Changes Around The Area

The weather is not the only thing changing around here. I have mentioned a few of the changes in recent posts but those issues continue on a daily basis and they don't show up on your tv news, your local papers but they do on Facebook. There are different local groups I have joined for this area that not only spread the word, they take live video so there is little no doubt what is going on. Yet I caught myself re-analyzing my thought process these past few months, making the decision to move. I wondered if I had overblown the facts I had used or what I have been told. After watching some live interviews with the Cochise County Sheriff late yesterday, along with some live camera feeds ... I knew as much as I hate leaving this area that I have made the correct decision for me, the hounds and the dog.

The weather is changing to summer temps. We don't have spring around here as I found out sitting in the sunshine yesterday around noon. The sun was hotter than ever with intense heat. I added a little tan and some new sunburn to my skin ... I was in that chair for only 15 minutes!!

Over towards Bisbee last weekend, in the direction of the Mule Mountains ... trail cameras caught many illegals coming through the new 30' wall someway. They sprinted across the new border wall road and waited out of view. It wasn't 30 seconds later a dually pickup truck pulling a horse trailer came to a flying stop, the back doors of the horse trailer opened and those same people sprinted to inside the horse trailer. The operation was so smooth you would have thought they had practiced it somewhere.

Making $600 per person to transport people from the border to Tucson or Phoenix is a tempting proposition that many are doing here in southern Cochise County. Those that are caught are men, women and even teens trying to make some extra cash. They are all consistent in what they tell the sheriffs or border patrol that catch them. $600 per seems to be the magic number. 

Henry has turned out to be the basset hound I wanted and expected. Laidback, mischievous, independent, funny ... but he is a LOT bigger than I thought he would be at 9 months old. I have never had a basset hound this heavy. When I take him in to get his records to take with me, I will get him weighed. He is not due for his one year rabies shot until June 29th. 

Another change ... the dog has been standing his post 24/7 but evidently has become a threat to Walter's position of being the boss of the house. Many times I have stepped outside early in the morning to find "the dog" face down, knocked over ... Walter has peed on him ... just to let him know who is really in charge. You can see the slight pee stains that I hose off on the pavers.

The signs I am seeing in Stella more and more are starting to bother me at times. I know what those familiar signs are telling me, as I have seen them in past hounds. When that day comes it might hit me harder than any hound I ever had, don't know. We have had an interesting history and she has a very strong bond with me as I do with her. 

I can tell by the way she walks she is in pain. I can see her effort trying to look normal. She gets up or lays day almost step by step and slowly. She continues to eat the hip/joint supplements I have been feeding her for years, containing 1000mg of MSM. She hasn't been too enthused about going for walks so those have almost stopped completely. Probably has arthritis in her hips. She will be 12 years old this summer, the oldest bloodhound I have had of those in the past. Not a gray hair on her anywhere. We will see I guess what this summer brings.

I had heard the highway immigrant checkpoints had been closed on Hwy 80 just a few miles north of Tombstone AZ. I decided a few Sundays ago I would drive over and take a look with my Nikon in hand. I found the checkpoint not only closed but dismantled ... all except the frame of the large structure you would pull your car into. There you answered border patrol questions. Some cars were searched. Some illegal immigrants were caught, with a few of them being known criminals re-entering the USA. 

With open borders comes open highways ... drive fast and get away from the border as fast as possible. 

Just across the highway at the intersection of Hwy 80 and Hwy 82

From there I zip over to Hwy 90 north of Huachuca City. I have been through this checkpoint at different times of day and night during the time I have lived here. Depending on what was going on at the border or what time of day it was ... the line of cars and trucks waiting to enter would be long enough to take 10-15 minutes sometimes to get under that large structure. They had removed a lot of the smaller structures and equipment used. The only thing left was the metal frame and the cover to keep the sun out.

On that same Sunday I had stopped to see a friend probably for the last time. He travels the SW full time in his RV. After a nice long visit I headed to my favorite restaurant in Huachuca City .. Sunny D's. But it was packed with people and I knew I would be waiting longer than I wanted to get my order placed and served. So I headed back home, taking the west side BSR by-pass heading for Papa's Diner south of town. It was also full of people but I waited it out, I was hungry. Along the way I pulled off to the shoulder of the road to take the phone of one of the building sites in town.

This will fill in the last empty space between BSR and Coronado. How many new houses will they fit in that area and how many are already sold??? I was going to stop and take photos of the other building sites in town but then thought what's the point ... so I ate at the diner and returned home.

Every morning an hour after sunrise, Henry will step outside and look for his friend Diesel, the next door doberman. The hounds and the dog love that dog. Stella howls while Walter and Henry bark and sprint for the fence believing they can stand high enough on their back legs to touch noses with the doberman that is looking over the top. As you can see in the background I have stopped bringing in all of Henry's chew toys. He keeps taking them back outside one by one every day, so that is where they stay.

This view from the patio ALWAYS makes me wonder what have I done?? What made me decide to pack up an leave such a beautiful area?? Am I really crazy?? Then I remember what I have been told by those in the know, the gunshots I heard from across the street and the predicted future ... sad to see current changes and those that will happen in the future. Over run ??? Not really ??? More criminal activity showing up ??? Yes. How many thousands will the mayor be wanting to bring to the city, with nowhere to house them ??? Still nothing shows up in the paper about what he said last week.

Thousands might sound like too many to some readers. But they dropped that many in Benson, a town of 4,000. Supposedly only the single males are being housed in the newly remodel motel, while the kids 12 years old an under and being bussed to Tucson for "processing". If you know anyone living in Benson, ask them what they know .. it sounds on Facebook that many don't know what is going on and it was quite a shock to find out.

At this point I am writing this early evening right before I post it. I had every intention of taking more photos and adding to this post that I started this morning. It was such a busy day on the phone confirming dates and times for the last on the list. If not sold before I leave the VW 82 E will be shipped to Indiana. Dates are firm for closing on this house and on the house I bought. Direct wire transfers from one title company to another is a beautiful thing ... especially after I find out a town of 117,000 people doesn't have a Chase bank. I was positive I saw 7 different locations to choose from on my internet search the other day.

Of course the hounds and the dog have no idea what is about to transpire around three weeks from now, plus or minus a day or two. I will be so quiet in that neighborhood I will not know what to do with myself. I need to prepare for humidity and find something to keep the mosquitoes away while sitting on the patio looking at the stars at night.

Another day of "action" in the local area here in the "Wild West" ... Facebook seems to be the only place to read about it, be warned about it and see it on video.