The Fingers

Boulder at the Top

Coming soon to a finger canyon near you.

Hurrah Sunday

The rain started Saturday right as we got back from tracking and quit about noon Sunday so by 1pm we were out hiking. As usual Jax gets so excited when we go hiking. By the time we get to the bottom of the driveway he's completely nuts.

On Saturday night despite the rain the raccoon fighting on the front porch was as vicious as ever. There are two raccoons that simply don't like each other and each night it's a violent snarling rolling around flipping over full blown fight. Each time Jax runs to the door wanting to get involved. I go out to break it up and they just run under the porch and continue the fight. Two bowls on the front porch to eat out of and they still can't get along. I've given up.

I was planning to leave this week to go get Kobae but the forecast for next week is 30s and 40s meaning he'd just be sitting in the laundry room for a week so might delay. Will keep watching the weather.

Saturday Tracking

I saw red eyes reflecting off the trucks headlights driving over to Last Hurrah Friday night so Jax and I spent Saturday in the area where the three foxes were spotted, not by me. I only saw the one that was moving, everybody on the blog and Facebook saw the other two in the same picture. I'm surprised at how many trails and tracks there were through the fallen rock and the cliffs. We spent hours and every time we'd climb up a level or down we'd find new tracks. It's a predator highway in the rocks.

Long time residents have their favorite scat spot and some of it is recent.

We found plenty of fox and raccoon which I expected. I found one track of coyote and one of bobcat, which wasn't expected. I've only seen one of each in 13 years on the property. Almost every time tracks would lead into a crack, overhang, or small cave of some sort. Jax's nose was going fast and there were so many tracks he constantly had his nose to the ground. He showed unusual restraint going into the holes. Maybe he's getting it together.

Most of Saturdays climbing was new territory for Jax and places I hadn't been in ten or so years. He really enjoyed it.

The days are mostly 50's or high 40's and it's great hiking but the time is winding down. We saw quite a few vehicles out on the main road from our hiking perches. Won't be long until the first flower blooms. No it's not any of the usual ones you would expect. It's the Moab flower. TPTW. Toilet paper on tumble weeds. They bury it (put a rock on it) but in time it tears and blows until it's collected by a tumbleweed. Apparently no one goes to the bathroom before they leave town.

Some More Stuff: Something is Wrong

On Friday I let Dre use one of the Kymco's so he could go back to The Land and take care of some stuff he had to do. He dropped Jax and I off on the other side of Hurrah at the bottom and we hiked back up and then down our side back to the lodge. About five miles.

Each night there have been horrible raccoon fights on and under the front porch. Ringtail fights across the roof. Last night a small fox sat out in the parking lot and just cried and whimpered. It was so sad. Plus the two hot dogs I leave in the rafters have still been there in the morning even though I've seen the ringtails in the rafters. More disturbing under the porch where I feed the skunks Kit&Kaboodle and hot dogs I can see with my headlamp through the cracks that some of the hot dogs are still there and I'd swear last night I heard raccoons under the house.

The Interglactic Zoo with winds and Martian head people.

Brigham's Unit in the center of the picture.

Two trains up in the sky. Smokestacks missing on the one on the right from a lightning storm that struck it several years ago.

So I've cut a deal with a company filming a commercial out here. They took everything that wasn't already rented for a week and are paying a location fee as well. I thought Linny had a job there for a little while as a driver but it didn't work out.

I'm headed back to San Diego in a week or two to pick up Kobae but earlier this week Linda collapsed and has a still not quite for sure what the issue is medical issue and has been hospitalized since Monday or so. I only found out Wednesday as the email never showed up and I was trying to find somebody to watch the place but there was improvement of sorts on Thursday and made more progress today so I'll keep on my schedule to get Kobae before the end of the month.

Venus is so bright in the night sky. Maybe as bright as anything I've ever seen up there. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn have returned but they're still behind Hurrah Pass and or the Anti-Cline by the time I go to bed but I expect they'll show up shortly.

I'm nervous about this rock. Each time I go up or down Hurrah there are some more pieces of it in the road on a really narrow section of the road that have fallen down from under it. It's protruding more every time I see it. Hard to know when it will come down but it will either completely block the road or take it out.

Driving over to Last Hurrah to get the last load of laundry tonight as I headed down the drive way the truck lights shown on the rocks just below the tee on 15 and there were bright red eyes reflecting back from the truck's lights and it was looking towards the lodge. They didn't blink or turn away. I have a coyote which I've only seen once or a wolf which I've never seen and never heard of anybody else seeing one around there but something is up there and it might explain why all the night people are nervous and leaving their meals mostly untouched. Might also explain the two nights of crying I've heard from foxes in the last week. In the morning Jax and I will do some tracking and find out what's out there.

Some Stuff

On Tuesday Jax and I headed over the other side of Hurrah Pass to what Linny and I affectionately call Thunder Dome. An encampment of interesting people on the way to town. It's owned by a guy name Dax and I have since learned he calls it "The Land."

I'm trying to find somebody to work here. Preferably somebody that can clean and do maintenance stuff but if not somebody that can do maintenance as a part time job and cleaning as a nearly full time job, one or two people. I just know I don't want it to be me.

This next picture is somebody's house.

A stage where they do a couple music festivals each year.

The first time I took Linny over there she said "Tom, I've seen this movie. Nobody comes out alive."

On Wednesday after errands in town, bank, post office, propane, drinking water, grocery store....we went by The Land and picked Dre up.

I set him to work on the pond and over the next couple days he made significant progress.

On Thursday while Dre was working on the pond I found out about a new groomer in town so went in and got Jax a haircut.

While the outside area around the pond is looking good we're still going to have to figure out how to get the reeds, or most of them anyway, out of the pond itself. The roots are just incredible how far they spread out and difficult to pull.