Quail Run Ranch

The day we found Quail Run was an unusual day. We had just been out to the Sulphur Springs Valley to see a “Big Fat Nope” of a property. In Sulphur Springs there was a property advertised for a low, low price, a price we could certainly afford, and have money left over. When we got there, we found that the house had burned to the ground and the property itself was overgrown with big dead trees, sticker bushes, cactus and weeds. The only thing it had going for it was that it was fenced and, because there had been a house there, it had an existing septic system, power and well. Otherwise, it was a major, MAJOR renovation project. Heavy equipment needed, many debris box rentals, that sort of thing. Yep, Big Fat Nope.

So, when we drove back over to Hereford, we were not getting our hopes up to find our new home.

We had been holding out for ground that was not rocky and was level. For the horses, you see. This was not an easy thing to find in the desert of southeast Arizona, land of sticker bushes and caleche (kah-lee-chee). We had driven from one end of the county to the other, down many an unimproved dirt road and not found a thing. The closest thing to “good enough” was a house that had a giant crack running down the interior roof peak. It was slowly splitting apart. We were beginning to think we might have to move on and check out Texas.

Then we drove up to the house on Autumn Lane. It was on an unimproved dirt road with a mini-Grand Canyon running down the middle of it, but it was only a few hundred yards off pavement. It was level. It had sandy dirt and no perceptible rock. It was 100% fenced and the house seemed in okay condition. Furthermore, it was a good price, and we could pay for it with cash and then take a small loan to renovate and improve.

A lady drove up as we were scoping out the exterior and announced that she was also interested. She thought we were real estate agents. I lied and said oh too bad we already put an offer on it and it was accepted. (I didn’t want any competition.) I told her good luck and she drove away.

The next day we put an offer on it for real and a few days after that the offer was accepted. We set about the process of moving in and making plans to fix it the way we wanted.

This was the view out the back toward 2 acres of sticker bushes. The property was 4 acres total so fully three-quarters was unimproved.

For some obscure reason they set the propane tank smack dab at the bottom of the stairs. For some obscure reason they built a too small porch that ended in the middle of one of the windows. No landscaping whatsoever. Crappy windows. Roof at the end of its life span.

For some obscure reason they planted an Arizona Cypress right next to the house and then let it grow wild. For some reason they decided to telegraph that this was a mobile home and paint one section dark brown.

Those mountains in the distance are the San Jose Mountains of Mexico. You can see the border wall from our living room windows. It’s a tiny black stripe cutting across the landscape. That thing in the foreground is a very large, dilapidated doghouse.

As you can see, we had our work cut out for us. We needed horse paddocks, a tack barn, a hitching rail, a riding arena and a round pen and we also needed to get rid of broken down fences and root out giant agave and a bunch of yucca. Fortunately, we brought with us from California a backhoe and a bunch of farm implements. Living in the Central valley of California had its benefits. We came with an auger and a three-point hitch and bunch of other useful implements. We just had to find a tractor that would work with our implements because we sold our Farmall back in Madera. We needed to drill post holes for horse paddocks, back yard fence and arena fence. Yep, we had a lot of work to do but we could make it the way we wanted and that was a very good thing.

Next up: the garden rehab