November 6 -- Another Douglas "Grocery Run", And Mr. Cardinal Is Back

I wanted an early start to Douglas, so was lucky that the sunrise to the east was nothing to write home about, and I'd taken quite a few photos to the west under the conditions (clear, no clouds). I took off at 7am, passed through Rodeo ("the most Western town in New Mexico") and headed south down Highway 80. Most of the traffic (and that's pretty sparse) are big trucks that cross the border from Mexico. Along the road, there's as sign that looks handwritten, saying "Free Trade -- Billions going to Mexico, Drugs Coming into the US". I wave at all the pickup trucks as chances are they're locals, mostly ranchers. The land is savannah-like, with tall waving grass, and low mountains on either side. There can be a lot of raptors here, mostly on abandoned power poles and occasionally on top of yucca and other native plants. I pass  Praire Falcon on a pole right alongside the road; as I usually do, I regret I didn't stop to take a photo of it when I'm about 5 miles down the road, and too far to go back. The road is lightly traveled, very scenic, and there's always something to keep your interest -- well, at least for me. Border Patrol SUVs are coming up the road from Douglas, and a few are on the side of the road; I always try to wave at them, too. Douglas is kind of a strange town; it used to be a mining town basically run by one company, then the company left in the 20th century and the town is struggling to find a new identity. It's a bit "tattered", with a rundown civic center, and a new center with a MacDonald's, Carl's Junior, Dairy Queen, Wal-Mart, Penny's, etc sitting off on the other side of the road into Mexico. I get some money at the Wells Fargo there -- the only major bank branch in town, as far as I know. And there's only 2 major supermarkets there -- Wal-Mart and Food City, which is where I have my prescription. But I usually go just to Wal-Mart for the convenience; it has everything. I load up with groceries and a few household items, and am heading back to Portal by 10:15. That's great as every time I go down there, I want to get back to Portal ASAP, and every time I see Portal Peak I feel it's like a friend welcoming me back home. I stop by the post office as I'd received a text message on my SmartPhone that 2 Amazon orders had arrived -- small things like that have really helped living out here -- then run into Kathleen, our librarian, and ask her how she liked the writeup I gave her and the library on Facebook. She, and the library, are widely recognized as one of the best small libraries around. Once back at Faranuf, I check my laptop and find that a photo of mine was a finalist on the Arizona Highway Magazine's Facebook page. Every week they have a contest with a theme, and this one was "Your Favorite Place In Arizona". Well, no contest for me -- Cave Creek Canyon in the Chiricahuas. Here's the photo I submitted, of "False Portal Peak" and the real Portal Peak, off the left wreathed in clouds; this was taken last winter just before I bought Faranuf --

If you "win" -- and there are 56 "winners" chosen each week -- then your photo is displayed in an album for a week, until the next contest. I'm grateful to Arizona Highways as this is the 4th straight week that one of my photos was chosen. Interestingly, and very telling, is that among the hundred or so entries -- and I looked at all of them -- only 2 others were of the Chiricahuas, and that was submitted by one person and was the 2 photos allowed. And they were of Chiricahua Nati'l Monument, otherwise known as the "Wonderland of Rock", in the northern section of the range, and much more accessible to the public.. I consider it one of my main purposes living here to raise the public awareness of Cave Creek Canyon and rest of the Chiricahuas -- not just the most popular, and accessible, area. The Chiricahuas, and Cave Creek Canyon in particular, are probably THE premier "Sky Island" in SE Arizona, as they have a wealth of species that is unmatched for its numbers and diversity -- heck, it's why wildlife biologists and other scientific professionals work and retire here to the Portal area. The only drawback is it's off the beaten path; it's on the way to nowhere, this IS your destination. You don't go through Portal, and Cave Creek Canyon, to go to someplace else. So we residents need to raise the public consciousness of the area, without destroying its small-town values. But that's always a difficult balance...

I'd bought some nails to see if I could repair some of the split and rotted wood on the exterior of the well house. It doesn't work; I hammer in the nails, and the wood splits even more. So I leave it alone. The former owner had put in another layer of wood inside, too hopefully that, along with the exterior wood boards, will last for awhile longer. (I'll find out after this winter, especially if "El Nino" arrives as expected.) The Irish Spring soap bars, in their boxes, that I'd put in the inside corners of the well house are still working; no new mouse droppings -- and no lizards or spiders, either. Don't know if that has to do with the bars, though...Later, about the time when I bring in the hummingbird feeders, I get a pleasant surprise. As I walk past the back sliding glass door, I see a flash of red out of the corner of my eye. I think to myself, "that was too red to be a Pyrrhuloxia"-- and discover that the male Northern Cardinal, AWOL from my back yard for more than a month, had returned. Yay!  It seemed to like the bird seed I'd put out -- 

So -- how to keep him here to stay this time? I have plenty of sunflower seeds, which Cardinals love. I tried peanut butter slathered on a piece of wood -- and that was behind him in the photo -- but he never went after that, along with a slice of orange that I'd stuck on a stick. So let's see what happens this time... 

My friends Lori and Mark, whose house I'd "babysat" while they went on a birding trip to Trinidad and Guyana, gave me as a gift 3 meals from Green Chef, which sends you the meals in an insulated box. All the ingredients you need for the meals and individually packaged and labeled and there are detailed directions as to how to prepare and cook the meals; quite a nice thing for when you're out here!  The meals are enough for two, possibly three in a pinch. And they're not your "run of the mill" meals, either; I had "Drunken Noodles", with broccoli, Thai spices, red pepper, celery, etc, along with noodles and a "salad" made from cut apples, and and Thai spice all drizzled with lime. And though it takes a bit to prepare -- they estimate on the menu paper that it takes "35 minutes" ; mine is more like an hour -- it turns out REALLY good -- and you couldn't collect together all of those ingredients on your own, certainly not at the same market. So it's a real boon for out here -- if it weren't for the cost. So for that reason alone I doubt if I'll purchase any on my own...