Some Stuff, Quite a bit actually

On Monday we (Jax and I) pumping water out of the pond and into the movable 320 gallon tank I stuck in the back of my truck because the cisterns water levels were down with the extensive watering I've been doing to see what each plant at the lodge requires in everyday 100 degree heat. Filled the tank twice, drained it into cisterns twice. About an hour and a half for fill each time and about the same for drain, but got it all done.

On Tuesday evening night it rained hard for the first time in months and overflowed the cisterns but refilled the pond. Sarah was out here with two friends disc golfing and they got out of here ok but couldn't get across Kane Creek where they spent part of the night.

When Kobae came out to eat and everything was all wet he still was full of dry dust down in his house. He looked like a ghost.

I checked out the property on Wednesday and the road over to the Last Hurrah portion of Base Camp took some water damage but overall we came out pretty well. I had hiked out to the gate the other day cutting all the branches that were sticking out in to the dirt road from misc bushes because they're a bit of a danger now with most people riding side by sides. The Tuesday night flood changed the creek, which is really the road so there's a whole bunch of new branches sticking out into the road.

I've seen two Turkey Vultures circling the last few days between here and Last Hurrah portion of Base Camp. Today, while driving over to Last Hurrah to switch out side by sides driving just past the Last Hurrah gate all of a sudden we were in almost darkness. I looked up while I was driving and right above us, just two feet above the roll bar in the back seat a turkey vulture was flying along with us. I didn't get it at first but then I realized he was trying to take Jax off the front seat passenger side, or at least I think he was. It's been a couple hours but I can't think of another explanation. Normally Jax would have been sitting on my lap but I had just got out to open the gate and just started up again and so he hadn't yet returned to my lap. Too bad we weren't in the red side by side, he would have been almost invisible. He has a grooming, haircut, bath appointment tomorrow.

With the river going down ahd the heavy rain the last two days the mosquitoes have been almost unbearable. The swallows and bats are doing their job but there's a lot of mosquitoes. Occasionally people pull up into the driveway and ask if they can go down to the river and I show them the trail and tell them I'll see them back here in two minutes. It's usually less time than that.

The raccoons have taken over. They own the front porch, both ends. They own the cottonwood tree. There are raccoons sleeping every where in the rafters, trees, bushes. The three regular ringtails are working around them and can out maneuver them and the family of skunks in the hole is doing well and so far the raccoons have not penetrated the three big rocks I put there to protect them. Somehow the baby skunks, had babies. I had stuck a bowl of catfood way out in Kobae's pen so the foxes would be able to have some without conflict with the raccoons but the baby raccoons found it and now basically I'm feeding three bowls of Kit&Kaboodle each night to the raccoons that's about a bag every other night. While the foxes aren't getting any cat food most nights are still a minimum of 25 to 35 hot dog nights so nobody is starving.

Last thing and I'm not positive. During the lightning storm Tuesday evening the White-tailed antelope squirrels were still out eating. They have a great warning system call when danger is approaching, usually a fox or hawk. Twice while out on the front porch a couple of them sounded the alarm at the same time and everybody headed for their holes. I didn't see a predator anywhere but both times just after the alarm lightning struck close to the front of the lodge. It was the only two strikes that were close. Do they know?

There is a mule deer just off the porch munching in the back yard as I type this.