It was a beautiful day today and it’s amazing how HOT we get as soon as we work outside.  The high for the day was 67 F, but it sure felt like it was 20 degrees warmer.  We just had temps in the teens and it’s so nice to get hot outside.
We’re working on filling another 5 tree holes and it was the perfect day to go on a cow pie run to the corral.
2016-2-11--corralThere used to be a lot of old metal, fencing and all sorts of trash and they really cleaned it up.  Unfortunately they also took out the cattails.  It used to be so beautiful, like an oasis.  I’m surprised the fish are still in alive, although the big fish apparently died.
2016-2-11--fish
I don’t know what they eat, I suppose bugs, and they have no shelter at all.
It’s a shame to let all that water go to waste:
2016-2-11--corral-wasted-water
Of course the cows eat EVERYTHING that grows, but with very minimal expense they could plant a few mesquite trees and protect them with fencing until they’re so large the cows can’t kill them.  Some mulberries would be great too.  It’s always muddy here from the overflow.
The water comes from the Grand Canyon West Ranch springs and you can see the poly pipe that takes it a few more miles across Pierce Ferry to the corral in Gold Basin.
Here’s our loot:
2016-2-11--cow-pies
We got away from using manure because most is polluted with GMOs and all sorts of dewormers, antibiotics, etc.  But I like cow manure from the desert — it’s as clean as it gets.
Back home, our dogs love to hang out on the dirt piles and are on the job, guarding:
2016-2-11--Andy-Riley-guarding
It’ll be a lot of work screening the caliche out of this pile, but I’m sure glad to have it.  Every time we dig a hole for planting we need more dirt for backfill to replace all the rocks and caliche we screened out.
Next week our 25 fruit and nut trees will arrive and I’ll post some pics of the orchard then.