Riggs Lake

LaVerne and Denise (Dan's mom and sister) are here for a couple of days, and today we took them to Riggs Lake on Mt Graham. It is one of my favorite spots for a picnic. The lake is at 9000 feet or so, and in going up Mt Graham you pass through vegetation zones as if you were driving from Mexico to Canada. In summer the lake is much cooler than the valley floor, which makes for a nice change, but this time the temperature difference was not so dramatic. The fall colors were beautiful with the aspen in all yellow leaves.

The lake has an alpine feel to it, and there are always a lot of anglers. The water is clear enough to see the fingerlings. It is hard to believe this is Arizona.

The view from the campground west is breathtaking.

Family shot, with Emma.

Norbert

The monsoons are over but we did get rain today, about 0.5". This was courtesy of Hurricane Norbert, which blew in from the East Pacific. Most of the rain fell in the span of 30 minutes: one squall this morning when we were trying to get to our friends to share breakfast, and one deluge this afternoon. The rain is very localized, and when I drove to the mailbox (in case you wonder about this idiocy, it is 1.25 miles from the house), it was obvious that most of it fell on the WD Ranch. The road was a river, and I really should have rolled up the window before driving through all this water....

Of course that much water in such a short amount of time turns even a desert into a giant mud puddle, which the horses just love. There is a lot of running, rolling and bucking. I always think that Cody, who is a native Oregonian, misses the rain and mud, but it is Buggsy, the Arizona horse, who goes crazy over the stuff. Perhaps never got enough of it in all his 15+ years. So here is our white Arabian-turned-Paint-Horse.


As the rain produced so much runoff, our "pond" is filling up as I write this. It is already half-full again, much to Emma's delight. Although Shawna is not shy about going for a swim either. It is her checking out the water level.

When I came into the house after taking the pictures above I still came across a Spadefoot Toadlet. I scooped him/her up and put her in the garden. The driveway holds no future for a toad.

Water dish

October is one of my favorite months in the desert. The daytime temperatures are in the 80's, with evenings in the 40's and 50's, and skies are clear. We have the house open all day and all night so you can hear the contented clucks of the coveys of quail in the yard scurrying about for seeds, and the cactus wren with his raucous noise. Winter birds are returning.

The rains are gone now, and vegetation is drying up, so the water dish in the front yard is being frequented by birds and mammals, and everyone has their schedule. The busiest times are early morning and dusk. Bunnies and jack rabbits come about the same time, and share amiably at the end of the day, but when a coyote comes by they leave. The quail are unperturbed by coyote presence however, and drink at any time of day.

When this coyote showed up, both Emma and Shawna barked, but the 'yote was not impressed. Emma is afraid of coyotes, but Shawna chases them off the property. When we meet in the wild the dogs come and stay close to me, thankfully. A pack of coyotes would be no match for even Shawna.