This week on Arizona Illustrated remembering cowboy, poet and icon Baxter Black Cowboy poetry is about wreck.

Horse wreck.

Dog wreck.

Cow wreck.

Ship wreck.

Financial wreck.

And that's I guess my place in life to Ariavaipa Canyon is a great place to get away without leaving the state.

It's kind of an oasis in the desert stuff Migrating steps, stops here.

You never know what you're going to see.

And a primer for some unusual creatures you may encounter during the monsoon.

Their breeding cycle that's a really fun story.

The males will actually do a little dance for the females to caucus Welcome to Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara.

Beloved cowboy poet and Arizona resident Baxter Black passed away June 10th, 20, 22 at the age of 77.

During his life, he rode bulls in high school and college.

He went on to become a large animal veterinarian for cowboys and ranchers throughout the West.

He was a regular on NPR's Morning Edition and had his own radio show.

He also sold more than a million copies of his cowboy philosophy and poetry.

We shot the following story with Baxter Black during the summer monsoon of 2015 I am writing for The Cowboy and many good ranchers and rich oil man.

I love them all.

I do.

And if they like being around cowboys, that's fine.

But when I write the story, I'm aiming at the guy that's working for them because that's made really no change to use.

Nope, nope.

That's it.

It started with milking the cow and feeding the chickens on his parents place.

When we went out to feed the chickens, we are less mean.

Old Rooster seems all things agricultural were in his blood from the start, and his first foray into poetry came years later in a college class and I wrote this time and it was a I know it had a religious point to it, but it came back from the English teacher and at the top.

And then I had those old read wax pencils at a big red wax circle with an afro.

And the teacher had written write about what you know, well, he knew hard work and he knew cowboys.

And over time he went on to write about what he knew.

Cowboy poetry is about wreck Horsewreck, dog wreck, car wreck, shipwreck, financial wrecks.

And that's I guess my place in life, too.

His most recent effort is called Lessons from a Desperado Poet.

I dedicated this poem to a friend of mine who fell while sitting on a mules neck backwards and broke his back so I wrote this for him, but it applies to a lot of people who lose their mind, sometimes living on the edge.

There but for a whim of fate go you, you and I.

Any man who chases lightning or thinks that he can fly are we stupid?

Are we crazy?

Are we rebels without cause?

No.

The reason is much simpler.

We built the part because the drummer who keeps time for us stays just beyond the ledge, and one only hears his cadence when one is living on the air.

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo.

You'll never know this how much I love you you'll never know us How much I care I've got blood, blood thinner I've had a heart stent done and so when you get in that brush, sometimes you come out look like you've been in a sword fight.

Baxter Black, the prolific poet and humorist to folks of the country and Western persuasion farmers, ranchers, cowboys and those who wish they were one.

As to being a cowboy, Baxter says it's not something you decide you either are one or you aren't Listen, we got thunder.

We're going to have lightning, and it's going to rain.

And I'm going to get Watson when he's not writing poetry and reading to his listeners, he rides alongside his longtime friend and ranch hand Francisco Rain.

And if you ride long enough, you're bound to get bucked off.

I I did.

I did get knocked off.

And it was a horse that I had been riding for a year.

And the first two leaps I was in the leaves and the branches down.

And then we came out of there better had one rain in my hand and I just lit flat on my back but I still had a holder.

I was proud of that.

Francisco said it looked like a rodeo you know, you got to be able to take a fall financially.

You get your heart broken.

You got to get up and keep going.

And you lose your job.

You got to get up and get back on the horse.

Stupid as it may sound, Lester Francisco Baxter Black Now 70 says his poetry is born out of life experience.

His own and those he's come to know ladies and gentlemen, can you hear that tender wallop?

He grew up and lived most of his life in places where it doesn't rain.

He's called Arizona home since 1997.

So I live in a grand part of the world and one of the things that lead me here if I could call it that, was I made the mistake of driving through this for the first time in August, and it was verdant.

And green.

And I thought, my gosh, looks like the jungle here.

I think I could do this.

Sure enough, he's written a poem about rain called Feast or famine in feast or famine.

At least examine the game we came to play because win or lose, it's how you use the cards that come your way.

Yes.

Letter Rain, the rancher said.

I have built up quite a thirst I know.

The low road flood marched out the tank dam is bound to burst.

We'll have to plant the wheat again, clean the water gaps.

But you won't hear this fool complain.

If it reaches to my shelf.

The truth is, friends, we've needed this.

We've been so dry so long, I thought we'd have to sell the cows and pay the piper, sell the winter grass, just lay there stiff for months.

It never changed.

I'd walk out through the crackling brown that covered all my range and watch the wind blow dust clouds for good grass sure to be on account the bales in the stack and calculate again the days of feeding I had left before.

I'd have to face the ultimate decision what I do to save the place.

The weather man was helpful.

Safety always told the truth.

Peddling chance.

A 10% man had just rained in Duluth.

And that's keeper.

Come on, baby, that's nice for Minnesota, but it don't help me a bit.

I gave up chewing red man so I wouldn't have to spit.

But he said last night, a chance of rain more than just a trace.

I washed the car and left a window open just in case.

And sure enough, this morning big ol clouds come rolling in and they parked above the driveway and the thunder made a Dan that rattled all the vendors in the house for us still.

And at two it started raining and I still ain't got my feel.

It's it's coming down in buckets like it's playing back at that.

And me, I'm standing in the front yard in my shorts.

I'm soaking wet when the sun comes out tomorrow and sparkles all around off pools and puddles.

Standing like big diamonds in the ground are remember feast and famine.

But when it comes to rain, you take the faith when offered.

If you live out on the plain as NPR pointed out on the Frequently Asked Questions page of Baxter Black's website, he was asked, What do you want to be remembered for?

And he said, As someone who didn't embarrass his friends, well done, Baxter.

You will be missed if you're a city dweller looking to get away from it all.

During the hot summer months, there is a place where water runs down a thousand foot canyon year round where bighorn sheep live, along with over 200 species of birds under shady cottonwood trees.

This is Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness If you're looking for as close as you can get anymore to a pristine riparian area in the southwest area, there's definitely one of the top one because it's kind of an oasis in the desert stuff migrating steps, stops through here.

You never know what you're going to see.

One time I saw a flock of pelicans actually got blown off course and landed in the creek I think the highlights of their canyon is water.

I mean, there's water in southeast Arizona and it's it's amazing.

It's beautiful with lush riparian and unique species of plants and animals and then their swale cactuses standing up next to these really big cliffs and running water.

I mean, it's just a really unique experience and it's fabulous.

We have about 19,000 acres of designated wilderness in every type of canyon with multiple site canyons that are easily accessible.

And you can definitely find yourself alone in this area and enjoy the solitude and the splendor of the location when you camp out here at night, it's quiet, it's peaceful.

There's not a sound anywhere.

All you hear is a little rustling in the brush, a little the creek bubbling by, but it's peaceful and quiet.

Maybe one of the most quiet places in Arizona.

It's a really pleasant water hike.

The water temperature is really pleasant and it's not too gravelly for most of it.

So it's a good, stable footing.

And it's nice that we can come here any time of year and enjoy it.

There's a lot of birds to see.

There's a lot to see.

If you sit still in our quiet and the canyons are very tall.

So it gives you a sense of feeling small this is a great view of the canyon it's a really unique system.

This creek and drainage drains three mountain ranges.

The glare of mountains to the south, the Santa Teresa is to the east, and then Mount Graham, the pinion mountains to the northeast and actually everything, you know, snowmelt and runoff comes down into the air of the valley, soaks into the ground and then emerges from springs here in arrow by the canyon and runs for about 20 miles through the air by the canyon wilderness a lot of people ask me, where is there a vibe this spring?

Where does it start?

And the answer is it depends.

It depends if it's been a wet year, or a dry year, today here this is this is where our Viper Creek starts.

And as we go downstream, it will gradually increase and the volume will become a lot more until we get down to the wilderness area.

So what did you find, Stacy?

We got six of the seven species.

We're still trying to get a Sonoran Air event.

The creek is actually the best native fishery, and Arizona has seven native native fish species.

So despite this and Loach Minnow, we're recently listed as endangered.

So or we would have been trying to trying to see how they're doing.

And actually they're doing pretty well in their Viper Creek.

This is one of the bigger fish that we can we find here.

It's called ground tailed chub.

It actually gets about a foot eight inches long.

If there's enough water this is my first time coming to Arizona and being from New York.

It's quite a drastic difference in scenery.

And the environment, especially the canyons, really incredible Mississippi like gorges and whatnot.

But the stark contrast between the plants and animals that live down in here into the river and out in the desert is very, very striking to me.

One of those there's marks on his back mark.

Are they is that some sort of.

Well, it's my first time here, and I think it's really beautiful.

When I moved to Arizona, I thought, oh, I'm going to escape all these allergies.

But here, there are so many plan And I wasn't expecting that at all.

But I think it's really pretty and it's very peaceful here as well.

This is called Horsetail or Miners.

Rush is another common name.

It's a it's a segmented rush.

Yeah.

That's hollow on the inside.

It looks like, you know what, in the old days when the cowboys used to hide from the Indians, it makes the straw and so they could breathe from under water.

We use it as an indicator species because it's susceptible to for trampling by people and cattle.

So if you see it in a in a riparian area like this, it's a sign that it's fairly healthy this is a wilderness area.

So, you know, anything can happen.

Definitely emphasize be prepared.

We're not going to be out here to take care of you or to come rescue yourself in trouble.

You should be able to get yourself out of trouble.

This is definitely a different world from, I believe, 90% of our daily lives.

You know, I mean, you come out here and you you rapidly forget about social media and your cell phone and and next thing you're just worried about food on your back and getting to camp.

And once you're there finding a good place to lay down and go to sleep.

That's the unique thing about wilderness areas.

They provide humanity an opportunity to do that, to get away and relax and and find some peace and quiet.

It's one of the reasons that I work here that that something magical like this can kind of happen in water comes out of the desert, you know, basically in the middle of nowhere and makes this great canyon and great riparian area that flows for another 20 miles downstream.

So so to me, it's really a neat process how it happens the hot and humid summer monsoon sends a lot of people looking for relief and cover indoors.

But if you're out and about, you may see some unusual creatures that actually thrive.

This time of year, many species of plants and animals have evolved to where they take advantage of the seasonal rains to live it up, find food even to procreate.

This is monsoon wildlife my name is Rene Lysaght and I am a keeper at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in the herpetology department.

The Desert Tortoise will become active during our monsoon season, and this is also the season that we often will see some breeding behavior between the two sexes of the tortoises.

So the males often approach the females and they initiate contact by bobbing their heads and touching noses.

And that's usually a tortoise.

Hello, as it were.

Chilly her eggs within a few weeks of mating and usually by the end of June they're laying their eggs and then the baby tortoises will emerge at the end of the monsoon season.

So right around the end of August, early September is when we're going to start seeing those baby tortoises come up they love grasses.

Grasses is probably their number one food source.

But then the annual plants would be the secondary food sources and fortunately, those are very available by the end of monsoon baby tortoises are predated upon by a lot of different things, whether small mammals will sometimes go after them some of the larger birds, like ravens or even thrashers, might go after the baby tortoises.

So it's a tough life.

You got to really blend in and stay out of trouble.

Oh, my name is Howard Byrne and I'm the invertebrate keeper here at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.

The giant desert hairy scorpion is one that is our largest scorpion of this region, and it's really closely associated as other animals with our rainy season.

So it stays deep underground, kind of following the moisture line as the rains come and starts soaking things, it moves closer up to the surface.

And by their summertime rains, when those are really in full force, by that time, it's on the surface looking for a mate, looking for food and doing its thing.

They're breeding cycle.

That's a really fun story because that scorpion will actually, like many scorpions, the males will actually do a little dance for the females.

To call her.

And then they will actually lay down a special object called a Spermatic four, and then they'll grab claws with her head.

It helps and they'll try to drag her over top of that to complete meetings.

If the mating goes well, the female will actually give live birth.

And in doing that, she will fold her legs underneath of her body, making what's called a birth basket.

The little ones drop into the birth basket and then crawl up on Mama's back and she takes care of them for a while.

So just her presence is a great way to deter predators from eating the little ones.

They don't do much, you know, while they're on the mother's back.

They don't eat, they don't do much of anything.

In fact, if you were to shine an ultraviolet light on the babies, they would not fluoresce where the adults do until they move to that exoskeleton.

Then they'll fluoresce underneath a UV light.

And then at that point, after they've molted, they will leave Mommy's back, disperse and go on, hunt on their own.

Hey, my name is Sandy Wright and I work for Pima County Natural Resources Parks and Recreation, and I'm an environmental educator some of the things we might see out and about are millipedes.

After a good rain event, we're usually early in the morning we see them.

Millipedes are arthropods.

They have a hard exoskeleton similar to insects and other similar species.

And like some other species of insects and arthropods, they lay eggs, but they don't take care of those eggs.

They lay the eggs and then move on.

And when the little babies hatch, they're pretty much on their own and can survive on their own.

Or though, although probably most of them don't survive, they're preyed upon by other species millipedes are harmless.

They're a great little creature to watch during the monsoon.

And so there's no reason to fear them.

You probably don't want to touch them, just like you don't want to touch other types of wildlife.

Watch from a distance is a good policy.

And they are vegetarians, unlike the centipedes that are carnivores.

And sometimes people confuse those two The giant Desert Centipede is probably, to me, one of our most exciting animals and it has great warning coloration.

It's a very willing and engaging predator.

No hesitation.

Sometimes tarantulas and other things can be a little hesitant about accepting prey, but the giant desert centipede is willing to engage, and it will eat almost anything.

It can overpower its breeding cycle is tied closely to that rainy season.

It's another one of those animals that stays deep underground.

They're going to wait for that moisture to reach closer to the surface when they are ready, the male and female will meet.

If that all goes well, she will lay eggs about a dozen or two eggs a little yellow eggs in a ball, and she will wrap around them and rest her head like some snakes will do right on top and protect those eggs.

She'll groom them and take care of them when they hatch.

They turn into little nymphs.

At that point, she'll stick around just a little longer and then they'll disperse and go their own way.

The vinegar rune or the whip scorpion is probably maybe by some people's standards, the ugliest and most awful intimidating looking creature we have.

The good news is it's not really around here where saguaros grow, but if you move down into dry grassland areas, right about where the oak line starts again during that rainy season, that's when you're going to come up.

That's what we're going to see them.

That's when you might, if you're lucky, on a nice, rainy, cool night, run into the vinegar in instead of using a stinger or any kind of venom that doesn't have any of those.

But what it does is it can squirt vinegar at whatever's bothering it.

So about 85% vinegar, just enough to irritate the eyes and the mucous membranes right into the eyes, mouth or nose of something that's bothering it is usually enough to have a smell and a taste that can change your predator's mind about whether that animal is on the menu.

The vinegar runes are going to be mating during that rainy season.

The male is going to get caught with the female and mate with her.

Then he's going to leave and have nothing to do with the situation anymore.

When mom has eggs, they're going to be attached to her abdomen.

When those hatch much like the Scorpion story, they're going to crawl up under her back.

And then at some point over the next few weeks, they're going to disperse and go about their business, finding food My name is John Wiens.

I'm nursery horticulturist at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.

I'm in the Department of Botany The monsoon means a whole lot for the plants and everything that's associated with these plants.

Of course, nothing lives out here in a vacuum.

The plants are here because there's pollinators and the pollinators are here because there's plants.

And when the plants bloom, the pollinators thrive.

The pollinators start to reproduce.

The plants are reproducing and it's just a wonderful time of the year.

And the monsoon is a great time to see butterflies.

Many different species in Arizona.

Some of them are migratory.

Some are ones that just barely make it up into southern Arizona.

There's local resident butterflies, the birds, all kinds of little critters out there in the desert.

The monsoon is a great time of year to get out there and do some wildlife watching because many of these species, that's the only time we may see them active.

However, be careful when you're out there, especially near thunderstorms, you want to be careful and not go outdoors during those times, but otherwise get out there and enjoy our Arizona wildlife Before we go, here's a sneak peek at a story we're working on We're in clearly a housing explosion right now in terms of rent increases.

And the sad reality is, is that because the state legislature has a preemption in place, It's also the fact that we have virtually no local investors who are putting money into our housing stock and upgrading them.

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Thanks for joining us here on Arizona Illustrated.

We leave you now with some cool thoughts and scenes video we've never shown you before.

The beautiful snow covered Rincon Mountains from back in 2019.

We hope this serves as a reminder that no matter how hot and humid it may be in southern Arizona right now, it won't last forever.

The seasons do change Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week.