Skull Valley cemetery

It's a small cemetery but it's been there for over a century; after all, Skull Valley has been around for a long time, at least in Arizona terms. Location: on the west side of Iron Springs Road just before the underpass as you approach the little community. Very sere, but then the pictures were taken in December when the dotter visited. The grass never gets very green, but often brilliant red-orange mariposa lilies bloom in and near the cemetery in early spring.

The carved rock is somewhat unusual; note the cowboy on the right and the horse below. After all, this remains a ranching community.

Many multi-generational family plots.

For example, Alfred Shupp lived from 1834 to 1897; not in the picture is a smaller stone of another family member who died in 1945.

In addition to flowers, favorite things are found at the cemetery... including the curious balloon-ish object held by fairies (below).

Other objects, as well, including a beer can. Dotter removed the can for one photograph, but we decided that the beer belonged and was probably a gift from a hunting buddy of this fallen marine.

Another memorial to a service man, in this case one who served in World War I. Someone has given him a fresh flag.

More Blog Links: Remember reading about those remarkable glass sculptures down at the Desert Botanical Garden? Well, Catalyst was just there, lucky guy. With his camera, lucky us. Take a look. Next, friend Georgene has suddenly really gotten into blogging, with not one, but two new sites: Victorian Vices, focused primarily on beading, and Simplewise, on simplifying and organizing one's life.

Women's Work: Never Done!

To look at early labor saving devices, it's easy to see why that phrase! Yet they did save a certain amount of labor. Certainly a yoke with two galvanized pails beats gourds to draw water from the spring; a big tub for boiling clothes gets them cleaner than beating them with stones in the river; ditto for the old fashioned scrubbing board.

But there were advancements, way back when. Here's a hand-operated tumbler, with wringer attachment. Like the other items, to be found at the Skull Valley Historical Society Museum, BTW.

Haven't exactly figured out what the gadgetry in the forward tub is. Something to do with Monday (which even in my memory is the day we wash the clothes...)

More modern yet -- electricity has replaced muscle power.

But, ladies, can you imagine ironing those voluminous skirts and stiff shirts with one of these implements which had to be heated on the stove? I gave up ironing in the 60s, thanks to my husband, who told me to let the laundry do it. And I still do.

These displays from women's past at the little country museum did not include any wood burning ranges -- I'll bet that any that are remain are still in use out at range shacks. Take note of the heavy-duty fly spray and, in the left hand corner, an ice cream freezer that was probably electrified in the work shed.

More kitchen tools...

...and an interesting collection of kitchen and washday products. Rinso I remember -- it was sponsor of the Ma Perkins soap; Peets is not among my recollections. I also see an early steam iron.

More gadgets and products from early in the last century, including a potato ricer and disposable picnic spoons & forks in wood, not plastic. I'd say that despite the problems of modernity, it is a lot kinder to women.

Variations on a Quilting Theme

A new quilt show by the Material Girls Quilters was another feature at last weekend's pie and ice cream social down in Skull Valley. Believe me, it was hard to decide which quilts to include here. However, I think many agreed that the sun motif was a winner.

Other themes included classic pinwheels (surrounding a not so classic petroglyph square), whirligigs...

...and autumn leaves.

An intricately quilted picture was also on display.

Other subjects included butterflies, cats...

...and very colorful chickens.

For a western flavor, each square in one quilt featured a stylized Indian petroglyph.

More western -- a bandana quilt above and (below) a stitched picture of a desert saguaro.

However, the prize for most up-to-date goes to a commercial coverlet at a sales booth just outside the exhibit hall. Harry himself, suitable for keeping any youngster warm and safe at night.

Fire Trucks, Then & Now

Skull Valley is a very small ranching community about 20-25 miles from Prescott, the other side of the Prietas. I'm sure that theirs is a volunteer fire department -- but look at their fine up-to-date fire truck.

Plenty of gear & gauges to befit 21st century blazes.

Here's what they might have had back 85-90 years ago, tho I would guess a fine R.E.D. machine like this more likely belonged to a city such as Prescott or Phoenix. Both machines were on display at the pie & ice cream social this weekend. (And, Bro, note that the proper wheels remain on the truck. None of this low rider nonsense.)

In the meantime, I've been tagged again! By she at The One Acre Wood. Actually, twice, but I'm doing this in two parts so I can think about my answers.

#1. Rules-Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have. At the end of your blog post you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged and to read your blog. Hokay, here goes:

A -- Ambitious not. Never was -- all I ever wanted in my working days was a reasonable living doing something interesting. Journalism fit that requirement to a tee until they started pushing me up the ladder, where meetings and paperwork took the place of inquisitiveness.

N -- Nosy. The old shoes, ships & sealing wax thing; I'm curious about almost anything or anybody you can name. Always have been. Mom says that as a little kid, I was always asking "Why for???"

N -- Negligent. Or perhaps just plain lazy. I never did keep a neat house or office & my windows and hard drive need cleaning, tho I'm taking care of the windows very soon by hiring outsiders. Not to say that my negligence is guilt-free; no way. Goes with the territory of being brought up female.

So: who'll I tag? How about:

* Olivia
* pb
* String Bag

A Pie & Ice Cream Social Under the Cottonwoods

Perhaps you recall that sometime back I wrote about two old retired Santa Fe stations that sit alongside Iron Springs Road. Here's the third of the trio -- unlike the other pair, it is less than a mile from its original railroad home in Skull Valley. I was fortunate enough to score a ride down the hill for the annual ice cream and PIE social sponsored by the Skull Valley Historical Society Saturday morning.

There were ladies and gents in period costumes, the men as Arizona Roughriders...

...and the ladies in their Sunday-go-to-meeting finery.

There was music -- by the bluegrass gospel & western group, Extra Touch.

This was not an occasion for all those sales booths we see at most summer events. Only a few items were on sale, all local, including honey...

...cute little owls made from what look like Arizona walnuts...

...Skull Valley tee shirts...

...cloth books made by a Skull Valley woman...

...and pie, wonderful pie! Oh, so many kinds of pie there were.

Pumpkin. Apple in various guises. Lemon meringue. Lime cream. Chocolate. Assorted berries. Pecan. You name it...
Well, I did. I asked for good old fashioned rhubarb. It took some looking, which the ladies did willingly. Finally they found two, among all those homemade goodies that were still packed away, waiting to be served from the long table. But I'm sorry to have missed tasting some of those other confections. At $5 a pop (priced to pay for the entertainment and food), a slice of that lime cream looked a hair pricey. But mainly, I was short on cash!

Folks ate at tables in back of the museum in the shade of those immense cottonwood trees for which Skull Valley is famous (all thanks to the best water table in all Yavapai County, BTW.) If you still need convincing, the picture below should help gauge the size of those trees.

I haven't room in this post for the other pictures you'll see soon, of the beautiful quilts and the really, really antique autos that were on display! And, not so incidentally, the reason I made it all the way down to Skull Valley is that a dear friend, Georgene Lockwood, is running for county supervisor for district one. She is attending all manner of local events to meet people and get a feel for what they expect of a candidate.

Speaking of Elections: In case you were looking for a website for the Yavapai Wester (formerly the Yellow Sheet), it is here. There's a good story about the election of our new mayor.