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Happy Holidays 2014

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We hope our electronic newsletter finds you happy and healthy as we close out another year in the desert we love so much (camping and quad rides included).

Steve is enjoying his job at Motorola Solutions and took advantage of various training opportunities (mostly at the company’s headquarters near Chicago, where I joined him in October during our 14-year wedding anniversary. I also visited him in Vegas during training that fell on his 44th birthday).

I continue to write for various clients and still blog a bit (check out my nature/writing escapades, if you’re interested). My fiction also fared well in a few contests during 2014: semi-finalist in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Writing Competition for a completed novel; and Top 10 Finalist in the Columbus Creative Cooperative’s Great Novel Contest 2014.

In house-building news, Steve spent a lot of time under the crawl space of the “new” build (hard to believe we started in 2009), working on electrical and HVAC/heating. He’s worked to wrap up a host of odds ‘n ends in preparation for drywall: finishing soffits and dropping ceilings; furring out the walls and ceilings; installing tubs, fixtures, fart fans and decorative vigas in bathrooms; final door entry framing; and low-voltage wiring for TVs, network, speakers, smoke detectors …  In June, he also passed the electrical and plumbing rough-in inspection, which means we have one final inspection to go.

So, the good news is that we’re inching closer and closer. We just ordered the majority of interior doors and jambs, and are anticipating drywall at the start of 2015 (then another big slow-down as we save up for the next round. Maybe we’ll be done by retirement!).

Enjoy some progress shots of Steve’s handiwork during 2014 (click on any underlined words for links; then click on photos to enlarge):

Also check out the wildlife and other encounters we’ve experienced this year (as well as some of my landscape photos):

Wishing you a wonderful 2015!

Steve & Melissa

Merry Christmas 2013

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Happy holidays family and friends!

We know, we know… it’s been awhile – too long, in fact, since we’ve sent a holiday letter. We hope you’re well and enjoying the holiday season.

Fruit from the desert plant, peniocereus greggiiFruit from the desert plant, peniocereus greggii

Fruit from the desert plant, peniocereus greggii

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We continue to love life in rural southeastern Arizona, taking quad rides into the mountains and living among loads of wildlife. Steve started a new job in radio communications with Motorola in July and loves it. I continue to freelance and make up stories (I also started a local book club). And I’m still writing my nature/writing blog, if you want to stop in for a visit.

Here at the Fry Ranch, we finally resumed work on our house project after nearly two years of inactivity (we’re going with the 10-20 year move-in-plan … snicker, snicker).

Steve also took some time to build a “ham shack” in 2012 on to the side of our existing house (for nerdy amateur radio operators). It’s served as a nice writing room for me on occasion, too, since the only other door in the current house is attached to the bathroom.

We’d love to hear from you this year, especially since we’ve been so out of touch … but in the meantime, please enjoy some photos of house progress and Steve’s handiwork:

Check out some of the wildlife fun we’ve had this year:

Have a great 2014!

Steve and Melissa

Merry Christmas 2010

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Happy holidays to our family and friends! This year, we’ve taken the time to slow down and enjoy the important things: family, friends, the two furry adoptees in our lives, new hobbies and the outdoors.

Macho and Niña: We welcomed our new babies home on Feb. 13. These two high-energy furballs never fail to entertain us. Bengal cats (a mix between the wild Asian Leopard Cat and a domestic cat) are high-energy and inquisitive. They love to take showers, “cover up” their food like wild “big cats” when they’re ‘done,’ prefer the tops of the eight-foot divider walls to floors, follow us around like dogs, and have the most incredible musculature I’ve ever seen on a feline. You should see them jump! In fact, check out videos of them on the right of the home page, or visit our Macho & Niña gallery of photos. You have to look at their baby pictures to see how small they really were! Oh – and did I mention that they have gorgeous, exotic spots (rosettes)?

Steve’s Ham Shack: When Steve isn’t busy working as radio communications engineer for Pinal County, he’s generally found in his new “Ham Shack” – which is essentially the camper that is now converted into what I call his “geek laboratory.” For those who don’t know much about ham radio (like me, before Steve’s obsession), it’s known as amateur radio, using various types of radio communications – in Steve’s case (a.k.a. MacGyver) a spool of wire, PVC, and clothesline – to talk to other “hams” around the world. Steve’s greatest accomplishments: making contact with Antarctica, South Africa, Reunion Island (off the coast of Madagascar). Check out his ham activity on his website. He also has been dabbling in some website design for clients on the side.

Melissa’s Writing, Nature & Fitness Hobbies: My slow to nonexistent writing business (caused by the continued economic decline), while unfortunate and a showstopper for house-building progress, has given me the opportunity to focus on two of my passions: nature and fiction writing. I’ve decided, unequivocally, that I’d rather be sitting around creating make-believe worlds as a novelist than writing business communiqués. And I much prefer hikes in the local area with friends/morning jogs among the desert critters to a boring gym or treadmill. (I will be running an 8K “trail run” near the Superstition Mountains in February!). Check out the incredible wildflower photos part 1 and part 2 from spring hikes). And don’t miss my new blog – a combination of my love for the outdoors and my love of writing: http://melissacrytzerfry.com. You’ll get glimpses of my newfound geology knowledge as well, gleaned from the class I’m taking for fun. (P.S. I was named 2010 Big Sister of the Year for the state of Arizona, for my role in Big Brothers Big Sisters. Shelly is a freshman at Northern Arizona University this year!).

Other Notable 2010 Events:

·     Steve’s 40th birthday bash (and subsequent declining vision and thinning hair). View at own risk.

·     Apache Lake boat ride with friends & neighbors Mark and Roxanne (scroll to bottom)

·     Aravaipa Canyon hike with friends & neighbors Kathy, Don, Mark, Roxanne

·     Melissa’s return to PA – saw best buds Deb, Tuesday, Sandy – as well Mom/Dad/Sis/Nephew, Thiel buddies, Mount Union pals, and the old high school crew at a mini-20-year-reunion. (Gulp… 20 years?).

·     House progress – See our month-by-month photo progress that includes installation of downspouts and scuppers, trenching for drain pipes, installation of water collection tanks, our new drainage ditch and planting shelves. (See great sunset photo below).

If you haven’t stopped by our website before (or if it’s been awhile), feel free to browse the PHOTO, VIDEO, CONSTRUCTION TIMELINE links at the top of  the page for more images and video.

Steve’s 40th B-Day Bash

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It’s not every day you turn 40, so we celebrated Steve’s birthday in style (well … not sure if beer bongs, sloppy joes and tractor rides equate to style). But we had all of that going on, and a little more with approximately 50 in attendance (including a guest who passed out on the oh-so-soft roof of the new house. Glad we put that spiral staircase in!)

One big surprise was the arrival of Steve’s brother, Michael, from New Jersey. He and brother James managed to keep it a secret until the very end. Steve was fortunate to have had his entire wedding party present: James, Karl, Kory and Tom.

Enjoy the photos of Steve’s “old man” gifts (including adult diapers, enemas, bed pans – complements of Roxanne), and good times with friends.

The Desert in Bloom

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Who says nothing grows in the desert? I’ve got proof to the contrary, as you’ll see from the photos taken during my various spring hikes. It has been an incredible wildflower season here in Mammoth’s slice of the Sonoran Desert. Some of my local friends say that some of the flowers we saw this year haven’t popped up in more than 15 years!

It’s quite amazing what you’ll see when you actually look around. On my morning jogs – and during hikes with my buddies – it’s become somewhat of a scavenger hunt, trying to locate a ‘new’ or ‘different’ flower every day. And I haven’t been disappointed yet! In fact, I found two more today. Most photos were taken right on our property. Those that were taken in nearby hiking destinations include a location name after the flower name. And forgive me … I wasn’t able to ID them all. Feel free to help if you know some of them or if I’ve misidentified any (highly probable).

Stay tuned. Part II of “The Desert in Bloom” will include the next burst of color that will arise from the flowering cacti, palo verde trees and mesquite trees. Can you tell how much fun I’m having living this “close” to nature?

Whooo goes there?

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I love this time of year! Not only is the Sonoran Desert teeming with wildflowers, but also a host of local desert dwellers. On April 14, during a hike up Mammoth Wash with neighbor friend, Roxanne, we saw the elusive great horned owl that I had seen a few weeks earlier (that time, I had scared him away on the four-wheeler, unfortunately).

We walked slowly and quietly, and he only flew from one tree to the next, allowing me to get some great shots. It was on our way back down the wash that I got the really good photos. It was almost as if he were posing for us.

Then on April 16, after returning from a fabulous hike with Kathy and Mary (my hiking buddies) along the Arizona Trail in Oracle, I was delighted to find that our resident barn owl had returned to nest next to our entry gate. We’d seen her – and her two gorgeous babies – back in 2004, when we first bought the property. But the cliff side where she first nested had caved in from all the rain. I was very surprised, when driving past our house, to see big eyes staring back at me from a much smaller hole to the right of the original. Maybe we’ll have baby owls this summer?

And finally … also during the Arizona Trail hike, as Kathy was taking us through the Tucson Wash in her 4-wheel-drive, we came across a gorgeous Gila Monster! Enjoy our owl photos and Gila monster photos. Gila monsters, by the way, are one of only two venomous lizards in North America (though so slow as to pose no threat to humans. You’ll witness this fact in the video I took)! When we first bought our property, Steve found a juvenile Gila monster trapped in an old tin tar bucket, whom we successfully freed.

P.S. This is Steve. I personally thought this video really captured the rare Gila monster in its true environment.

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Disappearing Downspouts

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Mother Nature was not cooperating with us on March 27, when we tried to tape off the downspouts for painting… Lots of wind that whipped our protective paper away. Once Steve decided to make a cardboard shield (instead of paper), we were in business! We took on this endeavor since we decided that the south-facing downspouts in the light tan stuck out too much (Steve thought they looked like racing stripes). So, we decided to color-match them to the stucco. Now they blend in a bit better from the road.

Check out our progress in the photos section. And check out our updated photos of the babies, Macho and Niña, who are growing quickly! They’re already 4.5 months old and into everything (hampers, included! Visit our Macho & Niña videos to witness their mischief).