A Pretty Fence is Still a Fence

Grill Work

A Pretty Fence is Still a Fence © 2012 Bo Mackison

Fear is the highest fence. ~ Dudley Nichols

There was a time I thought that fences kept people safe, kept gardens safe from critters, kept farm animals safe from cars speeding on the highways that cut through on their way to someplace important.

Then I listened to a woman who had moved from Manhattan to a rural area in southeast Arizona. She was discussing the cussedness of birds who remained determined to feed from her green garden despite the wire fences she had installed around the garden perimeter, despite the netting she had arched from the top of the fence, like a roof, over her precious vegetables. I turned toward the art in the gallery so she didn’t see me smiling broadly as she told of the thieving Gambel’s Quails and Roadrunners who still managed to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and frequent snacks from her garden.

I had a hard time imagining the birds’ antics as she described them. The quails could fly upwards like a helicopter, then squeeze between the wire fence and the netting, and drop gently into the midst of her luscious greens. She described how the roadrunners were the sneakiest trespassers of all the birds, but their antics to get into this Fort Knox equivalent of a vegetable garden was far beyond my understanding. However, the ex-Manhattan-stock-broker-turned-country-vegetable-gardener, apparently knew the secrets of those ransacking roadrunners who watched her from mid-garden as they nibbled their lunch, watched until she was just close enough with her broom. Then they disappeared.

I do wish I had been better able to follow the story, because the parts I really wanted to understand — all the escapes — were told with few details. I don’t know how these industrious and obviously intelligent birds had a passport to the woman’s private garden. But they did.

Was it that they had no fear? Just determination and a rudimentary plan?

There are few fences on the open range, even when roads pass through. There are cautionary signs — “Range Animals. Stay Aware.” There are no signs for the cattle, obviously, and yet I seldom see one on the back roads I travel. They are in the thorn scrub and grasslands, eating whatever they can find. Apparently they are usually smart enough to understand there is little food to be found on dirt roads. I have seen cattle amble across a road, but not too many walk on the roads as their means of transportation. Better to walk amidst the grasses and eat while cruising along. Seems these cattle don’t need fences to keep them safe from cars. Perhaps drivers are sensible enough to realize that a several hundred pound animal can inflict costly damage on vehicles.

So, perhaps I don’t need those fences I erect around myself to keep me safe, either. It feels better to have “free range” and not stay cooped up in what I thought was a safe place. After all, even surrounded by the best of fences, those that want to get in — quails and roadrunners, for example — have their ways.

And now back to the quote that started me thinking about fences on this rainy-snowy morning in southern Arizona.

Fear is the highest fence. ~ Dudley Nichols

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona. Lately she has spent some time thinking about fencing creatures in and fencing creatures out. All kinds of creatures — four legged, two legged, with wings…

A Tombstone Tour

Main Street Tombstone

Main Street Tombstone © 2102 Bo Mackison

Tombstone, Arizona was a rough silver-mining town made famous by the O.K. Corral gunfight involving the famed cowboy family, The Earps.  Today, you can still hear gunfire in the streets, but it is only from re-enactments staged at a variety of locations. Tombstone is proud of its Old West history, and has worked hard to maintain the National Historic Landmark District designation it received in 1961.

Boardwalk, Main Street

Boardwalk, Main Street © 2012 Bo Mackison

At one time, Tombstone had a bowling alley, four churches, an ice house, a school, two banks, three newspapers, and an ice cream parlor. Of course, this was the Wild West and Tombstone also claimed 110 saloons and 14 gambling halls. Must have been a wild place in the strongest sense of the word.

Big Nose Kate's Saloon

Big Nose Kate's Saloon © 2012 Bo Mackison

You’ve got to love any saloon named for a big nosed proprietor. In this case, Big Nose Kate takes the honors. Today the saloons serve more food than drink, but it was busy with tourists on the Sunday afternoon I walked through town.

Golden Eagle Brewery 1879

Golden Eagle Brewery 1879 © 2012 Bo Mackison

Originally known as the Golden Eagle Brewing Company, this was one of Tombstone’s first saloons, occupying a small lot. The brewery was in another structure at the rear of this restored building. There was a devastating fire at the brewery in 1883  and the building was quickly rebuilt and re-named  the Crystal Palace Saloon.

Tombstone Consolidated Mines Company

Tombstone Consolidated Mines Company © 2012 Bo Mackison

Tombstone was one of the last wide open frontier boom towns in the United States, the epitome of the American wild west legend. Silver was discovered in 1877, and over the next 13 years, 85 million dollars of silver was mined in the area. It was the largest silver production operation in Arizona.

Historic Cochise County Courthouse

Historic Cochise County Courthouse © 2012 Bo Mackison

History is preserved, time stands still in the true old West at Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park. The courthouse was built in 1882 at a cost of nearly $50,000. It was a modern and stylish building as well as the symbol of law and order in these turbulent times. It housed the offices of the sheriff, recorder, treasurer, and the board of supervisors. The jail was at the rear, under the courtroom.

Courthouse

Cochise Courthouse Historic Park © 2012 Bo Mackison

Tombstone was the county seat from 1882 until 1929, when Bisbee had enough votes to move the county seat further southeast, and the county seat was moved there. The building was vacant until 1955 when the Tombstone Restoration Commission purchased the land and courthouse. The Courthouse was restored and developed development as a historical museum. No longer under the State Park auspices, it is operated jointly by the City of Tombstone and the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona. She visited Tombstone a few days ago, town of Western lore, cowboys, and gunfights, and this is what she photographed.

 

Reflections on Colors and Shapes

Reflections in Two Windows

Reflections in Two Window - Spring © 2012

I found I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way — things I had no words for. ~ Georgia O’Keeffe

Two windows — one with a gauzy white curtain, and the other, small, squared off, sealed off with rough laid blocks. Yet the casement is painted in happy colors, bright pink, deep blue. Hand-painted curlicues, curly Cs with a freshness,  a surety, a promise of decorations and celebrations.  Even life is represented in the greens of the aloe and the tree branches, dense with life sustaining yellow buds.

An open window, a closed window, bright colors, artistic flair, living things, the burst of spring. Life is full.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona. She visited Tombstone a few days ago, town of Western lore, cowboys, and gunfights, and this is what she photographed. Details.