Sunday, April 29, 2012

Family Portrait

Who's Up on the left with her male friend, "What's His Name?" As future lizard in law, Tom already doesn't like him.

This Is The One

They come from everywhere, one at a time, or in groups, to play this course. That's right, eleven people, six dogs, one vehicle, over Hurrah. http://www.dgcoursereview.com/reviews.php?id=2774&mode=rev

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Fly Shortage



The fly shortage has gotten so severe Who's Up has crossed the driveway trying to get Kobae to come to the porch to eat.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Ladies




After 48 hours of hiking, ATVing, kayaking, viewing the planets, watching the sky, maybe a little bit of alcohol, some redecorating, and singing a final song to Kobae (Don't Fence Me In), the ladies depart Base Camp.

Who's Upsssssss

Sometime in the next two to four months there will be lots of Who's Ups running around. Tom is nervous. No not because he's going to become an adopted lizard grandfather, because despite Kobae making a mess every time he eats, Base Camp already has a fly shortage and with lots of future Who's Ups running around the competition for flies will be intense.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Saturday, April 21, 2012

The Death of ATV #3




Shortly after returning from taking the river injury to the Emergency Room Tom is informed a Base Camp guest has crashed on Hurrah Pass and the ATV has gone off the pass. Missing the corner, the guest jumped a second before ATV #3 disappeared over the side and is safe. As darkness falls on this Saturday night ATV #3 lies a couple hundred feet off the side of Hurrah. The video tells the story.

The Sandbar

As the Girl Scouts are checking out Tom can hear the familiar sound of the morning Tag-A-Long boat coming up the river. Generally they stop in the river and give a little info talk to their river guests about Base Camp, Caveman Ranch across the river, and Last Hurrah to the North. Today Tom hears the boat slam to a stop. Tag-A-Long has hit a sandbar and hit it hard. Going to the shore Tom hears people on the boat saying somebody needs to go to the hospital. Kayaking out to the boat with a two man kayak the injured man is placed in the kayak with Tom. Tom paddles to shore and with Base Camp guests considerable help gets the injured man in the truck for transport to the hospital. Upon Tom's return he sees a second Tag A Long boat trying to extract the first one from the sandbar. A broken rope, a broken window, and four plus hours later it comes free.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Thursday Morning


We haven't been fed yet. Just saying......

In the River

The Double-crested Cormorants who have hung out at the river all day aren't disturbed when the jet boat goes by but when the wake, perhaps six inches high comes, they are gone.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Things That Fly (Or sort of)

Survivors




Survivors of the moth sack.

Double-crested Cormorant


Roughly ninety Double-crested Cormorants hang out at the river.

Eurasian Collared Dove


Eurasian Collared Dove hangs out on the back porch.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Future Skipper of the Titantic

Side Blotched (Not Who's Up)



Moth Sack




Hanging from the Cottonwood tree is this moth sack. Just outside of it are the caterpillars who have so far emerged.

Twenty Four White Crowned Sparrows

Tom rarely see the Juncos anymore having been apparently driven out by the White Crowned Sparrows who keep adding numbers.

That Ain't All Flies, Maybe Babies

Sometimes It's Better To Say Nothing At All

Friday, April 13, 2012

Courtesy of Karen



Three Fingers





Courtesy of Karen

Stairway to Heaven




Courtesy of Karen

Dinosaur Footprints


Courtesy of Karen

Lizard Wars




Just off the porch, the battle between lizards for position is an everyday, sometimes all day, occurrence, and once won, the victor shows off with a demonstration of strength. Courtesy Karen.

Still Eating Them Up

The fear isn't that some predator will get Who's Up, it's that she's so used to eating off the fly swatter that she hangs out by the front door all the time waiting for the next meal. The fear is with so much human traffic on the porch and her reluctance to get out of the way that the nearly three year ride comes to sole of a shoe conclusion. Courtesy Karen.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Big Horn Trail

Karen, Andrew, and Tom travel the Big Horn Trail from near Stairway to Heaven to above the Wind Caves finding several large pieces of petrified wood along the way.




Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Your Assignment


Your assignment Mr Phelps, should you decide to accept it, is to tell us, on the dusty journey of three ATV's to Chicken Corner this afternoon, who was leading the convoy, who was in the middle, and who rode the 3rd ATV? Should you be captured or unable to figure out the question, Base Camp will of course disavow any knowledge or acquaintance of you.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

A Day





Karen and Andrew's morning is four and a half hours by kayak from town to Base Camp and the afternoon two hours of Chicken Corner.