A Pretty Fence is Still a Fence

Grill Work

India Valium Online A Pretty Fence is Still a Fence © 2012 Bo Mackison

get link Fear is the highest fence. ~ Dudley Nichols

Purchasing Tramadol 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.

source link 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.

https://tvnordestevip.com/c6fugwnilde 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.

enter 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.

https://www.amyglaze.com/7br5fhuwgvg Was it that they had no fear? Just determination and a rudimentary plan?

https://www.frolic-through-life.com/2025/01/2lc9yee 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.

http://foodsafetytrainingcertification.com/food-safety-news/oc3zd49 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.

https://www.saiidzeidan.com/lrbzd2uykq6 And now back to the quote that started me thinking about fences on this rainy-snowy morning in southern Arizona.

follow url Fear is the highest fence. ~ Dudley Nichols

https://www.iql-nog.com/2025/01/19/kfkf650s ——————-

Cheap Valium Wholesale 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…

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge

Buenos Aires Grassland

Tramadol 50Mg Buy Online Buenos Aires Grassland © 2012 Bo Mackison

https://hereisnewyorkv911.org/v0fej6k Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southern Arizona is 118,000 acres of grassland, mountain ranges in the background, riparian corridors rippling through the land. The habitat, a semi-arid grassland, is land of the masked bobwhite quail and pronghorn antelope, both of which are being re-introduced in the region. Grasses once filled the Altar Valley, and are now maintained and restored by prescribed burns.

The Pleasures of Simplicity

https://www.mckenziesportsphysicaltherapy.com/tfkvn1qnqo The Pleasures of Simplicity © 2012 Bo Mackison

Buying Tramadol In Mexico In the 1800s, Altar valley was open grassland. Pronghorns had free range, falcons and hawks filled the air with their swooping, gliding, and soaring.  Mexican wolves, black bears and jaguars roamed in the grasses, traveling the corridors between the mountain ranges.

Poppies at Buenos Aires NWR

Buy Diazepam Poppies at Buenos Aires NWR © 2012 Bo Mackison

Valium Purchase Then the Valley began filling with small towns and ranches in the 1860s, and the delicate balance maintaining the ecosystems gradually suffered. As ranchers expanded and grazing bared much the grasslands and exposed the land to the monsoon rains, erosion of the barren soils quickly followed.

go site With the grass gone and natural fires suppressed, mesquite gained a foothold. The grassland no longer supported the masked bobwhite quail or aplomado falcon. Pronghorn, wolves, bear, and jaguar were hunted or trapped.  Lehmann’s lovegrass, a non-Native grass, was introduced in the 1970s to help stop erosion. But this poor substitute for native grasses and now considered an invasive species, did nothing of benefit.

 Spring in Arivaca Cienega

Buy 1000 Diazepam 10Mg Spring in Arivaca Cienega © 2012 Bo Mackison

follow link Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1982 to re-establish the grasslands habitat and protect the Arivaca Cienga ( spring fed marshy area) and the Arivaca Creek and its watershed, and important resource for the several hundreds of kinds of birds that either live in the region, migrate through, or winter over.

Safe Tramadol Online The area is again lush with grasses. The wildflowers are abundant — Mexican poppies turn areas golden with bright color, purple bunches of Verbena add contrast.

Can You Order Valium Online A beautiful place, an important resource to protect and preserve.

—————-

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona. There are days Bo wanders the roads and imagines pronghorn ranging, wild and free.

Tree Portrait in the Cienega

Tree Portrait

Tree Portrait © 2012 Bo Mackison

There are years that ask questions and years that answer. ~ Zona Neale Hurston

 

Answer Year 

Cottonwood, the ancient one rooted in moist earth, branching wide and full.

Bird chatter, hawk swoop,
I startle the blue heron balanced in the wet cottonwood debris, she spreads her wings and takes flight into the lush riparian cover.

Breezes dance in the grasses, grasses dance in the cienega,
The bubbling spring seeps through the earth, greening the choreographed line of cottonwoods.

I ask questions, seek answers, lean my back against the sycamore, off trail.

Baboquivari watches in the distance. The clouds move through.

————-

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona. There are days Bo wanders the roads, and there are days she stops, leans against trees, and watches the world.

A Drive through Box Canyon, Sky Island View

Open Space

Open Space © 2012 Bo Mackison

The Box Canyon Road passes through the norhthern part of Madera Canyon from Arizona Highway 83, north of Sonoita, to White House Canyon Road, near the entrance to the Madera Canyon Recreation Area. This road was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps which was also responsible for building some of the original roads in Madera Canyon, and the original campgrounds, bridges and hiking trails.

The road passes through range land for several miles,. Horses are grazing behind secure fencing and cattle are both grazing on the ranch land and wandering on the roads. (Sorry – no pic. I was driving, well, skirting around cows in the middle of the road!)

Sky Island Layers

Sky Island Layers © 2012 Bo Mackison

The road eventually hugs the mountain side and climbs upward, offering views of the layers of sky island habitats. Here, a riparian corridor including sycamores and cottonwoods a leafy green near the river bed, though the river is dry. In the higher elevations, a mixture of evergreen oaks, Alligator junipers and Pinions are in the oak-pine woodland. The furthest peaks are covered with Douglas fir, Gambel oaks, maples in the middle elevations,  white fir and a few aspens at the highest elevations.

Road, Vintage CCC

Road through the Canyon, Vintage CCC © 2012 Bo Mackison

The dirt road clings rather snugly to the rising topography, but the views are beautiful. If you want to get a good look at the scenery and snap a few photos, one either needs to stop frequently — there are a few wide spots, but otherwise the road is lightly traveled and visibility is good. I could always see if cars or trucks were driving towards me or following me, so I often stopped mid-road, but I was VERY careful! Another option, and the one I recommend, is having both a driver and a passenger/photographer so that the roles are well defined.

If you look far in the distance, in the valley between the Santa Ritas, one are looking at Green Vally and Continental , Arizona, small towns south of Tucson, and beyond the towns, on a very clear day, you can make out eh multiple observatories on Kitt Peak, 70 miles away.

Rocky Seat

Rocky Seat, Long View © 2012 Bo Mackison

I love the rippling habitats of the sky islands. I sat on this rock formation for awhile, very comfy, and took a few notes, snoozed a few minutes — it was so warm and I swear the sun sang me a sweet sunny lullabye — and did a few sketches. I am practicing a few plein air techniques with some basic supplies — pencils, colored pencils and watercolors, but they are definitely in the practice stage at this point.

Green Lichen on Rocks

Green Lichen Colony © 2012 Bo Mackison

These rocks, and many of the rocks throughout the sky islands in southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico, are covered with a lime green living crust called lichen. Lichen is a multiorganism, part fungus, part either green algae or blue-green algae. (The fungus is the house; the algae provides the nutrients. Lichen can grow in the most hostile places, including bare rock in cold places.

The amazing thing about lichen is that it is not scientifically classified as either a plant nor an animal. DNA analysis shows lichen is very different from a fungal make-up, which is in the animal kingdom, but it is also very different from the algae make-up which belongs to the Bacteria kingdom.A sort-of combination of animal-bacteria, but not a plant.

I guess lichen has a kingdom all its own.

See the Road Constructed by the CCC?

See the Road Constructed by the CCC? © 2012 Bo Mackison

On the way out of the canyon, I crossed a bridge, and was able to take this photograph of a dry rocky wash which appears to now be the home of lots of prickly pear (more on the edges, not in the middle sandier area.)

Out of the Mountains

Coming Out of the Mountains © 2012 Bo Mackison

And leaving the mountain pass, I came out into another thorn scrub with quite a few prickly pears, yucca, and barrel cacti spread amidst the mesquite. The cattle guards appeared on the road again and I noticed signs for open range. I didn’t see any roaming cattle on the west side of the pass, but they had been on the road earlier in the day.

 

How Many Habitats can you See?

How Many Habitats Can You See? © 2012 Bo Mackison

And finally, I reach the road that leads away from the Santa Ritas. I pulled off on the side of the grasslands, and took one last photograph of the Santa Rita Mountain Range and its highest mountain, Mount Wrightson (9453 feet).

I think it takes me about twice as long to take the shortcut through the mountain pass compared to taking Arizona Highway 83 north to Interstate 10 West, drive through Tucson, and then take Interstate 19 south to Madera Canyon. But the shorter drive, though interesting and with great views at times, just can;t compare to a mountain pass drive through the Santa Rita Wilderness. (And a some ranch lands at the beginning and end — just to add a bit more variety, I suppose…)

—————–

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona. There are days the wanderlust bug bites Bo and then she wanders the roads to see what she can see.

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 https://www.mssbizsolutions.com/z8caqhk 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.

————-

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.