Snow Flurries This Morning

It was cold but nice early this morning. I could tell by the clouds there was different weather at higher elevation. People had already posted photos of their yards with a light snow cover on the Cochise County facebook group. Looking at my iPhone weather it was not going to get higher than 44° today where just a few days ago it was up to 78°. I had a few places I wanted to go today ... The Diner and Miller Canyon.

I left Henry and Walter in the backyard since they were running full speed laps around the yard chasing one another. Since Stella has shown no signs of her old separation anxiety the past three to four months, I slid the living room blinds back and let her have the house while I was gone. Everything was in place when I got back and surprisingly both puppies were warm. I'll explain later.

I think Miller Canyon may be my favorite place to go. It has plenty of hiking trails and it is easy to get to the parking lot at the top which dead ends at private property. It was not getting any colder as I climbed elevation, staying at 39°. On the way I stopped at Papa's 50's Diner for some biscuits and gravy, and small cups of coffee. I've never gotten out of there for less than $24 but today I did, $12 including the tip. (all photos from the car is where I stopped in the middle of the road)

At the lower parking lot there were a couple of empty trucks with their owners out hiking. Camping trailers were scattered in different spots along the road heading to the top. I wonder if the people with the kids tent camping knew about snow in the forecast?? The sunshine was trying to poke through the clouds so I headed left to the top of the trails.

I had no plans to go hiking before I got there. I had left my trekking poles in the garage, didn't bring water, and had only a light down jacket on over a flannel shirt with no gloves. My watch said it was down to 37° but did not feel that cold. I thought I'd check out the first part of the trail but did not plan on walking far.

Off to the side looked like a river bed up ahead. 

Not sure what was going on but as I was driving back down a border patrol truck towing a horse trailer with two horses inside was heading past me as I pulled to the side of the road to give him room. Another border patrol suv was blocking the entrance to the parking lot down below and as I reached the paved road there was another border patrol truck parked on the side in the residentual area facing the direction I was heading. Counting the other two trucks backed into spots off the dirt road I think I counted a total of six border patrol trucks and suvs within the short distance. 

As I got near the highway it was probably a good time to head home. Snow was spitting on the windshield with some blowing wind. Nothing was sticking but I wondered if it was snowing at home about five to six miles away. The pups were still outside in the backyard if it was. They didn't even want to come inside when I got home and opened the back door to call them in. Both were warm when I touched them. Stella was back in the bedroom on Heidi's old bed sound to sleep. Nice to see for whatever reason, that she doesn not go crazy like she use to when I leave and pull the blinds down.

I wasn't home more than a few minutes when I looked back at the area we came from and it was out of view with clouds and snow. 

You can barely see the snow flurries.

Quite a change from walking today and sleeping under the sunshine the other day. No worries, as it will be back in the high 70s this week.

For not being a 'hound dog', Walter sure does use his nose a lot. He has to smell everything outside and inside plus he can wake up from a deep sleep if he hears something. He only goes out the front door with me when I take the trash outside or the small poop bags. If I have the dog leashes in my hand to take Stella and Henry for a walk, he stands in the living room refusing to get anywhere near the front door.

Henry continues to get prettier the older he gets. For readers that were not here last summer, I picked him out of a lineup of 10 puppy photos at two weeks old, with his four brothers and five sisters in the litter. The breeder sent us new owners a weekly individual photo of all the puppies until we picked them up at eight weeks old. He is very smart, a very funny personality, stubborn as advertised and will come and get me if he needs to go outside. He and Walter get along as well as I had hoped they would.

As you can see in the background the pups did a little landscaping this past week. They had dug a trench at the based of that planter, making it fall that way. That is when I came up with the idea to put pavers under and around that planter to prevent that from happening again.

Still standing guard in the far southwest corner of the yard to keep the puppies from digging in that area. I need about 25 more of these statues to place around the yard.  LOL That scraped paint on his ear is from Walter chewing it trying to get him to play.

Looking toward the Mule mountains with a 70-300mm lens. I know the area from my times of driving around in that area as well as riding my bike in that direction but I can't remember capturing what I see here. That explains the headlights I will see at all times of night and middle of the morning but it does not explain the lights of the helocopter I saw last night circling in that area. Nothing in the newspaper today about a medical emergency or anything else.

These next photos are from the past month. I just downloaded them from my Nikon today.

This was taken yesterday as the cattle keep moving closer to the wash about 50' from my fence. They are on the other side of the wash following the dirt road heading east. The dogs next door are no longer bothered by them. My hounds and the dog can smell them and run to the fence looking up in the air but don't bark at them.

After my return this morning not much was done. A short siesta later in the afternoon. Played some Mahjong on the laptop, looked for a movie to watch but found nothing and read a little bit of Chinle Miller's last book from a few months ago. I love her Bud Shumway series. I keep reminding myself that if I moved to Green River Utah, that Bud and the gang will NOT be there ... but that is how real it feels when I read her books.

It was a cold day here in the "Wild West" today.