Arrived

After showering in the horse barn at Pima County Fairgrounds, a unique experience, we trundled down the road to the nearby Frys and Sprouts markets in Sahuarita then took the back route to the refuge via Arivaca.

Our first surprise was that our favorite coffee place in Arivaca had mostly closed. The shop was closed, but the current owner still left vacuum urns of coffee out on the porch every morning with an honesty box (actually a glass jar) so that the locals, who have been sitting out there every morning for years, could still sit and have a cup of coffee. The shop, Arribac Cafe/Gadsen Coffee, is for sale if anyone is interesting in operating a cafe in Arivaca, AZ.

We were not surprised that the Arivaca road had not been repaved and was still the same bumpy road with more patches than original pavement that we had always experienced.

When we got to the refuge there were a few more surprises. The trailer that we originally were promised was not available and the subsequent replacement that we were told of a couple of weeks back was also not available and we now have a third accommodation before we even start. The unexpected good surprise was that Josh, the volunteer coordinator had the trailer cleaned before we arrived. We expected that such would be our first order of business. We actually felt a bit chagrined as Josh had another volunteer couple do the cleaning.

A not so good surprise (they weren't over yet) was that Ann, the biologist who we worked for last year and expected to work for this year, resigned yesterday. Hardly anyone knew this, even Josh was still in the dark, as he had suggested that we meet with Ann to plan our work week after picking up our keys from him.

We spent most of the rest of the day moving furniture to meet Ellen's taste in layout ... better than the default ... and moving stuff into the trailer (named Masked Bobwhite Quail (all the trailers have quail names except the new one named Raven). It was mostly food and mostly done by Ellen as I called around to find out what had happened with Ann and to set up our work schedule with Paula at the quail facility.  We still have much stuff sitting in Speedy, but have tomorrow to finish moving in.

Our days working with the quail will be Sunday and Monday this year and we are not certain what the rest of the schedule will be but we hope that there will be at least a day of fieldwork each week.

It looks like it will be an interesting winter.