Flagstaff Visit

We took a ride to Flagstaff yesterday for three reasons: 1—to get away from the heat, 2—to explore the town a little bit, and 3—to deliver the critter in this carrier.

It's a baby Raven! He looks big but Ravens are the largest bird in the crow family. A full grown one weighs 31 pounds, is two feet long and has a wingspan of 3.3 ft. Ravens live to be 40 yrs. old in the wild, and 70 yrs. in captivity.

We have been doing some volunteering for a local wildlife refuge called Wonders of the Wild Animal Sanctuary. This Raven needed a ride to Flagstaff so he could live with Melanie, a gal who rehabs Crows and Ravens. She lives on a large plot of land outside Flagstaff and has an aviary for her birds. She thought this guy was about 5-6 weeks old. Many of the birds she has raised are free but choose to live on her property.

Ravens are capable of aerial stunts similar to birds of prey. They are considered the most intelligent of birds with a high learning ability. We almost hated to hand this guy over to Melanie, but we know that he will have a great home/life with her.

While in Flagstaff we got a membership to Sam's Club thinking a ride to Flagstaff might be cooler than a ride to Phoenix (Costco) in the summer months.
We also visited Riordan Mansion State Park. This 13,000 sq. ft. house was built in 1904 by Michael and Timothy Riordan. They were members of a prominent AZ family and had a significant role in the development of Flagstaff.

The family was involved in lumber, railroads, cattle, banking and politics. The architect who designed this house also designed the El Tovar Hotel in the Grand Canyon. The house has beautiful stained glass panels and is full of Gustav Stickly furniture.........to die for!

Garden Update

This guy was at our fence at 4:00 in the afternoon.......eyeing our vegetables. Cooper started barking at him, of course.

He went on his merry way.......slowly......a young bull in search of some female companionship.

Lantana seems to be growing well in pots in the garden. Nothing has tried to eat it so far.

Randy put shade cloth on the tomato plants......we have had hot, dry weather. The temps have been in the high 90s with wind each day. (Not typical June weather.)

Our radish crop is very tasty and they are quite large.

This bed has carrots and turnips.

This bed has spaghetti squash, acorn squash and patty pan.

More tomatoes. The bed on the right has some llama poop in it and the tomatoes are not doing well. That confirms our suspicions that the llama poop is not good for tomatoes. Why? We don't know. We are going to replace the tomato plants with strawberries and see how they do.

The corn is growing well.......about 4 feet tall. Maybe we should have thinned this out a bit.....we will see.

Zucchini and cucumbers......we should get some in a few days.

Beets and chard.

Morning glories that we hope will grow along the fence.

A larger view of the garden space.

Randy puts on an overhead sprinkler a couple of times a day to keep the leaves moist. Everything is on either drip, spray or overhead watering.

Cooking Class

One of the gals in my yoga class (in the red shirt) does a cooking class on Wednesdays. She changes the theme every month and repeats the class two or three times. This month her theme is "Salads with an Attitude". Each class costs $15.

It's basically a demonstration class and at the end you get to eat everything! She made Santa Fe Slaw with Carmelized Pecans, Corn, Bell Pepper and Red Potato Salad, Quinoa Salad with Apples, Walnuts, Dried Cranberries and Gouda AND individual Serrano Souffles on Greens with Pears and Pinon Nuts.

She has a huge granite island in her kitchen. Everything was just delicious!!! She emails the recipes ahead of time and you can let her know if you are allergic to anything. (I am happy to email anyone the recipes.)

These soufflés were to die for...........next month is Pizza on the Barbie.

Run In with a Coyote

Cooper can't win when it comes to coyotes. He was minding his own business, trotting along a path, when a coyote came out of the brush and bit him on his hind quarters.

We nursed it for a few days and then decided he needed to see the vet. She said the wound would have taken about 3 months to heal without stitches so we opted for stitches. Randy told them they had to do it with a local anesthesia. (The last time they put him out he was a zombie for three days.) He went into the operating room with Cooper and he did just fine.

The stitches come out on Friday. Cooper could care less about it.....hasn't affected his running, jumping or eating. I, on the other hand, am choosing not to walk him in our neighborhood as the coyotes seem to be out when I want to take an evening walk.

Woods Canyon Lake Revisited

Woods Canyon Lake is one of seven in the Rim Lakes Recreation Area. So far it's my favorite but we have not visited them all. Folks love to fish for trout here. Only electric motors are allowed.

Cactus blooming on the rocks that jut out over the lake.

Forest surrounds the lake.......pine, fir, oak and aspen.

Cooper absolutely loves it here.

Part of the trail around the lake was detoured because of the nesting eagles. Can you see the nest in the middle of the photo? They should be ready to fledge in mid-July. (I needed our biggest telephoto lens to get a closer shot but we didn't bring it....maybe next time.)

Cooper and Randy pause for a photo on the trail.

The lake is at 7000 feet so it is about 10-15 degrees cooler than Payson. (We've been in the high 80s to low 90s lately.)

Cooper had such a grand time bounding after insects and ducks.