DOUGLAS ARIZONA'S HOTEL GADSDEN

Another fine Arizona morning. Any morning is fine if the wind isn't trying to rip your skin off as soon as you step out of the door. Kelly forgot to turn off her Deerpark Lodge work phone off last night so at 4 a.m. I was jolted out of bed by a wrong number. Not nice!!!! Did a clean up around the corral this morning & spent some time schmoozing with the animals. Found out chickens don't like to schmooz. Noticed cars stopped out on the road again & 3 people were out with large spotting scopes looking across the field. Figured they were probably birdwatchers looking for the rare & elusive Abyssinia Asscratcher that was reportedly sighted in a grove of Pecan Pie trees back in the summer of 1836 by a wandering band of Chiricahua Apaches on their way to the Bisbee Breakfast Club in nearby Bisbee. Needed a few groceries so headed off to Douglas around noon. We had heard about the lobby & grand staircase in the Hotel Gadsden so decided to head there for a look see. Also heard there was a large glass light dome in the local police station which originally was the Douglas train station so we stopped there first for a picture. The Gadsden Hotel is by far the largest hotel in this sleepy little border town of Douglas. A big blocky looking building gives no clue to the grand lobby & staircase inside. It reminded me immediately of the swanky-do lobbies I have seen in many Las Vegas Hotels. Big & grandiose with a sweeping marble staircase leading to a wrap around mezzanine deck 20 feet above the spacious lobby below. Right away I thought, what a great place to drop water balloons on people below. It is reported that the notorious Pancho Villa road his horse through the Hotels main doors into the lobby & right up that marble staircase. Yes, there is a lot of history here.....and a lot of ghosts too. Check the website. http://www.hotelgadsden.com/ Be sure to check our web album to-day for pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ From the Gadsden we headed over to another great American icon.....Wal-Mart. Cruised around picking up some groceries & just doing some general browsing. I think we were probably the only 2 English speaking people in the whole store. This is a border town & I think most of the other side of the border makes Douglas their home. A bonafide white American person would have a pretty tough time finding any kind of employment here. We were back to the ranch by 3 & on the job by 4. Only 2 eggs to-day so it's going to be a pretty skinny omelet to share in the morning. We're going to have to figure out some kind of stimulus package for those chickens. Some kind of incentive program. Maybe more feed for more eggs. How about for every egg laid we offer a free chicken massage. Maybe the promise of an exotic cruise in the south China sea aboard the SS Henrietta would bring the girls around. Well, whatever!! Guess we can always buy some eggs if we have to but it just ain't the same as when you grows em yerself....................................
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LAND OF STANDING ROCKS....THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

A WESTWARD VIEW FROM MASSAI POINT

Knee was feeling a bit better this morning so I was optimistic we could head out to do a little sightseeing to-day. Jeanie had recommended the Chiricahua National Monument as a good day trip so after clearing the idea with Big Chief Little Boss I threw the cameras into the car & we headed off to the place the Apache Indians called, Land of Standing Rocks. EASY TO SEE WHY THE APACHE INDIANS CALLED THIS, LAND OF STANDING ROCKS

Beautiful sunny morning as we headed north up the Sulphur Springs Valley. Scenic mountains on both sides reminded me once again how fortunate we are to be where we are. The thought also occurred to me that I was probably born in the wrong place 64 years ago. This land of mountains & deserts feels more like home to me than home does. HARRIS MOUNTAIN....SCENE OF AN APACHE MASSACRE

Took us a little more than an hour to reach the main gate of the Chiricahua National Monument at the foot of the legendary Chiricahua mountain range. (Chiricahua is pronounced...Chair-a-cowa)
http://www.nps.gov/chir/
http://www.desertusa.com/chi/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiricahua_National_Monument
The flatter valley scenery immediately began to change as we began the 8 mile climb on Bonita Canyon Drive to Massai Point at the summit. Oak, Pine, & Cypress trees lined the winding road. A stop at the visitor center along the way netted us a National Audubon Southwestern Field Guide. Next stop was a look at a campground in Bonita Canyon. No trailers over 26 feet & no RV's over 29 feet in this cozy little tree clustered campground though. It's open year round & has 24 sites. Continuing upwards we could see why the Apache Indians called this place, Land of Standing Rocks. Tall massive columns of rocks were visible through the trees towering hundreds of feet into the air on both sides of the roads. The rocks took on many shapes challenging the imagination as we climbed higher through Fir, Sycamore, & Juniper trees. A stop at Echo Canyon quickly had us scrambling into our coats. We were at the snow line at 6,780 feet & the warm temperatures of the valley floor had given way to a driving & frigid wind. My hat blew off 3 times in a row before I got myself smartened up & hooked it on my belt. A short walk along a snowy patch of trail for some pictures & then it was back into the warm car. The views from here were beautiful. Just up the road was the Sugarloaf Mountain view & trailhead at 6,840 feet. More pictures, more wind, & more cold temperatures. But, totally magnificent views. We could see clear across the valley to the Dragoon mountains to the west & Cochise's stronghold there. We'll be doing a day trip to that stronghold sometime in the next week or so. A short drive took us up the final half mile to the summit at Massai Point. We were now at the 6,870 foot level & the wind up here was doing every thing possible to blow us right off the top of the mountain & back out across the Sulphur Spring Valley about 10 miles to the west. Just taking photos in this wind presented some stability problems along the trail as the wind could suddenly whip through narrow rock openings & buffet an unsuspecting hiker. What a beautiful place this Chiricahua Monument is & what a beautiful land this is. And we've only seen a mere fraction of it. Just so much to see & do & so little time left to see & do it all.

We left the summit around 1:25 & headed back down to the mouth of Bonita Canyon where the Faraway Ranch is located. We knew a tour of the ranch house started at 2 & didn't want to miss it. There is quite a family history here. A workamping couple led the tour of the house for about 10 of us who had gathered there. This is a link to the Faraway Ranch http://www.discoverseaz.com/History/FarawayRanch.html It is also well worth noting that it was the Civilian Conservation Corp who constructed all the roads & trails in this National Park as well.

HARRIS RANCH HOUSE & GROUNDS

After stopping at the gravesites of the Faraway Ranch's Erickson's, we headed back down the valley to the ranch & our rig. We had lots of wagging tails when we got back. All & all, it was a great day & it just felt good to be out seeing something we had never seen before & doing something we both enjoy so much.................
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MEGAPIXELS SCHMEGAPIXELS

Turned out to be another quiet day around the ranch. Just as well because the wind gusts were so bad to-day they blew all the feathers right off the chickens. Kelly had to quickly knit up some tiny sweaters for the girls. Right knee is still sore so tried to give it another day of rest. The key word there was....tried!! Had hoped to get out & do a little sightseeing to-day. Maybe to-morrow. Realized late this afternoon that I hadn't taken any photos to-day so grabbed the camera & took a quick picture of our happy face garbage can sitting beside me on the floor. A herd of Cranes went by so I hammered out a few fast photos of them as well. Thanks birds. Spent some time looking at my camera manuals to-day. I'm not very technically minded & my short term memory embarrasses me when people sometimes ask me about my cameras. I know two of them are Nikons & my smaller one is a Canon. Nikon D-40 & D-50. The Canon is an A720iS & I just had to go get the Canon to tell me that. A fellow asked awhile back what millimeter lens I was using. I couldn't remember so had to tip the camera back & look down the barrel. Megapixels is a common question. Nope, can't ever remember that one either. Maybe I should get all this info tattooed on the back of my hand. How about ISO settings?? What!! Image quality settings?? Who!! Do you prefer shutter priority over aperture in low light?? I prefer ice cream with my apple pie, thank you very much!! Do you bracket your photos?? No, I hang them up on a clothes line to dry!! Does your Canon have image stabilization. No, it has me....why would it need image stabilization!! Geeeezzzzz, questions, questions, questions!! I just point the camera in the general direction of something I see, press the button & hope I hit something. Sometimes I do & sometimes I don't. So, ask me something technical about my cameras & as often as not, I'm gonna end up feeling dumb because I probably don't have the answer for ya. Hope some of you animal folks out there caught the PBS special last night entitled, Why We Love Our Cats & Dogs. I'm sure it will be on again so keep an eye out for it or if you go to Rene & Jim's website there is a link to view it on-line. http://www.liveworkdream.com/
Rene & Jim dropped into the Ranch a couple of days ago & spent the night before moving on to New Mexico & Texas. First time we had met them but had been in touch via emails for nearly a year. They lost their dog, Jerry, to cancer this year & I could sense the loss is still very much a part of them. I especially felt it watching Jim interact with our dogs here at the ranch. It was a sense of love.....and loss. Sometimes with our Bayfield Bunch name there is a little mis-conception. Bayfield isn't our last name, it's the picturesque little village we come from on the shores of Lake Huron in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The Bayfield part is the town & the Bunch part is us. Kelly, myself & our 3 super precious dogs, Max, Checkers, & Cora. (Motormouse) I took some photos around our little village last August. You will see that Bayfield is a very unique place:))
http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/gallery/5845016_7pESE#362675509_zZfh9 No idea what we are up to to-morrow but I'm kind of hoping we'll be able to go somewhere we've never been & see something we've never seen. SURE WISHED I HAD ME A BETTER BIRD LENS.....OR A GOOD SET OF WINGS THAT I COULD FLY UP CLOSER TO THEM

Oh, & by the way, if you happen to see me out somewhere flopping around with my cameras, please don't ask me what kind of a camera I'm using because I'll probably have to stop & turn the camera around to read the name. Now, that is embarrassing!!!!!!!!

No photos for the web album to-day.

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