Fielder Arch

Out behind Chicken Corner.

The Road

After some folks complained to VRBO that I mislead them on the road, despite sending out the same warning and directions for ten years, they show up in a small truck overloaded with stuff on their month long journey. When this happens occasionally I tell them not to yell at me because somewhere out there Karma is listening and the next vehicle or two that pull up will make them look bad. This time was no exception. I loaded all their stuff in my truck and had their empty truck follow me to within a couple miles of town and magically there were no issues with the road on the way back. Didn't stop them from compaining after I went above and beyond. Next two vehicles.

The Season

 March, April, and May is the busiest time of the season and it was a pretty good three months. Seems things have almost returned to normal. I hear the same thing when I'm in town.

Now the busy season is over until September so a lot of time is available to explore as there will be few guests the coming three months. If you sort it out the summer isn't so bad. Do your exploring in the mornings and evenings when it's cool. During the 11am to 4pm go to the river, the Wind Caves, get on a side by side and get some air on you, or turn the AC on in your room and catch up on reading, sleep, or work if need be. Turns into two five hour days.

I'm 74 not and Jax is 86 so we're picking our hiking time with care to make sure we don't over do it. It's been 20 years out here for me and 12 for Jax and it's still amazing. Right now we just get a few random vehicles pull up the drive way each day to see what this is and the amazement on their faces is still enjoyable.

As Usual, Not Over Yet

 As I'm driving to town yesterday to get food for Kobae, a haircut, gas, and Jax's butt swelled up, he had cancer a few years ago, they said they got it all but it might come back, so taking Jax to the vet, the truck starts cutting out and barely makes it up Hurrah Pass. I drop trash, drop a side by side tire with a sidewall flat, non fixable, I take Jax to the Vet. They are booked but if I leave him whenever the vet has a free moment he'll check him out. I call Chris, mechanic, to tell him truck not running well and bring it to his place. "Squirrels", he says. Ate some plug wires. Doing the math, $1400 in squirrel wire repairs the last eight months. 

Jax doesn't have cancer and he'll be ok. What a relief. After 12 years together I'd be devastated. 

Teresa dropped off a blue tail when we were in town and Jax and I dropped off two more. That makes seven in the last eight days or so. I'm starting to see a difference around the property but I also saw a very small one on the front porch so they've had their babies. #7 Blue tail and #8.

Blue Tails #2, #3, #4, and #5.

 Caught four more rock squirrels, painted their tells blue and dropped them off in Dripping Springs and so far none have come back. It's some work and some side by side wear and tear in addition to drive round trip 50 minutes out and back to drop them off but it seems to be working.

Blue Tail to Dripping Springs

 In the early days I'd catch rattlesnakes and take them to the intersection of Lockhart Basin and Chicken Corner and release them. They'd be back about a week later. Didn't paint them they just came back to the same place they got caught originally. I read up on them and learned that the Midget Faded or Faded Midget, I've seen them listed both ways, never went more than a mile from where they were born. They had some sort of beacon in them that kept them grounded to their birth neighborhood. Thinking about it I figured the beacon had to be a straight line. I started taking them three turns toward Chicken Corner where now they have to swim the river three times to get back. To add to it, down a fairly tough slope to get next to the river. They don't come back anymore. 

 There's something telling the rock squirrels where home is. I assume it's the smell of the river or the prominent saddle rock formation across the river that assists them in returning to the lodge. We caught the blue tailed one again and this time Jax and I took him way back into Dripping Springs, past the Wind Caves, where it can't see The Saddle and has several water springs to mitigate the smell of river water. When I use to drop them at the Train Station part way up Hurrah Pass, Jax would chase them off into the distance and be gone four or five minutes. He's never caught one but it keeps them from heading back to the side by side. Dropping the first one off in Dripping Springs there is so much cover the chase lasted about 15 seconds.

Moratorium

 I've taken a couple day moratorium on catching rock squirrels while trying to figure out what to do next. Can't leave them all here and I don't want to kill anything though they have done significant damage to my trucks wires, cisterns, and even Kobae's house has some tunnels going down into it. Got to do something. So until I figure it out Jax and I are going hiking.

While generally things are going pretty well and bookings are climbing back up after last year's disaster as is most of Moab it appears we have one more critter issue. At the 9:30 pm critter feeding we have one raccoon, we call "Mother", is a problem. She's been coming to the porch for nightly feedings for several years. All critters have designated spots to eat. The raccoons own the left side of the porch, the skunks own the right, ringtails the rafters, gray fox the left side of the parking lot and red fox the right side of the parking lot. Jax keeps them in their places but Mother ignores the rules. She does whatever she wants. I can wack her with the broom and she doesn't care. She took a skunk hot dog and the skunk sprayed her three times in the face. She calmly took the hot dog, washed it in the water bowl, then went out in the parking lot to try and steal a fox hot dog. I'm constantly on her. It's draining. She's next after we figure out the rock squirrel issue.

Feeding the critters has always been fun. There are a few days where it's not so much.