Life at the Zoo

 

For the past couple days our meadow has been filled with a herd of elk. Yesterday the pronghorn joined the party. Along with a big cow. Last night I counted at least 75 elk. What a joy it was to watch the young ones run and play. We may be camping in mud from the daily thunderstorms but this is what makes it all worthwhile.

Last Friday afternoon Debbie heard a click and her solar panels stopped charging the batteries. The display was still reading the battery charge, so she called AM Solar to see if they thought it was the controller. He told her Lazy Daze puts a fuse in the panel, which he thought was unnecessary, and that the fuse probably blew. Unfortunately that meant taking up the solar panel to access it by removing gobs of caulk and screws, not a real easy task.

It rained off and on much of the weekend and they didn’t want to attempt it, but this morning we awoke to brighter skies, so Jim and Debbie got on her roof, lifted the panel, and found the blown fuse. Jim took out the fuse and rewired it so that won’t be an issue for her again. And now if it should happen to us, we know where the fuse is located. Not that Jim wants to have to take up another solar panel.

This will be our last post from the Coconino National Forest near Flagstaff. Here are a few other pictures of things we’ve found near our site. Jim sawed off the antlers for Debbie’s dogs. They loved their treats!

I don’t have a problem with people target shooting in the woods, but they could at least pick up their targets and shells.

Dumping in the forest is not an uncommon occurrence, either.  I doubt anyone gets caught, though, as we have yet to see a ranger.

This is a place we would definitely come back to, although probably not in July during the height of monsoon season. Our plan is to head farther west, in search of a dryer place to spend the rest of the summer and fall. We’ll see how that works out…