There are generally four ravens that hang out at the lodge. In addition to scaring off the hawks from going after the songbirds they occasionally kill a hawk and I have three buried in the wildlife vs wildlife cemetery. For the second time in the 13 years one of them has lost a mate and they mate for life. When the loss comes there is no consoling them. He/she walks around the yard crying and complaining and the other two try and bring the one who has lost out of it. They stay with the single bird and try and cheer it up but for a week now there's no consoling that is adequate. At 5:30 a couple of mornings I've had to go outside and while understanding the loss I have people sleeping as it just walks around the lodge complaining with the other two giving it loud awks.
Fran Tully is a guy that has taught off road riding on street bikes to hundreds of people over the years and he has taken the whole place for three days in October and invited everyone who has attended any of his classes so they have three days of riding from here.
The other day the Condo and the Main House each had their coolers blowing full blast and both hogans were using their air conditioners. It's been very expensive but I finally have enough panels and batteries that all of Last Hurrah can run full blast and not be in danger.
Several years ago Linny and I had two favorite side-blotched lizards we named Who's Up and What's Up who we worked together with on the porch to catch flies. They were unbelievable. After they didn't come back from hibernation one year it was painful and we never got connected to a side-blotched again but you recognize them on roughly the same place on the porch every day so there is a bit of a relationship. Last week there was a whip snake in bushes by the porch that was picking off a lizard here and there. I saw it almost get a whip tail lizard. After a couple days I decided I didn't want to lose any lizards so I pushed a broom in the bushes and it headed up the desert willow. Chris grabbed it by the tail and then I got it by the neck and took it to the gravel pit.
Next door at the Condo each year there is a song bird that has babies in the same nest. Two years ago she had three and they all worked out right. Last year she had one and it fell out of the next. A guest picked it up and put it back in the next but that's the kiss of death. Once babies have been touched by humans mom is done with them usually. This year I noticed the nest was sagging a big but figured mom would recognize it and fix it.
She didn't. After a couple of days the baby fell out and that's when they are vulnerable Tami took this cute picture and then the following day while working at the Condo noticed the mother flying back and forth frantically. Tami went outside and a different whip snake had it half way swallowed. Tami picked it up and put it in a pot with a glass lid on it and it immediately released the baby bird but it was too late. I buried the baby in our wildlife versus wildlife cemetery and took the whip snake to the gravel pit. I think I'll take everything that kills something to the gravel pit and then they can all kill each other.
Becoming a common sight is a small spotted skunk that sticks it's head out from under the porch all the time to see if there's an extra hot dog around somewhere. Tami got these two pictures and the next day I walked by and the skunk was sitting on the porch watching people walk by but as soon as I grabbed my camera it went back under.
Clawing back from being $40,000 down versus last year to maybe $30,000 down by the end of the month.
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