Saturday, November 30, 2019

Friday and Saturday

I did finally get a little rain on Friday, a lot of wind, and about 10 minutes of hail. Little bit of water running in the drive way.
I don't know if it was the wind or the hail but something did a job on the reeds in the pond at the main house next door.
Each morning when I walk outside the pigeon is huddled up and sleeping on the roof on the east side of the lodge roof.

It's a good Saturday. All sun and a lot of disc golfers showed up today. Lots of foxes and raccoons. So far the mountain lion appears to have visited only one evening over the Thanksgiving weekend where she is usually pretty consistent hanging for three or four nights. Perhaps she got a deer or big horn early and has returned to the Anti-Cline but if so it will be because she got her prey early. I probably won't know that answer until Michelle returns at some point and Jax and I are hiking again. That's when we usually find the victim.


Thursday, November 28, 2019

Thanksgiving

I was completely booked for Thanksgiving then the bunk bed room cancelled for weather, then the two singles and a king cancelled, then the Condo made it in their truck but their relatives in a small motor home of some sort couldn't make it up the pass so all of a sudden after turning down lots of people for Thanksgiving I have plenty of vacancy. Everybody said the weather looked too bad to risk it.

So, on Tuesday morning we wake up to a dusting of snow at the higher elevations but Jax and I go hiking. It's a little windy but it's nice. Propane truck showed up for their once a year fill up all the tanks at both places.




Jax and I hiked around the property on Wednesday looking for mountain lion tracks but didn't find anything except fox, raccoon, deer, big horn, and lots of really little people. Little windy again but nice day.




We didn't get to go to far either day as we had guests checking in and out all day. Thanksgiving looks like this and with only one check out it's a great hiking day but Michelle got a notification that a friend was really sick so she and Jax took off to go see the friend and the hiking day is wasted. Guests arrived from Salt Lake fine and Michelle took off for Colorado so somewhere out there was bad weather but it wasn't here.

What a strange feeling to have neither Kobae or Jax here and with all the guests checking out over the weekend some time, at the moment, I only have four check ins the whole month of December. I'm sure I'll get some more but still it's sparse so it's probably the right time to get alll the work caught up on the things I couldn't get to when it was so busy.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Stuff Upon Return

The return is unloading firewood, groceries, and supplies while unpacking. There are ravens hanging around on the roof, that's unusual. The last week they were very good at prying the lids off trash cans and pulling the trash out and at the female hogan pecking through the lid and pulling it out through the hole. I'd prefer not to have their attention and am putting straps on all the lids to fasten them to the can. Waking up Sunday morning to ravens on the roof and the same Monday morning. The pigeon is still here. Seems to have found a home. He/she's welcome. We're one. One guy, one tortoise, one dog, and one pigeon.
Rachel stayed at the Main House watching the place. She didn't hang around for darkness. Put food in the bowls and threw a bunch of hot dogs out. I ask if she fed the ringtails and she said she threw an eight pack of hot dogs up on the roof each night. Well that explains why I wake up to ravens on the roof every morning and on Saturday when I threw a hot dog out to the Day Fox a raven swooped off the roof and got it first. Have to wait to dark to put out the food now as the ravens have adapted.
Rachel added an extra bowl of food on the back porch while I was gone and said every morning all the bowls were empty except for Friday night bowls. Big cat scat on the road to Last Hurrah so the mountain lion has shown up a few days early compared to most years on Thanksgiving. Still Saturday night I had a few foxes and last night, Sunday, everybody was here raccoons, skunk, ringtail, and lots of foxes so if the mountain lion was here I'm not seeing any signs now. Saturday mornings bowls.

Jax and I hiked around some on Sunday but didn't find tracks where they usually are so I think the threat is diminished for the moment at least.


Lot of work to do the next few days and still feeling about 50% but there's no options. The property is full for Thanksgiving next door and here minus one last minute cancellation so guess I better get to work.
Jax and i will be getting our hikes in every day though.

Traffic Jam

After all that driving through Las Vegas and San Diego the traffic jam we run into is on the road back out to the lodge as they are unloading cattle.

Thursday Kobae, Jax, and I

Heather headed back to the house and Kobae, Jax, and I continued the hike. Was weird seeing Jax with a collar and leash though I rarely picked it up I just wanted to look like we were fitting in with community norms while still rebelling at the same time. When dogs bark at Kobae on his walk he takes it personal. 



Thursday Heather and Kobae

Both rains days I just tried to mostly sleep and feel better but on Thursday afternoon the weather cleared some and Heather took Kobae out for awhile and Jax and I joined them later.


Wednesday, San Diego Indoor Soccer

It rained all day Wednesday but Heather called and ask that I come up to San Diego Indoor Soccer to meet a few people. I'm the founder of the Let's Play company and I started San Diego Indoor Soccer being it's manager several times. It's on top of a water reservoir not far from downtown San Diego. A month or two ago we got a notice that the city was concerned about the structure itself and they closed it down permanently. The company is in a race to open at a new location with cooperation from the city to help us. That location was a primary money maker for the company and it's closure is a hit. The city knows they have liability and they've been pretty cooperative so far in getting us a new location to compensate for it. I will miss the location as will the 500 plus teams playing there. All the kids grew up working at that location in the days when family could work at your business without the government telling you there was something wrong with it.



San Diego Bound

The last day hiking with Kobae we were way out there on a nice day and then cloud cover came in, a cold breeze came up, and I hadn't brought a jacket or shelter of any kind and I was quite cold for awhile, sneezing and eyes watering, but couldn't leave Kobae and it was a long slow hike home. I caught a cold and when it was time to leave I didn't feel all that great.

Brendan showed up from the movie and said some of the aerial drone shots had a spot on the lens so they drove all the way out here to re-film them.

As I was driving to San Diego I talked to Linny on the phone and she said Brendan and Amy were in Salt Lake last week and showed Linny her touching death scene in the movie and it was a tear jerker. She said I should watch it. I called Brendan to see how far behind me he was on his way back to Vegas and he gave me directions to the house but I went to sleep before he got back and woke before he and Amy got up so wound up missing the scene.

I checked the weather before leaving and it was going to be raining or snowing all the way from San Diego to Moab on Tuesday but it worked out getting no rain until just an hour before San Diego where it rained for two straight days all along the route from there to Moab. This is Jax and I arriving after 12 hours of driving, this is Kobae trashing the floor in the back. I had three mats down so if he pooped or peed it would be on the mats but he moved them or ate one of them, not sure, and despite putting six of those little Christmas tree things on the floor it didn't help. This is Jax adjusting to San Diego life after the long drive and there's something different about waking up to a San Diego morning. At least the truck is clean on the outside.







Nations

I've broken my third leaf spring of the year carrying too much water or too much wood or too many times driving Hurrah Pass but it's broken. So into Nations to have it worked on and have some heavy duty leaf springs put on before I take Kobae back to San Diego on the 12 hour journey. I'm glad I'm at Nations the day before because I'm always trying to stay awake that last couple hours and struggling at it usually but while I'm waiting for the leaf springs it's always sobering to remember what the results will be if I drive too long and push my limits.






Sunday, November 17, 2019

A guy pulls up to an adventure lodge.......

Says "Middle of nowhere. I bet nothing happens out here." I say "That's a reflection on you, not me, for you can't see, everything is going on." He laughs and drives off. Then a pigeon lands. I think Johnny had a pigeon across the river which he released when he quit working there five or so years ago. Where it's been until a couple days ago I don't know but it's here now and sleeps on the garage roof. If I had hawks it would be dead but the ravens have taken care of that.

Then the Day Time Fox visited.I've never seen this before but the Yellow Jackets are going around to the bird baths and dog bowl and trying to drown. They fall in, try to get to shore, I rescue them, then they fall in again, and despite 10 or so rescue saves per day usually a couple of them drown. I haven't seen the Sharp-shinned hawk but the Red-winged blackbirds are nervous constantly. Kobae has been sucking up the last rays of sun and it's time for bed.I hear a ringtail complaining. It wants a hot dog.
Jax goes on alert and I look up the hill to see a deer walking down it. Then the sun goes down and I got this followed by one Rachel took staying over at the Main House.

I wonder how many of these nothing happens my side by side friend has ever seen in his life?

Is This You?

The area manager for Farrell Gas called to tell me their truck broke down on the way out here and we'll have to reschedule another date to get propane delivered. I tell him I'll be taking the tortoise back to San Diego soon and might not be here but somebody will be. He says that he and his wife got married back in 2016 and were driving a side by side out in red rock country and ran across a guy walking with a tortoise. To this day they are still confused about why that would happen. No understanding something like that he says. Then he sends me a picture and says "Is this you?"

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

New Places

On Veterans Day Kobae took us to a place even I've only been a handful of times. In some of the pictures you can see Last Hurrah Main House a half mile or so in the background and the lodge in the distance another mile behind that and while only a mile and a half each way I can assure you we didn't go the direct route and we didn't go the easy way. Walked right past the Bottle Place and into some old piles of tamarisk, then up the jagged slope. We left at noon and got back at 5pm.