To get there it’s a simple thing of driving east on Sahuarita Blvd until you reach Hwy 83 and then turning south. The highway winds its way south through the hills and gives nice views off to the west.
As we proceeded south the view of the Santa Rita Mountains got better and better. There was even a little snow on the north-facing upper slopes.
There are very few roads in Las Cienegas but you can catch the main one right off of Hwy 83. At the first information sign we stopped and I took this panorama shot looking eastward across the conservation area. This a classic grassland with mesquite thickets here and there.
We camped here in 2015 and toured the historic site of the Empire Ranch. This time we just swung through the ranch to see the fall color on the cottonwoods along the river.
And to take a photo of part of the ranch buildings.
The Empire Ranch is no longer a working ranch but several other ranches still operate in the conservation area. We headed south back past where we camped 4 years ago and then continued on a road that had been closed back in 2015 to see the rest of the area. There were big old cottonwoods here and there and a lot of standing water from the rains that we’d had in late November.
We drove south on Hwy 82 through the town of Sonoita and on to the little town of Patagonia before turning back up Hwy 82 to Hwy 83. Not far from Sonoita we turned west on Hwy 62 which becomes a 1 ½ lane dirt track over the mountains.
Most of the traffic, what little there was, consisted of side-by-side all-terrain vehicles which zip around on this roads pretty fast. But it was a beautiful day and the views were great so we took the good with the bad. The cottonwoods down along the creek were just starting to color up.
As we crested the top of the mountain pass we got a view out across Green Valley to the mountains in the west.
Here’s a panorama shot. The long blue section just before the mountains in the distance is a retaining pond in one of the local copper mines.
That afternoon I began the process of making sample tiles for the Clay Club’s glazes plus a few ‘cookies’ to use under glazed pottery that needs a bit of extra help to stay off of the kiln shelf.
By the time that I was done I’d used up 6 pounds of clay.
One of the fun things I’ve discovered is that I can put my clay creations in the unused refrigerator in our garage and that is the equivalent of covering them with plastic to slow down the drying process. So I just put things on pieces of plywood and the slip them into the frig for a couple of days before pulling them out to finish drying. If I want to keep something from drying at all, I can put a pan of water in the freezer and place the plastic-covered item in with it and it won’t dry at all. The internet is such a wonderful source of information.
Friday December 7th, Rancho Resort had their annual Holiday Parade. This year there were 16 vehicles (side-by-sides, golf carts, motorcycles and one convertible) decorated for the holidays with lights and lots of Santa hats.
It was pretty dark by the time they showed up so these aren’t great photos but they give you a flavor of the silly little event.
They drive by at a pretty fast clip, waving and honking as they go.
Everyone with local grandchildren makes sure that their kids can see this. Then they all go back to the clubhouse for hot chocolate, s’mores and cookies.
Monday December 10th, we had a full moon rising over the neighborhood.
While I was out I took some photos of the Christmas lights I’d put up on Friday afternoon just in time for the Holiday Parade. This is the view looking at the front of the house.
This is from just across the street so you can see up the side. Next year I hope to have luminaria (that I’m making in the studio) on the tops of the wall.
And this is from up on the corner looking back down the street.
Thursday December 14th, we took a drive south on I-19 to the little town of Tubac. This is an art colony/tourist town with lots of galleries and fun things. This time in addition to all that fun shopping there was a display of painted javelinas all over town (with a few up in Tucson too). They came in full sized and little ‘piglets’ and in every color and style imaginable.
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A javelina with hummingbirds and turquoise hair.
Across the street there were more colorful beasts including a ‘Navajo-style’ fellow complete with hat.
Patchwork and blonde?
Some had different designs on each side like this fellow on the right who was in the courtyard of a winery.
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This rather bellicose fellow came complete with bullet casings at his feet.
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In among all the javelina there were of course lots of stores and an entire empty lot of metal art for sale. Here’s Walter and the Dragons.
And the rest of the lot.
You name it, you can get it here. Gorillas, dragons, armadillos, mariachi bands, goats, cacti and of course javelinas.
This Starry Night javelina was my favorite.
The polka dots on these are stickers with people’s names on them. They were in the parking lot of the state park.
Purple hair is just the thing, don’t you think?
This is an official Arizona javelina dressed in the state flag.
This is my second place favorite. A Tibetan javelina.
Here’s another one that was distinctly different on each side. And no, I don’t know what the pennies are about.
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This turquoise javelina was in front of what else? A turquoise store.
Notice the lovely peacock feathers on this one? Well the other side has interesting Indian motifs and a cowboy boot on one foot.
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We’d completed a circuit of town (not all the streets but enough for us) and so we found the City Park where we could have our picnic lunch. And while we were at it we got to enjoy the view too.
We drove back through Old Town and there were MORE javelinas there too.
Green hair and butterflies this time on El Presidito.
And an Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta javelina complete with lots of balloons.
All in all it was a great day. I got lots of pottery ideas wandering through the galleries and had a whole lot of fun taking photos of the crazy javelinas. We didn’t find them all but that’s okay too. They’ll be in town until the end of March and then they’ll all be auctioned off for charity.
Here’s a fun pottery totem from in front of a studio. It’s called 4 Moons.
That evening we had a lovely sunset to end the day. Here’s the view off to the west.
And here are the swirls off to the north.
And pink fluff off to the east.
The colors darkened from peach to pink.
And the sun sunk into the west.
And the sun sunk into the west.
Saturday December 14th, we set about replacing the ceiling fan in our master bathroom which had seized up and stopped working. The directions were straightforward and the YouTube videos made it look pretty easy. But there was the matter of getting the old fan out first. And that, ahem, turned out to be quite the challenge. We ended up having to use a crowbar to get the fan itself out. Note how the edges of the surround are all bent up.
The housing that the fan sat in of course wasn’t compatible with the new fan—they never are, that’s a cosmic law. And it turned out to have been installed from up in the attic during construction.
After fighting with it for an hour we gave up and went to our local hardware store and bought a reciprocating saw to cut through the screws that were hidden behind the housing.
That did it but we both ended up with cricks in our necks. Did I mention that we have 10 foot ceilings so this was all done balancing on a ladder over the toilet? The screws had been installed on those little ears that stick out on the left and you couldn’t see them. Not fun. And of course while all that sawing and prying was going on loose cellulose insulation was falling down on our heads—ick.
We got the new fan installed in about an hour which was not bad at all. And then I got to clean every surface in the bathroom because we’d gotten insulation everywhere. The good news is that the fan looks nice, works well and is super quiet. Ahhhh.
On Tuesday December 17th, the service guy FINALLY arrived and serviced the Rancho Resort kiln. He did a little work on it, replaced the thermocouple and declared it ready for use. So on Wednesday December 18th, I loaded up all our kiln shelves and three sets of pyrometric cones (one set at the bottom, one in the middle next to the thermocouple and one up at the top) and programed it to start up the next morning. We had a little hitch the next morning which I fixed and then I started up the test fire once again. Later that evening, I was overjoyed to watch it arrive at the desired temperature of 1888 degrees F and then switch off and say CPLt for complete.
The CPLt alternates with the amount of time the firing took. In our case that was 7 hours and 19 minutes.
The next morning it had cooled off enough for me to open it up to check the cones.
Each trio consists of a Cone 06 which melted nicely to look slightly like an elephant’s head. This is the temperature below our target of Cone 05. The Cone 05s arched over nicely as they should—though the ones in the top and bottom didn’t melt quite as much (kilns are often cooler in the top and bottom compared to the middle). And the Cone 04s which represent the temperature above our goal didn’t melt at all. Yippee. The kiln works!
Here are the near perfect trio from next to the thermocouple.
I had hoped to do this test firing back the first week in November, so after waiting with baited breath for 6 weeks (and 4 months of negotiations and planning) this was a HUGE milestone to finally reach. And I admit that I ended up exhausted for the entire weekend afterwards. No doubt it was a combination of holiday preparations and all the work I’d put into getting the Clay Club up and running but boy was I tired.
Sunday December 22nd, we set out after dark to see the Christmas lights at Rancho Resort.
You can barely see it, but this house has one of those revolving laser projectors pointed at the house along with all the lights.
Snowmen and snowflakes along with lots of other lights here.
This house has a long side yard just filled with big lit structures and LOTS of lights.
These two houses were competing for who could light up the neighborhood. The one of the right had at least two of those laser lights pointed out their house and garage.
This house has a long fence line next to a wash which they’ve decorated along with the yard and the house.
These folks live across the wash from us. They have lights on all 4 sides of their house and a ton of lights in the back yard facing out into the main wash. The tower of lights on the left is a saguaro. You want to hang those? Not me.
This is my favorite mostly because I love light-wrapped trees.
The main Rancho Resort Clubhouse had luminarias both along the front walks and walls and up on the roofline too.
Monday December 23rd, The Rancho Resort Clay Club loaded the kiln with pottery for the first time. We’d been making things steadily for nearly a month so there were plenty of things to be fired and I used all of our shelves in the process.
Then on Thursday December 26th, we opened it up and unloaded it. There is really nothing like opening a kiln after it’s been fired. It’s like Christmas and in this case since it was the day after Christmas it was doubly special.
I tried to remember to stop and take a photo at each stage of the unloading. But of course I forgot and took two things out here before I remembered to stop and take a photo.
That big bowl on the left is a very large cat food dish with a fish in the bottom as a surprise.
Lots of folks had used underglaze on things so not everything was just white.
And here it is all unloaded and placed on the shelves in the Crafts Room.
The next Monday afternoon people worked the whole session glazing these items so that we’ll have a pretty full load the first Monday in January when we fire again this time almost all glazed.
On Christmas day we had a new bird show up and sit on the top of our bird feeder hanger. He didn’t stay still long enough for us to ID him but the next day he was back sitting on the wall and I caught him. He’s a Say’s Phoebe, a kind of fly catcher.
We had a nice quiet Christmas and then had a great visit from our friend, Julie who drove down from Seattle area for a couple of days at New Years.
I hope that the New Year brings you all an abundance of peace and joy.