Finding a sense of place

After the long drive getting here I have no desire to leave and instead look for a sense of place.  Company and stormy weather provided good reasons to stay home watching wildlife out the windows, taking walks, and tracking the sun and moon from rise to set.

Last light Vermilion Cliffs

I’m feeling less desire to go, go, go, but still want to travel and experience the world.  I really don’t care for long hours behind the wheel any more.  How does a four-hour drive turn into seven?

A 50° morning still felt chilly but much improved from expected below freezing at Bryce Canyon.  Did see some beautiful photos of the orange hoodoos contrasted with snow on the park’s Facebook page.  My favorite way to see it in winter, not there.

I will have to prepare for colder temperatures in Skull Valley which includes adding heat tape to the water hose.  Before I left there was only 30amp service on the pole for the 5th-wheel so I can only run two small electric heaters at 14amps each and that means turn one off to run the microwave.  Upon return there are additionally two house-hold 20amp receptacles to plug in the heat tape.  Call me a happy camper.  Of course if it gets too cold for too long I will shut down and winterize the 5th-wheel then take the truck-camper further south into the Sonoran Desert and enjoy my sense of place somewhere warmer.  Care to join me?

Joann came by for a visit and left before the storm hit hard.  Rain, thunder, and lightning with rock-the-house wind hung right on top of me for a couple hours.

The next three days I woke to temperatures in the 30s, too cold for my slow circulation but thankfully warmed into low 60s during the day.  Days after were looking good so I didn’t load the camper and run, though the thought crossed my mind.  Instead I slowly unpacked some more stuff, eye candy to be enjoyed, crystals to throw sunlit rainbows on the walls.  And when the light dances across the floor, Sierra likes to chase the moving patches.

Unidentified larvae on Manzanita, anybody know?

First thing one morning, four Mule Deer strolled past.  Another morning while making breakfast movement caught my eye and I barely saw a coyote disappear into the brush eastward.  Moments later I saw the largest Road Runner ever duck behind a bush towards the west.  Hmmm,  I grew up with “Beep-beep” and wonder about coincidence.  Sorry no photos.  If only my eyes were cameras.

Once the daytime temperatures returned to the 70s I got back outside, content to explore my new backyard and discover a sense of place on this 300 acre ranch in the high Chaparral.  Somehow I thought that was bigger than just under a half square mile (0.46875).  No wonder I don’t get far on my walks.  (Hope you don’t tire of my view.)

I followed the bulldozer line to the electric pole where my meter is mounted.  That brought me close to neighbor Susan’s place and saw her two horses who recently arrived.  Then I turned around and followed an animal trail north parallel to the power lines.

Arizona Oak broke through the granite boulder

Strolled past some nice granite boulders to a meadow near the road.

Looped a little west and back south to home mostly following cow-pie trails but still had to bushwhack a bit between the bushes.

Out for 3 1/2 hours and barely walked 1/2 mile.  After several hours shooting I needed the next day to go through the hundreds of photos and hopefully find a few to process.

Blackie, the morning visitor, wanders past every couple of days.  Sierra saw him outside the window and acted rather strange.  Might have been her first cow encounter.

Days drift by like sunset clouds.

And what a way to watch the world.  Too bad I didn’t get a chance to ride up in the cherry picker for an even better geographic sense of place.

Joann came to visit so I walked the 1/4 mile of driveway to unlock the gate.  Then we took a ride for a few miles to the end of Ferguson Valley Road before returning to my place for lots of chatting.  She’s recently bought a small camp trailer—not her first—and it’s just about ready to hit the road so we shared ideas about where to go this winter.  I’m all about spending time in the Sonoran Desert.  Want to join us?

Figured I’d shoot moon rise the night before full moon and get by without the tripod.  When will I learn that hand-held just doesn’t do the trick.  Not saying I didn’t get a few decent shots, but they could have been better.  The next night there were clouds and I didn’t even bother.

But for the next morning I actually set the alarm and had the tripod ready.  The Photographers Ephemeris showed the moon setting on the top of Brushy Mountain and proved to be pretty close.  The timing was off because of the mountain’s elevation so the set happened about 40 minutes earlier than stated.  I jumped in and out of the RV in the chilly to me 43°.

By afternoon the temperature reached mid 70s and I was motivated to go out for yet another walk.  Stopped by to feed the two nameless pigs my organic garbage then followed a bulldozed path across the mostly dry creek in search of colorful Cottonwood trees.

Didn’t have far to go.  A long open field lined with Cottonwood trees that are slowly loosing green to gold.

I meandered a ways and returned by the same route as the walls of the creek are steeper than I wanted to negotiate.

This three-hour walk I got in one mile.  Guess I’ll have to speed up a bit if I want more steps.  Naw, I like my saunters.

Desk window view

I truly enjoy this time to just stay home and not meet anybody’s schedule but my own.  Yet many days I am lazy almost to the point of guilt.  I am thinking about how retirement fits into my personal sense of place.  The gears are clicking.

Late light on the Kofa Mts

I’d like to share the desert light.  Join me for a sense of place?

March 2022 Moon rise with Vulture near Wickenburg Arizona

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