The Not So Magic of the Spotted Skunk

The Magic of Ringtail

I've many times heard a lizard running down the porch from inside the lodge, a small dog barking at the lodge while I was on top of the Amasa Back, and a guy go over the handlebars of his bicycle coming down the sand hill from the front porch of Base Camp. When you're in this environment all the time you become part of it. I've seen the smallest of spiders wrap up an ant from beyond the sidewalk and recognized the bird passing over by it's shadow. I've climbed to The Crack. However it all pales in comparison. When the ringtails don't want to be heard, they can't be. When they don't want to be seen, they can't be. When they want to climb, they are gifted like no other. While I was sitting on the porch listening for the next ringtail to show up I heard the hot dog package move slightly but two feet to my right on the water cooler. Turning on the flashlight a ringtail had come right by me and was taking hot dogs out of the package with no assistance from me. I give you the magic of ringtail.

The Beach

More Nightly Ritual

The Nightly Ritual

The River: Elsie, Rachel, and Tom

Ringtail Kids Playing

Busy Night on the Back Porch

For the third consecutive summer a mama ringtail brings her babies up to the back porch and places them high in the rafters for those on the back porch to babysit while she goes out.

Busy Night on the Front Porch

The Usual Stuff

The internet at the lodge has been our for four or five days and the guy won't be here until Tuesday. Probably critters chewing on wires so I'm next door using the internet. Critters also got two guest vehicles in the last month and my jeep (twice), truck (twice), and the generator. I was putting mothballs on duct tape in them and it was working fine and it was so effective I thought they'd learned there lesson. I quit doing it and they got me. So now I'm spraying "Critter Be Gone" and it's working pretty good so far.

Tag A Long got a boat stuck in front of the lodge.

Got some rain finally.

Base Camp Trials Club: (Together Again)

Two Trains

Linny, Nicole, Steve, and myself climb to Two Trains.

Stuff

Recovering still from my previous two weeks of medical issues I take my first short hike with Rachel to Star Ship Enterprise.

The porch is full of rock squirrels for Kobae's leftovers each evening.

Nicole who visits nearly every year have been good friends for a long time. I drove up to Salt Lake this morning and picked Linny up and shortly after we pulled up I heard Nicole tell Linny "I'm so glad you're here. I already have your whole first week planned out. Get the side by side we're going to the movies."

Saturday Evening

Visitor

Tortoise Tracking Device

I spent part of the day looking for a tortoise tracking device. It's hard. Almost all work on your smart phone but if you don't get phone coverage, which you don't out here, it's useless. Plus you can't put them on their inside and on the outside it will get peeled off or disappear when he goes down in his house. I did find a couple possibilities I'm doing more research on but these aren't them.

Wednesday, My Friend Kobae

I took the truck into Nations to get worked on. The critters have been chewing on some wires to get a little buzz. I had been putting mothballs on duct tape and taping them to anything that had a wire by it and it's been effective but I got sloppy because it was working so well and quit doing it. I dropped off the truck and Kristin and drove the red side by side back. It felt good to be in the sun. It was hot but there was some wind. When I got back my friend was ready to eat.

I've been thinking back and I think there was one other time that Kobae bit me. I don't remember he bit me because he wanted me to feed him we were just lying next to each other, both asleep on the porch, and he bit me gently on the arm. I don't know for sure that he knew something was wrong Monday but he bit me each time I drifted off to sleep. I don't doubt he could have bit right through me as I've seen him snap frozen large cucumbers in half so maybe he was just curious about my sleeping, wanted me to finish feeding him, or he was actually trying to help and keep me conscious. Will likely remain a mystery because as you know those strong silent types rarely talk.

Tuesday: I'm Still Alive

I explored options. I ask myself while I was helpless if I should just quit the fight but before I could really consider such a thing it occurred to me that it wasn't my call. I was watching the whole thing go on and couldn't do anything about it. All I could do was try to keep thinking of possibilities to include who was going to find me tomorrow. After finally grasping my situation it felt like if I just kept fighting, kept my mind active, time was on my side. Whatever my body was fighting I just had to buy it time.

When I made it out to the yard in the morning fortunately Kobae had gone back down in his house instead of on a long hiking expedition so I closed his gate. I knew with what I'd gone through it was going to take a few days to recover and spending the first one hiking through the sand looking for Kobae wouldn't have helped.

I've just returned from the Doctor and in short, they don't know. It's not an allergy, not the auto immune problem, something new. The thought is a couple different kinds of mosquito repellent mixed together, the muffins, anything else I ate mixed with the other stuff was toxic. It took my liver a long time to absorb the toxins and it shut the rest of the body down to devote all it's energy into the fight. That's a guess.

Kristin has come back with me to do some cleaning and spend the night should I have the issue again.

While yesterday I couldn't get anybody to come inside the lodge when I needed help these were waiting for me when I got back from the doctor today inside on the kitchen counter.

Monday, 4th of July, Day to Remember

All the guests were gone around noon. I gather up laundry and start working on rooms. Kobae came out about 1:30 or so and I got him some romaine and put it on the front porch. Phone rang, I answered, talked, hung up. When I walked into the kitchen I couldn't remember if I finished the phone conversation. Reached down to get Kobae some more romaine and I fell a part. I cramped up, leaned on the counter to get by the door, got the package open and put the three romaines on the kitchen floor. I wasn't sure if I was going to stay conscious. I was hoping Kobae would come inside and I'd fall to the door and close it so he didn't go back outside and wander off. Kobae came in and headed for the romaine. I tried to move to the door but couldn't. I was frozen. Only my eyes were working and they hurt when I moved them. I was in a crouched position and locked there.

Kobae finished, peed on the floor, and walked right by me outside. I couldn't do anything. I even tried to fall forward and block his path and couldn't. I had the Walkie with me and heard people talking so I called for help but no one answered and eventually lost my voice. Kobae came back in the house to look for more food and I heard a side by side coming up the driveway. They went right on by and up to the hogans, then blew by on the way back out. From where I was crouched I couldn't be seen from the outside. Sweat was pouring off my head into my face. Then two more side by sides came up the driveway. I couldn't see them but could hear them. They also drove right by. I thought somebody would see Kobae and stop and come inside but they didn't. Even if someone would have come in I was in a crouched position just past the door up against the dish washer with sweat pouring down me. I wouldn't have been able to talk and probably only move my eyes. The last two side by sides left. For the rest of this ordeal it would just be Kobae and I.

After probably two hours crouched I could feel everything cramping but couldn't do anything about it. At some point I fell forward blocking the door and threw up five or six times. I knew when I was done I was going to have to get a hand or arm under my head or I'd drown in my throw up. When I fell to the floor I was able to get my right hand under my head and turn my head to the side. In time I rolled over on my back but the effort caused me to throw up more.

I tried to keep my mind thinking and thoughts raced through my head. I could hear mosquitoes landing on me but I couldn't feel them biting and this morning I can't find any bites. I kept trying to keep my mind active and I went into a dream which was woken when Kobae bit me on the arm. I didn't know if he just wanted me to finish feeding him or he knew something was wrong because he didn't bite me hard, just enough to wake me up. I fell back asleep and Kobae bit me again once more waking me up. I pushed my hand towards him. I couldn't move my hands on purpose but my reflexes still worked. I was afraid he was going to try to get to the fridge, go right over me and crush me. He backed up and left.

After dark I felt a little better and was able to sit up and see it was about 8:30 but I couldn't stand up so I laid back down. At 10:00 I was able to sit up again, but still not stand. At 11:30 I was able to get up. I was groggy for five minutes or so but felt pretty good after that.

For 10 hours and some I was locked inside a body that couldn't move. I could hear and see things going on around me but I couldn't affect the outcome of any of those things.

The Rain

We got some rain Friday night but I didn't think enough to keep guests from checking in Saturday but that's what happen. Eventually all the guests made it through and the county got out and dozed Kane Creek to make it passable.

On Sunday evening the rain came again, much harder this time. Guests could not get here.

My concern was I wouldn't be able to get anybody out Monday morning but Kane Creek looked good and with the exception of a two foot drop off at the bottom of the driveway which a half hour of shovels fixed everything was good to go.

The Crack: The Video