Thursday, April 28, 2011

Side Blotch 1, Carpenter Bee 0



70 plus




After four or five days of 50 degree weather, Thursday hits mid 70's and The Man finally emerges into the sunlight.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Pot of Gold

Tom thinks he knows where the dead guy with the $30,000 reward is...........

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Friday, April 22, 2011

The Leopard


The leopard lizard has a row of pearly whites that make a shark look like a guppy and when he clamps down it's fairly memorable. However, once you've gotten him used to your touch, petting, tickling under the chin, and got him trained, they won't leave your side and will just hang out on your shirt or shoulder all day. While the collared lizard has more personality the leopard because of his devotion has become the favorite of Linny and Tom. This guy spent a large chunk of the day on Tom's shoulder and when let down, wouldn't leave, and finally had to be caught twice and then taken back to his original stomping ground.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Lunch


Kobae didn't come out of his house for four days. When he did, seven head of lettuce, eight bananas, seven apples, three cucumbers, and four zucchini disappeared into the bottomless pit under his shell. Good thing African Spurs don't hibernate. Imagine lunch after four months of winter.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Negotiation

Each year three or four side blotch lizards negotiate their spot on the front porch for the summer. Such negotiation has been going on all morning.

Sunday Morning Signs of Spring





Saturday Linster

Number 5, in the pink shoes, the girl with the swagger, runs back to play defense on the throw in, swings out wide on the interception, takes the shot, blocked, gets the rebound, takes the shot, blocked again, and moves on. (click on the four arrows in the bottom right hand corner to expand the screen)

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Not



Bath day, Kobae's favorite day.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Sweep and Out of Order




The Hayduke Trail begins in Arches and takes a round a bout way to Zions. Some is road, much is a GPS coordinate. Those that attempt this challenging undertaking have hearts that barely fit in their chests. These are the wandering spirits of the Hayduke Trail and the best kind of people you will ever meet. Today Sweep and Out of Order have come to Base Camp to top off with water before the next leg of their journey the 50 something miles to Needles OutPost and it's unlikely they'll see anybody along the way.

Here is the Hayduke: http://www.hayduketrail.org/

The Night




While the disc tournament days went well, not so much for the nights. Thursday night required retrieving belongings of two disc'ers that walked to the lodge from Hurrah. Friday night was a lost disc golfer who had taken a wrong turn on an old uranium mine road. Just prior to attempting the hairpin turn Lissa, on the downhill side of the front seat, ask Tom if he was sure he'd make it and Tom said "At worst we'll roll twice." The road gave out under the right rear wheel of the truck and it was a little closer than it should have been. Lissa spent the next 30 minutes directing Tom 2 inches back and 1 inch forward over and over again until Tom was able to make the hairpin off camber in reverse and they retrieved the lost disc'er. On Monday morning Tom was on Hurrah re-examining the hairpin in the daylight. In retrospect while Tom believes the two roll maximum to still be true, it's only because the balance of the journey would have been straight down. If you're out there somewhere Lissa, whoops, sorry bout that.

Kobae Loves to Chase the Dogs

Today is a cold day and Kobae isn't quite warmed up so the chase is a little slower than usual.

Disc Golf Weekend





They came from Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah for two days of disc. While on the course the beer you leave behind is vulnerable to pirates and alcoholics. The smart ones left their coolers to be protected by the best, the always vigilant guardian, Kobae, the security tortoise.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Words Don't Work

Patrick Bates photo. Mother Earth did the rest.

Monday, April 4, 2011

This is Monday Evening

Red Sky

Lasting for but an hour or two, four or five times a year, the fury of the wind turns the sky to red.