November 5 -- The Myrtle Kraft Library And Friends of Cave Creek Canyon Event

The days are forecast to be sunny for at least the next 10 days; Helen says enjoy it while you can, as the rain and cold will settle in soon enough. It's probably about 35 degrees outside at 6am, but my routine is to go out and fill the bird feeders and water features and put out the hummingbird feeders, while keeping an eye out on the sunrise to the east and rising sun on the Chiricahuas to the west. This day the sunrise is blah once again, but the "False Portal Peak" and the real Portal Peak, obscured by a passing low cloud to the left, are lit by the rising sun --

I wait until the Myrtle Kraft Library opens at 10am, then walk in and greet Kathleen Talbot, the head librarian (and the only paid staff member) there. We have something in common -- she's from the Bishop, CA area which also happens to be in one of my favorite places in the world -- the Owens Valley. I recently did a writeup with photos on the Post Office, and said I'd do an article for the Friends of Cave Creek Canyon (FOCCC) page on Facebook about the library and Kathleen, who is universally called the best librarian in the best little library in the world. And actually, that isn't an overstatement...She gives everybody individual attention, and if the book is not in the library, she'll order it for you (she asked me "which book -- any book -- would you like for me to get for you?" I didn't mention that I have the Kindle app on my iPad Mini, though I'm sure they have e-books -- Kathleen has just verified that they do).  Here's Kathleen behind her desk, chatting with 2 Portal residents --

Kathleen lives over in Owl Canyon, on the east side of the San Simon Valley, with her husband Chris, who interestingly enough was a magician. (Once again, everyone seems to have a "back story" here.) We talk about Owens Valley things -- Rovana, Round Valley, Campito the Wild Horse in the White Mountains, the Aberdeen Donkeys --- and why we moved out here to the San Simon Valley. We agree it's because we love it here, despite some "inconveniences" of rural living. While Kathleen is dealing with book things, I wander around the library, taking photos -- 

A resident of Portal who recently passed away (she actually dressed like that)

Myrtle Kraft, who the library is named after

The library, drawn by a local artist

A tree mural, also done by a local artist

The view outside (Acorn Woodpeckers store acorns in the building's walls)

It's a wonderful library, with modern tools like Wi-Fi and computer terminals (that you can use for free). Kathleen says she loves her job, and it shows...

Thanks to a recommendation from my friend Debbie, who's the manager of the Wild Birds store back in Torrance, CA, I've bought a dry/wet vacuum cleaner; Debbie said she uses one to suck out the water in her water features instead of having to use a bucket and laboriously empty it by hand, which is what I do. I try it out for the first time. I also bought a 50-foot extension cord to get to the old water feature that's out near the overgrown part of my property (and has the feeders the deer chow-down on). The vacuum works quite well, sucking up the water -- but it seems to get  clogged very fast, and it doesn't seem to be getting the maximum of 2.5 gallons of water before it's emptied out. Well, afterwards I finally read the manual -- and I was using the wrong filter for the wet vacuum; I was using the one for dry vacuuming,which was already installed. Another DOH! And reason to read the manual before, not after something happens. I hope I didn't wreck it; I'll find out on Friday. 

There's an organization here called Friends of Cave Creek Canyon, whose main function is to promote the Chiricahuas, and Cave Creek Canyon in particular. If it weren't for the fact that it's a "tad" off the beaten path, the Canyon would have been achieved National Park status long ago. As it is, it's a constant battle between leaving things as they are, or encouraging more visitors and modernizing or updating to a certain degree public areas such as the visitor center and campgrounds. The thing is, Cave Creek Canyon, and its campgrounds, are mostly on the flood plain -- witness the destruction from Hurricane Odile last year, which caused the campgrounds in the canyon to be closed, and Portal to lose a lot of its revenue. So Friends wants the outside world to know that Portal, Cave Creek Canyon, and the Chiricahuas in general are still here and still one of the, if not the, king of the "sky islands" here in SE Arizona. So we have a meeting at the Events center, open to the public, discussing the various things that "FOCC" has accomplished this past year. The book "Cave Creek Canyon: Revealing The Heart of Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains" was written by experts in their field here, and has won, and is up for, book awards; there is a program to bring schoolchildren into the canyon for a visit; there is an invasive weed program; and others that have advanced in the past 4 years -- which is how long FOCCC has been in existence. FOCCC's website is here -- and is a truly worthy, nonprofit organization dedicated to Cave Creek Canyon through the work of residents and visitors. So we had catered food by Sky Island Grocery (it's due to open soon), and music by local group The Gypsy Carpenters. We had presentations on the book awards, invasive plants, the current state of Willow Tank, a small body of water on private land that's maintained by residents and is probably the finest "migrant trap" in the San Simon Valley; it's somewhat deteriorated lately, but it's hoped by donations will bring it back to at last some of its former reputation, and other subjects. It's another yearly event that brings together the residents of Portal, Rodeo and surrounding areas, and any interested visitor. So it was another productive day here on the east side of the Chiricahuas...

A photo from November 5, 2014, when I had just purchased the Canon 7D MK II camera body, and was trying it out for the first time at the Overton Wildlife Management Area in Overton, Nevada -- 

I was EXTREMELY satisfied with the results...