A Frantic Last Week

Our last week at Buenos Aires was a bit frantic and quite full.

It started off with a private hike in Brown Canyon on Tuesday (not a "normal" work day for us). It was a birding hike led by Rob with Ellen and I along as Kiwi "translators". The couple who had booked the hike were New Zealanders (Tim and Anna from Remuera, a rather upscale suburb of Aukland).  They were in Tucson as Anna was attending a conference and they had a couple of free days beforehand. It was a nice warm day, even up in the Canyon and we had good walk. The birds were active and Rob is a very good birder.

Wednesday it was back to work at the flight pens. The new roof net had arrived and it was time to put it up. This is a 100-foot by 100 foot single piece of netting. The maintenance guys had completely laid it out in their work yard the day before and had rolled it up from two sides into long rolls that met in the middle. The idea was to run the rolled-up net along the top of the center of the flight pens where there is a continuous steel pipe. Once it was fastened at both ends, one side would be unrolled along cross beams and fastened at the ends, then the other side. This was not unlike the way we used to put the winter cover on our sailboat, just much bigger.

All hands were summoned to the flight pens as this rather unwieldy business took a lot of handling by people on ladders moving from pen to pen to slide things along. It was controlled chaos but the net—all 100 square feet of it—was in place by lunchtime. After lunch came the tedious job of stretching it tight. The idea was to pull it tight on each side while keeping it straight. This was done by pulling the net tight, rolling up the excess and then wire-tying the excess to the side of the pen, then moving about a foot along the edge and doing it again. This was done at the top of a ladder with one person outside the pen, pulling the net tight, and another person inside the pen, feeding a U-shaped length of wire through the side fencing so the one outside could twist it around the rolled netting.

With about four teams of people, we worked our way around the pens and got it all tight and, amazingly, pretty straight. I was on the outside, Ellen on the inside, creeping our way along. It took all day and it was our last bit of work for the flight pen upgrade project. We were a bit tired that night.

Thursday was our usual day for feeding quail at the flight pens and then taking hydrology measurements in Arivaca, but we were a bit delayed. A "mobile" mechanic was coming out to look at Speedy. I'd thought that the squeak problem was related to a suspension strut bushing, so I ordered the part and called a local mechanic that Dave (fellow volunteer in maintenance) knew and had used. The mechanic makes house calls. We had set up a meeting for Wednesday morning, so he could install the part.

He arrived and took a look at the strut and existing bushing and said it seemed just fine, but he also looked at the suspension and steering. I gave him the whole sad story about our experiences at Larry Miller Dodge. He asked if they had checked the bearings and ball joints ... uh, no. Time to jack up the front wheel and take a look. The bearings seemed a little loose but okay. The ball joints were another story. By putting a pry bar under the tire and lifting, it was obvious that there was about a quarter-inch of play in the lower ball joint; there should be no play. Needless to say, he thought little of Larry Miller's diagnostic skills. The first thing they should have looked at was the ball joints.

Just to make sure there weren't any other problems, I asked him to check the other side. Sure enough, the other ball joint was equally bad. He said this wasn't uncommon, particularly around here with the rough roads, and we run a fully loaded van all the time, basically one ton bouncing up and down on each ball joint. He couldn't do anything then, but he would order the part and I'd bring the van to his place on Saturday to get them installed. Oh, Speedy!

It was off to the easier part of the day, checking on the quail at the flight pens (another last time visit). I gave them a little extra seed, but I doubt they will remember us (sigh). Then it was off to Arivaca Cienega for our last round of well and gage measurements. We also did one last search for the resident Long-eared Owls so Ellen could try to get a decent photo. We found one of them, but he was deep in dense brush (where they normally roost). So, of course, we have a photo of an owl nearly obscured by tangled dense brush!

We didn't tarry long, except to have lunch, as we had agreed to sit in at the Visitor Center for Chuck and Betty for the last part of the afternoon. As Ellen cut-up one last shipment of cardboard floors for the quails while manning the desk, I went to turn in all the hydrology gear and records to the staff biologist, Ann. Updating Ann about the hydrology project took some time, then we still had to cycle back to Speedy. Finally back for the day, Ellen went off to bake some oat bars for Paula as a going away gift on Friday.

Friday was our last day with the quail at the breeding facility. We brought along the oat bars and stopped to get coffee for Paula and me (Ellen demurred) at Gadsen Coffee on the way to the quail facility. Ellen had also brought some apples and lettuce for the birds as well as a new supply of cardboard floors. The quail that had been moved to the floor pen last week had been joined by another group and all were doing quite well, pecking about and scratching in the pine shavings. Paula had improved the pen by substituting netting for the wire mesh on the top, but the quail seemed pretty content and weren't trying to fly. We did all the general care for the chick room and then Paula had saved a special final task for us ... giving the chicks kale. Yes, kale. Paula brings in large bunches of kale or other greens about once a week and gives a big stalk to each shelf of birds. They attack the greens with gusto. While we watched, the large stalks were reduced to mere sticks.

Next we moved to the first room of the adult building. The quarantine had finally been lifted from the birds that had gotten a virus and we didn't have to wear the coveralls and booties any longer. Again, we did all the general care and gave each shelf fresh cardboard floors, new dust bath sand and kale. Finally on to the last room, the adults. We did the general care as well as new dust-bath sand and changed cardboard. As an aside, Ellen had been rather smug about her perfect record of no escaped birds (while I on the other hand ...). This being her last day, of course, perfection would not last. As she was grappling with a too-large sand box on a high shelf out shot a female. With Paula's words of advice, Ellen netted the bird like a pro and put her back. As I finished putting sand into the dust baths, Ellen got to give them all apples. This time it was the adult birds who all got to run around with bits of apple. What a day, kale, apples and fresh sand! It was good to be finished with our quail work, but a bit bittersweet. We won't get a chance to see them moved outdoors into the flight pens and we will miss working with them and with Paula.

When we got back in the afternoon, we had our exit meeting with Dan. He was pleased with what we'd done this winter and we gave him a few suggestions for future volunteers. But, he is leaving next month as well, off to a new position with the National Park Service in South Dakota.

Friday was supposed to be our last workday, but it wasn't ... at least not for Ellen. We had agreed to accompany Craig on one of the Saturday public hikes in Brown Canyon. But I'd set up an appointment to have Speedy (remember Speedy) fixed again. Fortunately, only one of us was needed for the hike.

We both set off at about the same time, Craig and Ellen to Brown Canyon and I to the back roads of Arivaca. Brian, the mechanic, has a place about three miles outside of Arivaca, mostly down an unpaved road with hills that reminded me of Waiheke. He and his wife moved here from California during the last recession with several vehicles, an RV and a trailer full of tools. They bought a five-acre parcel in the back blocks of Arivaca, Brian built up a local repair business and his wife, Sandra, built a stone house. He says she did the building, he just did the wiring, plumbing and roofing. They have an 18 year-old son, who I expect helped.

Brian is a busy "Shade Tree Mechanic", without any shade trees. While he does most of his work out on the ranches of his customers, he has a yard full of vehicles in for repair. There were four others being worked on in addition to Speedy. He was actually fitting Speedy in because we were leaving soon.

He and helpers, a young man from next door and his son, got to work. His son went off to Green Valley, 30 miles away, to get the right parts, since AutoZone sent the wrong ones, and Brian started disassembling the the ball joints. He explained everything he was doing to me as he did it and gladly answered any questions. By the time the first side was ready, his son was back with the correct ball joints and in they went. He was done in about three hours and gave me the old joints to show Ellen. They were in even worse shape than I thought. I gave him a check for a bit over $300 and was back at the Sonoran Outpost in time for a late lunch. The steering was much better and nothing squeaked on the way back.

Ellen got back about 3:30, a little tired after a difficult hike. It was a hot day and they had 13 hikers plus she and Craig. Ellen brought more than her usual water and still felt she didn't have enough. The hikers were a mixed group with at least one difficult case, an older woman who didn't seem able to listen to instructions. When the group made it to the arch, which is the end point of the hike, everyone settled down to lunch but she kept investigating every stick and stone. When it was time to leave, she felt she couldn't go on without a rest. Ellen stayed with her and her husband while Craig started down with the group. After a bit, Ellen suggested maybe they could go on and the pair complied but kept stopping to look at things on their way down. Finally they caught up with the group and another man lagged to the rear of the hike with Ellen. He explained that he was a bit slow because of his double by-pass ... and so it went. They got back late ...

Photos