Bright Nights

Over the past few nights, the moon has been full and bright.  I've awakened to the moon shining in our bedroom window as if it were the sun.  The surrounding mountains and grasslands are beautiful in the moon's glow.

Bear Scat

We have had an especially dry year on the ranch, which means there isn't water in all the potholes and rock crevices in the mountains for bears to get a drink.  They have been coming down from the mountains and wreaking havoc with the drinkers across the ranch.  They like to break off the float valves so that water flows onto the ground and drains the big water tanks.  Not nice!

I hiked alone a couple of days ago, downhill into the Buck Knob pasture, and came across bear scat in the road.  I put my water bottle next to it, for a visual measure.  A big bear left this behind!

Road Runner

Its always fun to see roadrunners.  This one ran toward tall grasses and was not quite like Road Runner that outran Wile E. Coyote, but still a beautiful bird!

Welcome Home

I spent last week in Tucson, doing chores at our Tucson house and getting ready for Thanksgiving.  

I returned to the ranch on Saturday afternoon.  As I approached our gate, there was a small herd of deer standing near the road, welcoming me home.  

Big Sky over Bald Ridge

Photo taken from our porch.

Oscar, Pablo, and Hank Close Up

Trash Duty

Before construction on our home began, I had a large trash pit dug on the east side of our driveway.  We have used it since 2004, burning construction debris and our house trash.  Papa does trash duty every week or two.  He's good at it!

Sunday Hike

Papa and I often take longer hikes on Sunday.  After nine years on the ranch, there are still many places we've never been.  We left the house around 10:30, riding Bob uphill toward Hunter's Camp.  We parked Bob near the road, crossed the fence and started up the mountain.

I am always anxious to see what is beyond the next hill.  At 2:00, we stopped for an apple, our only food as I had not counted on a long hike.  We did not reach the highest point on the ranch, Muskhog Peak, but we got close!  We hiked at least 1800' higher than our house, to an elevation of 7200'.  We saw two white tail deer scampering up the mountain.  We also discovered a large stone arch that we had never seen before. 

We decided to take a different route downhill, making a circle back to Bob.  We were very happy to see Bob sitting by the road, waiting for us.  We were tired when we got home after 4.  We are grateful to be agile and healthy enough to hike over 5.5 hours!

San Xavier Mission

I have written about San Xavier before, here and here.  We visited again on Wednesday of this week.  San Xavier Mission is considered to be the best example of Spanish Colonial architecture in the United States.  It's restoration has been featured in National Geographic magazine. 

We visited in the sunset hour this time.  San Xavier was glowing.

Tumacacori Mission

On Wednesday of this week, we visited Tumacácori National Historical Park, located south of Tucson in the Santa Cruz River Valley.   The Tumacácori Mission was established in 1691 by Father Kino, making it the oldest Jesuit mission site in southern Arizona.  By 1848, the mission was abandoned and began falling into disrepair. Preservation and stabilization efforts began in 1908 when the area was declared a National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt and continue today.

Thanksgiving Day

Mary joined Papa and me in Tucson for Thanksgiving.  We had a healthy breakfast of granola and fruit, then drove to Sabino Canyon for a 2.5 hour hike.  We were not alone!  Thousands of 

other people had the same idea, but the canyon is so large that we still felt we had it to ourselves.  

It was a beautiful morning with the saguaros as majestic as ever.

We came home and had a snack of melon, then started cooking Thanksgiving Dinner.  We feasted on Greenberg smoked turkey from Texas (thank you to friend Linda from Dallas), Aunt Rhea's squash souffle, mashed potatoes, Cape Cod chopped salad, and maple pecan pie.  It was such a beautiful day, we ate on the patio.  We have so much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day!