Five Places at Once

Tom has placed four walkie talkies on the 2nd thru 5th rocks most frequently landed on by the Sharp-shinned, but not his favorite. In his right pocket is a fifth walkie talkie, in his left a Johnson The Blues King harmonica, and in his hand, the camera. He waits. There has been a White-tailed Antelope squirrel on the east side of the lodge sounding the alarm whenever the Sharp-shinned lands in the back yard. As well Tom can look across the driveway and see the songbirds feeding. When the songbirds leave and the White-tailed Antelope Squirrel sounds the alert, it is time.

The songbirds have taken flight and a White-tailed Antelope squirrel is screaming like he's just seen Mothra and in his world he probably has. Tom advances to the west side of the lodge and there he is, the Red Eyed Devil on the one rock that doesn't have a walkie on it. The Sharp-shinned isn't worried, Tom is far short of where he can do it any damage. Or so it seems. Keep in mind the poor video you're about to witness is the work of a one armed veteran of the big horn trails. Don't laugh at veterans. It's not right. Tom takes the Blues harp out of the case and places it in his mouth. Turns the video on and tries to hold the camera in the bad arm. The walkie talkie set on channel 20 like all the walkie talkies surrounding the Sharp-shinned is primed. Tom holds down the talk button on the walkie and blows into the harp. Welcome to Higginson surround sound my friend. A harp screech comes at the Sharp-shinned from every direction. He is surrounded. Startled he takes flight. As Tom returns to the lodge, he knows it's a new game, now he's in the Sharp-shinned's head. Evening has come, darkness is falling across this ancient land of canyons. The Sharp-shinned does not return.

What Would Sun Tzu Do?

The Sharp-shinned has got Tom (and the songbirds) in a tough spot. He's found two places they travel and found an angle he can watch from and pick them off in route. Tom can't come out the back door without scaring the songbirds right to him so he has to go out the front door, cut down toward the river and come up from behind the Sharp-shinned so as not to spook songbirds who are hunkered down in bushes for protection. Tom is wearing down, the Sharp-shinned is going to win if Tom doesn't come up with a new idea. One day Linny and Tom were playing bad harmonica music on the front porch and Linny said "We're scaring the birds." Tom takes four walkie talkies into the back yard and places them on four of the five spots the Sharp-shinned most frequently lands determined by Sharp-shinned poop on the rock.

Red Eyed Devil

Returning from the hospital there are no birds in the feeding spots. Means one thing and one thing only. The Sharp-shinned is here. Tom walks around the side of the lodge sees him and chase him off. Five minutes later he's back. Chased off, back, off, back.....

Emergency Room, Round Two

Tom goes to bed Saturday night pretty happy. The shoulder pain is greatly diminished. He might even get to sleep for a few minutes on his stomach or side. At 3:30 am he wakes up and his hands feel as if on fire. Looking down he appears to have bites on his side and chest. Tom shakes the sheets and vacuums the room. The bites appear to be growing. Looking in the mirror there are nine large red welts. Tom takes a shower in case the critter is on him still. Getting out of the shower the bites have exploded in size and redness and his neck is going numb. At 4am Tom calls the Sheriff's office to tell them he's in route but loosing feeling. The Sheriffs office notifies the hospital that he's coming and sends a car to intercept. At the top of Hurrah Pass Tom's chest constricts and breathing is labored. The numbness is spreading. (paragraph breaks are useless Blooger isn't recognizing them without pictures) Tom blows by the Sheriff's car on the switchbacks and pulls into the Emergency Room 38 minutes after leaving the lodge. A new record for in the dark. They stick stuff in Tom and pull stuff out. Eventually the paralyses subsides and the constricted chest vanishes. The hospital says they aren't bites, it's an allergy. Tom ate but hot dogs, cereal, and French toast on Saturday. If he were allergic to that he would have passed in the 1960s. At 8am he is released.

Testing the Shoulder

While small thunderstorms dance about Tom spends part of the day hiking in the canyons climbing small ledges and testing the shoulder. On Tuesday the doctors informed him he has a chip in his rotator cuff which has to heal on it's own. Perhaps it fell back into place because putting even a sweater on used to be a five minute ordeal and now it's maybe 30 seconds. Rain and sun in the same place with the lodge in the distance.

The Present

Hunter Creek

Each year Hunter Creek freezes. Each year it thaws. Whoever the poor slob is that happens to go across it the day it breaks generally has an unpleasant experience. You can fall through into three feet of water and have a perfect two foot high block of ice around you vehicle not able to move forward an inch or backward an inch. Three years ago and two blown tires it was Tom. This year it was somebody else and just recently. Tom's turn to go through.