March 25 -- A Hike To Ash Springs, And Dinner At The Rodeo Tavern With Canadian Friends

I was getting restless, not having been on a hike for about a month. Now that I have both a house AND trailer to take care of,  it's hard to get free time -- even now that I'm retired, and theoretically have all the time in the world to do what I want. The thing is, I have to maintain Faranuf and get Discovery ready for the upcoming trips to High Island, Texas and Alaska, and as it's just me, if I don't do them, they won't get done. And now that spring has sprung,, everything is turning green -- and growing, so that requires pruning, weed-whacking, and lopping. But I'm ahead of "the curve", at least for the moment, so I went out for a hike. I'd hiked the Ash Springs trail a few times, but I was mainly interested in birds this time -- so I took my 500mm f/4 lens with me for the first time in a long time. Though it's heavy as it's a prime lens (prime being only 500mm, with a minimum focusing distance of 15 feet) the image quality is so superior to, say, my 100-400, that it's worth lugging around the extra weight. And size -- 

That's me in a self-portrait, back when I was visiting my old hometown of San Pedro. Though I was handholding it for the moment, I usually carry it in the light blue mountaineer's strap, with the large tripod collar stuck in the strap. The collar is large enough that it stays in the strap and doesn't come out. I used to have the camera and lens on a BushHawk shoulder mount, but the company closed so now I have this new, much simpler carrying system. And to be honest, it actually works better, as I had to carry the camera and lens mounted on the BushHawk on a strap and placed on my back. With the mountaineer strap, I have faster access when I come across a photo-op. So I'm slowly working back into carrying my "Big Boy" lens with me when I go out on hikes here. On the Herb Martyr Road up to the Ash Springs trailhead, I took a photo of Winn Falls with the 500, also a great closeup landscape lens -- 

Though most of it is still in shadow, and pretty much remains that way throughout the year, to me it's still reminiscent of a waterfall cascading down to Yosemite Valley. Once I started up the trail, I immediately got a chance to use my 500 when I saw this Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, who apparently forgot it's a Gnatcatcher when it snagged this large insect --

 

The scenery from the trail as it winds along the sides of the mountain is spectacular. Here's Spencer Peak, though you can't see Winn Falls from this angle as it's hidden behind the other side of the rocky canyon --

The trail winds in and out of the mountainsides, and there is plenty of shade. Here's my 500 lens during a rest stop --

I arrived at the location of the homestead that was there before the house burned down and the Forest Service evicted the miner who was living there. All that remains are the remnants of the chicken coop, The springs in Ash Springs is now encased in a concrete trough, as are most of the springs here in the Chiricahuas. The trail then comes to an old gate, and the shady forested area begins; it's a microclimate here, cooler than the surrounding area, so there are trees that you would see 3,000 feet up on the crest. It's still too early for the birds like Painted Redstart, Red-faced Warbler, and Flammuated Owl to be here, but the resident Yellow-eyed Junco are always a delight to see, and provide welcome companionship along the trail -- 

The wind was beginning to pick up, so I headed back and got to Faranuf around noon. I had a dinner date with Bill, Anne, Dave and Mary, friends from Canada who were staying at Rusty's RV Park on Hwy 80 on the New Mexico side, so I met them at 5pm (6pm NM time; a bit confusing when you're crossing the state line a few times within a span of a few hours). We met at the Rodeo Tavern, a 100 year-old landmark in the dusty town of Rodeo, which bills itself as "the most western town in New Mexico". It's been owned for the past 20 years by my friends Rob and Deb; Rob is the one who's the dealer for the canopy outfit, and to thank him and Deb for helping me get it the canopy they'll be borrowing Discovery II for a long-needed vacation shortly before I leave on my Alaska jaunt. At the bar area, along with Deb I see Dan, the owner of Mountain View RV Park, where I stayed at the Cowboy Room during the process of buying Faranuf back in December 2014, and Laura, who if you remember dressed up as Carrie at last year's Halloween party, from the (in)famous scene where she was drenched in blood at the high school prom. (She won for best costume.) I also met a young fellow in a cowboy hat who asked me if my truck got repaired; it was Spencer, the state trooper who came by when Tundra I was smooshed when the deer got in front of me way back in November 2014. I'm surprised he remembered me, but that's the way it is out here -- nearly everyone in the area heard about it. The back dining area filled with local folks as, besides the Portal cafe, this is the only eatery around. My Canadian friends and I planned at visit to Willow Tank tomorrow, before the predicted (again) wind... 

Here's another critter cam video, this one being the followup to the one of the skunk chasing off the gray fox from the water feature. The gray fox returned, and the result was -- 

March 23 -- Loose Shingles And Head Butts

In yesterday's post I'd mentioned that I found a few shingles on my driveway; they'd been ripped off by the windstorm. As the wind was relatively calm in the early morning, but was supposed to pick up later, I got the long ladder to look on the roof to see its condition. I don't know whether I've mentioned this yet, but I have a slight case of vertigo. OK, maybe more than slight. When I'm on top of, say, a high spot where there's no railing or nothing from stopping you from falling to your death, I get the weird feeling that gravity is pulling me over the side. At Faranuf, I have problems when I'm on top of Discovery -- or up on Faranuf's roof. The vertigo starts even as I'm climbing the ladder. Short ladders are more ok than long ones -- and the the one to the roof is a long, tall one. When I had Discovery I, there was no ladder bolted to the back as there is in Discovery II,  so whenever I had to get on the roof I used a ladder that leaned against the trailer. Whenever I was up top, I had the concern that the ladder would fall, and I'd be stuck on top. I of course never was, but it was always in the back of my mind. It's not as bad since Discovery II has its own ladder, but I still get a touch of vertigo when I'm near the edge of the roof. Since the ladder is longer to get up on Faranuf's roof,  the feeling is worse, and the angled pitch of the roof makes it even more so. So I carefully climbed up --

and found I couldn't get beyond the 8th rung.  So I had to look up on top and look for damage or loose shingles. And there were --

 

And this was the east-facing side; the wind was coming from the southwest, so it received the brunt of it. I was thinking I could replace the shingles myself, but with the slope of the roof, and carrying the tools and shingle replacements up to the top -- I know I can't do it, even with help.  So I'm checking around here for someone who repairs roofs. Here are the shingles I found on the ground --

The wind did a number on some of our venerable trees, too. In the photo below the branch on the oak tree that's screened by the tree in front of it came crashing down. And unfortunately it just wasn't any old branch -- it had a Great Horned Owl nest on it. According to my friend Helen, the nest had been used since 1988, and birders would, er, "flock" to this area to observe the male and female GHOs and any nesting action. This year, the eggs were about ready to hatch when the nest was thrown to the ground, and the eggs cracked open, killing the pre-hatchings. Thankfully, there are plans afoot here to make a replacement nest, and hopefully the Mr. and Mrs. Great-horned Owl will stick around and not abandon the site.

I thought I'd throw in this view of "downtown" Portal; as you can see it's quite the bustling place during this time of the day --

The fellow in the black truck parks in front of the post office every few weeks and sells tamales and other Hispanic food out of the back of the truck. I've bought pork tamales from him in the past, and this time I got a dozen chili rellenos. I never had chili rellenos even when I was living in San Pedro, where there are dozens of Mexican eateries!  And now that I'm out in the so-called "boonies"...

My friend Dodie came over for dinner -- a Blue Apron dish called Cod Kedgeree, which "is a popular breakfast option in England" made of Basmati rice, eggs, cod, frizzled onion and cabbage. De-lish! So the day ended once again with good food, wine, conversation, more wine... :o) And here's another video from my new "critter cam"; it seems like many of the visitors to the water feature are having a problem with sharing it! There's plenty of water to go around...

March 22 -- Bob Waldmire, Route 66 Artist -- And Boy, Was It Windy Today...

Portal has seen its share, and more, of interesting people, both those who have become residents and those who winter here. Many are part-timers; the original owners of Faranuf who I bought the house from lived in Washington State and only came down here for a few months a year at most. There are 2 people (that I know of; there are probably many more)  who I regret not having the opportunity of meeting, as they passed away before I arrived in Portal. One was Kim Murphy, the long-time ranger who, when he died in 2014 and his house went up for sale, I acquired the Rex Allen movie poster from, signed by Rex himself to his "ole pals" Kim and Dawana, Kim's wife. The other was Bob Waldmire. I just learned about him very recently; he wintered in Portal for many years, and was an artist whose main subject was Route 66. I've been reading about him online, and he was a fascinating person, just one of many here in our area. He was born in Illinois, where his dad supposedly invented the corn dog when he owned the "Cozy Dog Drive In". Bob promoted Route 66 through his drawings and cartography; he would draw "whimsical" maps of the road. He lived in converted buses and such, and his 1972 VW Microbus was the inspiration for the character Fillmore in the 2006 animated movie  "Cars". There are many residents here who have drawings done by Bob, and he was quite well known here. Unfortunately, he died from colon cancer in 2009. But he had a positive attitude about things right to the end; here's a video where he was interviewed during his last days, living in a converted bus. My friend Helen, who knew him and sold his house here after his passing, calls him a "classic hippie". He had a love of wheeled vehicles and RVs, including this one that was in his back yard -- 

It's a Shasta trailer from the late 60s, a classic that people lovingly restore to its original condition . And I recently became involved in Bob's legacy here in Portal. Through the Facebook page "Cochise County And Its Wonders", a high school teacher in Douglas, Mark Silverstein, got in contact with me after he'd seen some of the photos I'd posted there. He was a big fan of Bob's, in fact did a documentary on him. When Bob's house here was put on the market, Mark bought the Shasta trailer. It's now parked at the Portal Lodge and Store. Mark and his wife Maggie are renovating the trailer and will turn it into a type of "traveling museum" devoted to Bob's work and legacy. Mark invited me to take photos of the ongoing restoration,  Here's what it looks like now --

Mark and Maggie will be finishing the exterior this coming weekend.

The trademark of the classic Shasta trailers were the "wings" on both sides. Mark removed them prior to re-painting --

The inside of the original trailer is fairly intact, though Mark said it was a mess inside when he bought it -- mouse nests and such, a Hanta Virus colony. But much of the original kitchen was still there --

As I mentioned, it's a ongoing project, which I'll be chronicling in future posts...

Tuesday began with another memorable sunrise --

I was scheduled to work at the Visitor Info Center. I just love my commute to "work" --

It was a quiet morning -- only 3 visitors. Then I was replaced by another volunteer just before noon -- which surprised me, as I knew nothing about it. But I was kind of glad as high winds were forecast for that afternoon, and I wanted to make sure Discovery's canopy came through ok. (It better; it was supposed to withstand winds up to 90mph.)  As I was leaving I took a photo of the garden in the parking lot; plants are beginning to bloom --

The wind was picking up as I was heading back to Faranuf. By 2pm, I estimated it was blowing at about 30mph, with much more powerful gusts. I kept a close watch on the trailer canopy, and saw that it was swaying a bit as the wind was hitting it on the side. I became a little, well, concerned as this was the most powerful wind storm I've encountered since moving here. I don't know how the birds in the back yard managed it, but they were still at the feeders -- and on the ground; I figured they'd get blown away, and I'd see them flying across the yard -- a different kind of flying. The wind lasted until around 7, when I went out to visually inspect the RV canopy. I noticed something on the ground in the front yard. Crap, it was a roof shingle!  I picked it up -- and saw another one. I looked up on the roof and saw a loose shingle at the top of the roof pitch. Faranuf was brought here in 2007, and the roof has lasted until then with only one missing shingle -- pretty good for a composition roof in an area known for its high winds. Luckily, the original owner, as he did with nearly every aspect of the house, had placed some extra shingles in the garage, so now I just have to figure how to attach them as replacements for the ones that blew off. Time to go online and Google "replacing roof shingles".. The rising full moon was memorable --

As you can tell, this area doesn't lack for excitement and interest... And here's another clip from the Critter Cam. Even the Gray Fox is afraid of the Striped Skunk...

Bob Waldmire, 1945-2009

March 21 -- Another Pullman Car, And Odd Stone Structures...

Thanks to a tip given to me by a friend here, I knew the location of another Pullman car -- and there wasn't a fence around this one as there was around the other one that I saw near Rodeo. It was in the area where the White-tailed Kites had been seen, so it was serendipitous that I could check for both. Heading down there, there were a few good "things" along Stateline Road -- 

Gambel's Quail

Red-tailed Hawk

An intent look...

I went down the stretch of Highway 80 where I'd seen the Golden Eagle; alas, nothing. The road leading to the Kites and Pullman car is gated, so that plus its isolation means there's no one on the dirt road besides the very occasional resident, of which there are perhaps 5 at most. I drove down the road west for about 2 miles, then saw it, half hidden in the tall grass. It looked in worse condition than the other one. It was pretty far off the road; how do I get to it? Not through the grass; it's at least the beginning of snake season. I found a very faint track that led in its direction, and before I arrived at the car saw some stone structures. My informative friend had mentioned something about a stone labyrinth... but first, the Pullman car. I had to walk through the grass to get closer to it, carefully looking for snakes. The car, though in terrible condition, was certainly in a more photogenic area than the other one near town --

It was lonely out there, but not desolate. In fact, it was, to me, downright beautiful, with the backdrop of the Chiricahuas and the desert grassland setting. I was able to get right up to the railway car --

but I was NOT going to go inside. With all the rotted wood and having been out there for at least 50 years, who knows what critters were living in it. And a few moments later, I saw at least one resident, when a Barn Owl flew out from a large hole in the top of the car; apparently I'd disturbed its daytime snooze. It was an understatement to say it startled me when it shot out. It was big, and it flew off to a far tree snag where I could tell it was waiting for me to leave so it could continue its siesta. You can see the BO in the following photo, a dot in the distance above the green area that appears to be at the foot of the mountains --

Rats, I didn't bring any of my big lenses with me. Guess I'll just have to come back again...I apologized for my intruding on his sleep time, and thanked him (I always do that after I've encountered a bird, or for that matter any animal, except for scorpions or snakes ;o) ) As I walked away, it flew off its perch and back into its area inside the top of the car.  Now it's time to go back and check out those stone structures... My knowledgeable friend had mentioned a labyrinth. This first one didn't look like that, but was still quite unusual --

I looked at it from all angles (which watching out for snakes) and came upon this view. It looks like it's a rock rendition of the mountain behind it. See how it peaks in the middle, and has a ravine in it, just like the mountain? Or maybe my imagination got the better of me, but it has to represent SOMEthing. Anyway, that's my interpretation.  And then I came upon the labyrinth --

That's a 5-photo panorama of it. It circles around, until you end up in the center. Whoever constructed it must've spent a lot of time doing so --

I later find out, once again from my friend who first informed me of them, that they were made by a previous owner of this tract over 15 years ago. He was an Englishman (probably a bit eccentric) who would come over here once a year for several weeks and build these structures. The stones he used were from a large structure, possibly a granary,  that had formerly been there and had collapsed. Pretty cool stuff!  And all in the middle of "nowhere". But that seems to be the norm for this area -- dig a little, and you'll find things of interest. And it still blows me away that all of this is within easy distance of Faranuf...

March 20 -- The Critter Cam, Episode 2, And Evening With "Portalites"

Today I was determined to see those White-tailed Kites that had "skunked" me for the past 2 days. Luckily, I'll see other good things along the route I'm taking to that area where the WTKs have been seen that will make up for if I get skunked again. And I do -- get skunked, that is. But the 3-mile drive or so down Stateline Road harbors possibilities of birds, animals -- and snakes as the year goes on. And on the drive along the road I get a closer look at the old Pullman car, using my 100-400 lens --

I've been posting photos of the Pullman on the Facebook page "Cochise County And Its Wonders" , and they've been dredging up memories from many of the long-time residents here. I've found out that people have been living in them (there are a few more in the San Simon Valley) since they were abandoned; folks have been actually saying they remember "so-and-so" living there -- hopefully while they were still in somewhat better living condition. They're some of the many question marks that dot the landscape here, making you wonder "Why?" In posting the photos, I've learned of the location of another Pullman car in this area, which may be easier to get to as there are no fences as with this one. Though if I do any off-road investigations I'll be sure to wear my Levi's as the snakes are starting to come out of hibernation...

I haven't seen the Golden Eagle for at least 4 days now, and as I mentioned in yesterday's post that's probably a good thing for the GE as it could mean that it's not hunting for roadkill along the highway. But here are a few more photos during my last encounter with him -- first, a windblown coiff --

And even magnificent, majestic animals have to "go", though it this case it seems like a lot of effort for so little result ;o ) --

Skunked again, yes, but still a fun early morning being Out And About... Heading back home to Faranuf on New Mexico highway 533, which turns into Portal Road when you get back into Arizona, you get this "to the horizon" view of the road to the west. The tallest "peak" is Limestone mountain, and Cochise Head, so named as it looks like a man's profile looking horizontally, in the distance to the right. Why Cochise? Because, like Geronimo (named that by the Mexicans he encountered) he was a Chiricahua Apache; this was his ancestral homeland.

The backyard "critter cam"'s first results have been looking good -- the resolution is sharp, the speed flows naturally, and the audio adds to the overall capture. The first night, the highlight was a gray fox and tonight it's, well... 

The buck seems to be a bit wary of the camera. As it's infrared for night photography, there's a red light that goes on while the cam is taking videos. It's not bright, but must be noticeable. But there's also a Striped Skunk in the background, probably eating up the bird seed on the ground, it looks like the deer sees it, then goes out of the frame. Afraid of getting "skunked", or not quite sure what's up with that new red light? The nightly views continue...

Dinner was going to be Chicken Cacciatore, supplied by Blue Apron, the online food delivery company. My friends Lori and Mark came on by and we ate outside on the back deck, with the view up Cave Creek Canyon in front of us -- well, the view of the backyard birds was actually in front of us, while CCC was behind. But however the orientation, it was glorious. Though Mark did point out a few wasps, the nastier kind (we also have harmless "paper wasps", too) that were starting to make nests in the back porch eaves. OK, knock 'em down in the morning, while they're still sluggish from the overnight cold....The things I never had to deal with living along LaLaLand's coast. After the dinner in spectacular surroundings we went up to "downtown" Portal, about 2 miles at most up the road, and looked for owls. They were pretty easy to find --  Western Screech in the Arizona Sycamore next to the post office, a Great-horned Owl up on the top of a branch, silhouetted against the moonlit sky, and the best of all, a tiny Elf Owl hidden in a juniper tree. Mark and Lori and top birders, so it's an honor to go birding with them at every opportunity. And we were also joined by Dave Jasper, who is probably one of the top "owlers" around these days. Having lived here for years, he knows where they all are. After successfully finding 3 owl species along the same road, we drove up NF 42, passing the visitor information center where I volunteer. Lori remarked that she and a birding friend who was visiting were driving along that road at night and saw a point of light along the Silver Peak trail way up on the side of the mountain; you tend to notice those things when there are absolutely no lights around. Her friend shined her flashlight up at the other light -- and it went out. The feeling is it was probably illegal aliens doing whatever they do on a trail in the middle of the night. Hearing Lori relate the episode, it was a reminder that things in Paradise aren't always sweetness and light. But no matter; we came back to Faranuf and played an electronic "Trivial Pursuit " type of game. The verdict at the end of the evening -- we're all pretty good at things trivial. Maybe that's why we're such good friends...

March 19 -- First Results From The "Critter Cam"

It was actually from the morning of the 18th, but I had to figure out how to convert the video to MP4, and as I never had to deal with video before, it was a learning process. But I finally found a free program, Any Video Converter, that seems to do a good job, and sound and resolution are pretty much the same as the original. But I'm getting ahead of myself... I left early once again, heading down Portal Road and turning onto Stateline Road, which is an official New Mexico birding route and runs along the Arizona/New Mexico border. It's mostly ranch land, with mobile homes and some battered trucks and a junk yard, but the birds like it and it's in the middle of the San Simon Valley. Bendire's Thrashers are here, and I saw one (I think) up on top of a bush the other day, but it flew off before I had a chance to photograph it. Would be a Lifer for me, though....I headed back down Hwy 80 and once again didn't see the Golden Eagle. It's probably a good thing he's off the road, as there is always a chance he would get hit by a car if he went after road kill. My friend Helen says it's happened a few times on that stretch of the road, and when she sees a carcass on the road, she gets out of the car and throws it to the roadside so that if the GE does go after it, he's out of the way of passing cars. That's a good idea, so I'll be bringing disposable gloves with me wherever I go out. Though I sometimes do have a highly developed gag reflex, and lifting a bloody, smooshed animal body by what's left of its leg... ugh. But I'll give it a try. I went for the White-tailed Kites again, but was skunked once again. It's a beautiful drive on the dirt road to the west, though; here's a photo looking to the north, taken from the road; the tall peak is Portal Peak -- 

There wasn't much in the way of birds in the morning, so I headed back to Faranuf. I checked up on Discovery II and she seemed quite happy in her new surroundings -- 

A friend said she's smiling; I replied that her "eyes" were crinkled up from smiling and that no, I wasn't smoking funny cigarettes...There will be a "wind event" here on Tuesday, so that will be a test of how the canopy fares in high winds. It should (better) do just fine. I met friends Brendon and his wife Lynn at the Portal Cafe for lunch. Due to this blog and my posts on Facebook, they're considering buying property here for their retirement years -- which is still a long way away, but you can never be too prepared, especially living out in an area like this. My friend (and their real estate agent, along with being mine) Helen dropped by, and she asked if I would like to help with checking out the blind up near Barfoot Park that she and Noel had put up to watch the Short-tailed hawk nest. They "discovered" it in 1986, and it was first sighting of an STH this far west; usually they're in, say, Florida. She said there will be climbing and bushwhacking involved, but hey, how often does a chance like this come along? So I sign on. Kathleen, our librarian of "the best little library in the world", is also there at the outdoor dining area, along with Marjorie, who along with her husband Vaughan rented out Faranuf while I was in the last stages of Travels With Discovery. Kathleen was born in Bishop, CA, in the Owens Valley, which I was considering moving to before my dream of living in the Chiricahuas became a reality. So we have a love of Bishop and the valley in common. After saying goodbye to Brendon and Lynn I headed back to Faranuf, pulled some weeds (a daily occurrence here, and it's not even the monsoon season yet) and had a Blue Apron dinner in preparation for having my friends Lori and Mark over the next evening for another dinner supplied by Blue Apron. If you don't know, Blue Apron is an online food service that delivers packaged ingredients for 3 dinners, along with detailed instructions on preparation and cooking (I wouldn't have even considered buy them if they didn't supply that). It's pretty useful if you're running out of supplies and there are only 3 "eateries" within a 50-mile radius.  That night I had Cuban sandwiches -- pork, cucumbers, and melted cheese on toasted rolls. They supply the ingredients, and you cook it from scratch.  It's expensive at around $60 for 3 meals, but you can get enough food for 3 out of each meal, so the price is not too bad. The trick is to make it all edible -- but the Cuban sandwiches were very edible. 

I bought a Stealth cam to photograph/video any animals that might come to the back yard water feature during the night. With the accompanying strap, I attached it to an old bird feeder post that I never got around to sawing down -- good that I didn't !  It's high-resolution , with sound. I turned it on the other night, took out the 32GB SD card the next morning, downloaded an online program that converted it to MP4 so I can play it on Facebook -- and here it is... 

 

It's a Gray Fox. Other videos recorded that morning were of a Striped Skunk and deer. I think I'm going to be very happy with this new "toy"... It's infrared, so the critters aren't bothered by a bright light. Let's see if we can get a mountain lion, or black bear, or...Sasquatch.

March 18 -- Some Birds Of Willow Tank, And Discovery's New Home Goes Up

I'd heard there were 2 White-tailed Kites in the vicinity, and as they're somewhat rare for the area I headed out early in the morning to check them out. Alas, I was skunked and didn't see a trace of them, though I knew the area and trees where they were seen. I may go again early today (the 19th). On the way to the Kite location, I was driving east down Portal Road when a hawk "accompanied" by 2 Ravens flew out of the grass on the shoulder and went up to the fence lining the road. What I invariably do, when I'm driving and see a bird, is continue driving for about a mile, then finally decide to turn back to check things out -- and of course the bird by that time is gone. This time I was only a few hundred yards down the road before I turned back -- and the bird, which turned out to be a juvenile Red-tailed hawk, was still on the fence post along with the 2 Raven escorts. Seeing me, it flew a little further off to a tree snag, but I was able to get a good photo with my 500mm plus 1.4x TC attached; if I'd had a shorter lens like my 100-400 this wouldn't have turned out so well -- 

Yes, that's blood on its beak; it was having breakfast when I flushed it off the side of the road. After that start, in spite of the Kite no-show, I knew it was going to be a good day birdwise. I went back to Willow Tank, the migrant trap here that was being rehabilitated, to see what was there, and got some birds that were different from the day before --

 "Mexican" Duck, more closely related to the eastern US' American Black Duck than a Mallard ...

Mr. and Mrs. Northern Shoveler...

The Mexican Ducks fly off...

A Lark Bunting...

Curve-billed Thrasher..

Lark Sparrow..,

And as I was driving back up Stateline Road (which runs along the Arizona/New Mexico border, thus the name), heading back to Faranuf, I saw this Greater Roadrunner up in a tree --

A friend of mine here had mentioned that there were a couple of Pullman cars, mostly in a ruined condition, scattered around the San Simon Valley. A rail line ran through here, going south to Douglas -- in fact, the small town of Rodeo was "created" as a train stop. Here's one of the Pullmans, about a half-mile off Stateline Road; this is looking east to the Peloncillos --

But I had to get back to Faranuf, as this was to be the day when Discovery II would get her new "home". I'm glad I got back when I did; I was expecting the installation crew at noon, and they arrived at 9:30. The exact spot for the canopy had already been laid out and marked, along with the electrical and water lines that ran underground from the well house. I asked the crew if I could take photos of the canopy going up; they said yes.

At the beginning... 

The frame..

They're putting up the end gable here. 

The worker on the right in the above photo is hammering in the anchors that will hold the canopy into the ground; Arizona state law requires that all buildings have to withstand winds up to 90mph. The canopy will have 2 sets of anchors, the other being "mobile home anchors", similar to what you find in manufactured homes. He had a difficult time pounding in the anchors as there are a lot of rocks underground. I asked him what they do when the anchors won't go in all the way; he says they cut off the part that doesn't go into the ground. 

The entire structure is made of 14-gauge steel; it also comes in 12-gauge, which would be stronger but more expensive, and probably (hopefully) not needed. The structure also comes in different color options; the ones I chose are the exact same colors as Faranuf. 

The installers need electricity to run their drills and things, so I have them use an outside electrical receptacle. I was inside the house when the doorbell rang; one of them said the power went out. Apparently they'd tripped the circuit. I checked the circuit box and the switch to the outside receptacles was in the "off" position. I tried putting it back to "on", but it wouldn't stay; it kept on flipping back to off.  Odd. Luckily I don't use those plugs very often, but I still have to find out why it tripped, and how to fix it.

Almost done...

 The truck and trailer that held the canopy materials. 

And -- voila!  Discovery has a home. 

It will be very windy here for a few days next week, so it will be a good test to see how the canopy handles the wind, with Discovery parked in it.

I had dinner at Lori and Mark's house, then we went to a slide presentation given by my friend Noel Snyder, a wildlife biologist who's been involved, along with his wife Helen, in bird surveys like those for the Yellow-billed Cuckoo and California Condor. His talk was on butterflies, of which he's an expert, too. It was fascinating, and makes me want to go looking for b'flies with my macro lens. So all in all, a very productive day, like so many other days here in Portal and the Chiricahuas...