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.