Cooper Update

How do you like Cooper's Christmas camo collar?

A few nights ago Cooper decided that the cat had a good thing going sitting in Randy's lap in the recliner. So....he joined them. (I grabbed my phone to take a picture but the flash wouldn't work for some reason...sorry for the lousy photo.)

Cooper and I are taking an agility class once a week. We travel to Round Valley...just outside of Payson. We are slowly learning each of the components of the course. I have to name each piece of equipment for Cooper and I use a lot of treats to motivate him.

He's learning to go through tunnels and walk on boards at various heights as well as jump over hurdles. It's a lot of fun and we are both pooped at the end of the hour.

The trainer is a Border Collie rescue person.....she has a yard full of them!

Cement for the Pump/Garden Shed

Adam arrived yesterday morning to lay out the forms for the concrete pad for the pump/garden shed. The circular section is for the water tank.

The truck arrived at 7:30 this morning for the "pour."

They also poured a set of steps and a ramp that goes up into the pump/garden shed.

Cooper cannot use his yard for a few days even though they will cover it due to the early morning temperatures (27-34 degrees lately).

Up next: completing the driveway.....pouring on Wednesday.

Jerome and Dead Horse Ranch State Park

I tagged along with Randy's photography class on their field trip to Jerome and a nearby state park. Jerome is "America's Most Vertical City" and the "Largest Ghost Town in America." It is located on top of Cleopatra Hill (5,200 ft.) between Prescott and Flagstaff. It's about 20 miles from Sedona. It was once known as the wickedest town in the west and was a copper mining camp. At its peak, the mine produced 3 million pounds of copper per month.

Today Jerome is a tourist and artist community with a population of about 450. In this photo a glass blower is explaining his technique.

We had a delicious burger at this place. I really wanted a piece of their famous chocolate cake (about 12 inches tall) but I resisted.

This is the Jerome Hotel. Most of the buildings are built against the 30-degree incline of the mountainside.

We then drove a short distance to Dead Horse Ranch State Park. The park covers 423 acres. The 3,300 ft. elevation accounts for mild temperatures that are great for camping, mountain biking in the Coconino National Forest hiking along the Verde River, canoeing, picnicking, fishing or just wading in the cool water.

Its unique ecosystem, the cottonwood and willow riparian gallery forest, is one of less than 20 such riparian zones in the world. Life along the river changes with the seasons, giving visitors a glimpse of the numerous species of raptors, resident songbirds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish.

Cooper just loved this place....raced around like a mad dog and ate a fish head. (He had to be on a leash in Jerome.) There are many horseback riding trails (you can rent horses) and he found some horse poop to roll in.....windows down in the car on the way home!

A New Project

We're starting on a new project......disconnecting ourselves from the Payson City Water system and hooking up to the well that we drilled a month ago. This is a photo of the well cap. We brought in crushed granite to level the area.

In order to do this we need to build a well house which will double as a garden shed. Our plumber and electrician are coming back in order to install electricity and water lines from the new pump house to our home. The flat dirt area to the left of the well cap is where the slab will be poured for the pump house.

We are also going to place a 1500 gallon water storage tank next to the pump house/garden shed. We are investigating solar pumps vs. electric pumps.

Cooper is on coyote-watch. Cooper and I watched a male and female coyote from our deck yesterday. They were 100 yards from our house and were playing with one another. They are beautiful animals but we are really having a problem with them. A friend's dog was bitten two days ago. The coyotes follow him when he walks his four dogs. When one of his dogs lagged behind, she was bitten.

P.S. Notice how Cooper sits......like a frog.

Brrrr....Snow!

The weatherman said snow at 5000 ft. That's us!

It's been snowing on and off all day. The snow disappears and then it starts up again.

I made it to yoga class and only 4 people showed up. We got lots of individual attention today.

The snow looks just beautiful on the rocks on the south side of the house.

I guess we need to take the umbrellas in for the winter. The thing is.....we could have sun and lovely 70 degree weather by midweek. We might want those umbrellas again.

Cooper wants to go for a walk in the worst way........I can do it!

Misc. Stuff

We hiked the Peach Orchard trail yesterday. It's a good trail when the weather gets cooler as there is no shade.....but beautiful views. We stumbled on this amazing grasshopper. Click on the photo and check out the colors.

Another view.....

We were surprised to run into cows.......Cooper now has another word for his vocabulary. "Leave the COWS alone."

Pumpkins are harvested and sitting by the doors......front door group.

Our new coffee table arrived.....finally.....waited 12 weeks!

We had a half inch of rain last night.....hurrah! We are supposed to have a dry, cold winter. We may put our rain data on RainLog. A climatologist spoke at our gardening class this week and he said it was important to get data from all over AZ as it is so different. That is one thing we have learned......the climate and topography is so varied across the state. It's truly amazing!

Ta has decided to curl up and sleep through this day of clouds, drizzle and a high of 45 degrees.