Family Visit
I love family time, and the last month was not an exception. Part of my California family came to visit me just after I arrived at the Dead Horse Ranch near Cottonwood, Arizona.
Over the next week the two grandchildren from California took turns staying with me at Dead Horse Ranch. 
We fished, Aiden went horse back riding with Nana, while Seth and I hung out at the coach in the afternoon. Our allergies were acting up a bit.
A few days later Seth and I went for a short hike down by the river with Jagger. 
Of course there was also several days of fishing with both of the boys and they caught a few small Blue Gill, which we released. Not near big enough to eat.
Warning – Danger
On the last morning before leaving Dead Horse and driving back south to Usery Mountain, Jag and I went for our morning walk. While off the path Jag found his first cactus hidden inside another bush and took a poke on the nose. Thank goodness it wasn’t serious, Lesson learned 😦 After returning to the path and walking not more than fifty feet Jag froze and started backing up. What? That is not normal for him. Well as close as I watch, I missed a rattlesnake not more than 25 feet in front of us. Fortunately it had recently been ran over by a vehicle and was dead, but very fresh. I was pleased of his reaction. I feel a lot safer and even though I will still watch, I am not worried as much about him avoiding snakes.
In all had a great visit at the Deadhorse Ranch State Park, then moved on to Usery Mountain for a few weeks which I will cover in my next post.
Safe Travels, Gary
Categories: Arizona
Retired Vagabond 
Good that Jagger is alert enough to give you the heads up on the rattler, even tho he was dead!! He is going to be a great hiking partner.
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Yes, I agree John. Before I got Jagger I had looked into snake avoidance training for my future dog. It looks like he may have the right instincts. Time will tell.
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