Birds and other celestial wonders

For a quick round-up of observed natural wonders around the land....

I discovered a bird I hadn't seen before down at the meadow. Several of them actually, which I subsequently identified as dark-eyed junkos.

Gerald and I also saw this red-tailed hawk not far from the house.

I did a quick inventory of the birds I've seen at the land and here's what remember besides these two: roadrunners, says phoebes, phainopeplas, mourning doves, white-breasted nuthatches, scrub jays, northern flickers, Western kingbirds, hummingbird (type as yet unidentified), house finches, pygmy owl, ravens. There may be more, but I can't think of any others.

We also had some great sunsets. This one, taken when the L.A. fires were in the news, looked like our own sky was ablaze.

This was more recent. Less dramatic, but also lovely.

Bathroom progress

Gerald had taken some extra siding home to create a distressed beam to cover the 2x4 that was holding the glass window in place.

Once it was in place, we liked it so well, we decided to use it to frame the glass, the shower opening and the window.

We also installed some molding to hide the seam in the bead board. You can't see it well here, because it's painted the same color as the bead board.

We also found this armoire at an antiques store in Yarnell for $120. It became our linen closet.

Except for some additional bead board and the mirror, which Gerald is still working on, the bathroom is nearly finished.

One room down. How many more to go?

The kitchen

Our next project was the kitchen. Over the course of a couple of visits, we worked on the floor and the cabinets.

First, Gerald installed a sub-floor. This is a new product that is supposed to be mold resistant.

Then he began laying tile. We had picked a plain, red quarry tile. Originally priced at 77 cents a tile at Lowes, we bought it on clearance at 11 cents a tile.

Meanwhile, I turned the utility room into a paint studio.

When I was finished, Gerald began installing cabinets.

Once installed, Gerald re-hung the cabinet fronts and covered everything with plywood so the drawers wouldn't get dusty until he could fabricate the countertops.

He had hoped to measure for countertops, but decided it would be better to return with cardboard and make a template on our next visit.

Skull Valley Pie Social

Saturday, September 26 was a big day at the land. Nearby Skull Valley had a pie social. We had heard that 5,000 people turned out for it last year, so we went to see what it was all about.

I'm skeptical about the 5,000 people thing, but they had a nice selection of pie. $5 bought a slice of pie with ice cream and a glass of lemonade.

Tables were set up underneath some large shade trees and a bluegrass band provided entertainment.

There was also a classic car display...

and a quilt show.

Peeples Valley Calf Sale

Saturday was also the big calf sale at the West Fork ranch. We missed the calf sale last year, but heard it was a big deal.

There were all sorts of agricultural displays...

sunfish fishing for the little ones...

and roping demonstrations.

But the big draw was the barbecue.

It smelled good, but when we saw the line, we decided to head to Skull Valley's pie social and eat dessert first.

The nature of things

Of course, as usual, we had plenty of contact with nature.

We saw this rattlesnake on the road just outside the Ruger Ranch entrance. It looked darker than rattlesnakes we had seen before, but we could clearly see a rattle and the diamond shaped head. When we stopped to look, it began to move toward the truck, flicking it's tongue. When we pulled away, it did a U-turn and moved back in the direction from which it came.

We saw this snake on a different road. We didn't know what type it was. This one looked to us like a rattler, but it didn't have rattles or the diamond shaped head.

I had read somewhere that the snakes were getting ready to go into hibernation and were more active this time of year, which probably explains why we have been seeing so many.

I also spotted these unusual flowers in our meadow. They almost look like orchids, though with our weather that seems quite unlikely.

As always, the sky was a source of beauty. We enjoyed a full moon.

And all the clouds in the sky made for nice sunsets.

Creature comforts

In between our work on the bathroom, we set up some creature comforts.

First, we went on a shopping spree at the Yarnell Senior Center Thrift Store. These four dinner plates and four salad plates were a bargain at $2 for the set. I picked up the Black and Decker coffee maker for $4. The lamp was $10.

I hadn't planned for the rain, so I also bought several pairs of jeans for $2 apiece, including two pairs of Levis. Not pictured are a magazine table for $5 and a chiminea we found at a yard sale for $20.

With our purchases and some things we had brought up with us, we were able to set up a nice "camp kitchen" with a coffee maker, electric frying pan, toaster and a microwave we bought at the Habitat for Humanity store for $25. We even had a little pull-out trash station with a bin for trash and one for recycling.

Unfortunately the microwave didn't work at mysterious times, mostly when it was raining, which it did nearly every day.

But on the last day, when J.C. came up, we installed a hard-wired microwave and conventional oven in a cabinet we had bought at the Habitat store.

I imagine it doesn't look like much, but to us it felt like heaven.

Guest bath

Our first priority was to put together a working shower as the alternative was a hose attached to a porch post. Since we had already installed a toilet in the guest bath, we started there.

I "buttered" the tiles and Gerald "stuck" them. It took us a couple of days. On the third day we grouted. Gerald smeared and I wiped. It was unexpectedly tiring. At the end of the day, we were both beat, but looking forward to our reward.

What we hadn't anticipated was that we couldn't seal the grout for 72 hours. Then we couldn't use the sealer for 72 hours more. Having lived with ourselves for a few days, the "outdoor shower" was looking pretty good. It would have felt nice on a warm, sunny day. Of course, it was cloudy, cool and breezy most of the time we were there. Let's just say our showers were brisk and brief.

While the grout was setting, we put up the bead board. It was our intention to finish the entire room, but we realized after it was all cut that we were working with two different patterns and we didn't have enough to complete the job with either one. Note to self: check to make sure you have enough of what you need before you start. We made a trip to Prescott to both Lowes and Home Depot. Neither had the right pattern. We still haven't found it.

Nonetheless, we did what we could. It was my job to spackle the nail holes and seams and paint.

Once that was done, we moved our vanity in place and Gerald hooked it up. We had bought this old oak dresser and fitted it with a sink and faucet.

We also bought this piece of tempered glass for the shower which we thought was in keeping with the look we wanted and would have the benefit of allowing light to pass through.

We still had work to do. We needed moldings at the top, over the seam in the bead board and around the entrance to the shower, but it was starting to look like a bathroom in a house.

On the last day, Gerald and J.C. installed the shower fixtures, and our shower was done. The next time we come up, we can get clean and comfortable after a hard day's work.

Electrical

Now that we had passed our electrical inspection, one of our goals was to install some lighting and get rid of the maze of extension cords we had been relying on.

I worked on installing electrical outlets. I figure by the end of the week, I had installed 35, just on the first floor. That didn't count the ones J.C. installed.

I had always believed you can't have too many outlets. Now I wasn't sure.

As soon as the rain ended, Gerald got busy with the landscape lighting. We wanted to highlight some of the boulders and pines near the house.

Bubba helped.

That night we enjoyed the results which, unfortunately, didn't photograph well.

Gerald also installed some of the exterior fixtures, which we were pleased with.

By the end of the week, we had lighting in the bathroom and over where the kitchen sink would ultimately go. We also installed two ceiling fans. Gerald noted that we had only 11 more ceiling fans to install.

Summer Rains

We came back with the intention of staying for several days to gain momentum.

When we arrived the sky was cloudy, but dry. That was good, not only because the roads get so bad in the rain, but also because we had a lot of stuff to unload and much of it was in the back of the truck, unprotected.

We had hardly gotten unpacked when it started to rain. Gerald and I stopped what we were doing and headed out to the porch to watch the rain and hear it beat on the tin roof.

Within minutes, it was raining hard. Gerald shouted to me over the sound that hail might be so loud as to run us off the porch.

About that time, it started to hail. Hard. Big bullets of hail about the size of Garbanzo beans. They fell so fast that soon the ground was covered with them.

Then the hail turned to rain again. Within minutes, all the washes were running.

It stopped as suddenly as it started. The sun illuminated the droplets on the trees and gave everything a beautiful, magical quality.