Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Gut Punch
I'm 70, soon to be 71. Been out here since I was 53 or so. I'm starting to lose friends and the pace is quickening. Mike who with family stayed here for years passed last year. Family will be out later this year to leave ashes at one of his favorite places. 
Bill, who was the first person I hired to work here passed late last year in Hawaii. I took the 2am phone call. 
Ivan the Terrible as he was called around here taught me how to track and he moved on at the end of last year. 
Cliff had just stayed here last month, checked out, next day went fishing in Colorado and passed while telling the fishing guide how much he enjoyed staying here. His wife called to say he was gone and we had just said goodbye's less that 24 hours earlier.
Then last night I checked my phone and saw that both Linda and Heather had called within five minutes of each other. I returned Linda's call and she said my brother, three years younger than I had a heart attack and passed in Montana. Gut punch. 
I don't know why but of all the memories I could have of my brother I remember at eight or nine years old he fell off the swing set and had to get stitches. I and friends snuck out of our houses that night and hiked the couple miles to the hospital. Pat was on the ground floor. We found his room and made faces at him through the window. He busted up laughing and they had to redo the stiches in his mouth and stomach. 
I had just gotten my driver's license and Pat called the house to ask if I would pick him up at the movie theatre in Kearns. When I got there I didn't see him. Three large guys had him and a friend backed up to the wall of the theatre. I walked up and the biggest guy said "Is this your brother, the kid that's gonna beat the shit out of all of us?" Pat said "Yes." Pat and a friend had been shooting peope with squirt guns during the movie and not picking their targets too wisely. I said "If you don't mind I'd prefer to beat the shit out of him first and save you the trouble." That worked for them and we got out of it. We use to call each other on birthdays and then one year somebody forgot and neither of us called anymore. I wish I could call him now.
The River
Teresa, Jax, and I walked down the creek bed today to check on the water levels. Didn't have to walk far. 
We can't even get to the short cut made last year to get to the beach. 
Getting to the boat ramp requires driving through about 15 feet in length of water. 
Teresa and Jesse long since moved the kayaks up to the gravel pit. We were having to move them everyday as the water kept rising. Can't let guests get in the river now the water is way too fast and strong. 
Here's hoping the dam around the big garage is going to hold. Somewhere between 21 feet and 22 feet deep at the Pot Ash measuring station it's going to flood the north end of the property. Four stairs left is just short of 20 feet and tonight it went over the 4th step from the top. 
Hiking with Jax
Jax is a really good friend. It's fun to hike with him. I think he's around nine years old but many times he still acts like a puppy and while we're hiking I never know what he might do and it's mostly impossible to figure out what's he's thinking. 
Jax will be dragging along in the 80 degree weather looking like he's on the verge of me having to carry him and then a lizard will run across in front of us and it's like a drink out of the fountain of youth. Suddenly Jax is alive and running with everything he's got to try and catch the lizard. Once he faces reaiity and realizes he's not going to catch it suddenly all the energy is gone out of him again. 
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
The Rising Water
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