I'm On Snake Watch

This was my last chance to see the coyote pack.  I've determined they only come around every three days. Since their territory is usually 10-15 miles wide, I can certainly see why I don't see them more often.  It's also due to the rain.  There are lots of water pockets around the area.  In the summer when those dry up, they will hang out by my house more often.  

Mother Nature put on another great show.  She never disappoints.  This time a completely different looking dress graced the mountains.

These three images were taken one minute apart.  I love the way the dark clouds slip over the top of the mountains underneath the orange sky.

Two minutes after this click, it all disappeared.  

It stayed overcast and rain-looking all day long, but not a drop fell down that I saw.  What I DID see was an unusual number of trains going by.  Literally one after another going both ways.  That can make for some gigantic traffic jams since I live between two railroad tracks with two nearby schools.  

As you can see, the trains are closer than they look in the pictures I take outside.  All this heavy traffic and rattling rails results in things shifting under the house.  

Although this is a permanent house, the floors can move enough to cause cracks in the walls.  That requires leveling every couple of years.  

They said between 11 and 2.  Nothing like messing up your entire day with waiting ... and waiting.  The good news is it gave me a chance to medicate Cooper's foot.  Oh yes ... I took the bandage off to discover they had wrapped it so tight, his claw cut another nice little hole in his pad.  Mama Nancy wasn't too happy about THAT!  I've been nursing his little foot ever since.

It's better now, but he wants to lick it constantly.  It's been a real problem.  Waiting gave me a chance to just sit on the couch and make sure he left it alone.

Finally ... with a break in the action, I headed out to put water in the rig.  Honestly, I don't know why they make this so difficult.  Why not just one pipe for water?  Why do you have to move FIVE valves around to fill the tank?  I have to spend way too much time thinking about what I'm doing so I don't mess something up.  

Once full, you have to open the hot water faucet and wait about four minutes for the water to fill the hot water tank.  That of course pushes all the air out the faucet and scares me to death.  Same goes for the kitchen faucet ... which MUST be open when filling the tank.  It's a lot to remember, especially at MY age.

Finally two nice pickup trucks showed with with not one or two, but FOUR good looking guys!!  Wow ... how did I get so lucky!!  After getting gussied up for claustrophobic work, they all went in the same access hole and began crawling around.

Cranking noises could be heard as they tightened up the jacks that keep the floors level.  They also take pictures of all the holes in the vapor barrier and offer a price to repair same.  Five years ago that estimate was $300.  On this day it was $850.  No thank you.

Then they said the jacks are at the top of the bolts and should be replaced with taller ones.  Hmmm that's one I've never heard before.  That would cost $125 each.  There are TEN jacks.  YIKES!!  Maybe we can do a couple at a time ... LATER.  I'll have to do a little more investigation into that suggestion.  Maybe a block underneath each jack?

Suddenly the head guy went running around the garage.  Uh oh ... he came back with none other than a SNAKE STICK.  You know, the kind with grippers on the end to catch snakes?  "Did you know you have snakes under there?"  

Uh no ... well I did catch one in a rat trap once ... but I have seen them in the yard before.  Did it rattle??  He passed the stick under the house.  No rattles, but there are apparently not one, but TWO snakes hanging out having parties under my house.  My guess is they are the rare Sonoran Lyre snakes I've found in my back yard before.  Although they will give you a nasty bite, SUPPOSEDLY they won't kill you.  

In no time, all four guys were out from under the house with no snake.  They couldn't move fast enough to catch it.  I know the feeling, since I chased two around my back yard with no success.  So that's good news, right?  Beware the snakes.  Maybe they will eat the rats and mice.  It's a little unsettling though.

I spent the rest of the afternoon making sure Coop didn't chew on his foot as I watched two weather channels on my phone.  I'm on weather watch to be sure there isn't a lot of wind when I get ready to leave.  

I'm also watching for snow over Tehachapi.  If there is any in sight, I'll just hang out in Quartzsite until it's gone.  For right now ..... I'm on SNAKE WATCH!

Sunrise ...... Sunset

 It certainly seems those sunrise and sunset days are screaming by faster than me chasing a scorpion across the kitchen floor.  One day I have a month left and the next I've got three days, which is not near enough time to get packed and set the house up.  

At least I took a little time to stop and smell the roses or at least the sunrise on this day.  I'm a fan of the purple/blue hour for photography, especially in the desert.  

The clouds and the mountains turn the most beautiful purple you ever seen in a fleeting display of Mother Nature in her finest dress.

Not to mention that it's different every single time.  Of course the sun waits for no man, and it was all gone in a flash.

It was quickly replaced by 35-45 mph winds.  That's even too much to fly a kite.  Not too much to head off to the store for traveling groceries though.  I was in a big hurry this day with so much still to be done.

Lucky for us, our little homeowners association uses our $50 a year dues to do a free cleanup of the entire subdivision, which is huge since most everyone has one acre or more.  Wouldn't you know, I didn't get the notice and it was to begin today.  

I still had a nice big stack up by my garage, which had to be shuttled to the end of my driveway.  The only thing more pokey than a live agave plant is a DEAD agave plant.  I have several new holes in my hands and arms.

With that done, it was time for breakfast ... on a REAL plate!  I finished up the last of the Krusteaz pancake mix.  I swear there's nothing better ... light and fluffy smothered in maple syrup!!

Then came the horrible news from RV friends Dave and Lynn Cross.  They have stayed at the Escapees RV Park in Benson for years.  Just recently (thank the Lord) they moved to another location, but left their rig to sell.  I don't usually show stuff like this, but it's important.  

Always ALWAYS check your propane lines.  I'm bad for not doing that, but I will from now on.  There was an explosion from the casita next door to Dave and Lynn's trailer.  It completely burned the neighbors trailer, their casita and their car, along with Dave's trailer which you see here.  By the time they got the fire out, there was absolutely nothing left but a big pile of ashes.  

My prayers to the gentleman who was burned and airlifted to a hospital in Phoenix I think.  They lost absolutely everything.  My heart goes out to this couple.  It's just so very sad.

I was back at it after breakfast, airing up the tires on the rig.  This is another one that scares me.  We had an accident at the Sand and Gravel Plant we owned where a kid overinflated a huge truck tire until it exploded in his face.  The kid ended up with two broken arms, but it has made me paranoid every time I have to air up tires.  So what do I do but get an RV where you have to do it constantly!!

Lots of packing and moving stuff around ensued, but it doesn't seem like I got much accomplished.  I did get a couple more pieces put together for this quilt.  OMG .... it's so busy it makes me cross-eyed.  It is rather fascinating however, that every single one of them is different, even though they were cut out of the same 23" piece of fabric.

If I ever make this again (which I won't) I'll find much softer colors.  I'll have to PAY someone to take this off my hands!!

Exciting stuff this morning .... not really .... the house levelers will be here in a couple of hours.  Every few years you have to re-level these houses, even though they are installed permanently.  How can you tell?  Because some doors refuse to open and cracks begin to appear in the ceiling, mostly due to the ground vibrating every time a train goes by.  Yes, I'm that close to the tracks.

At least this is fixable, unlike my OTHER house where cracks appear, but you can do nothing about it.  Just slap on a little caulking and you're good to go!!

Then it will be back to packing up again ... and checking my propane lines with the soapy water trick.

House of Canoe, Part Two

 The title is about my best attempt at poetry.  I will continue the tour of Hacienda de Canoa today with more history of the area after it became part of the United States.  The first mention of this site came about in 1775 when Captain Juan Baptista De Anza went along the route from Tucson to San Francisco with 239 people establishing churches in Native villages.  Friar Garces gave it the name of La Canoa from the canoe-like water troughs dug out of the cottonwood trees by the local Pima Indians.

It's always been interesting to me that the Catholic Church tried to convert all of the Indians to their religion.  This area was no exception.

There were a few different owners who raised cattle here until it was sold to Mr. Manningin 1912.  This original homestead was built by Mr. Manning in the 1930's as he enlarged his holdings.  He and his son ran the ranch until in 1951, when a tragic accident happened.  His son was killed in a head on collision on the highway.  Mr. Mannings zest for the ranch disappeared as he began selling off parcels.

THIS is the blacksmith shop.  It looked more like a house to me.  The small section on the left actually IS a house.  The sign said Congressman Raul Grivalja grew up here.  His family lived in this house when his father came from Mexico as part of the original Bracero Program.  

This was NOT part of the quilt show, so we didn't spend a lot of time reading about the building.  They had a bathroom, this kitchen (this was the ENTIRE kitchen), a large living room and a bedroom.  

Attached to the bedroom was the blacksmith shop ... an INSIDE version to boot.  This is the forge where they shaped horseshoes for the ranch horses.  This is definitely worth the visit for me since they had lots of horsehair reins and ropes, early bridles and a few very nice saddles.

Out behind the shop was one of several corrals made with local trees and cactus.  I'll have to go back sometime to get a better look at the cattle operation they had here.

It was a rather tight fit walking around all the frames holding the quilts and getting pictures with 30 other people at the same time.  It's amazing what you can do with a little fabric and a sewing machine.

This was one of my favorites, although I was terribly distracted by the buildings.  I'm now on the hunt for this one called Simply Civil, a reference to civil war fabric I think.

 The sell off of this property by Mr. Manning ended in 1994 when Fairfield Homes bought 6400 acres for a housing development.  What a shame.  However, they did not receive the zoning changes they wanted, so in 2001 the Arizona Open Land Trust bought 4800 acres of it as permanent wildlife habitat.  I'm good with that!

This was Mr. Mannings house across from his son's house (the one with the glass windows).  This had a big kitchen with a patio in the middle of it.  They are currently remodeling the kitchen to allow for parties and gatherings at the ranch which is now controlled by the Raul Grijalva Canoa Ranch Conservation Park Master Plan to promote heritage education.  

And more quilts ... LOTS of quilts ... too many to take pictures of.  It seemed like the theme this year was scrap quilts.  I'm not surprised since fabric has gone up so high in price that a queen size will now cost you around $175 just for the fabric.  Scrap quilting allows you to use up all that fabric you have stashed in your house.

The quilting on this one was crazy.  It must have taken months to quilt every little section differently and separately.

The ranch foreman had some nice digs ... this screened in porch was full of quilts too.  I imagine with all the thick adobe walls, it was quite comfortable in the summer.

This is what it looked like before the restoration.  There's those palm fronds hanging over the patio.

It's a great venue for a quilt show, but being more interested in the history and the cattle ranch, I was a little distracted.  I really didn't get enough quilt pictures and I didn't buy one single thing from the vendors.  That's a first!!  

There were many more very nice quilts, but I rather imagine you folks would be more interested in the history too.  

As for the lake, there was never enough water in the desert to keep it full, so Mr. Manning put in a big pump to fill it from the aquifer.  When purchased by the conservancy, they quit pumping, but wanted to keep the lake for the critters and the historical value.  They mixed a polymer into the soil to help keep the water above ground, then filled it back up as you see it today.

There are biking and hiking trails all around, but we had hiked the quilt show long enough.  I was ready for some tasty Tex-Mex food.  Pretty nice of them to have a food truck available.  Too bad I didn't take any pictures of the food.  

Patty had a Sonoran dog that was an epic example of good food.  I had two street tacos, one carne asada and one brisket that was AMAZING!!

There was one last quilt on the way out the door.  Buy a raffle ticket and you could win this beauty!!  I have enough quilts, but isn't it gorgeous?  

That was it for the quilt show and the Hacienda de la Canoa.  They plan on making more renovations in the future which will make it even better.  Check it out if you are in the area, but go early since by 11:00 the entire lake parking lot was full to the brim with bird watchers.

One last thing, if anyone knows what kind of trees these are, could you let me know please?  The picture with the patio kitchen shows them the best.  They cover this entire property.  I know someone out there can identify them.  

The House Of Canoe (?)

Good Morning GALE!!!  Gale is Mother Nature's wild child.  She visits us often, swirling around 20-25 mph like a banshee.  It seems she will be hanging out here for the next three days, ramping up to 40 mph when she gets a good run at it.  Booyah!!!  So much for enjoying the warm beautiful weather we had yesterday at an all new location.

Your history lesson for today ..... in 1812, the father of Thomas and Ignacio Ortiz settled this tract of land in the Santa Cruz Valley.  In 1820, they petitioned the Spanish Governor (before Mexico became independent) for four land grants along the Santa Cruz River.  They received 17,000 acres for $250.00 (this is not a typo).

It was not without its perils for them ... this was along the Apache Plunder Trail traveled by marauding Indians all the way to Chihuahua.  By 1848, the only two grants left occupied were Tucson and Tubac.  The Ortiz brothers still owned the ranch when Americans began to pour in to the area.  Sadly, Ignacio was killed by the Tohono O'odham in 1857.  

Ironclad Pete Kitchen settled on the ranch in that year and refused to be run out.  He fortified the ranch with all the adobe walls you see today.  The ranch changed hands several times, eventually being purchased by Levi Manning it the 1920's when he named it Hacienda de la Canoa.  That is supposed to be the Spanish name for canoe ... on the lake I suppose.

The corn field as high as an elephants eye in the production of Oklahoma?  It was planted, grown and filmed right here at the ranch.  Who knew????  This lake was used not only for livestock water, but for fishing as well.   This is where Shirley Jones swam in the buff for Oklahoma.  This is now a County park with trails all around the area.

Who would ever think there would be a QUILT SHOW here too!  Luckily Patty caught a glimpse of that email that said GO HERE.  I'm very happy to say that Mr. Cooper was almost back to normal the next morning when he woke up.  The first indication was when he grabbed his ball and headed for the living room.  BOOYAH!!!  Boy did that make me feel better.  His smiling face was back.

So off we went to the Canoa Ranch.  I had heard of it before, but didn't know how extensive the place was.    It was added to the list of historic places on the National Registry and now offers bird watching tours and educational programs.  Since bird watching isn't exactly on my list, I never investigated the place.

It's rather confusing, the setup of buildings, each surrounded by adobe walls, none facing the same direction and seemingly placed rather haphazardly around the area.  That was maybe so they had a view of the Apaches coming from all sides? 

This is the before and after of the guest house, used as an office by Mr. Manning.  The adobe is about two feet thick, with the inside walls covered in the most amazing walnut paneling you've ever seen.  

Inside what looked like a teeny tiny bedroom were these gorgeous chaps.  Boy would I love to have THOSE!

Of course instead of going to the buildings in order, we opted to go against the grain and walk to the farthest building first.  

I'm sure this was a patio originally, eventually enclosed with glass to beat the Arizona heat.  The ceiling is held up with tree trunks along the entire long wall.  

Wouldn't you just love to sit here with your coffee every morning?  Funny ... Patty and I were just talking about those darn palm trees and how hard they were to prune.  All of these patios were covered in palm fronds originally, to help keep out the sun.  

Talk about the perfect place to grow fabulous flowers ... 

What did we come here for?  Oh yeah .... the quilt show.  I kept getting completely distracted by the buildings.  I was more interested in the architecture than the quilts, but here's a spectacular one of Noah's Ark.  

I admit, I probably took more pictures of the buildings than the quilts.  All I had was my phone, so these are not the best pictures.  This one ... I seem to be attracted to the quilts with just 3 different fabrics.

Although not my color choice, this one just shows the different quilting done in every single block.

The next larger building on the route must have been Mr. Mannings house.  I didn't get much information on this because I was too busy looking at stuff for sale.  This was the vendor area for the quilt show.  I did however, catch this nice fireplace.  

A quick look outside to the little patio found tulips blooming in the garden.

This place is way too big to show it all in one fell swoop, so tomorrow we'll tour the blacksmith shop and the home of Congressman Raul Grijalva.  Yup ... he grew up right here.  Who is he?  I've no idea, but I'm about to find out.

My Poor Sidekick ....

 Weird is all I can say about the weather, and you know when it's weird, people talk about it.  We are back to the 60's during the day, with more rain coming.  Add to that the normal Vail gale of hair wrenching wind and you know you are in Arizona.

The good news is the birds are coming back slowly.  I usually have big numbers of quail, but this year they are few and far between.

I seem to have a small covey of baby mourning dove that sit on my fence and wait for breakfast to be served.  I put out a small bit of seed on the grass for them, then they sit for a couple of hours before heading out.  You can tell they are babies because they are a little awkward.

And then the wrens ... remember this?  I'm still working on it.  The birds of the U.S. quilt is the only "wren" picture I have.  They are too fast for the camera.

I spent the morning finishing up this quilt.  It didn't turn out too bad after all, but is very small.  A picnic blanket for one I think.

After waking up sufficiently, I put on my big girl pants and unloaded the propane tank.  That's the easy part.  For a mere $16.00 I got my 7 gallon tank full of 6 gallons of propane.  The guy had a hard time lifting it up on the tailgate of my truck.  I thought that didn't bode well for me.

Back at the rig, I backed up as close as I could so I didn't have to carry it so far.  Surprisingly, it went in the easiest it ever has.  I'm topped off with propane and ready to head out.   Not yet, but soon.

Just for giggles, I decided to try and put my new table together for the first time.  Ingenious how these unfold.  Unfortunately, getting them folded BACK is a lesson in frustration.  I never could get the table top back in the original configuration.  I finally gave up and luckily, it fit in the bag anyway.

Then it was off to the Vet for my little sidekick.  My poor baby .... he needed two shots, Parvo and rabies.  While there, I mentioned he was chewing on his foot.  Although I felt nothing when I checked it two days ago, I DID feel something this time.  They said they would check it out.

OMG ... they took him OUT of the room and didn't come back for over 30 minutes.  I was getting pretty concerned since I know two shots cannot take 30 minutes!! 

Good grief ... he came back with a huge leg wrap like he had a broken leg ... all the way up to his hip bone.  WHAT THE HECK???  She said she found a sticker in his foot and when she took it out, it left a little hole.  She soaked it in Epsom salts and wrapped it up.  You can tell he's not a happy camper, poor baby.  He can't bend his leg at all!!

The wrap was so huge he couldn't walk and was obviously VERY uncomfortable.  So much so that I finally took a pair of scissors to the bandages.  I know, I'm not a vet ... but I've been around animals enough to know when they are in pain and how to fix it.  I cut off 3/4 of the bandage, making it much easier for him to walk.

That worked pretty well, but he was still not feeling good at all.  I drug out this little kennel thing and set it up, in the hopes of keeping him from walking too much today while I'm gone.  He has never EVER gone in this willingly.  

As you can see above, I spent the next five hours on the floor ... oh my aching butt ... until out of the blue, he walked in, laid down and went to sleep.

Although restless for awhile, he finally slept like a log ... so much so that I kept having to check to see if he was breathing.  This morning he was more like his happy self and ate his snacks with relish!  Not hamburger relish, but you know what I mean.

It was a rough night for both of us, but I think he's going to live.  The bandage will last until tomorrow when I'm supposed to take it off and soak his foot.  That oughta be fun, right??  What I REALLY need is a magnifying glass so I can see in between the pads on his feet.  We don't want to go through this again!

In the meantime, I'll leave him in the little house while Miss Patty and I head out to a quilt show for a couple of hours.  Not that I'm buying anything now.  That $338 bill, $60 for the wrap on the leg which I cut off an hour later, just killed my fabric budget!!!  It's okay ... he's MORE than worth it!!!