El Nino and its wet cousin.

 Curved billed Thrasher.

Had just been telling him about the nutjobs who

took over the bird sanctuary in Oregon.

We have been busy with settling in chores, getting used to the mile high altitude, and avoiding rain drops of which there will be more. And maybe some snow too,

The good news is that the house is a good place to set and read a book or whatever so we are quite comfortable.

Harley has made a friend, Lucy. another designer mutt of similar size and disposition and we have begun to explore the trails above the town

 on the opposite side of the canyon an interesting crack I am glad we are not sleeping beneath.

 View from part way up the hill.

 

 Happy Harley

 

Coming back down.  Brewery gulch is in the back

 

the trail

There is a refreshing scruffiness to this place.

cute little cactus

Bisbee - A town built on mule paths.

One of the neat things about Bisbee is that it is built in a canyon, with steep sides - and the original inhabitants were miners who had mules and burros the way we have cars.  On the hillsides the streets are very narrow as they wind their way across the contours of the hillside, and connecting them all are a series of vertical paths - originally created by the pack animals, and in the WPA in 1938 converted into concrete stairways.

There are lots of them - some private - going to just one or two houses, but many connect the winding streets offering a straight if strenuous path.

Our rental cottage is on one of the longer sections, but up only 12 steps (of 151) from the street. 

 

There is an annual event called the Bisbee 1000, a race through the streets and up 1000 of the steps.  Not me.

Our set of steps is #5 in this.

below is just a small sampling.

 

  

And then there is street art - interesting graffiti - tear-offs from an inspirational calendar  stapled to lamp posts - and sculptures but not today.

 

And then a short hike up Brewery Gulch 

There is enough moisture for these ferns growing out of the rocks

Back in town a fence made of head headboards left over from the era when this part of town was filled with brothels

Earth Fissures Possible.

This is not a sign you see every day.  And there is a patch of asphalt in the road that indicates it may not be entirely the result of some DPW worker's sense of humor, or liquid lunch hour.

It is on the way to Whitewater Draw, a swamp in the middle of desert with enough in the aquifer to allow agriculture near by.  This provides a great spot for the cranes to over winter and eat the leftovers in the fields.

There are a bunch of them and they returned from feeding over an hour and a half in groups of ten, twenty or so, but  a pretty continuous stream, a great show.

 And then there were coots, shovelers, pyrrhuloxia, and more.  Not a bad way to spend the morning.  Explored some in the afternoon, there is a set of 151 steep steps next to our house leading up eventually to a trail.  We are out of shape at least at this altitude...

A New Year - A New Adventure

A new year, a new adventure.

 

We arrived safely in Bisbee, the January leg of our trip, getting here early enough to check on the cranes - a good bunch - and some assorted ducks at whitewater draw.

 

En route we passed through Lordsburg a place with some photogenic properties - and perhaps an inclusion on our gratitude lists that it was only a visit.

Cinnamon teals landing

 

Shelley looking at and taking photos of the cranes

 A small portion of them

The house is very nice though the street is kinda narrow in places as it climbs up the canyon

 nice view

The house  

Getting ready to go again.

The days shorten, and we are starting to pull things together for this winter's excursion.  This year our plans are for January in Bisbee Az, Feb and March in Sedona, beyond that we know we will return, but there are some places in Utah and Colorado we wish to visit a bit more before returning....