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...

 Sometime in mid to late August, our ViaSat Satellite Internet service went down at the Ranch.  The service had been sufficing for us for many years, although the data limits and touchy adjustments were sometimes a pain.  Phone calls placed on this service (through the wifi connection on our phones) experienced terrible delays, to where we had to pause after each phrase and wait for the other person to talk.  It was almost like the MARS Radio System that I used to call home from Okinawa when I was in the service, where we had to say, "Over", when it was the other person's turn to talk. We decided to update our system to newer technology. We still don't have anywhere near good service from the cellular companies.  The nearest point we can pick up any signal at all is out in the middle of the meadow, where we can sometimes get 1-bar of service (about -120dbm signal as measured with my phone), very weak. Our new system is the Starlink Satellite service.  Becau...

 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.

 I went up to the Ranch at the beginning of October to install out new internet link. While there, I tried out the Seek App on my Android phone.  It is used to identify plants and animals when you snap a picture of them. It was pretty good at getting me in the right ballpark at identifying the various plants and animals on my hike, but I had to resort to internet searches to narrow most of them down further. The first plant I tried to ID was this golden weed.  It ended up looking like Broom Snakeweed . Along the road was an easy to identify Rough Cocklebur . A Golden Crownbeard was also found along the road at the bottom of our lane. I had always referred to this next plant as "stick-bushes".  The Seek App says they are Pale Desert Thorn .  They are pretty thick at the lower end of our meadow.  During winter and dry times, these are just bare sticks... Seek says these plants growing in our lane are Pale Evening Primrose . One of the common trees on our ra...

  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…

  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

  Fall Campfire by rdpecken on Oct.17, 2010, under Seasons We brought the two grandsons up for October Break.  One of the highlights of the trip was that it was calm enough and not too dry to have a campfire.  We dug out the old “Dave Coester” built fire ring, and taught the two boys how to build a proper fire.  Then we roasted marshmellows over the coals.  It was cool. Campfire The juniper really makes a nice fire.  The Pinyon Pines, not so much.  Too much pitch and smoke. Campfire 2 The next day, Papa got into some of the pictures. We roasted hotdogs for dinner that night. Campfire 3

  Early October 2010 by rdpecken on Oct.06, 2010, under Seasons I went up last Friday to finish the bathroom floor tiles.  On Monday, a storm rolled in.  It was one of the biggest storms I have witnessed there.  Wave after wave of thunderstorms started around noon and continued until the next day at 7:00 pm.  Our neighbor Wayne said we got about 1.7 inches at his place, with winds of 50 mph.  I believe it, as the Littlehouse was really shaking. Anyway, since the camera batteries were dead, I couldn’t catch any good pictures during the storm, as the cellphone (with camera) was up at the phone booth. So on Wednesday morning, I took some post-storm photos.  They aren’t very good quality (from the cellphone) but better than nothing. The road had dried enough by Wednesday morning at 10:00am to take off toward the Valley. Markham Pass drying Here are some from the Littlehouse from porch on Wednesday morning.   Looking west...

  Markham Pass Improvements by rdpecken on Oct.05, 2009, under Area I went up to the ranch over the first weekend in October, just to drain the water lines and get ready for a possible early winter. We had major winds that whole weekend, as a front was passing through from the north, and a tropical storm was arriving from the south.  That resulted in some of the worst blowing dust I have seen in the area.   Blowing dust on Markham Pass When I arrived at Markham Pass, it was evident that some road work had been done.  The road was graded, the culverts were repaired, and it looks like several loads of cinders have been spread in the worst spots.  I hope they stay in place long enough to get mixed with the mud when we get some rain this fall/winter. Here is the section near Bullit Road…   Cinders near Bullit Road And the bad spot near Rigg’s place looks better with cinders…   Cinders near Rigg's Place Modahls’s curve looks a lot be...

  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