It’s after dark on a hot August night. The stars are a network of diamonds on a blanket of black velvet. It almost seems that if I climb up to the top of my water tank and reach out, I could grasp one right out of the clear Northern Arizona sky.

Instead, the beam of my flashlight illuminates a perfect, symmetrical web of sticky, delicate silk. It spans the hand-breadth distance between the edge of the water tank and an input hose. It seems as though a touch, a sharply expelled breath could destroy it, yet in reality it is quite strong. In the center, its maker freezes momentarily as my light captures her amber colored abdomen, the size of a hummingbird egg, and her fuzzy orange striped legs. Then she scurries to the edge of the web to continue her work and resume her night’s hunting.

Spiderwoman has been in residence at the top of my water tank for at least 2 months. When I first discovered her, I was so intrigued that I allowed her to remain. Not so, her kin spider in my tack shed. Unfortunately, my camera and photographic skills do not do justice to the delicate beauty of her nightly weaving ritual or the intricate patterns on her abdomen and legs.

Fast forward to September. The web is dusty and ragged. A gaping hole in the center raises red flags. My lady has been lax in her housekeeping. Spiderwoman is in her usual spot at the top of my tank. But is she still alive? A few days later and she is gone. A life cycle completed?

Okay, so it's not so old – only 14 years. But it's paid for. The air conditioning still works. In over 300,000 miles, I have only in the last couple years had to replace the alternator and starter. So now I need a radiator and a water pump. And the only reason I found that out is because we made a hay run to just outside Phoenix last week.  

This being July in Arizona, the Phoenix area is easily topping 100 degrees before noon each day. So hauling 3 tons of hay uphill all the way home was bound to have some effect on the cooling system. After the first stall, we turned off the a/c. Of course, the engine took quite a while to cool down so I could add coolant. At least we had detoured to Lake Pleasant for a picnic and a swim on the way home. A park policeman stopped by and asked if we needed help and I explained, with my best attempt at humor, that we were just "cooling off." Well, we finally did get our swim and picnic and got back on the road to home. After 3 more stalls, we made it off the freeway and officially back to Northern Arizona, with no more problems all the way home. 

Having replenished my own radiator, from lack of a/c in a hot truck all day, I am able to sit back and admire the stack of hay that will keep the critters fat and happy for another month. I reflect upon all the good times we've had in Big Red (actually maroon, but Big Maroon sounds too Gilligan's Island). Camping, woodcutting, hauling horses, cows and other critters. And all the practical tasks she performs – hauling hay, water, building supplies; hauling other cars out of ditches; pulling a homemade drag to smooth out a muddy driveway. Getting around on muddy and icy roads. Going where no jeep dares to go. Who wants a new truck anyway? Get me that radiator and water pump!

Since Baby Ezra came along, we've been busy with more babies on the homestead. We acquired three little white pullets (baby hens) which are growing nicely. Our two mamma rabbits each produced seven baby bunnies. Of course, they were born the day AFTER Easter. Ah well, we were planning on them for meat, anyway.

The three surviving guineas are full grown, with two of them laying eggs now. We were hoping for one rooster, to hatch out some more babies. Nobody's broody yet, and all three look exactly alike, so it doesn't look good for the guinea hatching project.

I'm not sure if this should be entered under the "Shoulda known better" heading or the "Learn something new every day" column. After removing five of the six roosters from the chicken coop, we finally started getting 8-10 eggs a day. Apparently one rooster is max for up to two dozen hens. Of course, a rooster is not necessary for them to lay eggs, but we were hoping for baby chicks, too. Unfortunately, none of my hens seem to have the motherly instinct, so no new hatchlings. My friend, with whom I ordered the chicks last year, has two broody hens who hatched out six healthy chicks. I guess that's pretty fair odds for hatchery hens.

The other threat to our now bountiful egg supply was the ravens. Bigger than crows, smaller than most eagles, they fly right into the henhouse and steal ALL the eggs right out of the nest boxes. Then just to taunt me, they drop the empty shells right outside the coop.

Realizing that a couple rounds of bird shot, though it would make me feel better, would do nothing to forestall our large local population of ravens from continuing to steal all my eggs, I grabbed a roll of poultry netting and proceeded to throw it across the top of the chicken yard to keep the foul fowl out. Now with the coop completely enclosed, we are enjoying all of our eggs.

Even though our birds are not free ranging right now, due to their small numbers and the large local population of coyotes, they are thriving on a well balanced diet. We're feeding them commercial scratch grain, occasional hay, which also makes good bedding and helps with sanitation in the coop; weeds from the gardens, kitchen scraps, and whey from cheesemaking.

We crush and feed back some of their eggshells and also homemade cheese and yogurt that did not turn out so well. So they're getting plenty of protein, greens and calcium.

It seems with all the bird care going on here, numerous wild birds have been encouraged to take up residence. Nesting in various trees, eaves and bushes around the homestead are pigeons, doves, bluebirds, sparrows, chickadees, robins, hummingbirds and others that come and go – woodpeckers, hawks, kestrels. Morning and evening times are especially delightful with the music of so many different singers. The quarreling guineas, clucking hens and crowing roosters in chorus with the lilting background of the wild songbirds. It doesn't get much better.

Since a picture is worth ... well, you know, I'll be brief.  Meet baby Ezra, one day old here, the newest addition to the Homestead family. Mamma Linda is  a Dexter Jersey mix, and so is Pappa Eli.  Of course Naki, the Hereford bull thinks Ezra's his, but since all his calves have bald faces we know it's Eli - don't we? Ezra, being a boy, will be going into the freezer in a year or so, since he will not be able to contribute to our Dexter/Jersey dairy herd, but he will bless us with tender, home raised, healthy beef.

(The problem:  getting the water from the trailer to the storage tank)

While many people are experiencing frozen water pipes right now, I am grateful that mine is still flowing. It may not be for long, however, if I can't get the water into the holding tank. The typical water setup out here, in the land of 800 foot deep water tables, is to get a 2500 gallon water tank and set it a few yards away from the house, then bury your water lines running to a pump and pressure tank and insulate them running into the house. With this method, we haul water from the local well, which was dug and maintained by the town at enormous cost, and then pump it into our large tank. I saw the problems with this logic when I was setting up my home, but the contractor flatly refused to sink the tank into the ground, even for an extra fee. So now the pump I use to get the water from the trailer ten feet up in the air into the big tank has gone out, and I am waiting for the new one to arrive, so I can wire it and fit it to pump my water out. I tried carrying 5 gallon buckets of water up the ladder and pouring them into the tank, but it was kind of like, you know, trying to fill up the bathtub with a teaspoon, only heavier. Plan B is to make the half tank (1250 gallons) of water I have left last until we can pump again. I did borrow a friend's pump, but with everyone's hookups being designed to their own particular preference, it didn't quite do the job.

(Hauling water to the animals)

Luckily, for Christmas, Santa brought a garden cart, so with this wonderful invention, I am able to run (okay, slog and drag) water to the animals from the trailer, so I can conserve the water in the tank for household washing and flushing. Hmm...maybe this would be a good time to teach the horses to pull a garden cart. On the cart I have a half 55 gallon drum and 2 six gallon buckets. This method also comes in handy on those days when the hose is frozen, and cannot be used to fill the critters' water. For a really entertaining saga of frozen pipes, check out www.asthebutterchurns.com. Denise and her family endured nearly a month of frozen pipes in Washington State this season over the Christmas and New Years holidays. Her blog chronicles their adventures trying to live as normally as possible without water. Check out the postings from December 15-January 5, 2009. I am hoping my little story doesn't turn into an epic saga, though. As exciting as the days of bucketing and boiling bathwater were, I sure do appreciate my indoor hot and cold running water.

It's cold, snowy and muddy outside. The fire's been roaring since just before Christmas. Williams, Arizona, got 30 inches of snow in a week. We got a mere half that. It's been melting off too fast to make our snow people. What we have is alot of mud. We are blessed to live on a school bus route, which is regularly maintained. We also have a four wheel drive 3/4 ton pickup to get us out of almost anything we encounter. Several friends are not so lucky. They live on unmaintained roads that turn into mudbaths, and are frequently stuck for several days when we have wet weather. Unless, of course, they can get in or out while the mud is frozen.

During our cold snap over Christmas, we went to visit relatives in Phoenix, land of grapefruit trees. Oranges and lemons as well, but mostly grapefruit trees. Every yard has at least two. Why so many grapefruit trees? They're not like oranges, sweet eating, popular juice. Or lemons, which are great for lemonade hot and cold, lemon meringue pie, lemon curd. I grew up with a grapefruit tree in the back yard and never found much use for them until I moved away from it. I mean, face it, even the sweetest grapefruit have a tremendous amount of acid and a sour/bitter taste to them. One can gladly drink orange juice or lemonade every day, but one can only drink so much grapefruit juice.

So in the spirit of not letting anything go to waste, quite a few years ago I set out to find delectable ways to prepare and preserve grapefruit. One thing I learned from grandma is that grapefruit is full of good stuff that helps you get over whatever ails ya. She would strain the juice and drink it fresh and all the way through fermentation into wine and then vinegar. I tried a sip once, never again. One year I canned the sections in a light syrup, and all year enjoyed the very palateable treat. My big discovery came when I ate some during the midst of a very bad cold and that, along with some home grown turkey stock (not together!) knocked the cold right out. I know, a cold has to run its course, blah, blah, but it really had an amazing effect. I have also let the juice ferment into vinegar, and it makes an excellent cleaner.

A few years ago I was the lucky recipient of a Jack LaLanne juicer. I know, another electrical gadget, and I'm supposed to be moving backwards technologically. But like the Internet, some kitchen gadgets have their place. The great thing about this juicer is that you can put nearly any fruit or vegetable into it whole, thereby deriving the greatest amount of nutrients from your produce. And the pulp can usually be dried and used for other purposes: added into baking; snuck into meatloaf, etc., to get your picky eaters their veggies; in soups; fed back to the livestock. The neat thing with putting lemons and grapefruit in is that with the high pectin content in the white part of the peel, after the juice sits in the fridge for a few hours, it turns into kind of a curd. And because you've retained all the essential oils and fiber from the peels, said curd is not as bitter as the raw fruit. Not as sweet as jam, either, but that's what sugar's for. Also, the curd lasts a lot longer in the fridge with no further processing than just plain juice. My next project is to add some sugar to the lemon and grapefruit juice before it curds and see if it will make a nice jam-like spread. If it works, I will post the recipe in a future edition of this blog.