September 29 -- Another Bike Ride With Diamondback, And "Patch" Continues In The Back Yard

It's become obligatory, so let's get it out of the way --

Full moon over Silver Peak at sunrise...After breakfast I loaded up "Diamondback", my hybrid bike made, oddly enough, by Diamondback, and took off down Foothills Road. Foothills runs along the east side of the Chiricahuas starting in Portal and ends up in San Simon and the I-10 freeway, about 30 miles to the north. The first mile out of Portal is paved, so is the last 10, and the road in between is dirt. And unimproved. So when you're going on it with a bike, even one with front fork shock absorbers -- it's a mite bumpy, and you can careen out of control at any time. The low washes -- don't take this road after a rain -- are sandy, the washboard surface can literally jar your fillings lose -- and rattlesnakes on the road are always a possibility. Though like last time I took Foothills with my bike, I didn't see any, but looked at every branch and long stick on the road with quiet anxiety. But the scenery more than makes up for all the "inconveniences". Cave Creek Canyon, seen from this angle, is spectacular, set in a high-desert landscape of desert flora like yucca and agave -- 

And after the monsoons, the wildflowers are in abundance, and makes me want to get a book on desert wildflowers so I can ID them -- 

And look at that hillside full of cactus and other desert plants. Ocotillo grows all over the place here. There are stretches along the road that look like a desert botanical garden. I go about a mile north from the turnoff to Whitetail Canyon, then see a speck in the distance trailing dust behind it. It's a classic 20th-century phenomenon here, though I suppose it also happened in the 19th century, only with horses and wagons -- a lone vehicle trailing a cloud of dust that stretches for miles, in an otherwise empty landscape. And in this instance it takes about 15 minutes for the vehicle -- a truck, of course -- to reach me, and end my reverie in a swirling cloud of dirt, coughing and sputtering. The posted speed limit is 35, but most locals go 40mph -- which is a pretty good trick when you hit the low washes; I think vehicles have sailed in the air at those low spots, going at that speed. So I'm covered with dust, it's starting to get warm -- the temperature will eventually reach 90 that day -- and I've had just about enough jarring for the day, so I turn around and get back to Faranuf at 10:30. And take a nap. I still wake up around 1:30am -- today I "slept in", not getting out of bed until 2 -- so I need my nap during the day to function in the afternoon. I clean dust-covered Diamondback (and some mud; Foothills crosses Cave Creek, so at that point you spray water all over the place, which can be refreshing on a warm day) and relax in the afternoon, with nothing pressing to do except get ready for my friends Mark and Lori who are coming over for dinner. Their oven died on them, and this being where it is, the repair guy can't (or won't) come out until the latter part of October, so they're using my oven and we're having dinner together. But before that, I check up on the Big Bend Patchnose snake in Faranuf's back yard. And he's still there, curled up in his hole to beat the heat. Though I can't see his head, his body is quivering like a human's would when asleep and dreaming. What do snakes dream about? Lizards? Grasshoppers? What life will be like after John Boehner? He does eventually show his face -- 

And shows why he's called a Patchnose. So I provisionally call him "Patch", until I can think of something better. Lori and Mark then come over, we have quiche, salad, beer and wine -- not necessarily in  that order -- out on the back deck, and end the evening with a warm breeze and (thankfully) not many bugs attracted to the outside light. Such is life when retired and living in Portal...

September 28 -- A Day Of Much-Needed R-and-R

But I still was up before sunrise, of course --

Though you can't see its details, here's the "supermoon" the morning after the lunar eclipse a few minutes before it went behind Silver Peak. Then I did an updated photo of Faranuf's back yard showing the new, unobstructed view of Cave Creek Canyon. Here's the former view, taken on August 17 -- 

Those 2 bird feeder hanger posts really detract from the view --- and are distracting. And they just look, well, WEIRD...So I sawed them down to those tin thingies that keep the squirrels from climbing up the posts. And I pulled up the T-posts (the posts topped with white) and wire enclosures that the posts were holding up. The original owners had installed a drip irrigation system for growing shade trees within the wire enclosures, but they never "took" as they were here for only a short time each year (he was the manager of the book store at the University of Washington). So the enclosures were enclosing -- nothing. So I took them all out -- about 6 total. So now the back yard now looks like this, taken yesterday morning -- 

The view of Cave Creek Canyon is MUCH nicer. The next project will be a new water feature; the present one (you can barely see it on the ground in the center part of the photo; it's a plastic liner held in place by concrete) has no outlet, so you fill it with water and it just SITS, meaning the water turns stagnant and green, and bugs die in it. So I'm going to break up the concrete lining with a sledgehammer (I bought one at Home Depot) and take the plastic lining out, then put a water feature above ground so it will drain and have clean water all the time. But that will be in the near future; for now I'm just going to enjoy the unobstructed view... 

I checked up on the Big Bend Patchnose snake -- and he's still there, so he is officially a Faranuf Resident. I went to the Post Office to receive my first property tax bill -- yikes!  Then I took a long nap; I was still tired from hosting the lunar eclipse party the night before. And I'm also doing a little "power experiment"; I'm shutting off the York heat pump/AC and turning on the ceiling fans to see if I can save some money my electrical bill yet still keep Faranuf at a decent temperature. It kinda worked; the temp reached 85 degrees at its maximum. Faranuf is an all-electric house, so any savings will be worth it. Even devices that are plugged in but not turned on take a bit of power. I'm considering "going solar" and am making a list of my appliances and anything that may draw power -- coffee machine, iHome Internet music player, vacuum cleaner, clock radio -- things you don't ordinarily think of. Even your electric shaver! But as Faranuf is, as I mentioned, all-electric, it may be drawing TOO much power, and having a solar system may not be cost-effective. But it's still at least something to think about...I spent the evening watching the hummingbirds at the feeders and the sunset over Silver Peak -- 

Just a relaxing, kinda quiet day -- and I needed that...

September 27 -- Faranuf's Lunar Eclipse Potluck Party

As the sunrise was a bit blah -- no clouds -- and even Cave Creek Canyon wasn't particularly memorable, yet nonetheless spectacular, because, well, it IS after all Cave Creek Canyon, I decided to compare 2 peaks that I can see from Faranuf -- Portal Peak, and False Portal Peak. Here's the Real Deal, it's the hump to the right of center --

And here is the peak unofficially named False Portal Peak, because due to its prominence over the community of Portal, some people think it's Portal Peak -- 

I used the 100-400 f/5.6 lens with the 1.4x TC on both, just as the sun was hitting them, giving the rock a warm glow. False Portal Peak doesn't, and never had, an official name. Probably one of the reasons why "FPP" was mistaken for the real Portal Peak is from this angle the real peak doesn't look as tall -- as is certainly not as prominent. After breakfast I went to a friend's house to pick up "specimens". I have an Arizona "Scientific Collecting Permit" for collecting, in this case, dead birds. I get the "perished items" from friends who know I can take them off their hands, and someone associated with the Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles comes by to pick them up -- or I send them. Depending on the species category -- Fully Protected Species, Species of Special Concern, and the like -- specimens can be used for various purposes:  scientific, educational, management. So the previously mentioned friend had found 2 bodies; a male Kestrel, and a Common Poorwill, both on the road, so he bagged them and put a piece of paper with each bird, stating where and when he found them, and what condition there were in. And gave them to me to hand over to the MNH. Later on in the day, I visited with another friend who I found out also had specimens, so I told her about my connection with Kimball Garrett, head of the ornithology department at MNH and the signer of the permit, and that I can take the birds "off her hands". In between doing all of this I was getting Faranuf ready for what I called The Faranuf Lunar Eclipse Viewing and Potluck Party, to be held starting 5pm that evening. In the meantime, I checked to see if the Big Bend Patchnose snake had returned to my back yard. As I hadn't seen him for a day I thought he might be gone, but he was there --

He'd apparently made his "burrow" as long as his body, and I believe had been using it all this time. I was great to see him still here, and I gave him Faranuf Residence status. 

But the highlight of the day was the lunar eclipse party. I've gone into detail about this particular eclipse in the last blog entry so I won't repeat it here, but suffice to say another one of its magnitude won't be seen for another 18 years. So I invited a few friends over (I really can't host a larger number yet as I don't have enough dishes, silverware, etc) for a potluck; we started out with a guacamole dip and chips and had that and the following dinner on Faranuf's back porch. All during this time we were keeping an eye on the view east for moonrise -- and we had an unobscured view of the entire lunar eclipse. Here's a photo I took of "totality", the maximum coverage of the moon, using the 500 f/4 lens with a 1.4x TC  on, giving a total reach of 700mm, and the camera exif is ISO 3200, f/5.6 @ 1/4 second -- 

As you can see, it was an amazing sight. And another perfect end to a memorable day at Faranuf, Portal, and the Chiricahua Mountains...

September 26 -- The Patchnose Snake Returns, And An Upcoming Lunar Eclipse Party

But first --

And Faranuf in the light of sunrise, with "False Portal Peak" looming in the background -- 

It was a day of errands, and seeing how many people were actually able to attend the Faranuf Lunar Eclipse Potluck Party starting at 5pm on Sunday. Turns out there will be six, including me -- which is a perfect number as that's how many good dishes I have. And I was able to borrow a table and chairs from good friends Lori and Mark Conrad so we can all eat on the back deck. Then we'll do our actual eclipse viewing from Faranuf's front porch, and with a little luck should get an uninterrupted view of the whole eclipse starting with moonrise over the Peloncillos. I mentioned in a past blog report that we have Sky Village here, where astrophysicists and astronomers can have a house with a nearby observatory for their sky viewing And these folks are no slouches in the astronomical world; one of them is Fred Espenak, a retired astrophysicist who used to work for the Goddard Space Flight Center, and has a (click on following)  page on Wikipedia -- along with his own "Mr. Eclipse" website, where he talks about past and present eclipses both solar and lunar, including detailed information about Sunday's "supermoon" -- though as he says on his September 27 lunar eclipse page -- the moon during that night will only be 4.7% larger than average. So go out there and view it -- as the next total lunar eclipse won't occur again until 2032. The Faranuf party viewing area will be on the front porch area seen above -- or can also be in the open area in front of it, if need be (though we will have to watch out for rattlesnakes, always a possibility here). I'll be using my Canon 500mm f/4 lens, along with the 1.4x teleconverter (700mm digital total) and a spotting scope for those you won't be taking photos, while my friend Noel will be using his Nikon 200-600 lens. It should be a memorable experience, and I'll post the photos here on tomorrow's blog entry...But to get back to Saturday's events. I tried to keep Faranuf cool using only the ceiling fans and opening some windows and the back sliding glass door; I wanted to try out using just the fans, turning off the York heat pump whick also keeps the interior temperature to a comfortable level -- but can be kind of expensive; last month's electricity bill was nearly $120! But that's what happens at an all-electric house. I've done various electricity-saving methods,such as closing the floor vents to rooms I don't use (the 2 extra bedrooms) and closing the doors to keep the temperature at a comfortable level in the rooms I do use. And I turned off the full-size freezer, since I am able to put all of my frozen goods in the refrigerator freezer. So yesterday I tested shutting the heat pump off entirely -- the inside temperature eventually peaked at 83 degrees. Not bad, as I have the heat pump set at 79 degrees, and the ceiling fans (one in each room except for the kitchen and bathrooms) have 2 speeds, including a high-speed. And you ca change the direction of the blade rotation -- clockwise for cooling off, and counterclockwise for keeping the inside warmer. (Once again, the original owners spared no expense with Faranuf in all aspects.) But even with these cost-saving methods the electricity bill can be kinda high, so I'm considering going solar in perhaps a few years, though with equipment and installation it can get quite expensive. But I digress from the events of Saturday. The Big Bend Patchnose snake returned to its"hidey-hole" in my back yard, so if he comes back one more time I will grant him Faranuf Resident status. From asking folks who are familiar with snakes -- we have quite a few retired herpetologists here, along with astronomers and wildlife biologists -- the Patchnose eats mainly lizards and grasshoppers, so as those are both in abundance here, it should stay. Then after re-discovering the Patchnose, I went to the Portal Store where I joined friends for dinner and listening to a band playing music ranging from New Wave to California Surf. Who says that Portal and surrounding areas are in the "boonies"? We may be living "rurally", but we have many events, potluck parties and concerts -- for instance, a week of Irish music in coming up in early October -- that keep us both busy and connected. And that's really all that pretty much matters...

September 25 -- A Rare-For-The-Area Hummingbird, And An Evening Of "Malbec On The Deck"

My, these days (and nights) here in Portal and Faranuf just seem to get better and better...It started off with getting photos of the sunrise looking both east  --

And west -- 

The "Red Glow" of sunrise on Silver Peak... And "False Portal Peak" with the sunrise-lit clouds above -- 

And these are all taken either from my side porch (the sunrise to the east) or my back yard. I still can't get over the views...I was to pick up my friend Linda at her place in the canyon of Cave Creek and go to Whitetail Canyon, about 10 miles north of Portal, to look at a rare-for-west-of-the-Rockies Ruby-throated hummingbird. It was seen at Rick Taylor's feeders on a regular basis recently. Rick Taylor is the author of my SE AZ bird Bible, the ABA book that came out in 2005, and he's also an expert on the Elegant Trogon. So I was a bit intimidated to meet some who I consider an icon of SE Arizona birding -- yet he was affable and, well, just a downright nice guy. He showed us the feeder where the Ruby-throated is usually seen, and left us to watching for him (it's a male, as you will see). It didn't take long -- there he was, right where he was supposed to be. There were quite a few hummingbirds -- Broad-billed, a few Rufous, Magnificent, Lucifer, a few Black-chinned -- and about 4 or 5 feeders to watch, but he was the main show -- 

Brilliant "ruby" gorget, dusky green flanks, a black stripe extending from beak to just behind the eye, and a forked tail -- yup, definitely a Ruby-throated. There have been only a handful seen in Arizona, and it was a Life Bird for me because I've very rarely been east of the Rockies. Linda and I were there for a little less than 2 hours, then left and headed back down the dirt Foothills Road. Just outside of Portal we noticed a raptor on a "globe" -- a Red-tail variant -- 

His feathers are a tad askew, he looks thin -- and he's moulting; his tail is going from brown to red. He gave us great looks -- which led us to believe that something wasn't quite right with him. And when he awkwardly flew off the globe and landed in a tree on the opposite side of the road, we knew something was amiss. But what can we do about it? Sometimes you feel helpless when you want to help a bird, but really can't. You just have to let nature take its course... Linda and I stopped by a friend's house where she took a walk with her friend Marcia and I visited with Bob, where he showed me his self-built solar power setup. He's completed off the grid, and Faranuf is all-electric, meaning Columbus Electric, the power co-op here, is making a tidy sum off me. I'd like to "go solar" in a year or two, but I'd have to have someone install it for me, which of course would all to the cost. And another friend said later that Bob is always tinkering with the system --which would give me fits. So we'll see...I dropped off Linda at her place and went back to Faranuf, getting a nap before Peg, my friend and neighbor across the street from me, came over with a pot of soup, and I supplied Malbec On The Deck. Oh, I nearly forgot -- on the way to Linda's I had to stop on the road just outside of Portal and get the classic view of Cave Creek Canyon and a bit of Silver Peak -- 

Peg and I sat out on Farina's back deck, drank Malbec, and talked about events both personal and national (John Boehner actually left both his position and the Senate?) And Peg (who has her own bird tour business) brought over brochures that contained some of my landscape and bird photos. Once again, it was a great day full of birds and friends -- and the adventures at Faranuf continues...

September 24 -- Weed-whacking Couture, and A (Possible) New Faranuf Resident

Though the sunrise kinda wimped-out once again -- no clouds -- the view of Cave Creek Canyon still can be special; the locals call this "The Red Glow", and is only seen for about 5 to 10 minutes on certain mornings --

So -- on to weed-whacking.. I've had some requests to show a photo of me dressed up in my weed-whacking getup -- so here's a selfie I took before doing the rest of my driveway, aka Faranuf Trail --

And yes, my gloves are missing from this photo -- I forgot to put them on, though I wear them all the time when I use the string trimmer.. But besides, that, my ensemble is all there -- starting from the bottom, my boots, snake guards, long pants, long-sleeved shirt for protection against things flying up in the air during use of the weed-whacker (like small rocks and branches), my special harness to hold the weed-whacker (using both shoulders, not just one as with the harness that came with the Stihl string trimmer), mask so you don't breathe in flying grass/weeds, goggles, and all-around-the-brim hat. The only thing missing (besides the gloves) are ear plugs, recommended by a friend here, but I've never had a problem with the noise (what's that, you say? Speak up! ) So I weed-whacked for about an hour and a half --- and now Faranuf Trail has more space on the edges so you don't scrape the sides of your vehicle when going down the driveway. Though I still have to cut the odd mesquite branch...After that I futzed around with my bike computer; I'd lost an important screw when it dropped from the back deck onto the back yard grass; I thought I'd put the computer on the bike while out on my back porch -- not a good idea as the floor boards have wide spaces between them, so the screws kept on dropping through the spaces (doh!) But the screw was lost, so I picked up a replacement screw from a hardware store in Douglas, used my power screwdriver to put in the screw -- and the screw got stuck, I couldn't unscrew it, and I needed to do that to get the computer holder on the bike handlebar. Another DOH! So I checked Amazon, and it was a lifesaver once again as I found a replacement computer holder for only $13, as opposed to buying the whole kit and caboodle again for $35 when I didn't need the whole thing. Ok, now that I've bored you with that -- in the afternoon I was in the back yard, and noticed a hole, then noticed it was occupied. Upon tentative closer examination -- 

I breathed a sigh of relief as I knew it wasn't a rattlesnake -- but what was it? My first thought was a garter snake of some kind, but then I Googled Arizona snakes, and also got feedback from FB friends -- and after much debate decided it was a Big Bend Patch-nosed snake, completely harmless to humans -- and eats rodents and lizards, which is fine by me. I found out from a fellow on Facebook who lives in Portal and works at the Southwestern Research Station that Big Bend Patch-nosed snakes are found in the grasslands below Portal, while Eastern Patch-nosed snakes (which I considered this to be for awhile) frequent the area beyond Portal, in the Madrean zone. A friend who lives on a Montana ranch said snakes will keep away the rattlers -- which is reason enough to grant this snake "Faranuf Resident" status. However, one of its enemies is the Roadrunner, and I've seen 2 in the back yard, so... :o( Who knows what the outcome will be. Just before I headed out to meet friends at the Portal Lodge for dinner, I checked the hole where the snake was -- and it was gone. I looked around but couldn't see it. Apparently the Patch-nosed snake is a pretty fast-moving dude; I saw a YouTube video showing it looking around to excavate a hole, and it was like the video was on high speed, surprising for a snake. Here's one last look at the Big Bend Patch-nosed, a closeup on its head -- 

Then I had dinner with good friends, made arrangements to pick up a friend and visit the rare-for-Arizona Ruby-throated hummingbird at Rick Taylor's place in Whitetail Canyon -- and called it another successful, fulfilling day.. 

September 23 -- A View Inside Faranuf, And Another Bike Ride

But first, as almost always, a view during sunrise of Cave Creek Canyon; there were very few clouds, so the sunrise off to the east was a bit wimpy --

Just after breakfast, I decided that I'd shown quite a few photos around the outside of Faranuf, so here's of the inside, the living room to be exact -- 

From left to right (the smallest dining table in the world is behind me) are my classical guitar and stand containing music -- I'm re-taking up the guitar after about a ten-year absence; the table with TV and DVDs underneath (I don't have TV reception as, frankly, I don't need it); the sliding glass door looking out to the back yard with its bird feeders, and view of Cave Creek Canyon (which is why the "love seat" is facing out the back); my spotting scope; a rocking chair with ottoman; and a Rex Allen movie poster, signed by Rex Allen himself. For those who don't know, Rex was a movie cowboy star in the 40s and was a local boy, having been born in Willcox, on the west side of the Chiricahuas; they named a street after him. So that's the main room -- and yes, I'll be getting more things up on the wall, including my photos...

After dropping the trash off with Tom and his sanitation truck (Wednesdays and Saturdays, $2 a trash bag), I hop on my Diamondback hybrid bike and take off west past Portal and up Cave Creek Canyon. It's a perfect day for cycling -- temps in the upper 70s with a slight breeze, only a few clouds in the sky -- and I take a photo of part of the Silver Peak complex -- 

I pass the Visitor Center, Idlewild Campground (all the campgrounds in Cave Creek Canyon are closed due to the "possibility" of more flooding) and stop on the bridge over Cave Creek and across from Stewart Campground. The creek is somewhat swollen with water from the recent rain, so is running fast and cold; there's my bike I call "Diamondback" in the foreground --

And here's a more expansive view of Cave Creek --

This is all within about 8 miles from Faranuf, and that's a pretty amazing thing for a guy who's lived in the city all his life, where to get to "the outdoors" you have to go at least 30 miles before you leave the urban scene behind. At this point, I was just about to head up the road when a Gray Fox comes racing along the road with what looked to be a mouse in its jaws. I silently saluted him for having a successful lunch, then headed on. The main paved road veers to the right just before Sunny Flat Campground (again, closed) and I head straight, up South Fork Road, one of the most fabled stretches of road in all of "bird-dom" as it's the spring and summer home of, among other rarities, Elegant Trogon. But today I have the road all to myself. It used to be open to vehicles all the way to the picnic area and the trailhead up South Fork, but Hurricane Odile in September 2014 did a lot of damage, undermining banks and uprooting trees, and even causing South Fork to jump its bank and cross the road. So it's only open to foot traffic now, and after the rain even foot traffic has a hard time getting past the Forest Service cabins -- 

That's the "road" with an ephemeral creek running down it. I decide it's impassable to me and Diamondback, so I head back down the road. While doing so -- walking my bike most of the way, because the road is still littered with rocks and is in generally poor condition -- I come upon a cascade flowing down the other side of the road; it too is ephemeral, only lasting a week at the most, but is oh so pretty -- 

Beautiful. There are wildflowers and lush growth everywhere you look -- on the first day of autumn. However, there aren't many birds, perhaps the odd Flicker or a raucous group of Mexican Jays. I make my way back down the paved road into Cave Creek Canyon (designated Forest Service Road 42) and stop for views looking back up canyon and Silver Peak, with late-morning clouds forming --

I arrive back at Faranuf at 12pm. I've set aside the afternoon to do small things around the house -- hang a print on the living room wall, make sure Desert Willow have plenty of mulch (a critter of unknown type had been digging in it the night before, making a hole and scattering dirt and mulch around), and planning out my next improvement project for the back yard, which involves improving the bird seed trays. The way they are now, whenever they get wet the bird seed turns into a wet, hard mass as the wood takes awhile to dry out -- and is, frankly, cheap and porous. Not a very sanitized way for birds to eat. But the hummingbirds are still flocking to their feeders, though I'm not re-filling them as much as before, so migration has died down. But I do see two birds in my back yard that I'm very familiar with from the South Bay of Los Angeles -- White-crowned Sparrow and Yellow-Rumped Warbler, the first time I've seen them here in the Chiricahuas, period. Probably fall migrants passing through, though according to my bird book they're early as they're here in winter. After dinner I end the day sitting on the back porch, watching the last birds of the day, including a Canyon Towhee mom feeding her fledgling. Tomorrow I'm thinking it's time to finish weed-whacking Faranuf's driveway...

September 22 -- The "Douglas Run" (As Opposed To the "Costco Run")

But first, the obligatory sunrise, which just kept getting better and better --

Meanwhile, to the west, Silver Peak had its summits shrouded by clouds left over the the previous day's storm -- 

And both of these are views from Faranuf...Amazing. I then left early to go in to Douglas, 55 miles to the south of Portal. You go on a Costco Run when you need to go to other stores besides Costco, because the drive is about 3 times further than to Douglas -- and you really want to make it worth your while. Douglas, on the other hand, is used mainly for groceries, though I also went to a hardware store to get some screws that Wal-Mart didn't have. Yes, I went to the "dreaded" Wal-Mart. I go because it's usually a one-stop store -- for instance, I also got my hair cut at a salon there -- and the prices are very reasonable, Yes, I realize that they treat their employees shabbily, but when you live far away you don't have the luxury of choices -- no Trader Joe's or Whole Foods as in Tucson. There is a Food City, and I did go there for a delicious Mexican lunch -- and that's about it. So, Wal-Mart by necessity. And, as folks out here are all in the same boat, so to speak, I asked my friends whether they needed anything from town --- and one did. He's a caretaker at a resort here, but as with many other folks here, he's more than that. He has a PhD, and is an expert on native grasses. At the resort, he's trying to restore the land back to the way it used to be, before degradation and cattle took over. Anyway, he needed some supplies from a store in Douglas, so I went out to the resort where he lives -- accessed only by a dirt road, which had gotten muddy from the previous day's rain -- had a chat with him, and took down his "order". Then I did the long drive to Douglas. It's on Highway 80, which is a nice road to drive on, except there were some potholes from the rain. But a work crew was out filling them up (though they missed a few that could have cracked an axle on a passenger car) as I  passed them up on the road. It's actually a beautiful drive scenically, reminding me in spots of the savannahs in Africa, with tall grass waving in the wind, and distant mountain peaks and the Chiricahuas off to my right. There are a LOT of raptors along the road, too, usually perched on abandoned power poles -- Swainson's and Red-tails mostly. Less than an hour later, I was in Douglas and the Wal-Mart Superstore. It's only a block or so from the border with Mexico, so many Mexicans cross over so they can shop there. I was lucky in getting there early, so did my shopping, got my hair cut, and was out by 10:30. After that, I went to a hardware store to get some screws and locknuts for Diamondback, my hybrid bike; I lost a screw while installing a bike computer ( and Helen came over with a magnet, hoping to pick it up off the ground where it fell, but no luck) and another on my bike pedal straps. When I first got to the hardware store, I looked at all the drawers filled with different-sized screws (both metric and American), washers, hex bolts, etc -- and immediately asked for help. The employee knew her screws, and she found some appropriate replacements. Then I went to pick up my friend's supplies, had lunch at the nearby Food City -- and was heading back home by 12:30. Rain from the remnants of the tropical depression that hit us the day before never materialized, so it was a dry, scenic drive with more raptors alongside the road. I went back down the dirt road (somewhat dried out by this time, but I still "slewed around" in spots), dropped off my friend's supplies, got back to Faranuf, tried to remove some of the what seems like tons of mud from the wheel wells, step bars, and undercarriage (only partially successful), took everything out of the truck -- and took a nap. It didn't last long, though; I had to refill the hummingbird feeders which had gone dry by this time, then put some mulch around Desert Willow. All in all, another errand-filled, successful day of Life At Faranuf... 

September 21 -- Rain On The Last Days Of Summer

And it's not that it was unexpected. A tropical depression from Mexico was aiming right at southern Arizona, and reports were for from 2 to 3 inches, perhaps up to 5, with flash flood warnings. Before that, though, the sunrise was spectacular, truly the old adage "Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning" --

And a little earlier, I zoomed-in to a section with my 100-400 lens with the 1.4x teleconverter added -- 

A harbinger of things to come...Then while THIS was going on to the east, I glanced over to the west and Cave Creek Canyon -- and I saw a HUGE rainbow that dwarfed the canyon; it was so big, in fact, that I couldn't get the entire span in one shot, but as it was disappearing rapidly I took what I could get --

The "pot of gold" on the left is right on Cathedral Rock. The rainbow was about as ephemeral as a rainbow can be, lasting only about a minute at most after this. Then things started to cloud up; here's Cave Creek Canyon once again, set against a blue-tinted sky of clouds -- 

Friends said that cloud in the center looked like (a) a fish, (b) an airship, or my favorite (c) a big hand, pointing off to the left. And after it was, er, pointed out to me, I could see it, too -- a thumb with the 2nd finger pointing, sort of looking like one of those giant hands that Terry Gilliam made for the cartoons used on the Monty Python shows. About 10am, the rain started in earnest, not raining hard but enough to give my Desert Willow tree that I'd planted the day before the good soaking it needed. Then a Facebook friend said there were thunderstorms coming my way, so I sat out on a protected and dry part of the back porch with my camera and remote shutter and played with the settings. Getting lightning shots during daytime is very tricky, as it's easy to overexpose; the settings have to be just SO. Well, I never got them to be just SO, which is just as well as the thunder and lightning show never showed up. While I was sitting out back my neighbor Bob came from around the front; he wanted to know if he could park his small Kia car in my driveway. Nearly a year to the day Hurricane Odile caused Cave Creek, crossing Foothills Road, to be impassable -- and Bob's house was on the other side; he was trapped for nearly a week. So this time he wanted to leave a car on the other side of the creek, so he'd be able to get out to the paved Portal Road. I said "of course!" so now his car sits at the side of Faranuf. But the anticipated heavy rain never happened, though it was a steady rain. The hummingbirds were going nuts at the feeders hanging at the sides of the back porch roof, but the little guys were getting wet, so I put the big feeder with 10 ports on a hook in a protected area of the porch roof -- and hoped they would see the change in feeder location. It took them a few minutes -- but eventually they did, and all the ports were taken by the hummingbirds, who were now dry when they were drinking the nectar. I'd like to think they were grateful... The entire day was pretty much a solid overcast; you couldn't see the Peloncillos to the east, and they were only about 15 miles away at most. Cave Creek Canyon to the west had disappeared, too. Then, at around 5pm, the clouds lifted, and the mountains reappeared. To the east, the Peloncillos and a partial rainbow ---

And to the west, Cave Creek Canyon, with shafts of sunlight on the canyon walls, while dark clouds still loomed over the scene -- 

As the saying goes -- truly epic. Today's forecast is for thunderstorms starting around 11am, which should give me a weather window for heading down to Douglas, 55 miles to the south. It's grocery time, and visiting a hardware store for, among other things, mulch and fertilizer for Desert Willow and any future plantings I might have in mind. Highway 80 is the only way to get to Douglas from Portal, and it has some low spots, so it might be an "adventure". But Tundra Dos is a high-clearance, 4-wheel-drive truck, so I should be ok. But it will just be another memorable day (hopefully in a good way) in Life At Faranuf. 

September 20 -- Planting A Desert Willow Tree

But first, the obligatory sunrise has returned --

Now, I've never been a whiz at building things or had much luck in gardening. And I've definitely not been a "Tool Time" guy in the past. But maintaining a house and 4 acres, particularly when you're living in a rural area, getting things done is YOUR responsibility. I could hire someone to, say, weed whack or maintain the front and back yards -- but I'm finding that doing it myself is, well, FUN!  I know, I'm a weirdo...But with gardening I've been all thumbs in the past -- none of them green -- which is why I'm putting all of my faith in planting, and nurturing, a Desert Willow Tree. First, some background on the Desert Willow -- it's not a willow at all, but actually part of the "Chilopsis" family, which means it's related to Yellowbells, Trumpet Vine, and others. It has exotic-looking blooms that attract hummingbirds and others. It's known for its rapid growth, drought tolerance -- and ease of maintenance, a BIG plus in my book. The Portal area is in "Plant Hardiness" zone 8a, meaning temperatures can go down to a minimum of 10 to 15 degrees -- and Desert Willow can survive that. But it only very rarely gets that low here. So with all of that in mind, I get the planting "instructions" from the Internet -- yes I know it can't be that hard, but I didn't want to take any chances -- took out my wheelbarrow and tools, and set to work. The following 6 photos go from the Willow in its pot to being in the ground. 

First, I pick a spot that gets plenty of sun (shade in the photo notwithstanding) and is near the garden hose, which is off to the right, and the back of the house is about 15 feet behind me. There's my wheelbarrow with tools -- shovel, pickaxe with 2 different-sized heads, rake, and a weed-puller when I want to take a break from planting. And it's hard not to "lollygag" when you have a view like this --

The skies clouded up very fast, which was great as I didn't want to be in the sun all the time I was out there. I'm digging the hole for the Desert Willow -- the instructions say the hole has to be at least 2 times wider than, but the same depth as, the root ball in the container. So I measured the width of the container with the Desert Willow, and doubled that for the width of the hole I was going to put it in --

Next is a photo of the hole with the dirt I dug out. I used the shovel and pickaxe with the wide blade, which helped in getting the small rocks out of the soil -- but as you can see it's pretty good soil --

Next, the hole completed, I cut the container and carefully take the the Desert Willow out, and place it into the hole. Its "root ball" can't be broken, and it can't be "root bound" -- and it looks like it's neither of those (I'm thinking and hoping) -- 

After placing the Desert Willow in the hole, I shovel the dirt back, making sure the tree is level with the ground, then I water it well to "soak the roots" -- again, from the Internet instructions. As I'm doing this, the weather starts clearing up, so I'm somewhat distracted by the views, and take a photo --

I mean, come ON -- how can you beat that? A friend of mine said it could be a national park, to which I replied it's a good thing our area is off the beaten path. Next, once finished with watering, I get some big rocks from around the house, and place them in a circle around the Desert Willow. It's pretty much done for cosmetic reasons, but it will also help to slow down any water that might leak out of the small amount of dirt surrounding the willow that will hold in the water. And -- voila!  -- it's done. 

Oh, I almost forgot to add -- before all of this, I took a photo of the back yard and Cave Creek Canyon just after sunrise --

The main reason for doing this was to show "after" and "before". A few days before this photo was taken, I'd taken a saw to the tall feeder hangers that looked a little, well, weird and that a friend said looked like something used for pagan rituals -- 

One of them is hidden by the back porch post, but looking at the one on the left, you get the idea. It really detracted from the view -- and was distracting to book. I'd also taken out the fence posts and wire enclosures that you see to the right of the back porch post -- and there were about 5 of them, and I took them all out -- along with that square piece of wood -- rotting -- that is behind the feeder hanger. So things are coming along nicely in the back yard, and I'll probably let the rest of the 4 acres grow naturally, perhaps only cutting paths for the wildlife. And I plan on removing the water feature that you can see in the ground behind  the square piece of wood; I bought a sledgehammer to break up the concrete lining it. It's stagnant as there's no outlet, and as birds bathe in it and wildlife comes by to drink it, I'd like something a little cleaner for them to use. So as you can tell I have lots of future plans for the back yard, and I'm thinking of other improvements as time goes on...