other 6 months in Colorado where he boondocked. The canopies looked perfect for Discovery -- metal roof, metal struts, screw bolts in the ground to withstand high winds, a wide variety of sizes, the option for enclosures on all 4 sides for further protection from the elements -- and free installation. My new friend (Mel) said both canopies only took about 6 hours to put up. BUT...it took a few months to get all the paperwork done, and especially to get a building permit. But this was in New Mexico, where Mel said the bureaucracy moves like molasses; I expressed the hope that Arizona is different. So it might be worth my while to get an Arizona building permit just in case the whole canopy structure is over 200 square feet; if it's less than that, you don't need one. And locating it on the north side of Faranuf is the perfect place for it. Well, I have no choice as it's the only clear, level site on my property which is large enough. 

As I mentioned, the closest gas to Portal, and Faranuf, is in Animas, 25 miles to the east. Surprisingly, it's not more expensive than, say, gas in Douglas -- right now it's $2.09 a gallon. Though sometimes they run out of it, "they" being the Mercantile Exchange, the only store in town that sells groceries (not cheap at $5 for a gallon of milk) and feed supplies as this is ranching country. I fill up Tundra II's tank, along with the 1.5 gallon gas container in case I ever run out of gas in an isolated area (haven't yet in my nearly 3 years of travel and living in Portal) then head back west to Faranuf, waving (the "lazy" wave, raising your left hand while it's still on the steering wheel) at all the trucks that go in the other direction. I don't mind the occasional drive to Animas as it's awesome country out here -- high desert with mountains and hills dotted with isolated houses and farms. Then there's the view of the mighty Chiricahuas  as you're heading west --

Portal is at the low ridge on the right, and behind the ridge is the entrance to Cave Creek Canyon -- hence the name Portal. Here's a closeup of the Portal area as seen from the Animas road -- 

False Portal Peak is on the left, and the bulky mountain is Silver Peak, which is one of my favorite sunrise subjects looking west. And Faranuf is one of those buildings on the right...

I'll end this post with my entries to Arizona Highway's weekly Friday Foto contest, where your photo will be put up on their Facebook page for the following week if it's selected from the entries. The theme this week is "wildlife" -- 

Elegant Trogon at Cave Creek Canyon

Cooper's Hawk at Faranuf's back yard

I think the Elegant Trogon has a good chance of being selected...