Some Stuff

I hiked Mission Trails with Kobae on Tuesday, came back to the house, got three or four hours of sleep and took off around 11pm. Massive traffic jam out of Riverside and sat there at midnight not moving at all so I just put my headlamp on and read two more chapters in the book I was working on.

Michelle hung when she brought Jax back to watch the place saying she needed some rest. It didn't work out that way. I've had three maintenance cleaning guys in a row that drank a little, than drank a little more than wrecked my jeep. This time I decided to skip the wrecking my Jeep part and let one go early. However apparently he hooked up the water to pump from the pond into the tanks and on Tuesday Michelle found that the Condo had flooded and it took 50 something shop vac loads to get it out. Then just before I left the cowboys came by and said they were taking some cows out to Jackson Hole but they'd keep an eye on them. When I got back on Wednesday Michelle and Jax had left and there were cows everywhere. So tired or not I pulled a trials bike out and I've spent the last three days herding cows out with the trials bike and closing the gate. Fortunately they were hanging out at the muddy water hole and not the main house pond which they could have done significant damage to.

One more Hayduker came through, pretty late in the year. Said he didn't have a trail name but Chris said he was just going to focus on the Hayduke most of the time. Then on Saturday night a lady knocked on the door at 10pm and said her friends had called her earlier in the day and said they were going to hike from Hatch Point to the Wind Caves and she needed directions to the Wind Caves to see if they made it. I explained that within the next 20 miles there was only one way down on this side, and without much daylight this time of the year it would have been borderline if they could make it. The most difficult part being the trail, if any, is difficult to read, and, get this, it seems like it ends at a big old tree but if you know you can climb through a hole in the tree trunk and find the continuation of the trail. She left I never saw her again so don't know the outcome.

It turns out the barber in town and I have something in common besides when I need a haircut he happens to be able to cut my hair. We both read a lot so we exchanged some books. When he told me he had a book from many years ago about the Potash Mine when they had the big explosion that killed everybody I ask him to bring it in and last time I was there we exchanged books. I pulled it out on the Saturday before I left and was just skimming through it to get an idea of how long it might take me to read it when the phone rang. It was some radio station asking me if I lived close to the Potash Plant and I told them I did. They said there were multiple emergency vehicles heading there what did I know. I saw a plume of white smoke coming out and told him that was the extent of my current knowledge. Turns out a boom touched an electrical line and three men were killed, all of who were well known and liked in town.

Having spent so much of the last couple weeks with Jax and Kobae it feels weird to not have either one of them here but there's plenty to do. Just out of habit when I get in the truck to go next door to work and clean I hold the door open for a second expecting Jax to jump in and then I remember.

It's that time. The moment the sun goes down the temperature goes down by ten degrees. The raccoons that show up to eat has dropped to six or eight each night, two ringtails and two skunks are solid, and the number of gray foxes has dropped in half to just five or six. I heard the first animals under the house last night tearing the insulation out and making their beds to prepare for winter.

I'm preparing for winter too. I checked all the engines, generators, and pumps today to make sure they all had plenty of oil and anti-freeze and covered up the entrance to Kobae's house so not to repeat the mistake of a few years ago when I didn't and a badger moved in who was extremely determined not to get kicked out. Both places go vacant tomorrow and one more massive cleaning job for the Thanksgiving weekend where I'm completely full at both places and then the season is pretty much over. I'm ready for over.