THE OLD GHOST TOWN OF COURTLAND, ARIZONA

 

AN OLD STONE WALL IN COURTLAND

Heavy frost on everything this morning & I could still see snow on the Chiricahua mountains about 40 northeast of us.  I mix up the chicken feed at night now so that is all I have to do in the morning.  Just toss it out to the girls without freezing my hands up.  Might have to get some of you RV ladies to knit us up 8 toasty little warm chicken sweaters for the gals.

We have been to what's left of most ghost towns here in the Sulphur Springs valley & last Saturday on our way to Pearce's Heritage Days we came across the ruins of the once booming & bustling little mining town of Courtland.  As with all other true ghost towns there wasn't much left of anything compared to what was once originally there.  What is left of Courtland is stretched out over a mile or so along a dirt road.  A few remnants of a stone wall here, some concrete slabs there, & one heavily constructed & reinforced concrete building that once was a jail.  As with all ghost towns we have rambled around in it is hard for the mind to  imagination what actually took place at these sites.  Standing amidst rubble of tumbled walls I try to close my eyes & return to the towns heyday but all my imagination has to go on are old faded photos of ghost towns, some old Hollywood movies, pieces of pottery, crumbling walls, maybe a few weathered boards with rusting nails, & perhaps an old leather sole from an old boot long forgotten.   Underbrush overgrows what were once bustling streets filled with people.  All traces of former railroads are gone & it's difficult to look back into history across the desert landscape & see old steam engines pulling railroad cars loaded with merchandise, ore from the mines, cattle, & people.  Hard to imagine children playing in the streets, horses tied up alongside old wood sided building & folks dressed in their finery buying sugar & flour in the general store.  Miners whooped it up in the many saloons at nights.  Strangers arrived daily by horseback, stagecoach, or trains.  It is an era that is lost forever & it is only the winds in the mountains that whisper the tales of a life & times that none of us will ever know......or imagine:(( 

This was COURTLAND.

And below is Courtland to-day.

 

INSIDE THE JAIL	THE COURTLAND JAIL

We caught ourselves a break to-day when the local propane delivery truck from Wilcox brought a load of propane for Jeanie & Ray's large propane tank here at the ranch.  It's a once a year delivery & supplies the house with heat.  We had filled up our motorhome's propane tank in Douglas about a month ago & were down to about half a tank.  Normally at three quarters empty we would have to square everything away, bring in the slides, disconnect the water, sewer, electricity, & satellite dish lines & drive our house to a propane filling station either in Douglas or at the closer Double Adobe RV park about half way to Bisbee.  While the fellow was filling the ranch tank Kelly asked him if he could fill our tank as well......& he did.  Nice break & it sure saved us a disruptive hassle.

SIGNS OF MINING NEAR COURTLAND

I have a habit of loosing camera lens caps & as of last Saturday my last lens cap had departed to the fair land far away where missing things somehow go.  Needed a lens hood for my smaller lens anyway plus both camera lenses were in need of UV filters.  Figured we might as well head on over to Sierra Vista where we had looked up a camera store that had all the aforementioned items.  The road to Sierra Vista is an easy wide open spaces drive that gently winds between the Dragoon & Mule mountains.  We drove through Tombstone at high noon & if I would have had my window down we might have heard some gunfire coming from the OK Corral gunfight site.  They do re-enactments there daily.  We have been to Tombstone a couple times before & it is very commercialized but I would recommend you do the BIRDCAGE THEATER if you go there.  Check out our TOMBSTONE PHOTOS.  This place has not been jazzed up & re-constructed.  It an eerie place to wander around in & it smells very, very, old.  If there are such things as ghosts I'm sure they are present in this old aging building.  Yes, there is a gift store at the back door exit but that doesn't have anything to do with what is inside that old building!!

<<< INSIDE THE BIRDCAGE THEATER 2007

The Charleston Road runs between Tombstone & Sierra Vista & for us to-day it was a trip down memory lane because we spent a few very enjoyable weeks boondocking in the area this past January.  It was at this time we did day trips to the ghost towns of Charleston, Millville, & Fairbank.  Took us 2 days to find the crumbling adobe walls of Charleston amidst the heavy mesquite underbrush.  If anyone is interested you can find our daily adventures in our archives.  Look back to late January of this year for our times in this area.  Also February & March for our times at the ranch & our escapades into the Dragoon & Chiricahua Mountains.

THIS CAN BE A HARSH LAND

Sierra Vista is a fair sized city & easy to get around in.  Every kind of store, facility, or business you need is here stretched out along Fry Boulevard.  Big box stores like Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, & Frys.  All the regular eating places are here too.  The driving force behind Sierra Vista is the large army base, Fort Huachuca.  We toured the Fort last March plus, Coronado Peak & Carr Canyon.  And of course it's all in our March archives.  

DESERT JUNK

Hit a few thrift stores to-day & then the busiest grocery store I've ever seen.  Frys is a grocery chain found only in the southwest  & is very, very, popular.  It was our second trip to Frys this year & it must have been our lucky day because we caught ourselves another break.  Kelly had picked up a Fry's discount card last March & that saved us a few dollars but on the first Wednesday of every month it is an additional 10% off for Seniors.  We didn't know that but when Kelly went to pay, the cashier eyed me up & down with a wary eye, turned to Kelly & asked, "is he 65!!"  Guess my old torn shirt, dusty hat, & totally out of control beard must have scared her real good & she was afraid to ask me directly.  I like when that happens.  Don't ask me about the days an old girlfriend dressed me in white pleated pants, panama sneakers, pink polo shirts, & hung a gold chain around my neck. Made me wear a matching gold bracelet to my sparkly watch on my other wrist.  No, don't even go there!!  And no, the gold was not real.  It was just window dressing for her new boyfriend.  Is it any wonder I prefer to be a scruffy old sod busting cowboy these days:))  Maybe I'll do a blog on that era of my life sometime.  Maybe use some pink ink too!!

Anyway, I got kinda sidetracked again but I did find the camera accessories I needed & if your in Sierra Vista & need to do some wheeling & dealing be sure to drop in & see a friendly old guy by the name of Harvey Ross at LANDMARK PHOTO 400 W Fry Boulevard.   "Old guy' were Harvey's words not mine:))

We were back at the ranch by 4:15 just in time to get the chickens saddled up & the dog's fed.  Another fine day in the life & times of, The Bayfield Bunch:))

GROANER'S CORNER:))  Two cows standing next to each other in a field, Daisy says to Dolly "I was artificially inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you," said Dolly. "It's true -- no bull!", exclaimed Daisy.

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

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A VISIT WITH MARYBETH WEBSTER & HER 14 SIDED POLYGON HOUSE

 

SUNDAY AT MARYBETH’S

We were happy to wake up to sunny skies this morning.  Despite the cooler Arizona air right now, sunshine is always on the warm side down here.  Could still see snow on some of the mountain tops so grabbed a few more photos with the 700mm lens.  One of those mountains is about 30 miles south of us & is actually located in Mexico.

THIS MORNINGS SAN JOSE/NACO MOUNTAIN IN MEXICO ABOUT 30 MILES TO THE SOUTH

Quiet day at the ranch but I did manage to give Ray a hand to fix a fence gate that had been pulled off it's hinges by vandals.  We were fortunate to have a better weather day than the cold, wet, wind, & rain of Monday.

THIS IS RAY FIXING A RANCH GATE WEDNESDAY MORNING

I met a lady in our photography group a few weeks back who is instrumental in this community for many beneficial programs for the areas local citizens through the Chiricahua Community Health Center.  Her name is Marybeth Webster & Kelly also met her in one of her morning yoga classes.  Marybeth's goodwill actually extends south over the border into Mexico where she is also active in further programs to help the local Mexican population.  Marybeth invited us to her home near Douglas this past Sunday for supper.  She lives in a very unique house, but first, a little more about Marybeth.............

SAND HILL CRANES HEADING NORTH ALONGSIDE THE SNOW TIPPED MULE MOUNTAINS

(click on pictures to enlarge them)

"Marybeth Webster, 80, came to the Douglas area 6 years ago expressly to help minimize the poverty that breeds migration in her beloved Latin America.  She learned Spanish in Costa Rica and Honduras as a scientific illustrator for United Fruit Company 45+ years ago.  Her four children are all over 48 and doing well.   She left her home of 27 years in Grass Valley, CA and built her 14-sided polygon prefabricated dream house, six raven miles (as the crow flies) from Douglas, 10 by car.  The house was built by DELTEC HOMES in North Carolina  Marybeth has to supplement a small Social Security check by working and most fortunately, found the only job in the county in her profession, art therapy at the Elfrida Clinic Elder Wellness Project.  If she ever retires, she imagines continuing work with DouglaPrieta Works, her non-profit project which encourages self-sufficiency in the under-employed of Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico which is contiguous with Douglas, AZ.  She would also like to do pastel portraits and landscapes, garden in her 6 refrigerator raised beds, hike and take photos of the incredible beauty she finds here."

Here is some additional info about Marybeth's polygon house & you can see the photos I took Sunday by clicking on our PICASA WEB ALBUM.

DELTEC HOMES are prefabricated in 8´ square panels with a patented climate-controlling pagoda roof.  They come in sizes from 8 to 23 panels and can be two or three story.  The owner orders the number she wants and works with the Deltec architect to design the interior, decide where the pre-installed doors and windows will be, and place it on her own site to best advantage, then has the slab built and ready when the semi arrives with the parts.  It took 5 men and a tractor-loader 8 hours to set up walls and roof of her 14-sided, 1015 square foot model, then nearly a year with a local crew to complete the house.

A WALK IN MARYBETH’S SYMBOLIC GARDENS

Some of you may remember our Thanksgiving dinner a week ago at a community center nearby with a bunch of nice folks & their group, Friends of the Southwest.  Marybeth is also a member of the committee here & has sent me this brief description of the tiny community...........................

THE 14 SIDED POLYGON HOUSE

"Friends Southwest Center near McNeal, AZ is a Quaker commune founded about 35 years ago by Ohio Friends.  About 10 dwellings house members, guests and temporary renters, mostly non-Quakers, on over 200 acres purchased by Pima Meeting, Tucson.  Community gardens, a common well, participative democratic decision-making, and the use of their community Center by Cochise Worship Group, the elder wellness project in Elfrida, Sembrando Salud, and others, makes it a significant element in rural Cochise County."

I would also like to add my own personal comment to the above description of the group.  I was very impressed by these people because there is no dominant religious factor at work here.  These folks are like minded in their concerns for the environment & overall peace & goodwill for the earth & their fellow man.  Truly, a common sense & logical approach to very real problems!!

Sometimes as I read through our blogs in the morning I am made aware of how fortunate Kelly & I are in our likes & dislikes of many things.  No, we do not always agree on everything but for the most part we do have a like-mindedness in much of our thinking.  For example, life is much easier for RVing couples if they both prefer to travel to the same destination.  If one prefers the palm tree lined paved roads & cement padded RV Parks of the east coast & the other partner prefers sleeping under the stars in the deserts of the southwest......there is going to be one mighty big problem for sure!!  Some folks would like to head south before the snow flies while a partner insists on staying home to do the Christmas thingy!!  One partner may look forward to the peace & serenity of boondocking while the other partner can't wait to get into all the social activities found in most RV parks.  Some want to escape the rat race while others prefer to get deeper into it.  Seems that a lot women cannot bare to be separated from their shopping malls & men from their television sports games.  Men have a habit of immersing themselves in golf.  Women have a habit of immersing themselves in shopping.  Maybe it's the golf that drives the women to the malls or vice versa.  Hobbies can become a problem if they are all consuming for one partner & not the other.  Some folks like to get dressed up & do the early bird specials at the restaurants everyday while others are happy at home with pizza & beer.  Couch potatoes & outdoor enthusiasts are not a good match.  Dusty cowboys & eastern fancy lady dressers are probably not a good idea.  Dependant & independent people are going to have a hard time making it if they are paired up.  And some folks like the call of the open road while others prefer the home & family life with kids & grandkids.  No question there for me.............give me that open road any day:))

IT WAS A FINE DAY FOR A VISIT

Kelly & I disagree on night time television but we work around that & it's the time of day I write the blog anyway with my headphones full of music clamped tightly to my head.  Our shopping habits are different.  I don't have the patience of sitting in the car like some men do while the ladies spend seemingly endless hours to go into one store after another & come out with 1 item.  I have about a 30 minute maximum attention span for the shopping thing & then I have to get out of town!!  Just being in a crowded people place of any size gets to me after a short period of time & I have to get out into the wide open spaces of the countryside.  Just one of the reasons I don't like crowded RV Parks.  Kelly is able to tolerate neighbors better than I am (just barely) but if we had a choice we would move right back out into the quiet people-less country again.  We both agree a hundred per cent of where we want to be during the winter months simply because we have the same outdoor interests.  We love the history of the southwest, the geography, & the fact that it is still seems like we're in the 1800's in many places.  We both love the RV lifestyle & through trial & error we both ended up agreeing a motorhome was our best mode of transportation.  We are animal lovers & prefer to see our dogs run free rather than having them tethered to leashes & chains.  Another one of the many reasons we avoid RV Parks as a rule.  Most of our philosophies & theories are in harmony as well & it’s another reason we are both in agreement with the Friends of the Southwest thoughts & feelings.  All & all we are a pretty good darn match but like I have said many times before......I definitely got the best part of the deal when I met Kelly & like it says at the top right of our blog site, she is the beauty & the brains of the Bayfield Bunch & I am, well..................... bah humbug!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS LITTLE DOGGIES ASLEEP UNDER A PILE OF DAD’S PAJAMAS

GROANER'S CORNER:((  In the early 20th Century, Thomas Edison was spreading the word about electricity. Once, while vacationing out West, he stopped at the Sioux reservation. Edison was shocked to learn that there was no indoor plumbing, and that he would have to use an outhouse. In fact, he was told, the Sioux had to use the outhouse even in the dead of night. To help the Sioux, Edison installed lights in the outhouse. With this kind act, he became the first person to wire a head for a reservation!    ('head' is a military term for washroom)

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MY SMUG MUG (I am finally working on updating this site)http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

WE ARE BACK INTO OUR WINTER CLOTHES......Brrrrrrrrrr!!

WOKE UP TO SNOW ON THE SWISSHELM MOUNTAINS  (telephoto lens)

It's a good thing we brought our Canadian winter clothes with us. Woke up to snow on the distant mountain tops & our temps never got above 43F with gusting winds. Reminded me of a cold, wet, gray, mid November day in Ontario. I hauled out the telescope lens & cracked off some photos of the far away snow tipped mountains this morning.

SNOW ON THE DRAGOON MOUNTAINS NORTH OF US THIS MORNING

Had planned on blogging about our visit to Marybeth Webster's house yesterday but I was talking to Marybeth to-day & asked if she could email me a few facts about her house, the Quaker Friends of the Southwest Center, & herself. Want to get all my facts straight about everything before doing the post. I've had the towns of Truth or Consequences NM & Borrego Springs California nicely email about mistakes I made about their respective towns so I sure don't want Marybeth chasing me down for not getting something right:))

SNOW CLOUDS SITTING ON THE DRAGOONS

Noticed BITS FROM BILL had a post to-day about a device that is essential for backing up hard drives if you have more than one computer in your home. Windows Home Server has made a big impression on Bill. RICK has some videos on what to do if you have a tire blow out & JERRY has been getting some great red faced comments about his cheeky red pajamas. WANDERING WILLY is doing battle with Mexican sugar ants & GYPSY has landed herself at Fort Pulaski in Savannah, Georgia. For some of you folks who follow TIOGA GEORGE you might want to stop by with a few words of encouragement. George has had a recent spate of bad luck & his RV was towed into Gila Bend Az to-day.

SADDLEBACK MOUNTAIN NEAR DOUGLAS AZ (saddle horn is far knob at left & saddle sways to the right) 

We had our usual 4 suspects out to the photography group to-day & were actually able to solve more problems than we created:)) And we all did well about staying on photography related topics & issues.

RAIN FALLING IN THE TOMBSTONE HILLS OFF TO THE NORTHWEST

The weather remained bad all day with heavy rains at times. Arizona's country roads are not graveled like in Ontario & are made of a hard packed sandy clay like mixture. When it rains, that sandy clay turns to a soft glue like mixture that sticks to your shoes like a fly's stick to gooey fly paper. Tires slip in the red mud & absolutely everything tracks into the motorhome. For us that is 4 shoes & 12 paws hauling mud inside. We've got quite a mess going on in here but I did have a go at it with the vacuum after Kelly went to her exercise class this morning. When this mud is in it's dry form it is of course called, dust. The southwest has waaaaaaaay more dust than it really needs & before we head home in the spring we'll really have to hose the vehicles down inside & out. We've got so much dust in the motorhome & car right now we would be charged big bucks for hauling a full load of Arizona dirt across the border & up into Canada.

THESE SAND HILL CRANES WERE FLYING AGAINST BLANK WHITE CLOUDS  SO I GOT OUT MY PAINT BRUSH & PAINTED THE SKY ORANGE:))

GROANER'S CORNER:))  And, some medical advice......If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you will be afraid to cough.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MY SMUG MUG (I am finally working on updating this site)
http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

A VALLEY OF LEGENDS

It was the pitter patter on the roof that roused me out of sound sleep this morning followed by a few flashes of light & the low roll of thunder. Rain!! Not unexpected because the spectacular cloud formations of the past couple of days signaled another weather change moving through the area. It has been these clouds that have been making for some very beautiful sunrises & sunsets, not to mention the awesome cloud formations during the day.

Where we live in Bayfield Ontario the sky is seldom visible to us because of the heavy pine tree cover in our area so the open desert skies of Arizona are a huge attraction. Here in the Sulphur Springs valley we are surrounded by mountains on all horizons. On our walk this morning skies were dark & foreboding to the northwest over near Tombstone. We could here thunder rumbling somewhere between the Mule & Dragoon Mountains some 40 miles or more away. We were in sunshine down on the valley floor as another storm came thundering across the Swiss Helm mountains to our east. South of us about 20 miles near Douglas the skies were so black even Castle Dome mountain was hardly visible. Great sheets of rain could be seen to the north, while Bisbee, hidden away in the Mule mountains, huddled under a heavy cover of clouds squatting on the mountain tops. All this was visible in a complete 360 degree panoramic view all around us as we walked in early morning desert sunshine.

This is a valley of legends where we are. Cochise & Geronimo fought battles in nearby canyon passes. Indian raids into Mexico came through here. Pancho Villa & his men rode these ranges. Cattle rustling was carried on by men like the McLaury brothers who had a ranch near here & later died in a shoot out over in Tombstone with the Erp brothers & Doc Holiday. This is a valley of prospectors, miners, & ghost towns. This is a valley of ghosts. This is a valley of restless spirits. And, this is a valley where we walk in the footsteps of history each day.

The American southwest is a land of ever changing beauty & enchantment & we feel very much at home here. There is a magic in the mountains that deepens the mysteries of the desert valleys below. When the clouds sit on the mountain tops & the lumbering cloud shadows slowly make their way through the canyons & valleys it gives one a sense of awe to be in this land of magic shadows. We will keep returning here to the southwest for it's fiery sunrises & sunsets as long as we can. Until the desert winds erase our tracks, until the brooding mountains wrap themselves around us no longer. Until the magic shadows drift through our memories no more.

To-day we visited with Jeanie & Ray for awhile & then headed down to Douglas for some groceries. A very special & dedicated lady living & working in the area had invited us for supper & I will be blogging about that shortly & adding photos of our visit.  It was late when we arrived back at the rig & with another camera full of photos I decided to work on that little project Monday morning. I think we might be in for some rain to-night & to-morrow so that would work out perfectly for me.

It’s after 10 o’clock & Live Writer has just failed me again!! I had thought the problem before was with the web albums but I do not have any web albums in to-night’s post. Checked the connection & it was fine so now I have to start over by moving all this to Blogger's Dashboard……..:((

GROANER'S CORNER:)) . A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MY SMUG MUG (I am finally working on updating this site)
http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

OLD PEARCE HERITAGE DAYS PART 2

 

REFLECTIONS IN THE RANCH POND

We are under stormy skies with heavy wind gusts.  A few spatters of rain a couple hours ago & that was about it.  Cold front bringing in rain & snow to the higher elevations over the next few days.  Might see some snow on the Swiss Helm mountains east of us.

AN OLD TIMER REMEMBERS DAYS GONE BY

Jeanie & Ray, the ranch owners made it home to-day after their 3 week cruise to Hawaii.  Had themselves a good time but they were looking pretty tired with lots of un-packing to do.  We didn't tie them up with a bunch of questions like, how big was the ship, was Hawaii green, did you swim in the ocean & if so was the water really wet!!

           

I sorted out all my Pearce Heritage Days photos to-day, assembled them into an album & am uploading that album right now as I'm typing this.  You can see those captioned pictures by clicking OLD PEARCE HERITAGE DAYS You can also see our previous visit to Pearce LAST MARCH.  If anyone reading this happens to live in this area maybe you could pass on the albums address to anyone living near here.  I'm sure some of the folks would get a kick out of maybe seeing some of their friends.  I did catch a few colorful characters' with my 200mm lens:))

THIS COLD WILD WEST STARE NEARLY FROZE UP MY CAMERA LENS

This is a brief history of Pearce:  The discovery of gold in the 1880's set off gold rush fever & resulted in prospector's flooding into the area from neighboring mining towns like Tombstone & Bisbee.  The frenzy was so great that it nearly emptied Tombstone of it's residence.  People dismantled their homes & business's & hauled them over the Dragoon Mountains by wagonloads to Pearce.  By 1896 100 homes had been built with 2 or 3 being added each week.  A stage & mail route was established to Tombstone & soon Pearce had 4 grocery & merchandise stores, many eating places including 2 Chinese restaurants, a butcher shop, 4 boarding houses, a blacksmith shop, livery stables as well as brothels & saloons.  A Doctor's office opened & by 1896 Pearce had it's own Post Office & jail.  A school opened in 1897 & was also used as a Church.  The population soon blossomed to 1500 residents with a large dance hall, movie theater, & a golf course.   Mining & Milling Companies had moved in establishing mines & by 1903 a rail line was in operation bring supplies & hauling out the ore.   The mine flourished until 1904 when flooding limited underground mining.  A fire at the mine in 1910 added further stress to the declining market but the town struggled on into the 1930's.  The mine finally closed & the railway was terminated.  People demolished their homes to avoid paying property taxes & by 1935 less than 50 people lived in Pearce.  To-day Pearce is a ghost town.  The mine is silent, streets are deserted, & only a few buildings remain including the old Pearce Store built in 1896.  Once a year the town comes to life for 2 days following the Thanksgiving week-end. 

TAKING THE ALPACAS FOR A WALK

Kelly & I consider ourselves very fortunate to have been a part of Pearce's Old Heritage Days for a few hours on Friday November 27th & I hope my photos somehow find their way onto area computers & into the hearts of the local folks in the area.   Thanks for the photo opportunities folks:))

 

To-morrow we are off to see a lady who lives just 6 miles from the Mexican border in a 14 sided house called a Polygon.  That should make for some interesting photos. 

Monday or Tuesday I'll post photos & some history of the ghost town we drove through Friday.........Courtland.

We received a couple of electronic internet cards from some Arizona friends lately but we haven't been able to open the cards yet because of our  Verizon megabytes problem so to Jerry & Suzy & Paws & Hooves we'll say thanks in advance until we can get over to the Elfrida Library to open them.  Thanks guys:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((   I went to a seafood disco last week...and pulled a mussel.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MY SMUG MUG (I am finally working on updating this site)

http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

OLD PEARCE HERITAGE DAYS

 

SUNDOWN AT THE RANCH TO-NIGHT

We ate ourselves up some dust this morning on the old Ghost town trail to Pearce.  We had heard there were a few old ruins left from an old mining town called Courtland along the dusty road east of another ghost town...Gleeson.  A few stone walls & old masonry is about all that is left amongst the prickly pear cactus & Mesquite trees.  One heavily constructed concrete building had iron bars on small high windows which made us wonder if it had once been a jail.  A long cement slab sidewalk fronted what must have been 6 or 7 stores at one time.  Only the low crumbling wall foundations are left showing through the low scrub brush.  I will post photos of Courtland in a later blog & will upload an album on to-day's short hike later this week.  Despite re-sizing my photos I am still reluctant to upload everything to our web album through our Verizon broadband because something is still chewing up our megabytes!!  I will wait until we get to the Elfrida LIbrary again.

OLD RUINS IN THE GHOST TOWN OF COURTLAND

We rolled into the tiny community of Pearce just before noon.  The road runs right through town so we just pulled off to the side where people were scattered about looking at some old farm machinery.  There isn't too much in Pearce but what is there is interesting.  We had been to Pearce this past March & on that day we were the only ones on the street.  But, things were livelier to-day with Pearce's annual Old Pearce Heritage Days in full swing.  Vendors, music, colorful characters, old machinery, & best of all.....the old general mercantile store was open for viewing.  The inside of this store is a treasure trove of old artifacts.  I was very surprised when I walked through the front door to see the excellent shape this store was in & how every nook & cranny was tastefully filled with everything imaginable.  I was immediately attracted to the colors & the way the store was cozily lit.  Old lamps, dated china, glassware, clothes, showcases & shelves filled with history.  We have been through old stores before & I would say this one in Pearce is one of the best.

THE PEARCE MERCANTILE STORE

An small red & obviously antique machine sat by the road whirring & chugging with a wide belt turning a barrel like thing with a bunch of ice cubes inside.  It was a home made ice cream machine:))  Kelly waited nearly half an hour at this spot for the next & last batch of home made ice cream to be made.  In the meantime I wondered off & corralled myself a big double Texas hamburger.  Just finished that up when Kelly walked over with a cup of ice cream.  First time I remember eating home made ice cream & it was really tasty.  Kelly tried on some unique palm frond hats & finally found one on a seconds table for $10.  Live music in a small alley beside the old store had the old timers taping their toes. 

ENTERTAINMENT IN THE ALLEY

My enjoyment at these types of events is photographing things.  I enjoy candid photography & it's fun watching for people doing just ordinary things that people do.  The colors & merchandise inside the Mercantile Store also made for some interesting pictures as well as the old farm machines outside.   By the time we got home I had 3 camera's with 261 photos to download.  Takes me awhile to edit each & every photo in my Picasa photo editing program at the end of the day but I enjoy that just as much as taking the pictures.  It's a fun hobby for me.   It will take me a few days to get all my Pearce photos from to-day into an album & up onto the web but maybe, just maybe somebody from Pearce may stumble across our site some day & maybe even find themselves on the internet:))

A FESTIVE ATMOSPHERE TO-DAY

We were back to the ranch by 3 & it didn't take me long to get my feet up & get some zzzzzzzz's rolling.  It was a good day because we got to see some new scenery, scramble around some ruins, take a few pictures & just generally enjoy another fine sunny Arizona day.  And, of course it was another in a series of great sunsets:))

I THINK SOMEBODY’S PRETTY PLEASED WITH HER NEW HAT

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MY SMUG MUG (I am finally working on updating this site)

http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/