As The Owl Turns
We’ve enjoyed lots of Arizona and find it to be the perfect place to be this time of year. During our stay in Black Canyon City we hiked on BLM Land in the desert, with John going on solo hikes of up to 10 miles. In the nearby town of Anthem there was a stunning memorial as well as parks and manmade waterfalls. Definitely worth a visit. The campground was pretty nice and out in the middle of nowhere. The owner mentioned to us there are a lot of animals around so obviously you don’t want to leave food or trash outside your trailer. He never elaborated which animals but with an eye roll mentioned other critters. First morning coming out of the restroom after my shower I came head on with three large animals that were not dogs. I was glad they were not dogs because they were quite large and right by the door as though they were waiting for me. One looked at me with rheumy blue eyes and I realized they were goats. Freakin’ big fat goats. I found them to be nice goats though, and I got used to seeing them around. Another thing making the campground unique were the people we met during our stay. Sometimes we don’t talk with anyone, and sometimes we meet some really engaging people. This place was full of interesting people and in the short time there we bonded with several folks from all different walks of life. Among them was a healer, an entertainer, a teacher for the blind, a trucker and a Robotics teacher for Navajo students. Since we’ve started to slow down we decided to stay in Casa Grande for awhile and focus on some exploits we both have been wanting to do. John’s been wanting to learn new skydiving skills and specifically wants to learn to Free Fly so he had more people to jump with throughout our travels when we go to different drop zones. Belly Flying is the type John has always done but with Free Flying added to his skill set, he’ll have a lot more people to jump with. It’s the most popular among the younger set and learning this will give him a new challenge and open up new ways for him to enjoy the sport. Timing is everything and now we’re close to where the biggest drop zone in the world is located, and they also have a Wind Tunnel for instruction purposes. John is in the midst of his training and progressing well. I on the other hand, when not enjoying watching John skydive, am making jewelry and writing a book. I’m pretty sure we are the most active “retired” people here. The campground we’re staying has adequate facilities and a relaxed vibe. Most of the retired people here come every year and stay throughout the fall and winter, heading back to their homes up north when the weather starts to get too hot. They all know each other and evidently have been coming here for years. They’re a nice bunch and we enjoy talking with them but definitely have different ideas of how to enjoy retirement. I feel they may view us as overly ambitious and we laugh along with them when they tease us about it. The first few days we were here around 7:00am several birds decided to scamper around on our roof waking us up. If I opened the overhead window they would move away a bit, but would come back and continue their dancing directly overhead. We decided to get a life sized plastic owl and put it on top of our trailer to see if that would deter the birds. John secured the owl to our TV antenna that can be rotated from inside so when the birds landed we could just rotate the owl back and forth making it look more lifelike. This actually worked and we took turns turning the owl and the birds haven’t been back since. The second morning after we installed the owl we were enjoying our coffee, facing the window where we saw 2 old guys standing back from our trailer looking up at the owl on our roof. We could tell they were talking about it so we decided to give it a turn to see what they would do. The look on their faces was priceless as they did a double take, then started to laugh. Interestingly the previous evening we were out for a walk when we saw a bird moving along on the ground. It’s unusual to see birds after dark, and moving along the ground so we thought maybe it was hurt. Moving closer for a better look we saw it was a tiny owl, only about 7 inches tall. I’d never seen one that small and we got a good look at him before he finally flew away. We looked it up and found out it was a burrowing owl and that they are relatively common in Arizona. Stay tuned for more episodes of “As The Owl Turns”. For all the photos see John and Charlotte’s flickr sites. Just click on either of our names.
