April 7-8 -- A Trip To Sierra Vista, And A Singing Mr. Cardinal

April 7 started off as an iffy day weatherize -- and I was heading over to Sierra Vista, about 100 miles to the west, to take Tundra II in for servicing and maintenance. I'll be heading to Texas' High Island, 1,000 miles to the east, week after next, and there's the grand excursion up north to Alaska starting in July, so Tundra has to be in good shape and dependable. I have a symbiotic relationship with "him" (and with Discovery II, which is a "her"), and when I start out on a drive I always pat the dashboard and say "good morning!" I know it's silly, but I take care of Tundra, and he takes me where I have to go with with a high degree of dependability. Seems to have worked so far; even the deer-smooshing episode with Tundra I ended up with my buying Faranuf, so the most disastrous of situations has had a silver lining. But I digress...The day started off cloudy, with a chance of rain in the afternoon; sunrise time sent a mixed message, though still beautiful --

Basin and Range, mountains and valleys, as far as the eye can see, with little sign of human habitation. My kind of landscape... I headed out early, taking the southern route through Douglas and Bisbee. I've only gone through Bisbee about 3 times, once when I had to get the building permit for Discovery's canopy, and it really does deserve its own blog post as it has a fascinating history and is quite picturesque.But I had to do a lot of things lined up to do in Sierra Vista. My brother, a lawyer working at Fort Huachuca, lives there, along with his wife and daughter, so I dropped by for a quick visit, chatting with my sister-in-law mainly about my lack of a suit for my nephew's wedding in June. I haven't worn a suit since, well, I attended the American College of Switzerland -- it doesn't exist any more -- in 1988, so I suppose it's time I get one. Barbara, my sis-in-law, suggested I could borrow one of Richard's (my brother) but he's taller than me and the sleeves would go below my hands, so knowing me I'd walk around at the wedding looking as if I was sans hands, so that was a non-starter. I'll figure something out. (Buy a suit at Amazon? They have pretty much everything.) I bought groceries for dinners next week at Faranuf with friends, then went to the Toyota dealership. I of course went the wrong way to the service entrance (hey, I've never been there before) but I got there in time for my appointment, pretty good considering the long distance I have to go. The service rep said it would take about 3 hours for servicing and getting my rear brakes done, so I headed to a Denny's across the street for lunch, ending up with a lava cake with ice cream (there's no place in Portal or environs that has such a thing -- and a good thing there isn't) then head back to Toyota to while away the time. The service guy came in and suggested a few more things needed to be done, so I gave the go-ahead and settled in for a longer wait. (A friend said there is someone in Rodeo who works on cars and trucks, but you have to buy the parts then bring them to him; as you have to go into the city anyway to get the parts, I figure you may as well stay there to get the work done.) There was a TV with Fox news on (of course) so I was trying to tune it out while checking Facebook and my e-mail on my iPad Mini. I got into a conversation with a woman who also was waiting for her car to be serviced. It turned out she was living in Bisbee and had a business doing travel insurance. Her husband had bought an old service station, put up an old Texaco gas station sign, fixed up the place, and  put a 60's Ford Ranchero in the front; that was where they ran their business. I told her about my being a member of Facebook's Cochise County page where besides the usual scenics we look for unusual and historic businesses in the county, so I got her work brochure and said I might drop on by one of these days. All during this time a woman was wandering about, chatting with the staff and visitors. I figured she was something like a "meet and greet" person for Toyota, or someone along the lines of Walmart's "Can I Help You?" seniors who used to be at the entrance of the stores. So I asked her "What do you do here?" She replied "I own the place." What do you mean, the place? "I'm the owner of the Toyota dealership". Whoops. Talk about misjudging and stereotypes!  It turns out her name is Elsie -- later I got her business card --, she'd previously owned dealerships in New Jersey, then around the early 2000s made the move to Sierra Vista and has had the Toyota dealership there since that time. We went into her office and she showed me an aerial photo from 2004 showing the property before Toyota rebuilt and expanded the business. I asked her questions about the Prius and Tundras (all of the Tundras are manufactured in San Antonio, Texas) and she said that most young people nowadays do all of their car investigating on the Internet before coming in and know what they want, unlike before where the buyer was at the "mercy" of the sales rep. She said all of her workers are low-pressure and treat the customers with respect -- and I can vouch that they do,  because that's how they treated me throughout my time there. I eventually got out around 5:30, but in the meantime I'd met some nice and interesting people, and decided that Sierra Vista Toyota was where I'd take Tundra in for servicing in the future as they're thorough, friendly, and treat you with respect. And I now know the owner. There aren't many major dealerships around where you can say that. And I told Elsie I'd put a mention of her in my blog...I headed back to Portal and had a great evening ride through sparsely populated country , playing Bach organ solos on the truck's CD player. It somehow seemed a good fit for the lonely (yet not empty, as the scenery is anything but that) landscape. I arrived back at Faranuf, with Tundra now in good shape both inside and out (they washed him at Toyota; now I don't have to do it) and the feeling of having had a day full of accomplishment. 

The next day began with a bang. It just goes to show that I don't need a "critter cam" to get the visitors that come to the water feature. Surprisingly, Mr. Wile E. Coyote took a drink early in the morning -- 

I lucked out in seeing him as he was coming from the front yard into the back, heading right to the water. He's a bit on the scrawny guy, but that's the way it is with the coyotes of the west.  Then I finally had solid evidence that Mr. and Mrs. Northern Cardinal have finally set up shop in my back yard, after months of deliberation. First Mr. Cardinal sang --

Then he took a bath in the water feature; it was the first time I've seen him do that, and it seems like he's getting more comfortable back there. It was a day full of "Steve do's", so the only interesting thing to report was my getting the new Canon 100-400 f/5.6 MK II lens. I've had the MK I version for over 5 years, and while it was good it just didn't have the "oomph" that the 500mm prime lens has (well, no lens does). The MK II is much sharper, and has upgraded features that makes it much more user-friendly. So I ordered it online from Amazon (natch) and received it in 4 days. The thing is, the first lens I got was missing a few things, like the tripod mount -- and the instruction manual. Looking back on it, it seems like I'd received a return. So I got online and chatted with an Amazon rep, who really didn't understand what a tripod mount was, but she sent out another lens with 1-day shipping, I received it yesterday (Friday) and it had the missing items. I suppose I should be peeved at the very least with Amazon for trying to unload a return on me, but things were resolved to my satisfaction, and that's the main thing. The new lens will come in handy for the upcoming trip to High Island, especially when the 500 lens is too much reach. And the image quality of the MK II is head and shoulders above the MK I, which was my main beef with it.  So all's well that ends well... The day ended up with a thunderstorm; I call it "a monsoon T-storm without the humidity -- or bugs". It was quite impressive for awhile --

The just before sunset, the skies cleared and the remaining clouds reminded one that you have to look up to the skies here as well as the ground --

Those were taken from my front porch...