Kobae Thursday: Good Day for Kobae

In addition to getting to chase some dogs Kobae is a social attraction. I'm showing about one fifth of the people that came out to see him today.

Kobae Wednesday

Most folks that are out hiking with Kobae are avoiding him knowing what happens with canine contact but he gets lucky every now and then.

Kobae Tuesday: The Fight to Go Home

Kobae is pretty easy to walk with until it's time to go home. Whether it's Tierrasanta or Base Camp, it's a battle. It's nothing personal. He just likes to hike and he doesn't see the future that when the sun goes down it's going to be dark and cold this time of year at least. I just recorded the first part of the battle. It went on for 14 more minutes before he finally decided to quit fighting and then he was great.

Kobae Tuesday, Easy Day

Surprise

I checked the Moab forecast for the week showing between 24 degrees and negative 8. Then I checked San Diego and it was in the 60's. I drove up to Salt Lake, picked up Linny and drove 12 more hours to San Diego. Kobae got out for a little bit on Sunday but it rained most of yesterday so his dog chasing was limited. The rest of the week however is looking good so I suspect for the next couple days Linster and I will have some good dog introduction videos and I expect Koabe to have his usual curiosity so I've stuck $5, $10, and $20s in my wallet to pay for all the future broken solar lights and sprinkler heads.

Closure

While I was doing all my Christmas Eve activities this afternoon there was a helicopter flying around a little bit north of me and on the other side of the river. It's been five years since Brody Young was shot nine times by Lance Arellano. Brody shot back and thought he hit him and then went into a coma. I was with SWAT teams pretty much every day while Brody fought for his life. Searchers found a rifle, backpack, tracks, and a t-shirt made into a tourniquet indicating Brody did hit him. A week later the search was called off and Arrellano was never found. Linny donated all her money into a fund for Brody and a couple years later when Brody was mostly recovered came all the way out here to thank Linny. Brody will be carrying some bullets in him for the rest of his life but today at least the wondering of whatever happen to Arellano is over. Linny and I emailed Brody this evening wishing him a Merry Christmas and here's hoping there's some closure for him in today's find.

http://www.grandcountysheriff.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=74

Christmas Eve

I suspect my Christmas Eve was much like yours. Where you had ornaments I went out and took the sign down off the gate and propped it open because the cows are gone. Then while you were on the internet tracking Santa to see when he might show up I remembered this time the last two years a mountain lion had come down from on top and taken a deer in the canyon next to the lodge so I was doing some tracking myself to see if I was going to have some unannounced company. Then it's time to put the presents out so I got a couple of shovels and walked around the front area of the lodge picking up all the presents that the badger, raccoons, and mainly foxes had left. I'm looking to see what they have eaten to make sure there is no conflict on the front porch and I haven't lost a ringtail or skunk. I haven't. Then there's the lights. With bad weather coming I walked down to the pump house and checked to make sure the flame was still going on the heater so the pump wouldn't freeze. So, who knew? Living all the way out here in the boonies and my Christmas Eve wasn't any different than yours.

Something Else

I want to buy something else. I'm going to keep Base Camp. I want another one, or two. Something in the boonies with few people. In time pays it's own way. Something you can own, surrounded by a whole bunch of stuff you don't have to pay for. I told my agent find me something nobody knows what to do with, unique, and unusual. Going to be a lot of looking going on.

Mill Canyon: (Dinosaur Bone Trail)

As if the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Track Site wasn't special enough, about a mile away is a quarter mile or so long trail called the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Bone Trail. That's right a whole trail explaining and showing various dinosaur bones sticking out of a ridge.

Front Porch: Not So Scary

Tiffany's: Kamikaze

A blur shot over the hill and straight into the bush on the right side of Tiffany's. I saw it through the office window. By the time I got out the front door and heading across the driveway I didn't know where the predator was but I knew there would be songbirds inside the bushes. The camera was knocked over and everybody was gone, almost everybody. There was still movement in the bush. I walked around it and the small Sharp-shinned came blowing out of the bush. When I looked down there was still a male House finch lying on the ground next to the bush with one wing extended. I gather the House finch up and took it in the office. In previous situations like this they just need some time to get their act together again and they are usually fine.

After they are fine is the trick. I had six Junco's flying around the office at one time a couple years ago. Pull the blinds up just a little bit so they'll come down and investigate and then while they are pressed up against the window you can catch them and release them.

Tiffany's: Scary Times

On Sunday the Cooper's hawk made a couple of lazy flyovers but the small Sharp-shinned made several real fast runs over the site seeing if it would get luck and all the little people's nerves are on end.

Two Trains, Going Home

From Two Trains

Two Trains

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Both the large Cooper's hawk and the smaller Sharp-shinned hawk have become quite a nuisance but best I can recall for this year I've only lost three songbirds all year to birds of prey. Considering they've made hundreds if not thousands of runs at the songbirds we're doing pretty well. If it's a day where Sarah and I aren't going hiking I'll as likely as not sit on the front porch and read with the Go Pro on just in case something happens and it almost never does but occasionally......

Saturday 5:15 a.m.

It was busy on the porch last night and especially this morning. From 2:30am until nearly 7am there was somebody eating out of the bowl. A few hissing events, some foxes barking at each other, somebody chasing somebody across the roof and somebody moved in under the bathtub. I heard small steps running a little at 5am so got dressed and went out to feed what I thought was the smaller skunk. My flashlights held the foxes in pretty good light but when I transferred it from the Go Pro they don't show up.

Every Morning Four A.M.

It's too cold to stand outside and wait for the ringtails, skunks, and foxes now so I leave the bowl full of Kit & Kaboodle just before dark and then check it before going to bed because if the raccoons or badger come they pretty much drain the bowl so I refill it. I put two hot dogs under the porch for the skunks and four in the rafters for the ringtails. If any of them are gone prior to bed I refill them also. Still, each morning right about 4am I hear the food bowl banging on the front porch. The bowl is eaten down so far that the baby skunk can't get the food so as he leans over it he tips it with his neck, grabs some food and then moves back to eat and swallow it and the bowl hits the ground. By about the second whack I'm dressed and outside to feed my friend. I've just fed it a hot dog and it always takes the same route to get under the porch.

Cooper's Hawk

We've seen this guy/gal pretty regularly over the last month flying up and down this side of the river a couple miles in each direction. Four times I chased it off today but as soon as it hears the door open it takes right off. A much smaller Sharp-shinned that you saw on video a few days ago does the same but it will dive right down into the bush while the Cooper's sits on top and waits for something to run.

Droning

Jamie who stayed here a few months ago with his drone put some footage together and it's nicely done.

Tuesday Morning

Monday Evening

White-tailed Antelope Squirrel

White-crowned Sparrow Dispute

Sunday Evening

Pot Hole Arch

Pot Holes

I'm reading through one of the ten or so dinosaur books I've been going through and it says when you find pot holes look more carefully because in many instances if they are about the same size and spaced the same they are likely dinosaur footprints. A few years ago when I did the grid search of the Amasa Back and found the leftovers of a small village I searched for where they might have gotten water and found hundreds of pot holes less than a mile from where they lived but I never looked at them as if I was looking for tracks so today on our journey to Pot Hole Arch I'll be returning to the location and see if I can find some tracks out of it.

Just Some Stuff

Sarah Got Run Over by a Reindeer

Sarah got run over by a reindeer on her way home from Amasa Back.

Amasa Back

The Journey Back From Three Guys

Thirty One Seconds

Petrified Wood Fire

Critter and Dino Tracks

Linny and I thought we found dinosaur tracks last time we went to Three Guys on a Roller Coaster but didn't have the time to check it out so this time showing Sarah the way to get there we did. Was a little bit of a climb to get to them and I can't find the video that should accompany it but they appear to be mostly critters coming to a watering hole and one good set of dino prints next to them coming to get the critters. Just the night before I had read in one of the dino books if you find petrified wood it's almost a done deal there was a spring or water source there where critters came to drink and dinosaurs came to eat critters and we did find petrified wood right next to the tracks.

Journey to Three Guys on a Roller Coaster

Cometh the Sharp-shinned Hawk

Breakfast at Tiffanys

The Red-winged blackbirds have returned in force and when they arrive they take over the feeding areas. It doesn't take long after they leave for the House finches to come for sunflower seeds and the White-crowned sparrows for the bird seed when they leave.

Mill Canyon Tracksite (Algae)

Mill Canyon Tracksite (Ornithopod)

Mill Canyon Tracksite (Sauropod?)

Mill Canyon Tracksite (Geology)

About Mill Canyon Tracksite