Dreams, Moments, Travels
So there I was crawling along under the bell pepper canopy over at Tonopah Rob’s vegetable farm looking for crickets to photograph when I stumbled upon this Colorado river toad hogging up the path. He tried staring me down, he tried intimidating me with his stalwart presence and purposeful stance, but I said, “ribbit” and he simply stepped aside and left me to my hunt for crickets. What a nice toad he was.
On our way to Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation to attend the Sheep is Life celebration, we drove north on Arizona 17 through Flagstaff and up Highway 89.
It was on this latter road, and just after entering the Navajo Nation, we stopped for this photograph. I like the picture as a reminder of a tree post and barbed wire fence that looks oh-so normal here in the desert Southwest but would be foreign to most people in the Eastern United States and surely to the majority of people residing in Europe.
We’ve arrived in Tuba City at the Sheep is Life festival, and of course, we are seeing sheep.
These churros are the dominant breed out here on the Navajo Reservation, where not only is their fleece used for blankets, rugs, and dresses, but their meat also figures prominently in the Navajo diet.
This here is raw churro fleece with some beautiful coloring; it’s about to be ours.
There was little chance Caroline would leave without a bit of new fiber to serve her addiction. I must admit, the churro fleece she is holding was my suggestion, almost an insistence that she takes it. At some point in the future, Caroline will wash the lanoline out of the fleece. That is, of course, if she can ever stop smelling the thing, she loves the smell of lanoline. From there, it will be time to start spinning the fibers into yarn, which will hopefully find its way into a Navajo rug she or I will weave.
After visiting the Sheep is Life celebration, it was time for a bite to eat. A helper at the information booth directed us towards the local flea market upon hearing that I would have to find myself a roast mutton sandwich before we left the reservation. Tuba City is a small town, making finding the market a quick process.
Before doing any shopping we beelined to the busiest, smokiest tent and got to ordering. Checking out the grill, I recognized a wrapped something-or-other that I just knew had to be ach’ii. We were told of ach’ii years ago by our friend Dion Terry, who wanted us to visit his grandmother’s place on the Navajo Reservation to stay in a hogan and try this Navajo delicacy. Ach’ii is a strip of mutton fat wrapped with a string of intestines (click here to see how it is made). This was as good a time as any to try it, a really good time as a matter of fact because I spied a small piece and the cook let Caroline and I have it. I suppose one would have to already love mutton to like this, which I do and so I thought it was pretty darn good. That’s peppers and mutton on the grill being prepared for my roast mutton sandwich served on a hot piece of fry bread. After our yummy lunch, we shopped at the flea market tables, buying a bag of local apricots, a small loaf of homemade banana bread, and some dried multi-colored corn.
After the festival and lunch, we visited the Tuba City Trading Post, established in 1870. In the general store at the back, we bought more wool that we will both use in our Navajo weaving projects.
We’ve been to many places across America but there’s something unique about these wide-open vistas, especially when some little fluffy clouds are present when out on northern Arizona Indian reservations.
Had we known that the banana yucca fruit was edible, we would have gobbled up one.
While sightseeing out here, we caught this sight worth stopping to stare at. There’s something wonderful about watching animals wander the land outside of a corral or cage that inspires us to witness their freedom. An added bonus at the end of spring and the beginning of summer was that the herd was running with a couple of foals. The location was on Road 264, east of Tuba City, on our way to Kykotsmovi Village on Third Mesa.
First of all, my sincere apologies to the Hopi people for taking this image atop one of their mesas, but I’m so profoundly in love with their heritage, architecture, and the environment they’ve lived in for more than 2,000 years that I simply needed a couple of memories to travel with me into the future. I understand that I wasn’t being considerate of their request not to take photos on the mesas, but it is not my intent to exploit even a grain of sand regarding their people or lands.
You are looking southwest; on the hilltop on the right is Third Mesa. I humbly dream of someday having the opportunity to photograph (with permission) the Hopi Mesas, as they offer an incredible amount of history and beauty for those who can see it.
This concludes the visuals of this awesome experience up north.
That is a baby shovelhead snake, one of the deadliest snakes known to mankind – not. The tiny guy, or gal, was caught in a spider web. I, too, want to see the spider that was going to try to dine on this poor defenseless itsy-bitsy snake. After dusting the snake off and probably traumatizing it with all the handling and photographs, Caroline set it free in the tomato patch. Hey, it was better than being quickly wrapped in silk by Ms. Spider for tomorrow night’s dinner.
It’s Saturday and for a change, it isn’t me that is going into the pen to lasso Mary for milking. Caroline jumps right in and begins the great chase. Round and round they go, Mary leading Caroline around the pen giving her a good workout. Finally, just before Caroline was about to collapse, Mary relented and let Caroline lasso her to lead her to the milking bench. While Mary was being milked I headed over to the chicken coop and changed their water. We filled a quart bottle with Mary’s milk and were on our way. Celia and Jimmie return this evening, my milking chores are finished.
It’s Friday the 13th, not one bit of bad luck happened today. This week our car died a sudden death, I helped birth a kid, I chased an errant goat through the desert, I closely observed flies, even photographed toad poops but Friday just came and went. While I was busy helping out on the farm I had time to sit for a few minutes with the chickens. Meet Waddles, he’s the newest rooster on Tonopah Rob’s farm.
Yesterday I watched a kid being born, as in a baby goat. There I was, milking Godiva when a strange sound caught my ear. I looked over and saw a goat in the process of giving birth. I went to get a towel and came back to sit near mom and her new baby to see if any assistance was in order when another goat meandered over and let out a goat sound I had never heard before, kind of a “Uuuaaaaaaah” sound, but really low and deep. A look at her backside and it was obvious that the first birth inspired her that it was as good to join the birthing party. The first baby was born in seconds, but this second mom was taking her time, and then taking more time. Better call Pam and get her over to help as I have no clue why this isn’t going like mom number one. We wait patiently but mom number two is obviously having problems. We entered the pen, held her steady, and during the next contraction found that her baby was in the “Position-Knee Front Knee Bent” and was requiring some help. A few minutes passed and the decision to grab the leg that was beginning to show was made and so the pulling began. Yeah, I know now that you are supposed to reach in and adjust the leg but in that intense moment, friendly old Google wasn’t in the pen with us. Fortunately, it all went fine and another baby goat joined the herd. Today’s photo of the day is not of that baby, those pictures might gross some of you out.