We're Not In Idaho Anymore

Saturday December 5 2015

Steph's in Heaven, I'm in Scottsdale. It's totally true for Steph, down south in the warm sunshine in the place of a cold Idaho winter.

Not complaining, mind you. Sure, I'd rather be wallerin' around in the snow and hoar frost, wearing 5 layers of clothes, but this is a nice road trip in a fascinating part of the country. And I'm sure glad I'm not here in the summer!

We got out on the horses today on a little corner of the 100,000 square mile Sonoran desert. Jose and I both enjoyed the scenery. He's spent a winter down here before. 

The Four Peaks of the rugged Mazatzal Mountains and wilderness line the eastern horizon, 

and the alluring Superstition Mountains and wilderness lie to the southeast, with Weaver's Needle poking up in the melee. Legends abound of lost gold (particularly the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine), and a hole that leads down to the lower world. 700-year-old cliff dwellings in the Tonto basin, between the Mazatzals and Superstitions, leave behind an intriguing mystery of a vanished ancient people.   

Jose and his desert reflection

Yep I like to hug trees, but I'm keeping my distance from this saguaro. 

Pretty much anything out here, you don't want to run into or touch, particularly the cholla!

this was a cool old monster. With the right conditions, they can live to be 150-200 years old.

Stick It

Sunday March 176 2013

You'd be hard pressed to find cactus around here in Owyhee. It exists, but not so's you'd find enough to stick your nose in it.

Except for Bodie. He found it, and stuck it where it hurts - his nose, which he uses for just about everything - eating, sniffing, feeling.

Even if the horse held still, you obviously don't want to try pulling it out with your bare hands, because the other spines will stick in your skin. You don't want to try pulling it out with gloves, because even if you get a grip on it, you'll probably poke it further in, or poke other spines in his nose.



Best is to use a comb, and rake it over the area quickly, flipping the whole cactus piece out. Fortunately I haven't found any single cactus spines in any of the horses. These can be a nightmare to remove, often requiring veterinary sedation and subsequent treatment, as many people living in Arizona have probably learned.

Bodie hardly knew what happened, and right after I swept the cactus off his nose, I gave him a good (much appreciated) scratch.