ArizonaRanch

    With a cold front approaching, I decided to run up to the Ranch to winterize the water pipes before the sustained 20-degree days hit us later in the week. I rinsed out our 200 gallon water tank that we use to haul water from the standpipe in Seligman to our Ranch.  After loading up the tank in the truck, I headed for Seligman. There had been reports that the standpipe in town had been modernized to accept debit cards for thew water that is drawn.  But upon arrival to the standpipe, I found that people were inserting quarters, and found a note on the control that said the new system was "still not working". Luckily, I had a fist full of quarters in the truck that I save for carwashes, and things of that nature. When it was my turn, I used the quarters, and filled up the 200 gallon tank.  It cost about 20 cents per gallon, so $2.50 to fill the tank. I hauled the water up the hill and parked on a small slope near the LittleHouse to help get all of the water out...

 While I was up at the Ranch installing our new internet link, I used the Seek App on my phone to help identify some of the insects and a snake I came across.  Easiest to identify was the Grand Canyon Black Tarantula that was walking along our lane. I always called this a bombadier beetle, but the Seek App says it is a Pinacate Beetle . There were quite a few grasshoppers on this trip.  The most common was the Red Shanked Grasshopper . There were many butterflys, but most of them were too hard to get a snapshot close-up.  I did catch this Variegated Fritillary Butterfly on my phone camera. Finally, this Gopher Snake was sunning in the lane.  He was thin, and only about 12 inches long.  He looked young to me.

  Bold Elk Pays a Visit by rdpecken on Sep.21, 2016, under Seasons This Elk seemed a little curious about the whole “cabin in the middle of the wilderness” thing…

  Labor Day 2014 at the Ranch by rdpecken on Sep.24, 2014, under Seasons Our trip up for Labor Day this year was mostly to do some more cleanup behind the LittleHouse. We ran into a few critters under the debris. One of them was a nice tarantula. He was friendly, and posed no harm. Taurantula Crawling on Ground       Crawling on hands      Back on the ground And for the movie…    

  Critters and such… by rdpecken on Oct.17, 2010, under Seasons We went for a hike on Friday.  We went down to the old Well #5 to see if it still had water in the tank, then we hiked around the road and up to Gunners Mate Road (about 3 miles altogether).  On the way, we found some interesting critters. Here is one of a pair of baby Horned Toad Lizards that were only about six feet from each other on the road. He had just caught a bug of some kind to eat. Baby Horned Toad Then, while we were resting, I knocked over a rock off the side of the road, and out crawled a centipede.  Pretty creepy… About 3 inches long. Centipede And when we got back, we found a little (maybe 2″) baby tarantula crawling near the cabin. Baby Tarantula I tried snapping a short video of him walking around…     Finally, the boys found bones from a deer out in the meadow.  Here they are trying to piece them together… Deer Bones 1 Deer Bones 2

  June 2010 at the Ranch by rdpecken on Jul.07, 2010, under Seasons At the end of June, a couple of friends came up for our ham radio “Field Day”.  On Sunday morning, we all went for a hike up our South Mountain, and there are some pretty nice views from up there.  Here are a couple of shots of the homestead from the side of the mountain… LittleHouse from South Mountain and one a little closer up… Littlehouse closer John took some nice scenery shots from the mountain. View over 29 plains      Ridge on South Mountain     Clearing on the Mountain   When we returned to the base camp, John couldn’t resist capturing a Cholla… Cholla Cactus in meadow And we had a skink under the LittleHouse.   Lizard under the house While I was up earlier in the month installing the ham radio vertical antenna, I ran across some 4 o’clocks that caught my eye. 4 o'clock closeup And one from further out… 4 o'clocks

  April 2010 Ranch Visit by rdpecken on Apr.23, 2010, under Seasons We didn’t do a lot of recreational stuff during our visit this April, as we only had a couple of days and wanted to get the plumbing finished. We did go for a little hike while I was testing out another cellphone for the Ranch. While we were out hiking, Remy (our dog) found a deer skull from a relatively fresh kill.  We’re guessing coyote or mountain lion made the kill, as hunters would have taken the head with them to prove their deer was a buck.  Also, this was a pretty small deer. Deer Skull Anyway, being earily facinated with dead animals (I had a dissection kit when I was in 6th grade), I picked up the skull with the intention of bringing it home for the gradkids to look at.  It was still not fully dried/bleached out, so I put it on an anthill for picking.  If some wild animal doesn’t drag it off, maybe it will be a nice bleach-white by the end of the summer.

  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!

  Critters that Bite by admin on Jul.01, 2009, under Seasons We saw this guy near the gate at the Markham Pass entry.  He’s about 3 feet long, and was just stretched across the road.  He wasn’t moving, and I didn’t want to run over him, so I inched up, then slammed on the brakes, spraying him with a little gravel from the tires.   Rattlesnake That made him a little defensive, and he coiled up.  That allowed us to drive on by, and I snapped this picture of him from the Jeep as we passed by…   Scared Snake

  Memorial Day 2009 by admin on Jun.04, 2009, under Seasons We were pretty lucky with weather for this trip.  However, just as we were arriving at Anvil Rock, it started raining.  By the time we got to Markham Pass, the road had turned to butter again.  But we made it through ok. The rest of the week was pretty nice.  It typically clouded up by noon, and kept it cool in the afternoon.  On Friday, we got about a full hour of steady rain.  When it finished, we went outside and enjoyed the nature after the rain.   Peak off to the west from the meadow Some more photos after the rain…   Clearing on south mountain   Stick Bushes got leaves… Usually they are bare…   Stick Bushes A couple of oriels started hanging around the cabin all week.  Here is a pretty good picture of one, but it’s through the screen door, so there is some obstruction. I think it's a Scott's Oriel.   oriel And here is my attempt at bl...

  May Day, 2009 Trip by admin on May.04, 2009, under Seasons We left Mesa on May Day, 2009 for a quick trip up to the ranch. For this trip, our main project was to touch up the trim paint where it had been peeled off by the masking tape removal. We started out from Mesa at about 09:00 am, and arrived at the Ranch at about 1:00 pm.  The forecast was for rain all Saturday afternoon, so we thought we better get the paint touch up done on Friday.  We were able to finish the painting by about 6:00, and took the rest of the day off. The next day, the rain did not materialize, and we just had a little cooler temperatures (about 65 degrees), and some wind.  In between our other projects, we installed a Game Camera in the meadow.   Game Camera We didn’t capture any photos over the weekend, so we will check it again when we come up at the end of the month. We did however, run into one of the millions of Dung Beetles that we see every year.  I...

  April 2009 at the Ranch by admin on Apr.21, 2009, under Seasons We made it back to the Ranch over April 17th through the 20th.  The main goal of this trip was to finish painting the house, but while we were doing some repairs, we spotted a roadrunner walking across the drive.  Since the camera was handy, we snapped this photo.  It’s kind of far away and zoomed in, but you can see him near the center of the picture on the road.   RoadRunner, the coyote's after you... The weather on this trip was really nice.  It started off on Friday with a high in the high 50’s, then dropped into the low 30’s overnight.  After that, it warmed up about 10 degrees for the highs and maybe 5 degrees for the lows each day.  For the first night, we used the heater in the bedroom, but after that, we didn’t need it.

  September 2006 at the Ranch by admin on Sep.25, 2006, under Seasons “Our” Cows September 24th, 2006. Morning. Some of the cows came to visit today, and I happened to have the camera ready, so here they are… They need to work harder at keeping the meadow mowed, though.   Cows in the Meadow Close up Cows September 24th 2006. Morning. Here is a little closer shot.   Close-up of Cows in Meadow Little House Site September 24th, 2006. Morning. Here is a recent shot of our little house site. You can see our relatively new water tank installed. Next step is framing the little house, finally!   LittleHouse Site

  August Hiking at the Ranch by admin on Aug.10, 2005, under Seasons Hiking August 6th, 2005. Morning. We went for a hike over South Mountain and back to the windmill, ending up back at camp via the road. Here is Alex and Tara at the start.   Alex on the hike Hike August 6th, 2005. Morning Hunter takes a rest about halfway through.   Hunter on the hike Rattlesnake August 6th, 2005. Morning. Tara found this little guy in our meadow. He was small, and didn’t have any rattles yet. He looked like a cowpie from eye level, so she luckily avoided stepping on him.   Small baby rattlesnake sunbathing Taking a Rest August 6th, 2005. Morning. The boys stop for a breather…   Taking a breather