Pre-sunrise ---
And the beginning sunrise --
Looking up to the real Portal Peak (not Fake Portal Peak) just as the sun hit the top --
And another day in paradise starts..
Portal, the surrounding area, and indeed all of Cochise County is full of the past. Take, for instance, the Portal post office. I'd posted a photo of it a few days ago --
As a friend of mine living just across the border in New Mexico said, it's just big enough for a place that has a population of about 1 person per square mile. That's Joan, who's been running the post office for 35 years, and her husband Chuck. I don't call her "postmaster" because it's not officially a PO; it has a contract with USPS, and the closest "real" PO is in Rodeo, about 10 miles to the east in New Mexico. And the mail for Portal is delivered to San Simon, about 25 miles north along Interstate 10, then brought down here (via a mostly dirt road) by a mail truck -- and it IS a truck, not one of those boxy things on wheels you see in the city. The delivery woman (her name is Bea) also has a contract with the postal service. Joan, as you can imagine, is a mine of local information. For instance, she told me the building has been the Portal PO only since 1983, and before that it used to be a one-room schoolhouse; the outhouse for it is still in the back. She puts out mail in old-fashioned PO boxes that have a combination, no keys; you have to spin a small dial with the correct combination -- say, 3 turns to the right, stopping between A and B, then 2 turns to the left, stopping on I, then one turn to the right, stopping on C -- then you open up your mailbox. It took me about 3 weeks to get it to where I can open it the first time I try, and I still have to carry the paper that has the combination with me. On this day Joan says she has a mouse in a trap, and holds it up -- sure enough, a little pack mouse is handing on to the trap by its foot. She said it's probably been that way since Saturday, when she was last open. So I take the mouse in the trap outside and release it, where it will probably be food for a larger critter as it's had the shock of having its foot taken off, and being caught in a trap for 2 days. Joan then says she'll probably have to get the remedy of placing Irish Spring bars to the entrance to her "office", which is what I use to keep rodents out of my well house (and it is still working, though 2 bars have mysteriously disappeared, with the box still intact). I tell her I can pick up some bars for her when I go into Douglas on Thursday. The rural life with a rural post office -- love it! Just so long as I keep on getting my Amazon packages...
The mountains here, of course, stay the same, but the view changes with the rising sun and clouds on its peaks, particularly in Cave Creek Canyon --
The new water feature in my back yard doesn't seem to be attracting too many birds -- ok, not at all besides the male Northern Cardinal, and I haven't seen him since yesterday afternoon -- so I put a tree stump that I have put bird seed on top of it and place it next to the water. NOW the birds are using it -- DOH! The birds I now have in the back yard are mainly a large flock of White-crowned Sparrows and 3 smaller Chipping Sparrows -- along with an assortment of doves, Canyon Towhees (very aggressive), House Finches, and 3 Black-throated Sparrows who are official Faranuf Residents as I've seen them here since I moved in. But so far no trace of Mr. Cardinal...It's now afternoon, and the clouds are building up to the east, especially one that's towering over the New Mexico landscape, and eventually has thin threads of "virga" (rain that doesn't touch the ground) -- and the beginnings of a rainbow that never pans out --
Then, shortly before sunset, I see a flash of red in the back yard -- and it's Mr. Northern Cardinal! He's making a mad dash to the bird seed trays, seemingly before the sun sets --
A friend of mine who's the manager of the Wild Birds store back in Torrance, CA has heard that cardinals are the both the first, and last, at feeders. He certainly is among the last this evening..Good! It looks like he in enjoying my buffet -- except for the chunky peanut butter I'd put out specifically for him. You can see the light brown lumps behind him in the photo. He's right THERE -- and ignores it. Perhaps he has too much of a choice...
By now I'm running back and forth from the front of the house to the back, checking out the sunset from both angles. And also the clouds to the south --
And the clouds above the house --
Meanwhile, I'm trying to make dinner -- and also keep an eye out for Mr. Cardinal and other birds in the back. I take a photo of Mr. Black-throated Sparrow, one of the official Faranuf Residents, with my 500mm lens --
He's a small sparrow, dwarfed by the much larger White-crowneds, but he can be very aggressive towards the other birds -- Napoleonic small bird syndrome? Then the clouds to the east grow dark as the sun sets behind Silver Peak, and I'm treated to a final cloud and light display over Cave Creek Canyon --
Really, I have no time for a job...
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