Go away, 2022!

It's been a quiet week.  I spent all my time hanging out with my pack, making sure all seven dogs got some exercise and runs this week.  I spent most of this week focusing on Hansel, Sahne and Fritz, taking them down to the river for walks from 3-6 miles long every morning.  They make a tight pack, but now I have to get them back in the back yard before school resumes on Wednesay, and Fritz has already told me he wants none of that.I never did make it to Tucson to walk the rest of The Loop, or to explore Keystone Peak.

My mornings most days began with a drive to McDonald's for coffee.  I'd get each dog a sausage biscuit and then we'd hit a section either along the river or along the border.  Weather was mostly on the warm side.  I enjoy seeing them run free without restraints.  All three stay close to me, too.

I survived the first year anniversary of Kevin's death on the 27th with just one short outburst of intense grief.

We had an intense wind and rain storm on the 28th.  It was more wind than rain, with no new snow on the peaks and no noticeable saturation in the valley.  (Another storm is forecasted Sunday over Monday, with fresh snow above 7000.')

I was drinking coffee yesterday morning at McD's when I saw on a news website that the suspect in the killings of four University of Idaho students has been caught at his parents' house in the Poconos.  He's 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger, a PhD candidate at Washington State University in Pullman, near Moscow ID.    Catching him is a relief, but now I want to know what his motive was.  Why did he choose these four students?

We also lost three very influential people this past week. Most annual celebrity death rosters stop listing names in early December, but these three need to be mentioned: Brazilian soccer player Pele died on the 29th from colon cancer.  He played in three World Cups and scored goals in every game.  He had colon cancer.  He was 82.  He was the most popular soccer player during my youth.  Barbara Walters died yesterday at age 93.  She was a trailblazer for female television reporters.  I had always liked her because she always spoke in a calm voice and demeanor, even when her subjects were known assholes.  Nowadays reporters use drama and emotion for ratings, which turns me off to mainstream media like CNN or FoxNews.  And today former Pope Benedict, our first German-born pope, died at age 95.  He had been in failing health.

I spent the Eve alone with the dogs.  The neighborhood was quiet and so was I.

Palominas Trailhead to the international border

I missed the Christmas sunrise.  The previous two Christmases began with colorful sunrises.  Not this year.  The sky was cloudless. It was a warm day, unlike the continued arctic cold along the Great Lakes and especially Buffalo, NY.

The neighborhood was quiet.  I stayed inside until 9am and then went outside to clean up the front.  Between the trash there and in the back of the truck, I nearly filled up a trash bin of old clothes, wet books and cardboard.  The stuff needed to go.  No need to hold on to any of that stuff.

I wanted to do something different today and take the current back yard dogs (Hansel, Sahne, Fritz and Gretel) out for a long walk where few people go.  My choice was the San Pedro Riparian Natural Conservation Area trail to the border.  The only people on that trail are US Border Patrol, bow hunters, and illegals, even though this is an official trail along a dirt road.

This pack is tight. They all follow each other and stay together.  They also stayed near me within voice command.  I only worry about Fritz around other people.  Today, though, I saw no one. 

I let the dogs run to the river near the bridge but I myself didn't walk that far west.  The dogs ran back to me and we started the walk south toward the border. I knew this would be a long walk and I wanted to conserve my energy for the five-mile walk to the border.  This is an open, exposed and boring trail, flanked by catclaw and other pokey flora.

Past the two-mile mark going south, I took a mowed trail going west back to the river, I was here a few days ago on the western bank.  The river here is across a wide flood plain.

I made it to the border at 3:20pm.  This gave me two hours to make the return walk before dark.

The border here was reinforced with a higher iron gate under Trump.  I didn't walk on the border road as there is now a sign saying the road is for administrative use only.  Does this include pedestrians?  

The grass here is six feet tall.  I felt like walking in a maze, with the tall grass on either side of me.

All water puddles had dried up from the last rain and snow, so this was a quick walk back to the truck.  I still had plenty of daylight left.

I walked 9.57 miles in 3:45 hours.  The only thing of significance were the many raptors I saw fly over the river.

Sheelite Canyon to the overlook

 Today would have been Kevin's 69th birthday.

https://www.strava.com/activities/8291131107

Ellen had a hike planned up Sheelite Canyon.  I agreed to go with her even though neither of us knew how far we would go.  How deep was the snow?  We didn't know. We would go as far as we could comfortably go. 

This hike forced me to get my Fort Huachuca pass so that I can finally access the army post again.  This meant I had to get up early to walk Gretchen and Sweetie, then drive to the Visitor's Center for the paperwork.  The last time I got a post pass, I waited an hour.  Today it took me less than 10 minutes.  All I needed to show was my driver's license.

I took Gretel and Wolfie today.  This hike was Wolfie's first wilderness hike.  He ended up doing very well.

We parked at the end of the upper Garden Canyon picnic area and walked up the road for 0.2 miles before reaching the official trail head.  It then quickly gains elevation a half-mile into the canyon, as the trail follows the creek up the narrow canyon.

This is a pretty canyon popular with birders, although we didn't see any birds today, or at least didn't notice any. The trees around the creek protect the canyon from heavy snow fall, so our walk up to the overlook was doable.  The snow slowly got deeper, but no deeper than four inches.  The many boulders and rocks melted the snow off most of the trail, but there was ice in the stagnant pool that was protected by the shade.

The trail to the overlook branches off from the main trail in the last half mile.  It's a faint trail that I didn't see.  Thankfully Ellen knew the way.  We got off the official Sheelite trail to continue across a more open, exposed and snowfree slope to the former helipad.  This was our destination, as we sat on a warm metal rod to eat our snacks and enjoy the views.

It took us three miles to reach our destination.  Elevation was 7234', with a gain of 2320'.

Both dogs were well behaved.  I was surprised that Gretel didn't run all over the place.  Even Ellen mentioned that.  But on our return hike, back on the main road with the final half mile, several deer jumped across the road.  This activated Gretel's chase drive and she took off after the deer.  So Wolfie did, too.

And they didn't come back right away.  I walked that last half mle twice calling their name.  A lone power walker came up the road and I told him about my two missing dogs.  He didn't seem too concerned but told me he'd look out for them.

I told Ellen to just go home, that I would stay in the canyon for as long as I could safely.  The army closes the canyon at dark so I had an hour, but the shade by now was already cooling the temperatires down.  The dogs would get cold!

I drove up the canyon another half mile past the Sheelite canyon trailhead.  The road got badly rutted during the monsoon season earlier this year.  The power walker was now on his return hike and he told me he didn't see any dog prints past the second creek crossing.  I decided the drive down to the lower canyon and do a second round of calling out to the dogs before parking the truck at the Sheelite trailhead.  Dogs will return to the last place they saw their owners and this was the place

Soon panting caught my attention.  Both dogs were happy to see me and hopped into the truck.  How much more did they run around the hillsides?  They kept me worried and waiting for 40 minutes! Both were exhausted and went right into the RV to rest.

This worked well for me, because Susan invited me over for a Cmas dinner.  I was allowed to bring Gretchen and Sweetie, who played with Allie as we chatted like old times.  I ended up staying until almost 10pm today.  Both Wolfie and Gretel didn't mind being inside the RV in my absence.

San Pedro House North

 It's my first day of Christmas break. I slept in, got on my email and got a note from SteveT saying he is getting blasted with an arctic cold snap for the next two days.  (This storm, officially Winter Storm Elliott, will hit Chicago by Friday)

The dogs were eager to get out.  I took all four dogs :Gretel, Gretchen, Sweetie and Wolfie, with me first for a quick drive-thru at McD's and  to the trail head parking north of the San Pedro House at 9:30am.  It was a cool 56F at the start 

I hadn't hiked this section of the river trail since March 2017.  I remember accidentally getting off the trail and being surrounded by thorny brush, making this a very unpleasant experience I vowed never to repeat. I took four dogs on that hike: Sadie, Zeke, Minnie and Sweetie.  Now the only dog still alive is Sweetie, and she did well today.  She does well as long as there are no obstacles she has to jump over.

I noticed on shorter walks earlier this week that the Bureau of Land Management has mowed this trail, making it wider (for horses) and easier to follow.  I had no trouble following the trail today.

This is a dull section.  The best part right now is the expansive view of the snow-capped mountains.  The flora along the trail is dead wildflowers, thorny brush, and creosote.

I made the Murray Springs my turn-around, allowing the dogs to refresh in the water for a it before turning around, then cutting over to the river and the cottonwoods for that last mile back.  This was a pleasant 5.6-mile walk, a good distance for the dogs.

The dogs stayed near me.  Gretchen didn't take off to explore until the very end of the hike, where she kept me waiting for a good 10 minutes before she sauntered to the truck and hopped right in.

I stopped at Walmart on my way home.  I needed new charging cables again.  The store was packed!  An hour later I was back with the dogs in the truck and enjoyed the warmth of the vehicle.  I could tell the dogs liked it, too.

I stopped at Fry's as well for food, then went home.  All four dogs were willing to rest and I obliged.

Snow!

High winds, then rain that turned into wet snow fell overnight.  A 3:30am walk with the dogs to relieve themselves showed an inch of snow on the ground.  The school district announced a two-hour delay in the start time due to ice on the roads.  This was a wise decision, as even at 8:30am I was sliding on the dirt roads around the neighborhood.

The first snow of the season always brings out the local photographers.  Snow on cacti and palm trees is nature's oxymoron.  I was one of those photographers.  I like snow glistening in the sun and ripping from melt.  At least here in southern Arizona, winter weather never lasts more then a few days at a time.

Gretchen acted like she had never seen snow before.  It didn't seem to bother either her or Wolfie.  All the dogs were walked before I left for school.  By then the snow was already melting in the sunlight.  By noon, as usual, the ground snow had melted.  The snow remained above 5000'.

I had Gretchen and Wolfie outside today, but took Gretel and Sweetie with me to school, where they slept in the truck and stayed warm for the four hours. The winds had died, but the temperature never got above 45F today.   To reward them for being calm, I took both on a nearly two-mile run down the Maintenance road after school, before going home.

It was 4:15pm and the sun was already dropping behind the mountains when I started the walk.  It was a cold walk at 42F.  The skies had cleared but the early cold and darkness was depressing.  It was already getting dark when I got home just before 5pm.  Wolfie and Gretchen went inside and didn't seem to mind the warmth relative to the outside.

This storm has been named Winterstorm Diaz and is moving eastward.  It should hit New England this weekend.  Tornadoes are expected in the South from this storm.

https://weather.com/photos/news/2022-12-14-winter-storm-diaz-photos

Storm moving in

This is the kind of weather that thankfully doesn't come through Arizona all too often in the winter: a cold, wet day that chills to the bones.  This was a front moving in from California, which had parallised the northern coastal regions and closed off Interstate 5 north Weed/Mount Shasta since Friday.  My friend Lynda was driving back from a visit to southern California and had to put chains on her VW van to enter Oregon.  She made it home safely to Portland Monday evening.  

High winds pounding the RV woke me up at 12:44am. Something was hitting the east side of the RV but I didn't find out until I got up before sunrise that it was a solar panel hanging by a stretched-out bungee cord right over the door.  A second panel was also hanging over the ledge, but was not pounding against the side wall.

The mountains were shrouded in fog at sunrise. Rain was forecasted all day.  I opted to stay home, as the temperatures were going to drop. I walked Wolfie and Gretchen and then Gretel and Sweetie around the neighborhood before the light mist turned into a constant drizzle, which increased to a steady rain late in the morning.

I stayed home.  I didn't want any of the dogs exposed to the cold rain. It was a miserable day for outdoor activity and the dogs didn't seem to mind staying inside with me, laying on the bed and snoozing.

I relocated the dangling solar panels to the top of the van. I picked up some wind-strewn items, including my mature basil plant that was thrown off my large cooler and broke all its branches.  I was hoping it would survive the winter to grow more basil leaves for me next spring.  I like basil as a garden herb to ward off insects. There's one small branch still standing, but will that branch grow more branches in the spring?

My one venture into town was for dinner and a quick stop at Home Depot.  I took Gretel and Sweetie with me who surely enjoyed the warmth of the truck.

It was an unproductive day.  I spent some time staying warm and watching the movie "Joe" starring Nicolas Cage, a rather dark movie to watch during the holiday season, but today's depressing weather got that started.  

Winds began picking up by 8pm.  

Our first big storm for the season

 Weather Alert Details

Upper San Pedro River Valley including Sierra Vista/Benson

Winter Weather Advisory from MON 5:00 AM MST until TUE 5:00 AM MST Issued December, 11 2022 at 2:00 AM - US/Mountain expires December, 13 2022 at 5:00 AM - US/Mountain ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY ABOVE 4000 FEET IN EFFECT FROM 5 AM MONDAY TO 5 AM MST TUESDAY... * WHAT...Periods of rain and snow expected. Total snow accumulations of up to three inches in valleys above 4000 feet, with higher amounts in the mountains. * WHERE...Southeast Arizona above 4000 feet. * WHEN...From 5 AM Monday to 5 AM MST Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Plan on slippery road conditions. The hazardous conditions could impact the morning or evening commute. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Slow down and use caution while traveling. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1. &&

Today would be the last mild day of the year and I didn't go out for a long hike up Carr Peak.  I just wanted to relax, work on fixing the hose that Wolfie damaged while tied up on Friday, and walk the dogs down by the river.

The big storm was ravaging the Pacific Northwest and California with heavy snow and blizzard conditions.  We had the warm and mild front today, with a breezeless but cloudy sky.  Instead of hiking up Carr Peak, I took the front yard dogs (Gretel, Gretchen, Wolfie and Sweetie) down to the Palominas trailhead to the SP river.  I knew I could only do a few miles with Sweetie.

I let the dogs romp in the river by the SR92 bridge, then walked south along the river, then cut across the grassland back to the official trail. Wolfie somehow got distracted and never followed us, despite my calling his name.  After the big loop, I dropped off the dogs in the truck and went back to the river with Gretchen (because those two are good buddies).

Sure enough, there was Wolfie just north of the bridge.  He came back to me drenched.  Had he gone back to the river, back to the bridge and waited for us there?  I'm glad I didn't wait for him by the truck!  He's normally good at recall and stays nearby, so today's distraction is not typical.  

I'm glad he was safely found as I'd hate to know he was lost in an impeding storm forecasted to cause havoc across the country as it moves east.

Winds started to pick up after 8pm 

SP River National Conservation Area, Hereford Bridge North

 It was still foggy this morning at 5:15am when I started walking Gretchen and Wolfie. It was still warm for December--52F--and breezeless.  The fog didn't lift completely until after 9am.  It turned out to be a mostly sunny and warm day with a high of 71F.

I met my California neighbors, or at least the wife.  She approached me while I was filling the bird seed bowl.  Anne, from San Diego, came up to me to thank me simply for putting the bird seed on top of my Honda because she likes to watch the birds.  I put the seed there because placing it on the ground would invite the mice, but I learned a few days ago the mice are back because of the dog food.

Still, it was a nice thing for Anne to say.  She told me that they still have a house in San Diego that she is having a hard time letting go.  She is the only one in the family that wants to keep the house.  I'm not sure how that will work out with her living here now.  She misses the mountains east of San Diego.  It's a beautiful area, but southern California is way out of my affordability.

I spent some time with the dogs, cleaning up some more in the house and then sneaking Gretel out.  She hadn't been on a walk in a while and it was her turn to get some time with me.  She is such a cuddler, but Gretchen is very much against sharing me with her.  Gretchen refused to ride in the truck with Gretel, so I kept her in the RV while I took Gretel, Wolfie and Sweetie to the Hereford Bridge north.  I wanted to do the hike I couldn't quite do yesterday because of the rain.

I'm not sure I ever had the combination of just Gretel and Wolfie on a hike, so I had no prior behavior to compare these two dogs with.  They both surprised me.  Gretel stayed close and so did Wolfie.  Sweetie always stays close so she was no surprise, but I was pleasantly happy that neither dog made me have to wait on them while they were out running through the high desert grasses.  Gretel would run in the nearby grass and pounce on whatever it was she was spotting; most likely desert packrats.

Even when we neared a small herd of cattle on the trail, the dogs reacted well.  While they did run toward the cattle, they didn't bark or chase them.  Yay! So it seems it's just Gretchen now that is hopelessly hyper on the trail.

We walked 6.6 miles in 2:30 hours with a 20-minute break at the river to let the dogs swim or rest.  The sun set behind the mountains as I neared the truck.

Gretel spent the night in the RV.  For a while all three dogs were sleeping on the bed with me.  She seemed so relaxed being with me.

Palominas Unorganized Parade

 Today was our third warmer-than-average morning, with 56F at 7am and overcast skies.  A tropical low is across Arizona for the weekend.  I made no hiking plans.

I did, however, intend to watch the Palominas parade at 10am. Palominas is a dispersed ranching and farming community that straddles the international border. I had never watched the annual parade and I wanted an excuse this year.  I packed up Gretchen and Wolfie and drove ten miles to Palominas and parked in the trailhead parking lot for the town's multi-use trail by the water retention area.

Skies north of me were dark.  I even saw lightning.  Clouds over the mountains were foggy.  This is the kind of winter weather I like, because the cool air keeps the dogs from overheating.

The multi-use trail is a 2.25-mile loop through desert grass.  It's not much of a trail, but one can see mountains in all directions.  State Road 92 traffic is always within earshot.  The trail appears to be popular with equestrians, as there were several piles of horse scat along the 10' wide trail.

Locals were already gathering along Palominas road with their folding yard chairs, getting ready to watch the half-mile parade.  Two older women across from me told me they enjoy this parade every year.  "You never know what you're going to see.  Last year a cow walked in the parade."  Not too far from me was a brown-and-white 2yo female border collie, Hazel, wearing a holiday wreath.

Well, there were no cows this year.  But after the proverbial bag pipes and school band, I did see several wreath and bell-wearing goats and a few dogs.  I walked against the direction of the parade recording the people (only to discover later that my recorder stopped at just past a minute). I kept both dogs in the truck to prevent any altercation.

The best part of the parade was watching the younger kids run after the candy that parade participants were tossing to the audience.  No wonder this is a popular parade!  Some even handed me small bags of goodies.

Cochise County Sheriff deputies helped close off traffic on SR92 for the half-hour parade.  Members of the Corvette club also participated, but Susan was not one of them.

Participants and parade walkers quickly departed at 10:30am and I drove home as well.  It was then that a gentle drizzle began to fall for the next hour, but we never got the heavy rain that was forecasted; it all moved further north than originally forecasted.

I shopped at Walmart for a new laptop cable and mouse traps as I noticed a family of mice around my little potted garden.  I saw Willie in my neighbor's yard to the west.  I stopped to call his name.  He did look up at me, but he didn't give me the usual mew of acknowledgment.  

I sure could use Willie's help getting rid of my new mouse family.

I topped off the evening with a nice walk around SteveA's neighborhood with him and Gretchen and Wolfie (Sweetie napped in the truck), which is known to go all out during the Christmas season with yard lights.

Thanksgiving week

I was on holiday break all last week.  I didn't do much (hiking) except for a few short local trails.  My biggest achievement was getting new Cooper Endeavor Plus tires for the Ridgeline on Tuesday morning.  I no longer have slow leaks in any of the tires and I can feel safer riding on tires that are not slowly cracking from dry rot.

I joined RodC, JohnS and SteveA on a hike back to the Babocamari cascades on Tuesday, but I already have posted that.  

I mostly slept in until past sun rise every day and hung out with the dogs and then watched news and current events via YouTube in the evening.  I've become obsessed with the recent murders of four University of Idaho students who died from knife wounds the morning of November 13th.  All of them were members of the Greek houses on campus, which always invites secrecy. I'm certain the killer is a former member of one of the Greek fraternities who was obsessed with one of the women he killed.  It may take months before the killer is identified.

This past week is the one-year anniversary of the house fire.  It was an event I did not want to remember.  I made no plans to go anywhere for Thanksgiving, but then Ellen invited me to have a holiday lunch at her parents' house in town.  That event turned out to be much more inspirational than planned, and I thanked Ellen and her parents for a good time over good food.

It helped that her parents are both veterans.  Rebecca, the mom, served in the army, and her dad in the navy.  Both met when they were stationed in Japan in the 1970s, but she resigned when they got married because she could not be assigned with her husband.  They both shared some fun times of their early enlistment.  It was later they both became Christians.

All the dogs got extra raw poultry on Thanksgiving.

On Friday I joined Susan for a short 2-mile walk from the Lehner kill site to the SP River late in the morning.  I haven't walked much with her and her dog Allie this year, mostly because of Allie's declining health.  Walking two miles is too much for her now, so Susan tends to just walk Allie up and down her street. She got to see Wolfie again, who was very well-mannered around Susan.  Wolfie will bark at other people, but not Susan.

On Saturday I did another short 5-mile hike with Ellen along the Murray Springs-Clanton Ranch house with Hansel.  The tall weeds there have been cleared, but an old wood bridge over a narrow wash is gone, creating a wide detour going north toward the Escapule Road trail head.

One thing I didn't do was explore Keystone Peak in the Sierritas. That may happen over Christmas break when it's cooler and more overcast.  And of course finishing walking The Loop in Tucson is still a goal. Walking is my greatest therapy right now, but getting started when it's cold and dark out is a challenge for me.

I had Hansel in the front yard for several weeks.  He never ran off. He's back in the back yard.  He wasn't happy the first two nights, but it's now day 4 and he's gotten used to staring at me from behind a chain-link fence.  I would like to try having Gretel up front for a while.  Getting her out of the back yard without also luring the other three dogs back there won't be easy.

Yesterday morning a small 20-acre fire broke out above a campsite in lower Carr Canyon.  I could see smoke from the high school parking lot.  By the end of the day the fire was extinguished.

Starting today, people in federal buildings must be masked up again.  The flu, the RSV and covid aren't going away.  Damn pests!

 https://www.ci.moscow.id.us/DocumentCenter/View/24764/11-29-22-Moscow-Homicide-Update