I get up most days just at sunrise, I make a pot of coffee and then go and feed the stock. I've locked the cats in the shop/garage for the night along with their food and water and litter boxes so they're fine until I let them out in the morning. Then I go and put one of the border collies in a larger outdoor pen and feed him. The other border collie stays in his pen until evening when I swap them and then I put the second one back in his pen for the night. If I put them together they'd fight like mad but they're just fine with anybody else. They don't pay any mind to Curley or the cats at all. After the dogs, I feed the horses. I take grain and hay to the old retired cow pony and grain and pellets and hay to the young palominos. Then I sit down on the step and have a cup of coffee and visit with the cats and let the day take shape.
Last night I was watching the news and they mentioned the moon. The moon was full last night, the 31st, and it was also full on the 1st. That makes it the second full moon in the calendar month and it is what is called the "blue moon". "Once in a blue moon" refers to an event that occurs only rarely but blue moons aren't really all that rare, although the next one won't occur until into 2015. But it was the right time to watch the moon rise so I took a couple of pictures.
I suppose I should include a sunset picture as the sun is setting on our time in Arizona. I expect my cousin back here on Monday or Tuesday and I'm hoping to get back on the road home by the weekend. I know she'd like me to stay through Christmas but that just ain't gonna happen.
While I've been here I've tried to get a feel for the West and tried to understand the people and reconcile the different themes that I see displayed. I've read a lot. Books and magazines and memoirs. I've traveled about in the state as best I can. Just like in New England or the South, there are conflicting streams and images.
Arizona Highways magazine paints stories of gorgeous rocks and forests and Indian ruins. The sun is always just the right shade of gold and the history is always right around the corner. The only local TV stations are out of Phoenix and they are full of big city importance. Lots of business deals and political shenanigans and pro sports. They broadcast for the whole state but only give you the weather for "The Valley". Prescott emphasizes its cowboy past as a romantic era not to be forgotten while busily evolving into a huge retirement community. The license plates carry the slogan "The Grand Canyon State" but that's all you hear of it, otherwise its ignored, even in Flagstaff, the closest decent size town.
The weather, of course, is very different from any I've lived in before. We went to a garage sale yesterday and it was being run by some folks who moved here from Illinois just a year and half ago. They said they just loved the weather. I can't say that I love the weather. There's a lot of sunshine to be sure but that sun just burns and dries everything out. The humidity level is what makes it enjoyable or tolerable, depending on your viewpoint. Certainly it's nice to have the mornings start cool and refreshing most of the time. But that sun comes up over the hill big and bright and so hot it feels like it'll take the shirt off your back.
The geography is appealing. It's big and open and you can see for miles and miles almost anywhere in the state. I love the broad sweep of the sky. I'm sure that some of that feeling of freedom in the West comes from the wide open view. I had a fellow working for me one time who was from Oklahoma. He was a good mechanic and I was sad to see him leave. He said he just couldn't stand the closed in feeling he got from living in North Carolina. He couldn't see far enough. I guess if you were born and raised out here it would be tough to leave.
But boy, is it harsh. Every plant pulls at you. Only the hardiest native species can live without additional water and most of the time they look like they're dead, just waiting for the next rainstorm. Spring is hooked to the rainfall not the calendar. Stuff doesn't green up until the monsoon season in July and August. There are oases like the Verde Valley with a perennial stream but away from there it's brutal. I drive through the country and imagine those people coming here on horseback or wagon or on foot and I'm just stunned by the fortitude that it must have taken. And to some degree still takes. Not like in the early days, but to voluntarily take on ranching knowing that the only water you'll see is what falls from the sky is just amazing to me.
There are still cowboys out here, but you have to look hard to find them. They're over the hill on the back side of the ranch tending the beef that you and I will put on our table. They have their own ethic that in its finest form is called "The Cowboy Way". They are truly outstanding individuals that remain a strong contributor to the Western way of life. But just like native Southerners, they are getting crowded by folks from other places. If I go in to Prescott, I can see some stores selling cowboy clothes, but I won't see the folks on the sidewalk wearing them. The crowd at Costco looks just like the same group at Costco in Greensboro. People don't speak in a drawl and they don't look at me and tell me I have an accent. The nail salon is run by Thai's and the hotels are run by people from India just like back home. If there were trees and green grass, I could be anywhere back East.
Another thing I found interesting. On the way out here, once we entered Oklahoma we were on Indian lands most of the way. Look at the maps and there are Indian reservations and properties everywhere out here. And most of the reservations now have Casinos. But you never hear or see anything about the Indians relating to their daily lives. There isn't any "Indian news". You can see them selling jewelry along the side of the road up in Sedona or outside the Grand Canyon. You can see their Casinos everywhere, including in downtown Prescott. But nobody talks about them at all.
So it's been an interesting time and a definite learning experience. I've enjoyed my time here. I wish I had come sooner. I wish I could see more of the West. The people I've met have been friendly and helpful. The place has its special demands just like the North or the South do. You need to have a flexible approach to be happy here but maybe that's true anywhere. It's way too complex a blend of themes to be able to sum it up in a word or sentence. I encourage anyone who has any thought of visiting out here to certainly come on out and try it. And the sooner the better.
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