November 3 -- A Red Glow Sunrise, Myrtle Kraft Library, "Problem" Birds, And The Coues Family

Let's get those sunrise photos out of the way first. It was another cloudless one, so I turned my attention and cameras once again o the west and the Chiricahuas --

False Portal Peak on the right, and the real Portal Peak the middle of the 3 further peaks to its left

The "Red Glow" of the Silver Peak massif just after sunrise

Further west along Silver Peak

The highest point on Silver Peak

The Portal post office opens at 9am; I stopped by to pick up my mail and give Joan the "postmistress" (she can't officially be called "Postmaster" as the PO here is contracted out to USPS) a plate of brownies (when was the last time you did that for YOUR mail carrier or the person behind the post office window?) and checked up on the mouse situation there; she said have been no mice, and no droppings, since she placed the Irish Spring bars around the room. I went out and took a photo of the Myrtle Kraft library next door -- 

Like the post office, it's another "institution" here in Portal. It used to be a schoolhouse, then in 1978 Myrtle Kraft, along with other volunteers, established the library, which officially became part of the Cochise County library system in 1980. Since then it's been run by volunteers except for the present librarian, Kathleen Talbot, who's the only paid staffer there. In talking with Kathleen -- another friend here -- I found out we have an Owens Valley connection!  She was born in Bishop, lived in Round Valley for awhile (the "community" of Rovana there is smaller than Portal, if you can believe that) then came to the San Simon Valley. Big coincidences like that is one of the things that makes living out here so interesting...I did a writeup on my Facebook page for Joan and the post office; next will be the library, its history, and Kathleen, who has a reputation for being the "best librarian anywhere" -- and she is!  And there's a tree in the front that's a favorite with Acorn Woodpeckers.  

Speaking of Woodpeckers -- there's a male Northern Flicker that has made an appearance at Faranuf's back yard. Don't know what they look like? 

 They're great birds -- but they love to peck at, and make holes in, window screens with that big bill of theirs.  On the rear of Faranuf I noticed holes in a few screens, then actually saw a Flicker fly up to one, hang onto it, and peck away as if it's a tree.  I've had to get rid of one screen already, and a second is starting to go. I scared it away when I opened the back door, whereupon it flew off and started attacking one of the screens just below the roof of the well house. So I threw a rock at it. (Just so you know, that was a last resort; a friend of mine has suggested attaching silvery strips such as aluminum foil to the screens, and that it will be distract them. I'll give that a try.) It flew off, which is what I wanted as I didn't plan on hitting it. Speaking of "nuisance" birds, we get 3 species of doves here, Mouring, Eurasian Collared, and White-winged. Some birds are more aggressive in pushing smaller birds out of the way to get at the seed; doves fall into that category. And I get up to 10 of them at a time, and it seems like they chow down everything in sight. I'll probably have to get some bird seed that will attract the doves, and put it in its own place away from the other seed holders. Gambel's Quail are like doves, too; they march into the back yard, sometimes a dozen at a time, and take over the trays. Though they can be bullies, they're fun to watch; doves not as much.  

The Coues Deer family came by to visit the water feature again. They're still very wary, and sometimes look at me out of the corner of their eyes -- or, as in the case of Mom here, stare right at me -- 

The little ones aren't so little any more; they're almost as big as Mom. But they're still "cute" -- 

And here's what appearsI to be the youngest of them -- 

It was somewhat of a quiet day, not too much going on compared to more recent ones, but it was still fulfilling in many respects...

November 2 -- Pics From The Halloween Party, My Laptop Crashes, And A Year Ago

Some of the folks at the Halloween party here on Saturday night got quite creative in their costuming. Here are some of the photos I promised to share with you --

"Saddam Hussein" -- "I'm just hanging around"

Beekeeper (a friend it took me awhile to recognize)  

A "problematic" hero and his blue-haired admirer

And the winner for scariest costume -- 

"Carrie"

A good time was had by all...

I've been trying to download El Capitan, the new Apple operating system, for over a week now. I'd go to the App store, click on the El Cap "download", leave it on overnight -- and it would never appear, and the "pause" button was blacked-out but it couldn't resume. That should have tipped me off that it would be more difficult to install on my MacBook Pro laptop than I'd imagined...I finally got the download to work, so I left the Mac on overnight, then when I woke up in the morning (about 2am again, natch) I checked the status. Still downloading...Then the power in the house momentarily flickered -- and the laptop screen went blank. Oh oh....I pushed the "on" button, the Mac powered up, the "apple screen" at the beginning appeared-- then the screen went blank again, the computer having shut itself off. Then it powered back on, the apple screen appeared once more -- then it shut itself off again. It was stuck in a loop...I thought my Mac was a goner. I had my iPad Mini for internet access, so I pondered my options, and decided to chat on Apple support. I was afraid it might cost me some money, as my warranty expired long ago. I got online on the Apple website, got on Chat, waited a few seconds -- and "Loralea" answered. (Whatever happened to names like John and Susan?) In case there are other Mac users out there who also try to download El Capitan, and have similar issues, here's a transcript of my session with her -- 

Monday, Nov 02, 2015 04:54 AM Duration: 33 minutes 9 seconds Loralea: Thanks for contacting AppleCare chat support. My name is Loralea. Please give me a moment to look over your information. Loralea: Hello Steve. How are you today? sdw90731@gmail.com: Hi Loralea.. I was doing well until this issue with El Capitan happened... :o( Loralea: Steve, I’m glad you were doing well before and hope you’re doing GREAT by the end of our chat sdw90731@gmail.com: Thanks! So do I... Loralea: Excellent! Loralea: I see from the notes that you had a power outage while installing El Capitan and now your Mac won’t startup. Is that right? sdw90731@gmail.com: Correct.I tried installing El Capitan, the power went out before the installation completed, then it went back on I tried powering up and at the first screen it's there for about 3 seconds, then shuts off and seems to be stuck in loop, with it shutting down, going back on to the first screen, then shutting off again. Loralea: Steve, you’ve reached the right place for help. sdw90731@gmail.com: ;o) Loralea: I’ve had a power outage before, too, while running an install, so I know how awkward that moment is when it doesn’t startup. Loralea: Let’s try something together now and see if we can get it to finish the install and start in Safe Mode. sdw90731@gmail.com: oK! Fire away! Loralea: Sure! First, to boot into Safe Mode, please make sure the Mac is powered off and connected to the power adapter sdw90731@gmail.com: It is. Loralea: Then press power and release. Press SHIFT and hold until you see the Apple logo and spinning gear. Release shift.  Loralea: It will start up in Safe Mode and try to complete the install and startup cycle. sdw90731@gmail.com: Argh, not working. Still in loop.  Loralea: No worries! We’ll move on to the next step together. Loralea: Thanks for trying that, Steve. sdw90731@gmail.com: Ok! Loralea: Now, let’s press power for 10 seconds to shut down. Loralea: We’ll boot into OS X Recovery which is reserved for Diagnostics and repair. Loralea: Please press Command + R + Option or Alt Loralea: Hold those keys as you press and release power Loralea: Continue pressing them until you see Choose your Language sdw90731@gmail.com: Since Internet recovery and has the spinning globe is that right Loralea: Yes! Loralea: Excellent! Loralea: Internet Recovery allows you to Reinstall OS X directly from Apple servers sdw90731@gmail.com: took my fingers off the keys, ok? Loralea: Based on what you’re seeing, the install was damaged during the power outage. Reinstalling OS X from Internet Recovery will get you a fresh version and should resolve your issues so you can get back to enjoying your Mac. Loralea: Yes. What do you see now? sdw90731@gmail.com: Spinning globe and small clock with changing time left...14 minutes now. Loralea: That’s perfect! Loralea: It’s picked up right where it left off then, Steve. sdw90731@gmail.com: So the El Capitan install will pick up where it left off? sdw90731@gmail.com: And I should boot up with no problems? Loralea: Correct. Has the minutes remaining decreased from 14 yet? sdw90731@gmail.com: Yes..But it flips between different times -- -9, 14, 10.. But seems to be about 10 minutes Loralea: Great! That’s expected behavior. It will go up and down as your internet speed and overall traffic to/from our end fluctuates Loralea: That tells us that you’re on track and it’s working to complete the download and installation. sdw90731@gmail.com: Ok! Keeping my fingers crossed... Loralea: Once this completes you’ll need to restart to extract and install the download, then your Mac should be ready to roll. Loralea: I know there are still a few steps that need to be completed, but I do want to ensure you’re satisfied with your support experience and confident you’re on track to get this resolved. Would you say you’re very satisfied with the support you’ve received from me? sdw90731@gmail.com: Thanks , Loralea! Yep, if this did it, the I'm very excited! You made my day! Any way I can recommend you-- survey, etc? Loralea: You’re very welcome! :) Thanks for your kind words. Loralea: Since you asked, you may receive a survey via email in the next few days. Loralea: They are sent out at random. Loralea: And here is my boss’ email address:  jarebalo@apple.com Loralea: His first name is Josh. Loralea: You made my day!  sdw90731@gmail.com: Cool! I'll print this out now. :o) Loralea: Great! Hope you have a wonderful week and very happy holidays Loralea: Thank you for chatting with me today! It was a pleasure to work with you. If you think of something else you'd like to ask, just chat us back, we’ll be here for you 24/7 every day @ https://getsupport.apple.com/ If you have any other questions, please let me know. Otherwise I’ll be closing our chat very soon. Thank you for choosing Apple!  I wish you all the best in life! :)  sdw90731@gmail.com: Any other things that my 'Mac will go through, or is that all? Loralea: That’s essentially it. I’m emailing you an article that explains how Internet Recovery works. Loralea: After the download completes, simply follow the on-screen prompts and you’ll be enjoying El Capitan within the hour. Loralea: Install takes about 12-15 minutes, depending on your processing speed. sdw90731@gmail.com: Great! Considering I thought my Mac was dead, you saved it.  sdw90731@gmail.com: Thumbs up! Loralea: I love it that our engineers designed our Macs to heal themselves if we know the right buttons to press. Loralea: They’re the heroes behind the scenes. sdw90731@gmail.com: Yep, something that other system can't do... Loralea: The email is the on the way now, Steve. sdw90731@gmail.com: Your boss Josh will be hearing from me... Loralea: Thanks so much. I appreciate your kind words more than you know. sdw90731@gmail.com: Thanks ! And you have. Great day too, Loralea!   Loralea: Thanks. :) Take care, Steve! The plain, unvarnished experience...And I really did shoot an e-mail to her boss, "Josh", about how helpful Loralea was and that I highly recommended her, as she saved me from buying a new Mac and spending over a thousand dollars that I really can't afford to spend now. So once again, as it has been since the deer got in front of my truck nearly a year ago on Highway 80 here as I was on my way to check out Faranuf, events that start out as a disaster have had a positive ending... Besides that, it was a quiet day as I was recuperating from the long day hike the day before. So here are a few photos from a year ago, November 2 2014, when I was on my last day at Highlands RV Park in Bishop, California, having just completed a Fall Colors chase there --  First Light on the Sierra at Buttermilk Road   A Red-tailed Hawk with the Snowy White Mountains in the background The Owens River Tundra I and Discovery I ready to leave for Overton, Nevada As I always say -- Tempus Fugit (Time Flies)...

November 1 -- A Day Hike To Hummingbird Spring

The day started out cold and clear -- in the upper 40s with no clouds, and though it got into the low 70s the clouds never made an appearance the entire day. So during sunrise I looked to the west, and Silver Peak, which I had hiked to the top with 2 friends last week --

And Portal Peak and the rock formations below it. I was going on a day hike in that area today...

There's a loop trail in the rolling hills just east of the mountain, which you can see in the above photo. It's about 6 miles, with an elevation gain of around 1,000 feet, so I figured it should be much easier than the 3,000-foot climb in 4 and 1/2 miles to the top of Silver Peak. The only difference was -- this time I was going solo. Yes, I know all the hazards of doing a hike alone -- but I'd done many in the Chiricahuas before, and I've done multi-day backpacks in the eastern Sierra which were REALLY tough hikes -- try a 6,000-foot climb in about 8 miles with a 40-pound backpack.. So I was figuring this hike should be easy-peasy. The parking for the trailhead is only about a mile from Faranuf -- sure, I could walk there from my house, but I knew the last thing I wanted to do once I got off the trail was walk another mile -- so I parked " Tundra Dos",  hitched up my large "fanny pack" that's about 15 years old (and still going strong), put my landscape camera in the outside pocket, and slipped the strap of the 7D MK II and 100-400 lens with 1.4x TC over my neck and had it rest on the back of the pack for easy access. The trail begins as a fairly wide dirt road with lots of vegetation on each side, so from the beginning I was making sure I was aware of any rattlesnakes. (Turns out I didn't see any during the entire hike, and not even one lizard.) After I passed through a gate, the trail grew increasingly brushy and lined with mesquite of with all sizes of sharp, needle-like spines. You either brush past the spiny branches and hope you don't get stuck, or you gingerly pull them out of the way -- and hope they don't boomerang back at you, and you still get stuck. So -- evading mesquite, and keeping an eye out for snakes, and at the same time trying to discern the trail that is quite faint in spots. In fact, I ended up going down false leads a few times as the animal trails looked just like the trail -- and then I finally realized I was going in the wrong direction. So I backtracked, and re-found the trail. It crossed a wooded, shady wash then went into a kind of defile between two hills. The trail opened up into a flat area with no grass -- and "cow pies" dotting it. Open Range...I looked to the west and on the hill I saw the 3/4ths moon right about a tall agave -- 

I opened the aperture to f/32 so I could get both agave and the moon in-focus -- 

From this vantage point, False Portal Peak and the jagged formations below the real Portal Peak were in view -- 

I went a bit further down the "trail" past the cow patties -- and it ended abruptly. OK, so I missed the turnoff...I turned around and headed back down the defile -- 

The trail here looks good and wide -- but you can see it closes up a little further ahead, and there's a nice mesquite bush on the right, waiting to impale you with its needle-like spines. Speaking of which, here's a closeup of one branch with its sharp, long needles -- 

And if that wasn't enough, there is a course cactus there, in fact many varieties; here's one type to avoid in particular -- 

I never had THESE things to contend with while hiking on an eastern Sierra trail... While backtracking down the trail I saw a Bewick's Wren flitting among the bushes in the dry creek bed --

Then off to the left I saw 2 rocks piled on top of a larger one -- it was a cairn, placed there by another hiker. A friend of mine who'd tried the hike earlier said she'd "missed the cairn" that marked the turnoff to Hummingbird Spring -- so I figured this was it. The trail followed the side of another dry creek bed that had oak trees, and off to the left I saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet flitting about and searching for insects among the tree branches -- 

The views of False Portal Peak became more expansive as I was passing it on the trail -- 

The trail veered closer to False Portal Peak -- and the first signs of autumn and its turning leaves appeared -- 

Just lovely next to the yucca of the desert. And a little further up the trail the fall colors really proliferated --

I know that eventually someone here in Portal will tell me what these bushes/small trees are, but until then I can only admire them. 

The trail climbed, and I took a look at the view to the north -- 

Scattered houses,, then open land... I took a look at the view to the northeast -- 

The paved Portal Road (the only paved road here) runs east to west and is the road in the center that's lined with trees; Faranuf is out of sight to the right. Here the trail is probably the clearest that I've found it -- 

Now THAT's a trail...As I tell people, my online name is "Trailhiker", not "Off Trail-hiker". While hiking solo, I've gotten lost a few times, losing the trail -- and it's not a good feeling. It hasn't happened here, but once occurred in  a VERY remote area in northeast Nevada, in the Jarbidge Mountains, one of my favorite of all mountain ranges. But you can get to it only by going on miles of dirt road, and once you're on the trails there (which for the most part are easy to follow and well maintained)  you don't have to think about mesquite and cactus -- though you do have to be aware of mountain lions. But you have to be aware of those big cats here, too; also black bear, whose scat I see along this trail. But I push on, reaching a shaded area and -- Hummingbird Spring!  -- 

Most, if not all, of the springs here are used, or were previously used, for cattle, so there are troughs holding the water, and in this instance a pipe dripping water above it. But water is water, so I get my bandana out, dunk it in the cold water, and wipe my face with it. On a warm day like today it feels mighty good..Here's one more photo of Hummingbird Spring and the hillside north of it --

I had of course just eaten my lunch prior to coming to Hummingbird Spring, which would have been an ideal lunch spot. I pushed on, with the views to the east becoming more expansive and spectacular; this is actually just before Hummingbird Spring -- 

And a little further down the trail -- 

After going up and down, crossing more dry washes, the trail went REALLY steeply down, then ended up in another dry creek bed dotted with oak trees. I knew that it was around here that the trail started heading east and would loop around -- but I couldn't find it. Animal trails were looking like the trail, and I went off on wild goose chases. By this time it was getting to be nearly 2pm, and I still had 3 miles or so to go before I reached my truck at the trailhead, so I headed back the way I came as at least I knew most of that route. Heading back, I took a telephoto shot of Highway 80, the main route south to Douglas, with a few trucks and a 5th-wheel heading down it -- 

By this time I was getting pretty tired, and my photo breaks became less and less; I just wanted to get back. But -- I lost the trail. I could SEE in the near distance where I needed to get to, but there was a lot of tall grass in between -- and possible rattlesnakes. But I plunged ahead anyway, off-trail and for the most part in a straight line to where I needed to be. I know now, and knew at the time, that I was extremely lucky I didn't come across a rattlesnake; call it "kismet". I eventually reached the "defile" where I'd taken the turn at the rock cairn, and though I still lost the trail a few times, Faranuf was in view once I got out of the defile, and turned the corner --

At least I wasn't 200 miles from home, as I was when I was hiking in the eastern Sierra; even at the furthest point along the trail I was probably at most only 6 miles from my house. As I opened the gate leading to the dirt road and my truck, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief that I'd made it. Was I worried that I wouldn't? No. Would I do the hike again? Yes. But by myself? Maybe... But chalk up another day hike in the fabulous Chiricahuas, my home...

October 31 -- The Coues Family Re-visits, I Clean Out The Water Features (Yeah, Thrillsville 2015) -- And A Halloween Party

As it rained the day before and the storm moved out during the night, the nighttime temperatures have become more seasonal, so there is a lot of ground fog in the San Simon Valley, and the town of Rodeo, New Mexico, to the east; this was taken just before sunrise --

Though the valley is a little over 500 feet less in elevation than Portal (4124 feet as compared to 4760 feet) it's actually colder there most days from November to March as it gets less winter sun, which appears later over the Peloncillo Mountains, and the valley traps ground fog which (so far, and hopefully in the future) doesn't extend up to Portal. It finally clears out of the valley around 9am, and the day here is cool, around 65 degrees. Just after sunrise, I take a photo of the section of the high Chiricahuas that had been dusted with snow the morning before, and it of course is completely gone -- 

Those tree sticks you see are left over from the Horseshoe 2 fire of June 2011, which burned over 40,000 acres here and could be seen from space by the orbital space station. It burned through much of the high Chiricahuas, and destroyed the campground up at Rustler Park, which was a local favorite. The Horseshoe 2 fire contributed to the flooding down in Cave Creek Canyon caused by Hurricane Odile in September 2014 as heavy rain fell on ground stripped of vegetation and trees and rushed down the creeks. But enough of the past, we're looking at the present and onwards to the future here... 

The Roadrunner (there were 2 here at one time, but it seems like only one has stuck around) was fluffing himself up at the crappy tray feeder (which has to be replaced eventually) in the morning --

It was a bit breezy at the time, too. A few days ago I saw him on Faranuf's roof, and about a month ago on top of the well house. He DOES get around...Then the Coues Deer family paid a visit. I'm usually without a camera around when I spot them through the sliding glass door, and are gone by the time I get it as they see my motion, but this time the 500mm lens is on the table, so I slowly slide open the door; they look up but don't take off -- 

That's Mom on the right...

They do seem to be enjoying the water, and I'm glad I'm providing them a "service" and that they're paying me back by repeat visits -- 

But I want to keep the water clean for them -- and the birds that drink and bathe in it. So I try to change out the water at least once a week. I'm getting a system down; first I take the rubber "dish" which is my other water feature out of its hole and dump out its water -- 

I put the 2 stumps with bird seed scattered on top next to the water so the birds can eat, then drink afterwards -- and they do. Though no bathing at this water feature yet. I then take the rubber dish over to the main, old water feature - the one the Coues family don't want me to get rid of -- and take the water out of that one. Since the plastic "dish" on that one is encased in concrete I obviously can't remove it like the rubber dish one, so I use a water container for the birds that never worked to scoop out the old water,  put it in the rubber dish, then dump out onto to mesquite and brush next to it. 

I of course get distracted by the views all the time I'm doing this...Once it's as empty as I can get it, I get the hose and fill both it and the rubber dish feature with fresh water -- and voila!  -- 

The rock in the rubber dish is for birds to perch on, but I've never seen them use it; they prefer to drink from the edges, and bathe in the older feature. But I'm all set for another week, and the backyard critters have clean water again. 

OK, about that Halloween party...I took photos during it, but they're on my Smart Phone and I haven't been able to transfer them either to my laptop or get internet access on the phone where I can put them directly onto Facebook and also download them. Guess I'll have to read the instruction manual...And I discovered that my phone,while about to take photos, doesn't have a flash, so I could only take photos in the kitchen area and not in the main room which had the dancing (yes, this white kid danced -- or at least moved to the music). But we all had a blast. Though it was hard to recognize people I knew underneath the costumes. I myself looked like either Jason the hockey-masked killer from horror flicks, or a demented hockey goalie, wearing the hockey mask (that glowed in the dark), a wild yellow wig that had a mohawk running down the center, black around my eyes (put on by my friend Lori), and my snake guards, hiking boots, gaiters, and knee protectors (for gardening). Many of the attendees were quite inventive; there was Saddam Hussein, with a noose around his neck ("I'm just hanging around", and repeating "infidel!" whenever someone came up to him), a Mr. Pumpkin Head with a cigar hanging out of his carved mouth (he is in real life the interim head of the Southwest Research Station, which the party was being held), a Jimmy Swaggert-like character with a huge white pompadour and carrying around a Bible, a friar in a brown robe who described himself as a "jack Christian" ("jack" meaning lapsed),  a guy with zippers on his face...and my friends Lori and Mark were  a gal with blue hair and high heels (that was Lori, of course) and the mysterious lead character, with a white "smiling" mask, from the movie "V For Vendetta". And another friend, who I didn't recognize until Lori ID'd her, was a bee-keeper with a protective cloth and mesh over her face. So we all danced, drank and had finger food, then left around 9:30 while others stayed, probably into the wee hours of the morning. What is neat is that most of the people attending were biologists, astronomers, and other professionals who you wouldn't recognize during the day...

Today I'll work on getting those photos transferred to my laptop.