THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS ARE ON FIRE!!

GAZING INTO OUR BLUE GAZING BALL 

I was happy to see that it had rained all night because I knew that would be beneficial for my newly planted trees.  Right on Q this morning the sun’s rays came filtering through the Pines.  Warm sunny days at this time of year are pure feeling good Spring Tonic days.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR FOR THIS PAIR OF MOURNING DOVES:)) 

But, it was not to last.  By 9 a.m. the cloud cover had moved in again & chased the sun out of town for the rest of the day.  Fired up my paint brush & repainted the utility trailer tailgate.  Why I had put that black paint on it last summer I have no idea.  Must have been one of those notorious teen age moments that some of us older folks are sometimes susceptible too.
  
Ground was too wet from the all night rain so I didn’t dig up any more trees today.  I’ll see how dry things are in the morning.  So nice to see everything turning green & watching the various flowers & shrubs coming into bloom finally.

 

WATCHING THE BIRDS & CATCHING A FEW RAYS  
In the past few years we have spent a fair bit of our winter months in Cochise County's Sulphur Springs Valley down in the southeast corner of Arizona.  Many readers will be familiar with my many posts about our hikes & drives in the Chiricahua Mountains bordering New Mexico.  I have written & photographed the beautiful areas we have traveled through in & around Portal, The Chiricahua Monument, Old Fort Rucker, etc.  Another one of our favorite areas to be.  Well, that area is ON FIRE right now & has been for the past 12 days.    To date, over 33,000 acres have burned.  It is now the largest recorded fire in Chiricahua history.  You can see my blogs about our great times in the Chiricahua Mountains over the past few years here....

ECHO CANYON TRAIL

NATURAL BRIDGE TRAIL

RHYOLITE TRAIL

LAND OF STANDING ROCKS

UP & OVER THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

RELAXING DRIVE TO PORTAL & CAVE CREEK

SEARCHING FOR FORT RUCKER IN THE CHIRICAHUAS

A RETURN TO OLD FORT RUCKER IN THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

ANOTHER FINE DAY IN THE CHIRICAHUA'S RUCKER CANYON

THROUGH THE CHIRICAHUAS ON LESLIE, RUCKER & TEX CANYON ROADS

JEEPING WITH JEANIE & RAY IN THE CHIRICAHUAS

Friends Rosanna & Carol from THE PAWS & HOOVES RANCH just west of the Chiricahua Mountains near Sunizona said in Facebook they could see the fires cresting the mountain ridges a couple days ago.

LOOKING TOWARDS PORTAL ARIZONA FROM ATOP THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

      

IT IS EASY TO SEE HOW DIFFICULT IT WOULD BE TO FIGHT A FOREST FIRE IN THIS AREA & I AM SO GLAD WE MADE THIS PARTICULAR SCENIC DRIVE  WHEN WE DID A COUPLE YEARS AGO.  WHAT A TRAGIC LOSS TO THIS WHOLE AREA A FIRE OF THIS MAGNITUDE WILL BE..........................   

And a big welcome to Lynne who comes in as our 276th blog Follower.  Glad to have you along Lynne & I'm really not as cranky as I look.....sometimes:))

GROANER'S CORNER:))  Only In America!!

1. Only in America......can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

2. Only in America......are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.

3. Only in America......do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

4. Only in America......do people order double cheese burgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

5. Only in America......do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

6. Only in America......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

7. Only in America......do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.

8. Only in America......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

9. Only in America.....do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.

10. Only in America......do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

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

CLEARED SOME BRUSH, FINISHED MY BOOK & MEMORIES OF AN OLD HOUSE

MARY KIDDER RAK’S RUCKER CANYON HOME IN, ‘A COWMAN’S WIFE.’

Oh dear, it has turned out to be another one of those relaxing & reading days.  Don’t know if I can take much more of this.  Might as well trade in my legs for a new pair of stronger reading glasses.  Wouldn’t be happy if I wasn’t griping about something you know:))

We did manage to clear some tall brush on the other side of the fence this morning giving us a bit better view of the Swisshelm Mountains.  That Mesquite brush is not nice stuff to work with because of it’s sharp thorns so it was a long sleeve shirts & work gloves project.

CAN YOU SEE THE PINK LITTLE MOLLY POPPINS TRIMMING BRANCHES:))

RETURNING FROM CLEARING BRUSH

Came across a couple older pics today dating back to April of 2004 when Kelly & I worked at a Bayfield area tree farm for awhile.  This particular day we were sorting a ka-zillion billion acorns.  Hours at a time were spent standing at tables.  Kelly outlasted me on this job when my upper back gave out on me after about a month.

  

For any of you folks contemplating buying a new toad for your rig have a look at heyduke’s site at, ON THE ROAD TO RETIREMENT.  He has researched this out very thoroughly & goes about his decision very methodically.  We should all be so lucky to be so thrifty.  This is one of those posts you may want to print out & save for a future vehicle purchase for sure.  Heyduke is less than 3 months from retirement & the open road. ‘Go heyduke go:))’

OUR MORNING WALK LANEWAY

Our home area of Bayfield Ontario is sure getting hammered with non stop snow storms at the moment.  Roads closed & school buses not running.  The city of London, an hour southeast of Bayfield is virtually paralyzed & the whole city is shut down with police urging people to stay in their homes.  London has called on neighboring cities to bring snow plows.  University students are being asked to help Seniors.  It is fast shaping up to be the worst snow storm on record. 

Finished my book, ‘A Cowman’s Wife’ today.  Another in a great series of reads over the past few weeks.  Incomprehensible to me in this day & age how people lived back in earlier times.  Technology has moved so fast that we do not have the faintest understanding of how things really were.  This ladies true story took place back in the 1920’s just a few miles from where we are right now.  It is about the hardships, joys & endless toil it took to make ends meet on a small cattle ranch in the harsh beauty of Rucker Canyon high in the Chiricahua Mountains.   This book had special meaning for me because on March 15 of 2009 Kelly & I finally found the location of OLD FORT RUCKER.  On that site was a large barn still being used for cattle & a curiously shaped little wood & adobe house in various states of disrepair.  We were able to go inside & I was intrigued with it’s seemingly haphazard layout, thinking at the time what  story & what old memories took place here.  I felt it was a mysterious house with an unknown past.  Unknown that is….until now. 

SHE WRITES ABOUT THE TIME THE HOUSE NEARLY BURNED DOWN WHEN SHE LOST CONTROL OF A FIRE IN THIS FIREPLACE

Several readers had suggested I read ‘The Cowman’s Wife’ but it wasn’t until I talked to Eve over at the GRAPEVINE CANYON RANCH that I made the connection between the book & the little house at old Fort Rucker.  This was the very house the book’s author, Mary Kidder Rak lived in with her husband Charlie years ago as she wrote about their hard life & times in Rucker Canyon.  As I read the book I had the house photos right here in the computer.  You can see those photos at…. MARY KIDDER RAK'S RUCKER CANYON RANCH HOUSE.  I have it in mind now that I would like to return to Rucker Canyon again & have a second look at where all the memories in her heartfelt book took place.  Might just have to make a Jeep run up there shortly.  Awww, the history just goes on & on here forever in the beautiful & great American Southwest………..10-4:))

THE CORRALS & BARN THAT HOUSED THEIR CATTLE

GROANER’S CORNER:((  And did you know that everyday you beat your own previous record for number of consecutive days you have stayed alive.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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

A BIKE RIDE & ANOTHER GARDEN PROJECT

RRRRIBIT.....IT'S ME AGAIN
Had ourselves a fine looking morning so it didn’t take me long to line up some gardening projects.  I had been using water from our front yard frog pond to water my newly planted trees so the pond needed topping up.  Ran the garden hose over & got that underway.  While trimming up a few branches on a poplar tree I remembered it was one month ago today Checkers died.  That kind of threw me off & I wasn’t able to keep myself focused on my gardening project.  Put my gardening tools down, walked over to the motorcycle, fired it up & took myself for a ride out into the countryside.  No destination, just needed to get my mind off things.

 
ANOTHER FIRST FOR OUR FRONT YARD....PINE SISKIN 
Forty five minutes later I was southeast of Bayfield in Exeter Ontario sitting at a picnic table outside of McDonald’s having a cup of coffee when a thought suddenly occurred to me.  I had left the garden hose running in the frog pond!!  Finished up my coffee & headed back home.  Reminded me of the time a couple years ago when I started up the Motor Home one morning, got busy with a few things & then decided to head out for a ride on the motorcycle.  When I returned home 5 hours later…….the Motor Home was still running!!

SOMEBODY GOT A NEW TOY TODAY:))
When I dug in the frog pond about 5 years ago I had made a spillway in case the pond ever overflowed & I was relieved to see the overflow had worked & directed the water into the flowerbed & not the neighbor’s living room down the street.

YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF THE MUSICAL GROUP '3 DOG NIGHT' BUT HAVE YOU HEARD OF AL'S 'TWO FROG MORNING.' 
I was able to get myself back into gardening mode for the rest of the day & ended up transplanting a lot of small plants & ground covers to new areas.  As I said before we have a lot of shade here because of all the Pine trees & that makes for a lot of mold & mushroomy growing things.  Below is a couple rotting Pine stumps.  One stump has a Pine tree & a small Cedar tree just beginning to grow out of it.  I will plant the whole stump later & let the trees grow.  The small round pink things on the stump are a type of fungus as is the brown thing that looks like somebody's ear.
 
One of our long time readers sent an update status link on the CHIRICAHUA FIRE & for some of us who have been to Fort Rucker in Rucker Canyon, she in part said, “The Old Fort Rucker area is going to be the back-fire line the forest service is going to use to stop one area of advancing fire."  I have walked the silent & hidden grounds of Old Fort Rucker & the Mary Kidder Rak homestead 3 times now & I was able to give fellow blogger KAREN & her husband directions to it's hideaway location just a few months ago.  It is a place of little known history.  Geronimo was here, as were others who played their parts in the making of the old West.  What a shame it would be to lose these grounds of tranquil beauty & what a loss it would be to lose the few remaining buildings of authentic history.
 
THIS WAS ONE OF MY AFTERNOON PROJECTS...THE NEW FLOWERBED AREA HAD BEEN GRASS BUT MOLD HAD TAKEN OVER SO I DUG IT UP.....THE RED & YELLOW FLOWERS ARE ARTIFICIAL:))  
I know some of my posts of late have run through a gamut of emotions so just wanted to say thanks to readers for hanging in there.  Some folks wear their feelings on their sleeves but I wear my feelings in my posts.  I can't hide sadness nor do I want to present happiness when it is not present.  So what you read here in my posts is me, not somebody I am pretending to be...........10-4:))

NOW, HOW'S THAT FOR A NICE FROGGY SMILE:))
GROANER'S CORNER:((  And just in case you didn't know.........   
- The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
- The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
- Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples!
- Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!
- The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
- Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
- Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages it.
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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right
now...... AL.

MARCH 11/09....THROUGH THE APACHE PASS TO HISTORIC FORT BOWIE, ARIZONA

REMAINS OF AN OLD BUCKBOARD AT FORT BOWIE..... HORSES WERE KEPT IN THIS AREA

As kids watching western movies we always saw the mounted cavalry riding in & out of their Forts. Big high wooden log pole walls with an assortment of buildings inside & an American flag flying proudly in the middle. It's a picture we carry in our minds every time the word Fort is mentioned. Just as in real ghost towns we can easily be disappointed when we finally reach an old town site or Fort. We're hoping to see a setting just as we remembered it from the movies. But time, the elements, & reality have taken their toll. Several buildings & a water tank still remain somewhat intact at Fort Rucker but historic Fort Bowie is only left with it's walls & foundations. I would recommend anyone going to Fort Bowie to eat an extra bowl of Cheerios in the morning, drive through the Apache Pass from the north or northwest as we did & begin your long historic hike into the Fort from a parking lot on the south side of Apache Pass road.

TROOPS WERE HOUSED WITHIN THESE BARRACK WALLS (Note: You will notice that the tops of the old walls are rounded & a different color. To prevent the elements from eroding the original walls any further a mixture of special cement had to be applied to the tops of them to prevent wind & rain from breaking the walls down any further.) ALL THAT'S LEFT OF THE ONCE ELOQUENT POST COMMANDER'S QUARTERS

As with walking the grounds of old ghost towns I find there is an overall feeling that comes over a person. If your with a group of people though you will probably not pick up that feeling. I suppose it's akin to wandering through an old cemetery. Very quiet, very peaceful, & your always aware of a presence & a time in history that you have been reading or hearing about since a child. Try as you may you cannot comprehend the magnitude of events which took place on the ground you are standing upon or the walls you are seeing or the scattered bits of weathered wood & broken foundation stones laying in the tall grass at your feet. To think that a mighty Fort once stood here, or a complete town or a huge battle took place on this very spot many years ago can be overwhelming. When I visited Custer's Little Bighorn battlefield in Montana back in 1993 I felt that. And on March 11 of 2009 I felt it once more as we headed through the Apache Pass to a parking lot & then off on a long winding path in search of old Fort Bowie. APACHE LEADER GERONIMO WAS HELD CAPTIVE WITHIN THIS BUILDING'S WALLS

Might be a mile into the Fort but the path leads you through a valley of history. The old Butterfield Stage line ran through here on it's way from the east to California. Wagon wheel ruts are still visibile in the ground. Running gun battles & confrontations between the Cavalry & the Chiricahua Apache Indians took place here in this scenic valley. A meeting with the Apache leader Cochise was arranged. A cemetery, the foundation ruins of an old stagecoach stop near where the meeting & battle took place between Indians & Cavalry. It is a path through history. Go alone or with one other quiet person & let the trail through the little valley whisper you it's tales. STONE WALL RUINS OF THE 'FIRST' FORT BOWIE

Wikipedia info on FORT BOWIE

My blog of our day can be found here...... FORT BOWIE BLOG
My photos of our day are here.........FORT BOWIE PHOTOS

FORT BOWIE CEMETERY AS SEEN FROM A HIGH RIDGE TO THE SOUTHEAST

INDIANS & SOLDIERS ALIKE BURIED HERE BUT MANY SOLDIERS HAVE BEEN MOVED

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Everyone seems normal..........until you get to know them!!

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

WASHED THE JEEP SO I CAN GET IT DIRTY AGAIN

OUR FAVORITE LITTLE ALIEN

Before going to bed around 10 last night I checked the thermometer & it read 42F.  Finally, a night above freezing & no need to turn the water off.  We hit 60F under a clear blue sky today.

 

TODAY’S PHOTOS ARE FROM OUR RAMSEY CANYON HIKE ON SUNDAY

I was too tired to finish the Ramsey Canyon blog Sunday night so I was back at it this morning about 5 a.m.  These blogs can sure take a lot of work sometimes.  After our Ramsey Canyon hike my legs were very stiff, my lower back was hurting & I had some pain in my right leg where I never had pain before.  I was hobbling around here Sunday night like I was 105 years old.  Figured for sure I had pulled or strained something & was going to be in big trouble when I woke up Monday morning.  Well, that shows you how much I know about anything!!  The body must have worked overtime in the night to get all the sore parts fixed up & back in place because when I woke up this morning I felt better than ever.

 

THERE ARE BEARS IN THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS & KELLY LOOKS AT A POLE WITH CLAW MARKS ON IT

And, my theory for feeling better is Sunday’s strenuous half mile Hamburg trail hike.  Figure that pumped a lot of extra oxygen into my system which in turn put a real good charge on my batteries for a change.  Before I was able to gain control of all that extra energy this morning I had slipped outside & washed the Jeep, cleaned & vacuumed the interior & even put a little wax on the little Darlin.  Up till this morning I never figured there was much point in washing the Jeep because of all the dust we have to go through just to reach pavement.   But, for whatever reason, I just went ahead & washed it anyway.  Figured I might as well do that while I had the extra energy working for me.  Maybe when I saw how sparkly clean JANNA & MIKE'S white Jeep looked the other day I got to feeling a little guilty about our poor little Jeep mud puppy.

YEP, GETTING IT ALL SHINED UP SO WE CAN GET IT ALL DUSTY & DIRTY AGAIN

Forgot to mention Sunday that Ramsey Canyon is also well known for it’s many varieties of Butterflies.  Also read that people come from all over the world to see all the different kinds of Hummingbirds in Ramsey Canyon as well. 

CHATTING SUNDAY WITH ONE OF THE CANYON’S WANDERING TRAIL GUIDES

I must admit that I have been very lax in keeping up with our newest Blog Supporters & I see we have some folks on there that I have not acknowledged for quite some time.  I like how BIG DAWG & FREEWAY moved their blog Supporters/Followers from the side bar to the main body of the blog so I have followed their example & done the same.  Next step is to back track all the Supporters I have missed & thank them all proper for having the interest & taking the time to follow along with the Bayfield Bunch.  I’ll get at that in the next few days.

 

RUGGED RAMSEY CANYON WALLS

JEAN & SKIP came across the wild donkey gang at Hickiwan Trails RV Park near Why Arizona Saturday.  Ray at Hickiwan Trails told us how they had to take the handles off the water taps in the park a few years ago because the donkeys figured out how to turn those handles on for water.  Kelly & I first tracked down the ELUSIVE DONKEYS one morning back on February 5th, 2008. 

ONE OF MANY REST AREAS FOR VIEWING BIRDS & BUTTERFLIES ALONG THE TRAIL

Have had some enquiries about the GPS location of Fort Rucker.  As per usual we totally forgot to take our GPS along a few days ago on our Fort Rucker drive.  I am just going to have to staple that thing on my arm & that’s all there is to it.  I went to Google Earth this morning & zeroed in to the exact spot of Mary Kidder Rak’s ranch house in the trees.  The numbers are… 31*45’12.89”N by 109*21’28.84”W.  You will see the large barn near the house.  The sun is casting a shadow at the top end of the barn & that arrowhead like shadow points directly to the visible foundation of the original house (burned down) a hundred yards away which before that was the Forts Commissary.  Also visible is the brown roof of the Fort’s Bakery just up from that foundation.  When I get the rest of the captioned photos into the Rucker photo album I will post the addy in the blog at that time.

 

LOOKING ACROSS THE SAN PEDRO VALLEY WITH SIERRA VISTA IN THE FOREGROUND

Started a new book a few days ago & once again I enjoyed reading more facts about the old west.  Hollywood’s version of the OK Corral gunfight & what really happened are two different things & the Hollywood’s take on the characters is greatly misaligned as well.  Is it any wonder I lost interest in Hollywood movies a long time ago!!  They were great when I was a kid & didn’t know any better, but that was then & this is now.  That old saying, ‘We get too soon old & too late smart’ is sooooo true!!

GROANER’S CORNER:((   Tick warning ...

I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it myself a couple times unintentionally... but this one is real, and it's very important. Please send this warning to everyone on your e-mail list:

If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather... and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, do NOT do this! They only want to see you naked.

(I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.)

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EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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.