For the past month or so, we’ve had ADOT working on the corner of road right by our place. We are on the corner of Prince Placer and South Stone Ridge. They have been upgrading the road where the water washes over it during the monsoons. It seems that a few years ago, after the fire, they had some real trouble with flash flooding. So far this year that has not happened, but now we are completely prepared, just in case. They have been using some extra heavy equipment that actually shakes our house as they are performing some of their grading exploits. The dogs and cats really hate it. Yesterday, one of the men working on the site asked Sue if he could grade a portion of our property – outside our fence- that runs along Prince Placer Road. We thought that it belonged to the county, that’s what Sue was told when she moved in. They even stopped us from using the driveway entrance off of Prince Placer. Continue reading
Moving and Shaking
16 Wednesday Aug 2017
Posted in Fun Stuff
Yay! Tuesday we were finally able to get together with Mr. Gary Foss, owner of Oaks of the Wild West, and picked out 20 wonderful trees for the property. We went out around 3:00 p.m. to meet him. I could not believe the property when we drove down the tree lined entrance. It was the nearest thing to a forest as I’ve ever seen here. And what I could see was only the tip of the iceberg! Mr. Foss has been planting trees on his property for the last 20 years or so. Many of the trees that he sells are grown from the seeds of the trees on his property. He has so many varieties of Oaks, Pines, Cypress, and junipers. Plus he has quite a variety of nuts and fruit trees. Many people from around our neighborhood have also been able to pick out trees for their property as well. In a few years it’ll be a veritable forest down ol’ South Stone Ridge Road and Prince Placer! 
When the weekend started off, we were hoping to be able to do a Special Report on the 
A couple of weeks ago, I was tickled to find out that the behavior we’ve always noted with chickens- having a hen or the rooster give vocal cues for good little tidbits they find- is actually called “tidbitting”. I thought I’d use it here as a title, because all I have for you today are tidbit updates. The first one is… our view from the back porch into Mexico. We’re hoping that those rain clouds come up the valley and give us some moisture. As I type this, the rain is now in front of that mountain range and perhaps heading in our direction. One thing is for certain, the thunder is getting more prevalent. Let’s take a look at what else has been going on. 
We’ve talked a bit about planting out trees, bushes, and up-potting the seedlings. This flurry of work has been going on because we’re right in the midst of monsoon season. Sue took this photo out at the Goat Boys’ last week, but you can see how we’re beginning to green up. around the house it looks like we have this wonderful lush lawn, especially right
after Sue mows in the morning. Our pastures are full of green grass interspersed with what we believe to be, wild white alyssum. It is leggier than the sweet alyssum you see in most gardens and doesn’t grow quite as clumpy. There is one stalk and flowers bloom on the top third. I think it looks really pretty though. 
This past week, I went up to Sedona for work and, as I was driving up the I-17 above Phoenix, I saw this freeway sign for Arcosanti Rd. This is what I said out loud: “Arcosanti? Is that THE Arcosanti? Is that here? I studied that in college. Can we go? Is that it?” Having no one with me who knew what the heck I was talking about, I waited to google it when I arrived at my destination. Guess what? It was! It was THE Arcosanti! Well, if you follow our 
heavy storm. The water tank was filled to overflowing! It’s really good that we’re finally getting some heavy rains. We want that to deep water all the trees as much as possible. And be able to help replenish the aquafer in our area that supplies our well. This is why we’ve been talking so often about the importance of keeping the water on the land as much as possible, rather than having it run down the road and away from the property. I’m so happy that it’s raining! It does tend to put a damper on the projects though. Although, if you know Sue, you know there are still things going on. 
