Thirty One

Usually when we catch a rock squirrel it's early afternoon and I put it in the laundry room until I feed Kobae and then take it to Dripping Springs. However last night Kobae didn't come across the drive way to eat until 8pm. By the time I got the squirrel to Dripping Springs it only had an hour plus of daylight to hole up and find a safe place. I felt bad about it but got it there as soon as I could. I rarely see a rock squirrel anymore looking out my office window but I hear them running around on the porch so my job is not done.

On Wednesday

While I'm lacing up my boots at 5am Wed morning two baby skunks are running up and down the porch chasing each other. Jax leaves them alone having experienced the not leaving them alone three times. We take the side by side out to The Step on the way to Jackson Hole and then hike out to the long since abandoned lightning shelter at Prommell Oil well.

Then head back to beat the sun to the side by side.

On the way back the Saddle is perfectly sandwiched between the twin towers and we arrive at the side by side just as the sun is coming up the road.

The Holy Books of Tom

Ryan and Chaucie who did an AI book, #1, about developers invading the area and Kobae, Jax, and I fending them off have created a second coloring book. Heather ran across this on Amazon. https://a.co/d/01eMHFcV There's probably a way to highlight it but I couldn't find it. Tom

Cowbirds

The day the red-winged blackbirds leave is the day the cowbirds show up. The red-wings sound like aliens and the cowbirds like R2D2. Life sucks to be a yellow headed blackbird. Once the cowbirds find them they follow them everywhere. Two with such bad luck.

Number 30 to Dripping Springs

Tuesday

When I got the stomach illness last summer I was pretty much bed ridden the whole summer and lost 30 pounds doing so. Couldn't eat anything. After my doctor got it figured out and solved the issue I had lost a lot of upper body strength and conditioning. I was hoping to get better fast enough to get dropped off in town and hike back but I never felt like I regained the stamina to attempt it. I'm gonna try it before the end of the year so better start getting in shape again. Best time to do that is barely daylight before the sun hits. On Tuesday Jax and I took the side by side to the bottom of Hurrah and hiked up to the balance rock and back. I think I could have made it to the top but I didn't want to take a chance on not getting back before the sun hit.

The three fires, west, east, and south are mostly gone now but there is still some smoke drifting in on occasion.

When the dog groomer was out Teresa and I gave Jax a couple of haircuts. When she returned she has to cut his hair real short because we butchered it so badly he didn't look right.

Just the Boys

Teresa left on Tuesday to visit friends and head to New York for the rest of the summer so for the next almost two months it's just the boys. Kobae, Jax, and I.