home again. but I almost went back to the hotel last night.
I was going to check out of the hotel on Wednesday, but the forecast was some pretty hot weather and my sister talked me into staying a couple more days. So yesterday was the day. Check-out time was 11, but I had an appointment with the wound care clinic at 1 and asked if I could hang until 12:30 or so. The husband showed up at 10 and helped schlep most of my crap out to the car and took the refrigerated items on back to the house.
good-bye AC and fairly clean conditions
After the hospital visit, I grabbed some junk food and since it was pretty hot decided to take a small road trip for a couple of hours. I was thinking about maybe driving the circle to Elfrida/Douglas/Bisbee/Tombstone and back to Benson. But I changed my mind and decided to go to Cochise Stronghold. I hadn't been there in years. Ever since I was a little kid I had gone there in August for the annual reunion of the Pioneer Cowboys Association. My Grampa used to be on the board and it was a fun picnic - steak fry actually, as you might imagine from the organization name. I don't know how far back that gathering went, but it had been at the Stronghold all of my younger life. Some time in the late 80s the Forest Service halted those kinds of events there. I don't know the reason, but it always left a bad taste in my mouth, considering most of the families had been around since before there even was a Forest Service.
Anyway, it is pretty cool back in there and it seemed like a perfect drive for killing the hot part of the day. You wind back in to the canyon on a fairly decent dirt road, past a few private property in-holdings and a few formerly private homesteads that are now available for rent (?) from the Forest Service.
the view on the way in
a big sheer granite face
but what do we find when we get to the campground area? WTF?
Well, the afternoon is passing and there are some good dark clouds coming in, maybe there will be a storm on the way home or even better, one AT home.
I get back to the house and it is still sunny and pretty warm so I sat out on the front porch for a bit, then got to work finishing up making a bed in the living room. My bed is trashed and two ranch dogs have been sleeping on it the whole time I was gone (aww they love me). Dinner of stir-fried beef and veggies over rice. And it finally started raining. That was nice. Couldn't get on the internet but rain is always worth any techno problems. I got ready for bed and had just laid down when my younger son came in the kitchen for something. All of the sudden there was THAT BUZZING SOUND. Rattlesnake somewhere near. On the back porch?
Panic ensues and various somewhat inebriated menfolk (Friday night, celebrating my homecoming? 
) scramble and fumble for flashlights, shovels, chairs to stand on, etc. They looked all over and couldn't find it. It quit buzzing and dog knows there are plenty of hiding spots out there - washing machine, trash cans, tool chests, buckets of tools and other crap, laundry, you name it it is out there. If I hadn't been tethered to this wound vac, I would have found the fucker. But the tubing and having to carry something in one hand all the time limits movement and I hate to risk yanking it out by catching it on a door knob or table corner or something. I don't give up on rattlers near the house. But they decided they couldn't find it and that was that.
I was close to getting in the car and leaving. More because I was mad than afraid, but still!!! Oh well, hopefully the cat will piss it off in the morning when they can see better and get it. I laid awake for a while, enjoying the lightening and rain and adjusting to a new bed. Then just as I was drifting off to sleep...BZZZZZZZZ! fucker sounded like he was in the kitchen or the hall pretty close. No way can I move fast enough so I grab my cell phone and called my son. He was also just falling asleep and groggily responded to my yelling that it was in the kitchen, get the shovel, turn a light on!!!! I think he walked right past it to turn on the light. I can't see anything but I hear him and his brother clonking the shovel on the floor and "get it, get it!" and other disorderly noises while I am yelling "don't dent the floor, don't ruin the rattles! put it in a bucket and let me see it" I think they were also taking pictures. at least I could sleep now.
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graphic warning on final picture - stop here if it might bother you
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(head is in another container)
Sigh. It is good to be home. 
= new reply since forum marked as read
Glad you're home! And I am even gladder there are NO RATTLESNAKES HERE!
oh yeah, it is August. Snake month.
that was the third since we moved out here in '86.
You would be safe in February. I think. 
Glad to hear you're home!
and as I told my PC the other day...if you don't laugh you may end up crying. 
much less the prep. 
of an old guy who got kind of bedridden at the old homestead and took to using his gun to kill scorpions on the ceiling.
I'm glad your sons knew just what to do with the intruder. I'm glad you and your family and the cat are all okay. Whew!
Great photos of gorgeous countryside. You stay on the road to recovery, Kali.
unfortunately. 
of course some years there are shitloads of rattlers. 
the Grand Canyon. An arizona pink was curled up and resting by the river, about 50-60 feet from my tent, by the path to the "ladies pee area."
A group of us went to get a look. I have pictures taken pretty close up. The snake seemed pretty used to tourists staring at it. It just stared back, but never budged or rattled.
Then one night I got up to visit the port-o-potty. I could see a flashlight up there, so politely waited. Alan, the Brit who was traveling with us, came down a few minutes later looking a little shaken. He'd been sitting on a pot when a snake slithered by. He said it had a rattle on its tail. GAH!
Hoping and praying the snake had just continued on its way...
Rattlesnakes? Holy shit....
Mice, the occasional bird, and skunked dogs are the worst of it for me.
had a boyfriend from New York for a while when I was in college, he complained everything in AZ was either sharp, hot, or poisonous. some things all three. 
Glad you are still mending.
I have only seen three snakes this season. My cats caught two of them. Male kitty had a baby black snake and Female Kitty had what looked like a baby copperhead.
Then I saw an adult black snake winding its way across the road to the other side.
Haven't seen any rattlers this season and Not In The House, never
You always tell the best picture stories
They blend in so well with the dirt around here. A lot of times you don't see them until you are right on them.
Once my brother and I were working on the shed and Bam! a whole nest of them squirming and writhing.
I have heard of nests of rattlers too, and in Texas they migrate and winter in small caves -
they said since the capmground was "upgraded" (whatever that means) in the 90s it is closed for "the season" which I take means summer (WTF? - yeah it is kind of hot but that is at an elevation of 4500 and up, it is cooler than the surrounding area). I guess it opens some time in September, until ? I couldn't find the info on any signs, but it is probably on-line.
I am doing good, just takes time for big holes to fill in and close up. Thanks!
Great narrative, Kali!
