ArizonaRanch

  ‘Twas a Dark and Stormy Night by admin on Aug.25, 2009, under Seasons I came up in the third week of August to finish up the outdoor lights on the cabin. It was sunny and hot (about 96 deg.) when I arrived, and it was good to see the sun finally set on Friday evening. At about 7:15’ish, a storm built right over the top of the ranch, and grew quickly. For the next two hours, I was treated to a pretty good lightning storm. Here are some pictures from that night.   Lightning over the South Mountain The evening was pitch black, in between lightning strikes.  Sometimes the mountain would be backlighted by the strikes…   More August Lightning And sometimes the whole sky would light up like daytime…   Lit Up I never managed to get a really good picture, as I was relying on my reflexes to capture the strike, which was usually gone by the time I pressed the shutter.  I need to learn how to do open shutter photography with the digital camera. We got rain the next day for

  Installing Outdoor Lights by admin on Aug.25, 2009, under Electrical We picked up four nice lights at Lowes for $20 each.  They look kinda like a lamp you would find in an old mine.  I thought they would look good on the Littlehouse, so I installed them over the weekend. Here is what we ended up with... Outdoor Light    After deciding where to mount the lights, I had to run wire to each of the four corners, and to the two light switches located in the kitchen area. Next, I marked the rough shape of the outlet box on the inside of the wall.  I wanted it up against a stud, so it would have something solid to attach to. With the box outlined, I used the 9/16″ wood bit to mark the corners, then drilled through with a small bit.   Outlet location from inside cabin Once the hole marked the corners, I used the 9/16″ bit again to make the holes large enough for the sabre saw blade to go through.  Note that the Hardie Board is pretty tough on bits, and will pretty muc

  Critters ‘n Such by admin on Aug.25, 2009, under Seasons On the way out of the ranch on Monday, I came across this recently deceased bull snake at the corner near the Modahl’s place.  Looks like he got squished by a truck.  It’s a shame, as they are pretty beneficial to have around, and really do no harm.   Bull Snake The cattle were walking right down the middle of the road, and a few were challenging my right to be there.  I just inched through the bunch, and they gave way when I got really close.   Cattle in the Road Then at the gate near the entrance of our ranch, I saw these interesting berries. I thought they looked kinda like cherry tomatoes, but of course didn’t eat them, because I know that almost everything wild that looks good in arizona is poisonous!  It turns out I was right.  They are the Silverleaf Nightshade plant.  A relative of the tomato, but poisonous to humans and cattle.   Silverleaf Nightshade Here are some links that describe the plant

  Critters that Don’t Bite… by admin on Aug.02, 2009, under Seasons Alex and Hunter visited us because they like to run around and catch critters (mostly bugs, some lizards, NO SNAKES!).  They found a Horned Toad Lizard near an ant nest.  However, he was pretty docile, and didn’t seem to mind being handled some. here is a front view…   Horned Toad Lizard – Front View And here is a rear view…   Horned Toad Lizard – Rear View And here is Hunter holding him…   Hunter Holding the Horned Toad Lizard And Alex got his turn, too..   Alex holding the horned toad lizard When they were done looking at the lizard, they put him back where they found him, so the lizard could continue eating a bjillion ants every day!

  Adding Outside Outlets by admin on Aug.02, 2009, under Electrical Our trip at the end of July was not very productive.  About 10 minutes before we got to Anvil Rock Road, there was a huge thunderstorm that left hail all over the ground.  Later that afternoon, we got another pretty good storm at the ranch, so Friday was pretty well shot.  We did hear a bunch of frogs or toads across the meadow in the wash and up at the little pond at Gunners Mate Road, so that was kind of cool.  We brought the two grandsons along, as they really like running around the ranch exploring.  I kind of stressed my bad knee while we were out hiking with them, so I didn’t feel much like working.   Exterior Outlet Opened Anyway, we did get the four outside outlets installed… You can see that the sabre saw banged up the paint job pretty good, so we’ll have to touch that up this fall when it cools off a little. Here is another shot, with the cover closed.   Outside outlet – Cover closed