Wildlife and Update in Oro Valley, Arizona

When we decided this past winter to change our winter home location to Oro Valley, Arizona which is just north of Tucson, we thought by moving into the city we would lose the ability to be around and experience nature.  Boy, were we wrong!  Of course, with the COVID19 among our midst, we used this summer to work on the place making upgrades and changes.  Things we were going to do this coming winter but since we are here, lets get them done so hopefully next summer we can get out of Dodge.  

Great Horned Owl visits every night

Coyote spotted while walking around

Morning mist blankets out mountains

King Snake - a 'good' snake

Oh my!  That's rain!

The summer was horrible - we hopefully won't spend another summer here.  Record setting temperatures for almost every day in August - every day was 105 plus, nothing lower.  Night temperatures never dropping below 80.  Not fun.  We are the kind of people who like shades open to let the light in as well as having windows open.  Not during the heat.  Found by 8am we were closing the shades (windows could never be opened since it was way too hot) to make the interior darker.  Ugh.

Lizards are common

Tarantula - big boy

Pic from internet - Mexican Grey Wolf 

Another wildfire - a week ago - thankfully
put out within 3 days

Dave would go for early morning walks (out by 6am) while I did the stationary bike.  I had broken my foot in May while out on one of our morning walks, so I decided that biking was better.  When he got back, we would and have coffee on the patio out back and he would show me pictures of animals or birds he saw along his walk.

Pusche Ridge - view looking from our patio

Javelinas - view from our front side yard

Almost every evening at dusk and during the night, then at daybreak, we would hear the coyotes howling away, sometimes the pack racing by us.  The Great Horned Owls (we have seen 3 at one time) would come sit on our neighbor's chimney right across the street from us, hawks zooming in and out, so many different birds visiting the back yard, javelinas strolling by or coming onto our front porch, Mexican grey wolf strolling by, Dave has seen a number of bobcats and I have seen one in our back yard fence, snakes, tarantulas, lizards, so much wildlife here.  We never imagined this.

Quails come by to see what's to eat

Got a visitor the other night - skunk tracks

Quail - cute, very social, noisy!

So, we plod along, have done so much already inside -  things we thought we would be doing this winter, but got it done now.  Like new hot water tank, total inside window treatment, bug screens and sunscreens installed outside, all the windows were serviced - some we could not open, the pergola in the back has new drop down shades, inside completely painted included cupboards and closets, plumbing upgraded, windows replaced (inspection showed where 3 windows had failed), new ceiling lights throughout, Dave installed ceiling lights in the kitchen where there was none at all and also installed a light over the kitchen sink, new fridge and microwave, a/c checked out and tweeked, man-door in garage replaced, reinvented the kitchen closet so now it is a true pantry where before it was a catchall junk closet, garage door tweeked. I am missing many projects but you get the jist of what we have been doing - Home Depot, Lowe's and our neighborhood ACE Hardware have consumed a lot of our money!

Looking up to Mount Lemmon's Observatory - from front porch

Moon rise near Mount Lemmon

The big project Dave is working on right now - making an indoor garden with LED grow lights out of a small den. This is major - the room was originally supposed to be for washer/dryer but instead previous owner used it for a den - not big enough for a single bed, it's that small. Dave has upgraded most of the lights inside throughout the house - wiring was crazy in some rooms. We have not tackled anything outside - figured that will be our winter project - and it's been too hot to be outside.  Plans to make the backyard into a serene desert garden space.  

We were glad we were here during the heavy rains - we saw were we need to install some type of drainage away from the house in the back and direct it away.  Puddled water near the house is not a good thing.  I am sure we will be doing so many more projects - you always want to make your space your own!

Update on BigHorn Fire in Tucson

Can't believe it has been a month since the fire started near us from a lightning strike on the Catalina Mountains.  As of this morning the fire is at 58% contained, over 118,000 acres burned, still burning on the east and south of Mount Lemmon.  At one point there were over 1100 personnel assigned to the fire, not all firefighters, but in support, logistics, pilots, supply personnel, etc.  Still a lot of people.

Smoke in the distance is the BigHorn fire

Fire retardant being dropped

Every morning we would log onto the Bighorn website and hear the morning report, explaining what transpired during the night, the plans going forward for the day.  In the evening a community meeting would be held with media, broadcast on Zoom, to give a more detail explanation of the fire.  Very very impressive with the information, the level of intensity, the whole process.

Every day we would watch/hear the large helicopters taking off or landing not far from us - they are the helicopters that carry people and supplies plus dragging a bucket of either fire retardant or water up to the fire hot spots.  Airplanes of various makes and sizes flying overhead lining up to dump from their bellies.

As I sit here and look out the window, I see huge red stripes on the mountain where retardant was dumped.  Will probably stay there as reminder of the fire long after the fire has been put out.  I believe when the monsoons come - which they are predicting any day now - those rains will wash the red gashes away.

We have the Northern Rockies Incident team here, the best of the best as it was described to all.  They are part of the National Incident Command Center which is headquartered in Boise Idaho, but the Northern Rockies group are out of Missoula Montana.  Years ago we toured that facility and was impressed with the center, now they are here.  The BigHorn fire is also the largest fire currently going on in the United States.  A few days ago some 200 personnel were moved to the north east area of Arizona, just south of Canyon De Chelly National Monument where another wild fire was going on.

We continue to stay put, not going camping at all for the summer.  Today it was reported that in Arizona, the COVID19 cases is the most reported of all the states, in one day it grew 40%.  Don't want to temp fate.  It has been hot - 105 plus for the last 4 weeks, we have managed to stay inside in the air conditioning, doing projects, keeping busy.   Dave has come up with a new project - sort of a 'in-dition'.  The concept sounds pretty cool - taking a small room that was designated in the original builder's plans as a utility room where the washer/dryer was planned to be to now being used as the 'cat's room' where the kitty litter and box and their food are - and his plans are to make that room into a herb/gardening room equipped with grow lights, etc.  The rest of the place is in country motif, and that room will have a faux barn door (mainly to keep the cats out of the dirt and pots).  Love projects.

Quail

Mexican Gray Wolf

We can now add another new wild animal to our list of what we see here - great horned owls.  3 of them.  Every morning before sunrise one if not 2 are sitting on our neighbor's chimney.  Sometimes a third one flies up and one or two fly away.  Sometimes one of the owls is sitting right on top of the tree up against us, and one on the chimney and they call back and forth to each other.  Pretty cool.

We have seen a Mexican Gray wolf strolling right past us, in the middle of the road - just stares at us as it goes by. And javelinas have been at the flower pots in the front and the planters have now moved to the gated back yard where they cannot eat them.  Something - we think a coatamundi - which is a small animal with a long tail and it's ringed, was chewing on the bushes in front early yesterday morning.  Boogers.  Quails are very abundant - families with their kids come to the back yard and eat the quail food we have put out.  Cute little things with their top-knots.

Bighorn Wildfire - Tucson

Friday night, about 10:15pm, our first thunderstorm happened, first one since coming to Oro Valley.  And it was a doozer. a wildfire started from lightning hitting the Catalina Mountain near us.  I remember getting up after the huge thunderous sounds, looking out the living room window and saw a weird sight - looked like someone had a huge ball of lights sitting above their home.  Got the binoculars out and saw it was fire.  Holy smokes!  Distance from us to the fire - guessing about 5 miles.  5 close miles.

Okay - what the heck am I looking at - right after
lightning hit

Saturday morning - oh boy

Saturday morning we found out that a second fire, the Tortolina Fire, was going on near us and that was about 5 miles away also.  We could see the smoke as we looked behind us to the west.  Rut roh.  We have experienced being near wildfires while traveling in the summer, some were pretty close and we were on standby to evacuate but never had to.  So far we are not in danger here, but you never know.  

Tortolina Fire

And the tankers and jets have come in to help

And it has gotten very bad.  What was first just a brush fire moving up the mountain has, as this morning, grown to 13,500 acres with over 660 personnel battling the now huge fire.  It has swept up over the mountains going eastward and startled the city of Tucson, then it moved north and circled around and came back west over the mountains again.  This time forcing evacuations of homes not far from us in Oro Valley.  

Seeing the retardant drop from the bellies of the planes - amazing to see.

We are on the other side of the mountains, near the city

Lots of air support since the mountains are too rugged and steep for manpower on the ground.  Fire retardant is dropped from the air but there is little or no ground support since fire fighters cannot access the terrain.  So more buckets of water are dropped and then more retardant, a vicious circle.  What makes it worse is that the humidity has been on 7 to 9% most days, temperatures in the 100's, and by late afternoon the winds shift from the south to the west, again forcing the fire to be stoked up and race up the mountain side.  Terrible to see, lousy air quality, and each day as we read the updates, the containment of the fire spreads out into July.  As of this morning it is July 4th.  Yippee.

10 days after fire started - still going strong

We are not used to seeing planes, jets, helicopters, lots of engines on the ground, in this community.  Late afternoon we sit under the pergola in the back and watch the comings and goings of the activity. Some nights we have gone to the community center where there is an elevated clock tower and we head up to that to get a better picture.  Can definitely see all the fires when it gets dark.

The house roars when these fly over

At night you really can see the fires

We think this lifter will carry equipment to the top of the mountain

In the meantime, we are spending our time working and fixing up the place.  Getting sunscreens and bug screens installed, removing and repairing the man door in the garage, doing a little bit of landscaping although its way too hot - its usually 95 by 9am.  We still are not planning at this time to head out any time.  We went through a couple of weeks of cat appointments at the vet, Buddy was so upset by his visit that he broke out on his belly and we are watching that.  Goofy cat.

We read and hear of a spike in COVID19 cases now, do not want to get the illness so we will stick here.  If by beginning of August things look better, maybe then we will head out.