I've been kind of taking it easy these past few days, sticking around Faranuf except for when I go over to Mark and Lori's house to turn on the water feature, refill the hummingbird and bird feeders, and water the plants. I discovered a new "Faranuf Resident" on the outside back wall of the garage --
I wasn't quite sure what it was, so I went to the Facebook spider ID page (yes, FB has a page for EVEYthing), posted the photo -- and within 5 minutes got the ID -- Banded Garden Orbweaver. A fairly common spider, it's harmless unless you try to handle it, when it can bite you and raise a red spot. (I'll avoid taking it for walks.) It spins a spectacular web, hence the name Orbweaver. I hope it sticks around long enough for me to see the completed web; looks like it's spinning it now. But it's missing 2 legs, and there are heavy thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow (Saturday), so as it's in an exposed area it will at the very least be buffeted by rain and winds. I'll keep checking in on it...And the Big Bend Patchnose snacke is back -- or more likely never left --
"He" was outside his burrow, curled up. When I thought he'd left, with the burrow looking abandoned because there was dirt at the front of the opening, he was probably inside. Glad to see he's still around! He may hibernate if he sticks around when the weather gets colder. And here was a sight that made me VERY happy --
Yes, the Coues deer family (Mom is just out of the frame to the right) is back. Mom came by the other day, seemingly to check things out before she brought her "kidlets" with her. At that time she actually drank from the "restored" water feature, sniffed around, then left. 2 days later, she brings the kids. I guess I'll just try to keep the water as clean as I can for now, and refill it when it gets low. And the outdoor water faucet which the back hose is attatched to is leaking when I turn it on. It's been doing it for awhile now, but gotten worse when I tightened the nut and screws. I checked YouTube for a video on how to fix it -- and what do you know, one is there! I'll have to turn off the water to the house and take apart the assembly; it could be one of the washers needs replacing, so I'll take the assembly down to the hardware store in Douglas the next time I'm down there, which will be next week (grocery run time again). So constant maintenance, and thank the gods for YouTube fix-it videos..
Most of the morning, and a good part of the afternoon, was spent on the phone trying to get "issues" resolved. One of them was the water softener system in the well house -- what were all those tanks in there used for, and were they all needed? I can live with hard water, though a friend reminded me that with soft water you use less soap for washing things -- and soft water doesn't leave bathtub rings. But I don't use the bathtub that often -- I've only used it once in the 2 months I've been here -- and I'd rather use less water with hard water than more, though I have my own well. So I e-mailed the water company in Tucson that installed the water softening system along with an attached photo of the 3 tanks, and asked them what the h-ll they were used for, as folks here I asked just scratched their heads and said they didn't know. So one of them e-mailed me back; one is the actual water softener, one is a "multimedia" filter for sediment, and the other filters out "iron, sulfate, manganese and other similar sediments". In one filter I have to make sure there is plenty of "potassium permanganate" in a small black tank near it, while the other needs salt added to another tank. It costs about $600 for them to come out one a year and service it -- so I'm decided on whether I need it that badly. But it sounds like all 3 tanks are needed; they'll get back to me on that.
And then there was the CA DMV to call...They sent me the bill for next year's registration on Discovery I, my Lance travel trailer. Thing is, I used the trailer as a trade-in for Discovery II, I registered Disc II up in Nevada since I was wintering there -- and now I'm living in Arizona. Complicated, eh? So I called up the CA DMV to tell them I moved out of state. They actually have a good system in which they'll call you back, and you don't lose your place in line. And they tell you how long the wait time is. So I gave them a callback number -- and they called back at the time they said they would. I explained to the "technician" my situation, and he said to either mail proof of registration out of state, or fax the paperwork. Well, I bought an all-in-one Canon that faxes, so I put all the paperwork together, wrote a cover sheet, put the fax number in, pressed the start button -- and the line was busy. Turned out, it was busy for about 5 hours, and I haven't figured out auto-redial on the machine yet. So I must have put the 5 pages of paper back in about 20 times, to where the paper was starting to get wrinkled and increasingly harder to fax without it jamming. So after 5 hours of that I called the DMV again, gave my callback number -- and was told the wait was anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. Well, there is no lack of things to occupy that time, so I did, and when they called me back the 'new" technician said the first guy had given me a fax number that had been disconnected. DOH! So he gave me a working number -- and it went through. Hallelujah!
One last item for this blog post -- I'm going to get "No Hunting" signs to put on the fence around my property (if I can get to the fence; it's pretty overgrown with mesquite and other trees and plants with stickers). Hunting season is almost upon us, and I'm taking no chances of, say, any of the Coues deer here to be "harvested" (the term Fish and Wildlife uses; makes the hunted animals sound like a field of wheat). (UPDATE: I was just informed by a friend living in Paradise, about 6 miles from here, that "you are in a populated area and should not need to post your yard. Hunt permits are for forest, blm and az state land -- private properties are excluded. Hunters cannot shoot within 1/4 mile of an occupied building". Whew! Cross the signs off my Douglas Run list... ) Ta-da! Another daily post finished...
Most of the morning, and a good part of the afternoon, was spent on the phone trying to get "issues" resolved. One of them was the water softener system in the well house -- what were all those tanks in there used for, and were they all needed? I can live with hard water, though a friend reminded me that with soft water you use less soap for washing things -- and soft water doesn't leave bathtub rings. But I don't use the bathtub that often -- I've only used it once in the 2 months I've been here -- and I'd rather use less water with hard water than more, though I have my own well. So I e-mailed the water company in Tucson that installed the water softening system along with an attached photo of the 3 tanks, and asked them what the h-ll they were used for, as folks here I asked just scratched their heads and said they didn't know. So one of them e-mailed me back; one is the actual water softener, one is a "multimedia" filter for sediment, and the other filters out "iron, sulfate, manganese and other similar sediments". In one filter I have to make sure there is plenty of "potassium permanganate" in a small black tank near it, while the other needs salt added to another tank. It costs about $600 for them to come out one a year and service it -- so I'm decided on whether I need it that badly. But it sounds like all 3 tanks are needed; they'll get back to me on that.
And then there was the CA DMV to call...They sent me the bill for next year's registration on Discovery I, my Lance travel trailer. Thing is, I used the trailer as a trade-in for Discovery II, I registered Disc II up in Nevada since I was wintering there -- and now I'm living in Arizona. Complicated, eh? So I called up the CA DMV to tell them I moved out of state. They actually have a good system in which they'll call you back, and you don't lose your place in line. And they tell you how long the wait time is. So I gave them a callback number -- and they called back at the time they said they would. I explained to the "technician" my situation, and he said to either mail proof of registration out of state, or fax the paperwork. Well, I bought an all-in-one Canon that faxes, so I put all the paperwork together, wrote a cover sheet, put the fax number in, pressed the start button -- and the line was busy. Turned out, it was busy for about 5 hours, and I haven't figured out auto-redial on the machine yet. So I must have put the 5 pages of paper back in about 20 times, to where the paper was starting to get wrinkled and increasingly harder to fax without it jamming. So after 5 hours of that I called the DMV again, gave my callback number -- and was told the wait was anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. Well, there is no lack of things to occupy that time, so I did, and when they called me back the 'new" technician said the first guy had given me a fax number that had been disconnected. DOH! So he gave me a working number -- and it went through. Hallelujah!
One last item for this blog post -- I'm going to get "No Hunting" signs to put on the fence around my property (if I can get to the fence; it's pretty overgrown with mesquite and other trees and plants with stickers). Hunting season is almost upon us, and I'm taking no chances of, say, any of the Coues deer here to be "harvested" (the term Fish and Wildlife uses; makes the hunted animals sound like a field of wheat). (UPDATE: I was just informed by a friend living in Paradise, about 6 miles from here, that "you are in a populated area and should not need to post your yard. Hunt permits are for forest, blm and az state land -- private properties are excluded. Hunters cannot shoot within 1/4 mile of an occupied building". Whew! Cross the signs off my Douglas Run list... ) Ta-da! Another daily post finished...
Steve, it's usually easier to just replace the hose faucet, also called a hose bibb, if the pipe it's mounted to sticks out of the wall far enough to get a pipe wrench on it. Bob Dearing is a very helpful plumber here in town and he might come over to advise. What you don't want to do is crack something so you have a big leak going on and have to shut off the water altogether till it's fixed. So I never start a plumbing job on Friday afternoon through Sunday night...
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