I was outside at
6:27 a.m. Air was mild and silky…temperature
was 63o. As soon as the alarm went off, I knew an e-bike ride was in
my near future. As in as soon as the birds appeared, I was gonna be heading
down to Harmon Rd. Hummers appeared right after me somewhere in the sixty
seconds of time that is 6:27. It took another 10 minutes for the sparrows to
stop flitting around in the bushes and get out on the ground (6:37 a.m.). Then
I was on the bike.
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The sun rose at
6:31 so it was fully light out when I left; however, the Picacho Mountains were
still casting a shadow on Picacho Hwy since the sun hadn’t popped over Newman
Peak yet. I realized as soon as I rode into the sunlight that not going back in
the camper for my visor was a mistake. An even sillier mistake was not
remembering that my sunglasses were in my bike bag until I was on the return
trip. Better late than never, I suppose.
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Not only did I
want to get a ride in before the heat overtook the land, but I was curious what
else might be out and about in the early morning. I was hoping for a javelina, a
roadrunner or perhaps a CaraCara, but it was mostly sparrows or other smaller
birds. A bevy of quail caught my attention only because I heard the sentry
quail calling out a warning. If it had just stayed quiet, I wouldn’t have known
they were there. It was a quiet morning for activity.
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I didn’t intend
to go as far as Johnny and June’s place when I started. But because the morning
was cool and the riding was easy, I decided to ride over to see if they were
above ground and also to see how far their burrow is from camp. Johnny was
above ground with June making a very quick appearance at the mouth of the
burrow and then disappearing again. Oh, and it’s 7.4 miles roundtrip.
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Last night, cell
camera #1 got a picture of a coyote butt heading to the other side of the
fence; Camera #2 should have caught a head shot as it was coming through the
fence. No action on Camera #2. That’s odd. The cameras are pointed at the
same crossing spot, just from different sides of the fence. What’s up with
that? Kim began wondering if he had
put an SD card in the Camera #2; maybe it only had internal storage available,
which may have been filled by the untold amount of pictures it was sending right
after we set it up.
Kim and Adam
jumped on the e-bikes at about 10 o’clock to check it out. By that time the
temperature was already in the 80’s. Not a great time for a bike ride.
**Update: there was a card in Camera #2, so it’s unclear
as to why it wasn’t sending pictures. The problem seems to be resolved as it
sent a picture tonight. There wasn’t an animal in it but still it sent the
picture.**
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As we were getting ready to leave late morning, I noticed that, for the
first time since we’ve been here, there was very little bird noise and no birds
hopping around the yard. I wondered if the heat affects birds the way it
affects humans. It appears that it does but the birds have ways of coping with the
heat also:
**Birds play it cool. In the morning,
you may hear the birds singing and calling to each other. As the sun climbs
higher, especially on a hot summer day, things can get pretty quiet. Most
likely, they have retreated to cooler, shady places, such as the branches of a
tree. With a little luck, they may catch a breeze up in the top branches.
**Bathing is another way to
cope with the heat, especially if the water temperature is cooler than the air.
When the water reaches the skin, it offers some much-needed cooling relief.
**The bird may appear
skinny. In the winter, birds fluff their feathers to trap
heat. The opposite of that is compression, and birds will draw their feathers
up close to their bodies to keep them from containing unwanted heat. (This can
also have the effect of making their legs appear longer than usual, especially
in larger birds.)
**Birds also pant when
they’re hot. Scientists have noted that panting birds will flutter their neck
muscles as a way to release heat.
**Birds will hold
their wings away from their bodies. They may raise them up a bit or spread
them out, so air can reach the skin beneath their feathers and remove excess
heat.
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An Extreme Heat
Warning is in effect from today until Sunday. Gracious! Mother Nature is
pouring the heat on early this year. Wonder what that means for the summer
temps.
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Yesterday, at
the Casa Grande Ruins, a random gentleman asked if we’d been to the car museum
in Maricopa yet. No, we have not.
He went on to say that a guy had made 5/8 scale replicas
of classic cars out of refrigerators and had a museum of sorts on his property.
I told Kim and Adam about it, and we decided to take a drive to Maricopa today to
see what it was about.
It’s called the
Dwarf Car Museum; I found out after our visit that it’s a Roadside America attraction.
Ernie Adams is the man behind the Dwarf
Cars and the museum is the cobbled together pole barn where he built his cars. Not only does it house some of his cars, but
it’s filled with all sorts of old-time memorabilia. It’s a family run
enterprise: Ernie was there, willing to talk about his pastime…two of his sons
were on site also…his daughter-in-law runs the gift shop…his granddaughter as
was his 7-month old great-grandson, who supplied all sorts of cuteness. There
was a very informative video to watch also.
His website,
dwarfcarmuseum.com, told his story this way:
Early
years: Ernie Adams had a
fascination with cars starting back in grade school. He would admire the cars
of the time, drew them for school assignments and even built a wooden car as
long as a crate box with steering and peanut butter jar lids for taillights. His
mother would pull him through his hometown of Harvard, Nebraska, behind her car.
First Dward Car: The first Dwarf Car came to life in 1965 as a 28 Chevy two-door sedan made from nine old refrigerators. Ernie began gathering the materials for this little car in 1962. By 1965 he had enough materials and an 18 hp Wisconsin motor to begin construction. With a homemade hacksaw made from a chair frame, hammer and a chisel, Ernie began construction. He had no idea starting. Because this is the first Dwarf Car ever built, it is known as “GRANDPA DWARF.” This car is kept in running order and is still driven today.
Dwarf Race Car: The first two Dwarf Race Cars were built in Dec. 1979 and early
1980. The Dwarf Race Car idea came about after Ernie Adams and Daren Schmaltz
had attended motorcycle side hack races in Phoenix, Arizona. During the drive
home, Ernie expressed concern that three-wheeled racers were to slow in the
corners. He said they could improve considerably by adding a fourth wheel to
help thru the corners. Ernie suggested that adding a car body would also help
spectator appeal. The first Dwarf Car race took place at the Yavapai County Fair in
Prescott, Arizona in September, 1983. There were 12 cars registered.
Dwarf Car Cruisers: After building the Dwarf Race Cars, Ernie had learned a lot about bending and shaping metal. He loved to see heads turn in admiration of the Dwarf Race Cars while being towed down the highway. Ernie knew it was time to change and put his metal shaping skills to the test. He wanted a fully dressed Dwarf Car with fenders, chrome, finished interior and most of all, make it street legal. The Dwarf Car Cruiser was born.
I read that, although he was
offered $450,000 for his ’49 Mercury, he doesn’t sell them. Each car is different, of course, but it
takes between two and three thousand hours over the course of two to five years
to produce a cruiser. Ernie is currently 84 years of age…and although he says he’s
made his last car, who knows what the future holds.
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Kim and Adam went to clubhouse to play
cribbage when we got back. I went up to work on the puzzle I started last
night. Clubhouse is air-conditioned and it felt so good. With Kim’s help, I
managed to finish the puzzle. I had picked another 300-piece puzzle; not so
many pieces, but the design was tricky.
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The sky is clear again tonight. The telescope is focused on Sharpless 280…a rather strange name but no one asked me for input. Sixty pictures of 5-minute exposures. He'll be up for a while.
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