The first looking east, the second west to Cave Creek Canyon; both photos were taken from my side porch next to the garage. I have never seen such consistently stunning sunrises ANYwhere. And the dramatic, mountain scenery just adds to the intense color. After breakfast it was a run down to Douglas, the closest large town to Portal at 55 miles one-way, and the Wal-Mart there. There is a Gray Fox that comes to my back yard fairly consistently at around 5pm, chowing down on the bird seed in a tray then taking a drink from the water feature. In the past few days I've noticed a distinct loss in weight, so he might not be getting enough food. As he's part of the "critter family" here -- along with Tarantella the Tarantula 3 Cottontail rabbits, and 2 Coues white-tailed deer, not to mention all the birds -- he deserves a chance to survive, so while at Wal-Mart I pick up a bag of dog food, Alpo to mix in with it, and 2 metal dog dishes, one being for water. I've asked around and it seems like the consensus is to add an egg or two to the mix, and perhaps slices of apples. I got back to Faranuf around 10am and went to the Portal post office for some Amazon deliveries (yes, I'm an Amazonian, been one since 2000 and a Prime member), then as the rest of the day was clear until dinner, I considered getting a start on re-conditioning the porch decks; the intense sun and bouts of driving rain really do a number on them, so I bought 1-gallon cans of a roll-on paint to use on the decking. But it has to be dry for at least 24 hours after using -- and we've been having thunderstorms in the afternoon on a pretty regular basis lately. So I wait and watch the weather reports for any clear days, but we ARE still in the monsoon season. One of the packages I received from Amazon were "snake guards" that you wear to protect your legs from any possible rattlesnake bites. They go up to the knees and seem to be fairly sturdy, but I don't know why they're camouflage --- so the snakes can sneak up on you since you're blending in? So YOU can sneak up on the snakes? Doesn't make sense to me. But here they are --
Earlier in the day, while driving back from Douglas on Hwy 80, I saw quite a few raptors on power poles, including this juvenile Swainson's Hawk --
The time to feed (hopefully) Foxito the Gray Fox was approaching, so I mixed the dry dog food with the Alpo, then put 2 eggs in, and filled the other bowl with clean water. I'd cleared off one of the bird seed trays, the one which he usually climbed up to eat the bird seed, and put the 2 dishes on it (fit the bird seed tray perfectly). I then waited until my friends arrived to pick me up to go to the Rodeo Tavern -- and nothing; he was a no-show. I kept his food out until we came back from dinner, and it hadn't been touched. So I wrapped it in tin foil and put it in the fridge for possible use today. Dinner at the Tavern was barbecued ribs, and there was entertainment, so a good time was had by all. And going back to Portal on the Portal Road, we kept an eye out for critters crossing or on the road -- and came across a frog, and what appeared to be a coyote on the shoulder of the road. They dropped me off at Faranuf -- and now here I am the next day.
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