Unknown Cause

I'm feeding Kobae on the front porch with my fly swatter at hand. Kobae draws the flies when he comes to the porch. It's dangerous hand feeding him while trying to whack flies. However on this day, no flies show up. That's unheard of. When I'm done I go to water the plants and when I walk down to the west end of the porch all the flies are at the skunk hole. Too many. Something has died. It happened once before a few years ago and we found a dead medium size skunk in here after pulling up the porch boards. This time it was one of mother's babies. There are two sets of kids on the front porch each evening and her four are bigger than the others so I know it's one of hers.

Ze, Tiago and I pull him out. The process to go to the wildlife vs wildlife cemetary is plastic bag it, plastic bag it again, did the hole, three to four feet, lower it in the hole, half way fill it up with dirt, put pepper in it, fill it the rest of the way up, more pepper towards the top, and then a heavy roc or rocks on top of it. All you can to keep something from digging it up. Still after the first night you can see where something tried to dig it up but reached the pepper and the rock fell in on the hole and the burial has survived.

It Continues

Open up a grill or two, open up a room not used since the storm and they are all more work to do.

Moab

Jax and I are picking up Ze and Tiago (family) in Moab. We get errands done and have a little time so went over to a couple of local hikes but it was brutally hot so didn't stay long. Glad to have somebody at the lodge. I picked up a wood sliver in my foot a few days ago and haven't been able to get it out. I can't see where it's located so I'm just taking clippers and clipping away trying to get it but mostly skin and blood. Next morning Ze pushes it out from one of the pot holes I left with the clippers and it's feeling much better.

5:30am

We got a late start so I'm a little nervous we'll get stuck in the sun on the hike back down Hurrah which warms the day up quickly. But the valley is filled with smoke. I checked the Utah Fire Map yesterday and they were mostly all out but it's coming from somewhere. As it worked out it kept the sun down and we picked up a breeze on the way back down so a good morning of hiking as it turns out.

Jax: Sense of Smell

One day Jax and I are hiking up Hurrah Pass. He picks up a smell that has walked across the road. He starts following it up the ledges. I follow him to see what he's so curious about. It's a scorpion. Little one. Somehow Jax picked up the scent and followed it. On this day Jax and I are hiking up Hurrah and we're taking a water break out of the canteens. Then Jax lays in the shade about ten feet from me. While I'm sitting there I pick a little scab off my knee and the slightest whiff of blood shows up somewhere and Jax knows immediately and comes over and starts licking it. He's amazing.

Little Things

I have five kinds of lizards. Fence lizard is the smallest. No point in getting to know them as everybody else eats them. Side-blotched I've had lots of fun with over the years and even became friends with some of them. Who's Up, What's Up, and Little Up. They own the porches and the walls above them. Whip tailed lizards. All female, they clone themselves, they simulate the act but it's all cloning themselves. They are lightning quick and I've never been able to catch one. They have real sensitive bellies and they sit in the bushes until they feel movement in the ground and then dig the crickets up and eat them. Their only known predator is the Leopard lizard. Leopard's are yellow with black spots, red spots if they are pregnant. They show up rarely just to eat Whip-tails. I saw one catch one years ago and it slowly swallowed it. It took about an hour. They aren't too far apart in size. Collard lizard is the largest kind I have. They rarely visit the lodge. They are all kinds of colors and have a black collar around their neck. I saw a leopard snatch a side blotched today and take off. A side blotched that's been on the porch for a couple years. Jax took off after the leopard and it dropped the side-blotched who blew back to the porch and dive in a post hole.

There are four identifiable raccoons that stand out. Mother, who is just pure evil, you can see it in her eyes. Another had some hair missing on it's left butt cheek, thanks to a disagreement with Mother, one raccoon whos stands up a lot, and another that just has one eye, well it has two eyes but it can't see out of the left one and when you shine a headlamp on it there is no reflection from it's left eye. You throw it a hot dog and if it goes past one eye it can't see it and a different raccoon will get it. However the last few nights two of Mother's babies show up way early. They wander all over the place unaware there are rules about where they can go, but Jax is teaching them. They stayed all night last night and didn't leave until daylight as Jax and I were leaving to go hiking.

I've got some units that need cleaning and I don't want to do it. Also all the grills that survived are filthy. I called Sonya who worked here for awhile and she declined. I called Wands and haven't gotten a call back. I was in town and went to see Johnny across the street from Village Market and they said he retired a couple years ago and lives in an old folks home. I'm six or so years older than him. There are two more who said they would work here but I've fired both of them in previous years and I don't want to do it again. I guess it's me.

More Damage

Jax and I left to go hiking about 5:30 this morning. Kobae was sitting outside before the sun hits as we walked by his house. When we got up on top to the Hogan that Doug owns two of the out buildings were gone. Flattened and lying on the ground with outdoor furniture scattered about.

We leave Doug's and continue our hike. Looking across the river as I recall there use to be 12 tents, now there are five.