December 11-13 -- Last Days At The Cowboy Room, And I Move to Faranuf...

The house on Faranuf Trail (which will be called plain ol' Faranuf from now on) officially became mine on Thursday, December 13 at 4pm. My friend and real estate guru, Helen Snyder, and I drove in Tundra II 50 miles or so south to Douglas, where I signed the papers at the title office -- and compared to the endless paperwork that had to be signed when I sold the San Pedro condo, it was a chapter compared to the condo's novel. While in Douglas I also applied for an Arizona driver's license at the motor vehicles office. And there was only about 3 other people in the office; what a change from the madness at, say, the San Pedro DMV! I had my baseball cap on, so I had a bad case of "hat hair" for my license photo -- and also a double chin, now where did I get THAT from? -- and got instructions on how to apply for Tundra II's title and registration. I had to make a few phone calls, including some to the CarMax in Henderson where I bought Tundra II; the SmartPhone I bought at Wal-Mart has become an invaluable tool here in the sparsely-populated section of Cochise County. After my visit to the motor vehicles office, Helen and I went to a supermarket catering mostly to the Hispanic population in Douglas where we picked up groceries and had GREAT burritos for lunch, then we headed back to Rodeo where I relaxed for a few hours then had dinner at the Rodeo Tavern with Helen and friends Peg Abbot and Dodie Logue to celebrate my becoming a "Portalite". And the next morning, the 12th, I took some last photos from the Rodeo side of the Arizona/New Mexico border -- and the clouds gave me a colorful sendoff --

Looking south along Hwy 80 and Rodeo

Looking north up Hwy 80

My first day at Faranuf -- the keys were mine. It was a thrill, and I took in the backyard view -- 

But Helen and I had some furniture to check out, down the street at a house whose owner had recently passed away, and we -- with the help of 2 caretakers staying at the house -- moved a wooden bed frame, dresser, dining table, kitchenware, towels, linen, and lamps to Faranuf, for use by the renters during 2015. It was Pizza Night at the Rodeo Tavern, so before heading down to Rodeo I took a drive along Foothills Road, which part of my 4 acres fronts, and got a sunset silhouette of the classic profile of the desert southwest, the broad portal of Cave Creek Canyon -- 

Today -- or rather, last night -- was a landmark time for me -- as I FINALLY got what I would call a good night's sleep. I'm trying Valerian, a natural product that is supposed to help you sleep. Well, so far -- it works, and for that I am grateful...It was a day of vacuuming and putting together the furniture for Faranuf. And for the first sunrise greeting of Cave Creek Canyon -- 

That's a photo, taken just after sunrise, of one of the massifs lining Cave Creek Canyon. It was taken from my back porch using the 7D MK II DSLR with the 500 f/4 lens and 1.4x TC added. The 500 f/4 is not only an excellent lens for wildlife, it's a pretty darned good telephoto landscape lens, too... My backyard visitors began to pay me "welcome" visits. The other evening I had a coyote amble across my driveway, and then 2 Coues deer scampered between the garage and Portal Road. Well, it didn't take long before some "ubiquitous" residents made their presence known --- 

I used the 500 f4 + 1.4x TC for this Javelina, too. They'd knocked over a tray with bird seed and eaten what had fallen on the ground, then casually walked around my back yard area. I have no problem with them wandering around my property -- just as long as they "behave"... ;o) There was a Christmas dinner tonight at the community hall in Rodeo, but I had too much to do at Faranuf so didn't go. The weather was looking a bit ominous around 5pm, anyway --- 

Looking east to Peloncillo Mountains

So now I'm caught up with the blog, and here I am on my MacBook Pro laptop...