The Bench

As you enter into Dripping Springs there is a long flat bench area on top that looks down on the road going to Chicken Corner and the Colorado River. That's the area that Jax and I are searching for cattle on this Friday. We did about four miles Wednesday and Thursday and probably a little more on this day.

While the views on the bench were kind of boring not so if you looked down.

Two Mysteries, One Solved, One Not So Much

Last week or so Jax and I came back from hiking and found a skunk in the office trash can. As it came out of the trash can and saw us it sprayed. But it never really stunk that much. Teresa and I started bringing the large porch trash can into the kitchen each evening as with darkness the raccoons would tip it over each evening. When we ran out of guests for the winter we just left it in the kitchen. Not long after the skunk sprayed in the office I emptied the office trash can into the large trash can and since that day the large trash can has smelled like skunk. It finally hit me that when it sprayed in the office it sprayed into the office trash can and once I emptied the trash into the large trash can I simply transferred the smell.

When Jax and I got back from Dripping Springs I noticed the mat from the bottom of one set of porch stairs was about two feet from where it usually is.

Looking at where it use to be, something was digging a tunnel and came up where the mat was and to get out pushed it a couple feet away.

Dripping Springs

On Wednesday Jax and I did Jackson Hole and today, Thursday, we're doing Dripping Springs. We hike back into Dripping to check for cows in the first canyon on the right where the mines are and we've seen cows back there before. We find one but not going to do Curtis much good and looks like it's been there for awhile.

Then we head back deeper into Dripping.

When we run out of cow tracks we head back hiking down the creek where the only water sources might be.

No signs of cows there recently so we climb back up the bluff to take the trail back to where I parked the side by side. Lots of tracks going out of Dripping Springs but none coming in and all in the last three or four days.

Cows at Jackson Hole

I call Curtis to see if he's pushed the cows down Lockhart so I can open the cattle gates. He says yes but he's missing some and have I seen them. I aay I haven't but over the next few days Jax and I will go look. So the following morning Jax and I drive the Polaris with a front window out to Jackson. It's still kind of cold and that one has a little more ground clearance. Jackson Hole took a beating like I did with the last storm. It's a 12 mile loop. Four miles out to the loop intersection, four miles around, and four miles back. We park at the loop intersection where there are seven cows.

As we're hiking around the loop we see the hiking trail going up the Amasa Back called Jackson Ladder where the shade is in the picture. It's also a bicycle trail but it's a "hike a bike". In the second picture high up above on the ledges is the Jeep trail Cliff Hanger. Hard to imagine.

Back to the side by side. Plan on hiking from town next month at some point. I do that and I'm back to where I was before the summer illness. So just four miles on this day but I feel pretty good and found seven cows.

My Friend Every Morning

Stuff

My friend waiting to go hiking and he is almost always rewarded.

I got an email from Doug Smith regarding the tournament the 7th and 8th of March. Nearly sold out but usually there are some people that drop out between now and tournament time so your odds are high that the 30 something people on the waiting list will have a spot. I should add I've always set aside the 2nd weekend in March for the tournament. This is sort of the 2nd weekend in that Saturday the 7th is the first Saturday in March but Sunday is the second Sunday in March. I only have eight rentals and like season ticket holders I let them renew for a rental first for the tourney. If they don't take it then I open it up. Back in July and August when I was sick and not well at all three of the eight rented for the 2nd complete weekend in March and I was too ill to pay attention. So I took the second partial weekend in March for the tourney and even one of those had rented. Then I read on the sign up page on Disc Golf Scene that somebody mentioned to Doug that someone else had already announced a tournament for the 7th and 8th and were giving Doug the inquisition about not sticking to the 2nd complete weekend. That is my fault. To make sure it doesn't happen again I will block the next three years dates on the booking sites for the 2nd complete weekend in March for the disc golf tournament.

I've noticed a lot of pulled out grass in front of the skunk hole. I think my morning friend has stomach issues. Plus, four times I've seen it go to spray, or it appears that way, I can see it's butt hole open up wide and nothing comes out. I have this feeling as in the scene from Groundhog Day where Bill Murray tried to keep the old man alive that's what I'm doing, Just keeping the skunk alive with it's hot dogs each morning.

Offers to buy the whole place but only want to sell the orth side.

Singing Bush

Flipping channels I came across Three Amigoes playing. When the scene came to the Singing Bush it hit me I have three of those. Each morning at a bush by the truck parking, by the west end of the front porch and in the back yard, song birds gather in each of those bushes to sing and gossip. The tempo varies between slow and fast and they are all talking at the same time. It's really enjoyable to wonder what the conversation is about. Here are two of them.