Saturday

We are Sharp-shinned free for the third morning in a row. I'm hopeful my last tennis ball throw which didn't hit the Sharp-shinned but knocked some leaves off the tree right next to it has startled it enough that it will search for other locations to hunt. In the last Sharp-shinned battled that went on for months, it was personal. I'm hoping this doesn't get there. On Friday Kobae wanted to get down to the beach but the trail was too steep for him so I spent the morning cleaning the hogans and the afternoon down at the river cutting tamarisk and weeds as well as building some better stairs down to the beach. The mosquitoes have diminished to the point of not having to worry about sacrificing a pint of blood to get down there. Mom ringtail drops her kids off each night in the rafters of the back porch likely knowing I'll feed them hotdogs and take care of them while she goes out to hunt. They are up there until about 4am each morning when she returns to lead them back down to the river where all the night people live. The primary reason the ringtail mom has put them on the back porch is there is also a mother on the front porch with kids to feed and at the moment she rules.