Josh, Bird Guy

Josh is here four days last week. He's kind of a bird guy. Large bird flies over and before I can say anything he says "Turkey Vulture." All the other guests wants to go to Wind Caves and Chicken Corner. Josh hangs around the property and down by the river. As he's checking out he says "I made you a list of what I saw during the four days. Oh, add Peregrine Falcon just flew over."

A Hurry

I'm in a hurry to get to town. I told guests I'd be back around 10am so they could take a side by side out. Just got to drop a few bags of trash in the dumpster, not nearly as much as I've picked up. There's a guy walking over to the outhouse when I blow into the campground. He starts picking up the pace as I head for the dumpster. Then he's moving really quickly to the crapper. I pull up and he runs to the door. I said "I'm dropping trash in the dumpster. I'm not trying to get in line in front of you for the crapper." He nods his head with relief and goes inside.

What is Kobae Thinking?

We're hiking along, it's a nice day, Kobae suddenly switches direction and decides to climb the steepest slope around and go back to the lodge.

What Kobae Likes Most

Almost a Week's Stuff

On Tuesday Scampie, a Hayduker came through.

On Wednesday I further shored up Kobae's fence as I saw him down there working on figuring out a way to escape so I drove more metal poles in it.

I found this guy, Puff the Magic Dragon on the patio at the "Condo" next door.

Kobae got to chase some dogs around, hump a rock, and the stairs. On Thursday I shored up fences around the property and marked them with warning tape.

On Friday Kobae and I got in about four hours hiking.

On Saturday (left) Chris from Philadelphia and Sunjay (right) from Irvine came through doing the Hayduke. Haydukers 16 and 17 for the year which already beats last year and the 3rd and 4th for the fall hike.

A Week's Stuff

Michelle left with Jax for a not sure how long amount of time. Same time Rachel who I haven't seen in a year plus calls and says she'd like to come visit with her three dogs, can I give her a ride from town. I have a blood draw Wednesday so tell her I'll pick her up then. I go out to get in the truck Wednesday morning and it won't start and the battery won't jump, it's done. I take a side by side over to the big garage to get the Jeep and it won't start and while I'm trying to jump it I notice it has a flat tire and it's pinning the two street legal Kymco side by sides in the garage. So I'll just take the six seater Polaris in for my blood draw and pick up Rachel and the dogs. Half way to town I realize I took the Polaris that isn't street legal. I get my blood draw, pick up some metal poles to shore up Kobae's fence, buy a battery for the Jeep and one for the truck, pick up Rachel and the dogs and get a flat tire on the way back. I put some Fix A Flat in it and limp back to the lodge. Couple hours later Kobae's fence is I think Kobae proof but he's a creative guy so the test of time will determine the true or false of that statement.

With three dogs here Kobae won't go hiking as he has to stay and defend his territory. He hangs out by the front door and waits knowing eventually dogs will come in or go out and he'll get to chase them, get fired up, then hump the stairs for an hour.

The weather has gone from roughly 100 straight days of 100 degrees to a couple days in the 90s and then right to the 80s. Kobae hasn't figured it out yet so he still doesn't come out until about 4pm or so which unfortunately for me with no hiking partners means I have lots of time to work around the property. The pond next door is a disaster. There are so many reeds growing in it and when I pull them it clouds up the water which eventually goes into the water system after settling and chlorine. I spend about an hour and a half working on the weeds yesterday and made a slight dent in the right side.

My 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.5 theory of a year or two ago is holding up, again. I found a boot I like and that lasts, so I buy three pair at a time. Nobody in Moab carries triple EEE wide boots so while I'd like to "shop local" I use Amazon. I buy 11's. Though they are a little too big in the winter they fit perfect in the summer as my feet expand when it's warm. They really do.

If you have one pair of boots and one boot wears out, get a hole in it, heel falls off or whatever you need a new pair of boots. You buy three pair and the odds of the three boots in a row being all the right or the left boot are rare so I have a good right boot and a good left boot still. They usually last another three to six months. So three pair of boots really equals three and a half for lifetime wear.

With evening it's Kit&Kaboodle and hot dog time right at dark. I put two bowls of Kit out on the east front porch for the raccoons. They have babies now and they're so cute. Usually the raccoons don't show up until after midnight but I put two hot dogs in each bowl now and one or two families show up early to get the hot dogs. Then I dug out under the west porch where the rock squirrels had their tunnels and filled up the under porch with dirt pushing out the skunks eating place and I fixed that so I put some Kit and three hot dogs down there each night lifting the boards with a small tire iron and the skunks are happy. One to three ringtails show up most of the time and I put hot dogs on a marsh mellow stick and feed them high in the rafters and by that time the parking lot has filled up with five to eight grey fox waiting patiently for their hot dogs. Last week I was about out of hot dogs and I was debating making a trip to town when an incoming guest emailed me and ask if I needed anything and I told them ten packs of hot dogs. They didn't bring me the less expensive between $1 and $2 a pack hot dogs they brought me Ball Park Franks. So three or four nights ago I'm out of the regulars and I go out on the porch and start chucking hot dogs to the foxes, two each. They normally walk off and eat them and come back and get in line again but on this night they're eating them right in the parking lot and coming closer for more. I was blowing through hot dogs. Even a ringtail came back twice. All the little people picked this night to become hot dog connoisseurs. I had used two packs the night before but on this night I went through 56 hot dogs keeping one pack for myself. I decided only BallPark was good enough for my little people friends so when I went to Village Market next I looked at the BallParks and they are $5.65 a pack, three times what I pay. The last two nights I threw out the regular hot dogs and they take their two hot dogs, wander off, and don't come back.

A Planned Day, That Somebody Changed

I checked the weather the night before. In the 80s. My chance to finish the garage over here to get stuff back in since way back before the movie when it all got moved out and then right when they left it got hot. I never got it done. Finish pumping water to put in the cisterns. A personal laundry day. Finish work on the front porch west side where the squirrels have dug a new tunnel and filled up the skunks eating spot with sand. Will be a wonderful day to get all that done.

It rained, it got hot, it rained, it got hot. Kobae periodically checked the fence out looking for weak spots to escape. Then it rained again. I hadn't seen Kobae checking out the fence for awhile and I thought he gave up. Good. Time to get going on my projects. The truck battery is dead. Got it charging. I go back inside to work on reservations and lightning struck out in Kobae's pen somewhere and at the same time in my head. The reason I haven't seen Kobae is because he escaped.

I head out into the pen to check the fence line. It's crinkled and there are tracks on the outside heading to the driveway.

After tracking him for half an hour all over the place he's headed into the dead end that I use to be able to lift him over the ledge, but no more. Got him.

Good, looks like he's going to be awhile. I can run back get a canteen, gloves, book, and my stuff to go hiking. When I get back, he's gone but no tracks coming out of the dead end canyon. In the next picture top center under the overhang and between the rock formation and the rock that has broken there is the narrowest of trails and somehow Kobae's tracks go up it. I've spent a lot of time over the years looking for a way out since I can't lift him over the overhang anymore and Kobae has found a way. I get to the top, barely fit, and there's Kobae hiking along.

We hike for a couple hours head back to the lodge just before dark and with a head lamp on I'm out well into the night working on the fence. I have a blood draw this morning and I'm nervous about being gone for four or five hours with him checking out the fence, but I walked the whole thing. I think I got it.

Monday Kobae

Michelle left with Jax for an unknown amount of time so Monday evening when it cooler a little Kobae and I hike around the new disc course a little.

The Weekend

Saturday was the women's disc golf tournament, Disc Chicks, and it went well. For the main tournament in March every year I stuck coolers in strategic locations with beer, soft drinks, and water. For the women's tournament with only three groups of gals out on the course and just a couple holes from each other I changed it up and put the cooler in the back of a side by side and then tried to stay ahead of them every three or four holes so they had something to drink most everywhere they went. It was hot. When the day was over they retired to the river.

With it being a one day tournament by Sunday morning when Jax and I went out for our hike the place was pretty much empty with the last few players packing up.

Mystery

Last week Jax and I hiked up on the basket of #14 on the original disc golf course as three disc golfers were coming round and I thought 15 is a tough basket to spot discs on so maybe I can help them. All three of them threw and though I couldn't see exactly where they landed I knew I had a real close idea. One we found right away and the other two we searched for half an hour or so and couldn't find either one of them. In the morning Jax and I went back and looked again and still had no luck. A few days later Jax and I were hiking down the road and I looked up and could see one of them in plain sight between a couple of rocks. As I was walking over to get it the other one was laying right there in the open so we got them both with no idea how we could have missed them. We have a witness. There's a gray fox in the middle left side of the picture watching us.

Hayduker: Fall Season

On Thursday Matthew from Montreal came through doing the Hayduke. He starts a new job in Montreal in six weeks so he's got to be done by then. He needs to be putting in the miles but it's 102 right now and he's getting some sleep on the porch waiting for the heat to break.

Good Wednesday

Jax and I, and in a shocking development, Michelle joined us on our morning hike up and down Hurrah.

After a short evening meal it was off with Kobae and Jax to hike around the property. Women disc golf tournament this weekend, then a few days of not much business and then it gets busy again so we're enjoying the hikes while we can still get them in.