Thursday March 1: March comes in as a lamb with a beautiful blue sky and it is relatively calm most of the day.

When the sun warms things up, I play viola outside for the first time.

In the afternoon as Rollie and I play music outside together, the neighbor, Toby, comes over with a banjo and joins us in a few bluegrass pieces. Although he is not primarily a bluegrass musician, he is very talented and has a good voice, and sings/plays a few old blues pieces for us. It certainly is fun to have him play with us. Instead of running into Sunsites to the post office as planned, I make another campfire so music outdoors can continue.

Friday March 2: Another beautiful blue-sky morning.

It seems a shame to have to run to Sunsites/Pearce for errands, but we have things to take care of – like post office and getting a few groceries.

Later, back at camp, Rollie and I walk down the road so I can show him a century plant. Lots of yucca and sotol around, fewer century plants close by. While we are out walking, we see a pickup/camper rig that is attempting to turn around on the other branch of road into the dispersed area, one that is not suitable for trailers. As we watch, the driver makes some very radical moves that no doubt left some scratches and dents. A bit scary seeing how some people drive their rigs – they really don’t know what they are doing!

Saturday March 3: A gorgeous morning, but windy in the afternoon. Today I am doing a photo shoot with Jimi, the host at Cochise Campground. Her uniform has arrived, so she is able to look official for the photos.

We take the trail up to the pictographs for some of the photos and hike the loop around the Nature Trail, as well as going a ways up the Cochise Trail.

Between cell and camera, I have an assortment of photos of her daily activities as camp host. Back at camp, I edit the photos and put the best on a flash drive for her. These will be used for brochures and such as she sees fit.

After preparing the photo files for Jimi, I play cribbage with Rollie before making breakfast burritos for dinner for all of us. It is too windy to make a campfire or play music outside, so just do the evening routine after dinner cleanup and head to bed a bit earlier.

Monday March 4: This morning Clifford and I walk through the campground and follow a trail out to another road that heads up to the foothills of the mountain.

We also do a short hike up my favorite trail. I’m glad Clifford gets to see some of the places I have enjoyed during our stay here.

Later, Rollie and I drive up to the campground so I can give Jimi the flash drive with the photos from yesterday.

While we are there, we look at the photo books she has made of her first and second years of hosting here and at Sunny Flats in the Chiricahua Mountains to the west. Her photo books are interesting and an inspiration to me to try one of my own.

After we get back to camp, Rollie and I join Toby for music, and since it is windy, we go down into the arroyo where it is calm, but shady and cool.

We play until we get too cold, and then head back to the campers to make dinner.

Tuesday February 27: I have tea with Rollie while Clifford does the Early Bird ham radio net. Later Rollie and I go for a walk through the campground and down the road. Becka calls – not a good day for her, as her school had a 3-hour lock-down today because of a shooting threat, not to be taken lightly after the recent school shooting in nearby Florida. After we get back from our walk, Rollie and I do music together with Clifford as our audience.

Katie calls: big hassle with my car – it is buried in snow, but needs to be moved, and there is a mix up with the registration – a DMV error that happened when we registered the Suburban last spring. It gets straightened out, but only with time (Katie’s) and expense (mine). I wanted my car to be in Montana/Idaho for my use when I am there, but it seems to be an inconvenience for whoever is babysitting it. But at least her calling about it gives us time to chat about other things and catch up on the news.

Wednesday February 28: The rain in the very early morning hours turns to snow; it is blustery and wintry when I get up.

I dig out my long wool coat, which I haven’t had to use in a very long time, and go for a walkabout to take photos of the snow.

Now, for most of the country, having snow in February is no big deal and everyone is tired of winter. However, this is the first snow I’ve seen in almost a year and I’m very excited about it.

So, bundled up, I walk through the campground and revel in the beauty of falling and newly fallen snow.

After brunch with Clifford, I go about again, as the sky has opened up; a blue sky and sunshine on the snow are in complete contrast to the blustery morning.

Back at the camper, I play viola and write in the journal until Clifford starts a podcast with our webmaster. Since he needs quiet, I go play cribbage with Rollie at his camper and later we do music. The snow has melted away, but I’m happy to have been here to see it, to walk in it, to take photos of it.

Saturday February 24: 27 degrees, calm and beautiful this morning in the Dragoon Mountains of southeast Arizona.

Checking the weather, I see that Wallace, Idaho, (where we lived before moving to Utah last fall) has lots of snow and more forecast. I kind of miss seeing that snow.

I go for a hike this morning, enjoying the quiet and the solitude.

Back at camp, I take care of a few domestic chores, then go over to Rollie’s camper to play cribbage using the board that I picked up at the thrift shop yesterday. My siblings and I all learned to play cribbage as kids and continue to enjoy the game.

Clifford is on the phone with Straight Talk, trying to figure out why our hotspots are getting used up so quickly. We monitor our usage carefully, so it is not making sense. In the end he cancels service with them… we go from very poor internet service to no internet service.

I play viola awhile, talk to my daughter Merri about a writing project she is working on, then make breakfast burritos for all of us for dinner. Later, when I try to send pics to my daughter Becka, cell phone does not work. Hmmm….. Good thing I have several non-net projects I can work on. Otherwise a person could get frustrated!

Sunday February 25: Another beautiful morning. I have tea with Rollie and then we get ready for our hike on the Cochise Trail.

Clifford and I have hiked this exceptionally scenic trail before, but it will be new for Rollie. We head on up to Cochise Stronghold Campground, say Hi to our camphost friend, Jimi, – too bad she can’t hike with us today – and then head on up the trail.

It is a great hike on a beautiful day. We only go as far as the 1-mile point where there is a pretty spot by the creek, a perfect place to have our picnic.

We relax by the flowing stream as it cascades over rocks, but eventually it is time to head back down the trail.

Back at camp, I clean and organize the Suburban while I chat with Becka. Since cell is working again, I send a few pics of the hike to family/friends and post one on FB. Even with the hike, I have time to do some editing for daughter Ang and download my camera. It always fun to look at the photos after a day’s outing.

By time we have dinner, it is too late for music together, but other than that, it was a good full happy day.

Saturday February 17:   I go for a walkabout first thing to check on the water in the wash.  It is far from flooding, but fun to see a stream where a few days it was dry sand.

As fog rolls in, I go out again to take photos.

A text from our Cochise Stronghold Campground host friend, Jimi, suggests a hike this afternoon, so I go on up to the campground.

We hike up the trail to the pictographs, an interesting trail, not really for the casual hiker, but not too strenuous, either.

Instead of hiking back down the trail, we hike down into the ravine, which now because of the rain holds a flowing stream, and make our way down around boulders, dead fall, and shin dagger yucca – wicked little desert plant best seen at a distance.

I learn that the bubbly scum I’ve seen on pooling water is from the abundant yucca, since the rain has saturated the soil enough to get the roots. The soaptree yucca derives its name from the soapy material in its roots and trunks which made this plant a popular substitute for soap. (www.desertusa.com).

 

Sunday February 18: Still cool and mostly cloudy this morning, but enough sun to hang out everything that is wet from the rain that leaked in a couple of the camper windows.

In the afternoon, beautiful cumulus clouds form over the mountain with the sky a gorgeous blue backdrop… quite wonderful to see.

Message and pic from Ang showing two feet of new snow. Guess the high of 66 here today would seem like a heat wave to my kids and siblings in Montana. I miss seeing my kids and siblings and feel a little sad that we are so far apart.

Big wind and more rain in the evening and during the night.

 

Thursday February 15: Rain and wind all night here in the dispersed area outside Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains. A couple windows are now leaking, so we redo the tarp to cover both the vent and the windows. Looks like we have a project to take care of when the weather is warm and dry.

I walk down the road, rather enjoying the rain, and down to the wash at the base of the mountain to a cool little spot that I call the Gnome Home.

Or perhaps it is a portal to another universe! Later in the afternoon, another walk on a trail through a narrow meadow-like area takes me to a natural enclave, a grotto of sorts.

These hidden places are quite a delight to me.

Clifford prefers to stay in the camper working on his ham radio projects.

Cell service is weak here, but we do get messages and calls in and out. The evening is the usual routine, using only lanterns as there is not much solar power happening these days.

Friday February 16: Low and high temperatures: 50/56 degrees… hardly any variation all day long. There is fog in the morning and rain off and on all day.

This morning is different, however, as we hear a sound we’ve not heard before and looking to the mountainside, we see numerous waterfalls, some of considerable size, dropping hundreds of feet down the rock face. So many waterfalls in the desert is quite an exciting event to see!

Walkabouts in the morning and afternoon provide ample opportunities for photos, especially the waterfalls and little rivulets everywhere.

Even the trail up the mountain where I walked yesterday is a running stream.

I am more limited in my usual activities, other than the walkabouts, as there will be little laptop usage today. I write a couple short blogs, read a Dr. Oz magazine, play the viola, and practice Morse code.

We use only lanterns to light the camper for dinner, as well as the other evening activities.