Monday Hiking with Jax

Was in the 50s again. So nice. We hiked most of the way over to the Wind Caves and back. Watched the Daytona 500. That was a rough one. Hoping Ryan is ok. Then when it was over hiked over to the Main House to leave some hot dogs out for the ringtail. I think it's a different one because yesterday I left hot dogs up high at the Main House where only a ringtail could get them and today when we went over they were gone and I saw all four of the ringtails here at the lodge last night. We saw the eight mule deer over by Hull's Place as we were hiking over. Jax took off after them. I called him back. He's getting better. On about the 20th call he actually came back.

Sunday Crazy Dog

Jax and I spent Sunday driving a location scout around the property and a bit of Jackson Hole for places to shoot stills and video. I signed a non-disclosure statement so I can't talk about it for the time being at least. I was so caught up in looking for good shots I forgot to take any pictures to include the eight mule deer we ran across until we got up to Doug's property on top.

Each time I'd slow down for her to get a picture of something Jax would jump out of the side by side thinking we were going hiking. After an hour or so he was crazy waiting for the hike to start. An hour or so before dark the location scout left for town and I told Jax we could go hiking. He is so appreciative of going hiking this is what I have to deal with almost every time and if it's a long hike up and down Hurrah for example this happens three or four times.

Jax Saves the Day

Jax comes running in the office and stares at me. I stare back. Then he runs out of the office and down the hall. Then he runs back and stares at me. Jax wants to show me something so I follow him outside. He walks over to the truck and starts crying. I say "Is there a squirrel in my truck?" Jax cries and cries. The hood won't stay up so I have to stick an axe in it.

The best part is it's a little past midnight right now and I'm sitting in the office putting posts on the blog. Jax came in a little while ago and I had put a sheet on the couch that is all torn up that he sleeps on when I'm doing paper and computer work so it didn't look so bad. Jax grabs the sheet with his teeth and takes it off the couch and puts it on the floor, then lays down to sleep. He's sleeping good. I click on this video and the squirrel in the video starts squeaking and Jax leaps up and charges up on my desk knocking everything over trying to find the squirrel in my MacBook. He's going just crazy. I've finally got him convinced that there isn't a squirrel in my computer and he's sleeping on the desk now just in case.

Jax in Charge

I should be cleaning or weeding or something-ing. There's a location manager coming out tomorrow about filming a movie or commercial or you never know sometime in the next month or two. I'd rather be hiking though. So we went hiking. Usually as we head down the driveway I tell Jax "Skinny People" or "Fingers" or "Hurrah" and then he knows which way to head when we get to the bottom of the driveway but today I didn't say anything and just left him in charge. Bad idea. One of many I've had.

First we climbed up to #15 and ran into a couple disc golfers so we sat and spotted for them for a few holes. I can't believe how big that creek bed has gotten at the bottom of the lodge. I use to jump over it when I moved here. Now at the first bend the walls are 10 feet high and it's 30 to 40 feet across.

I'm not real thrilled with Jax's trail selection but he's in charge so I'm following him.

I didn't have the GoPro with me so I had to hand hold the camera while climbing but here's ten minutes with Jax in charge. He's pretty crazy. It was in the 50s today so was nice but the sun never broke through the clouds all day but just at sunset a little beam shot through and lit all the high places up.

The Duck

We're next door at the Main House and I'm pulling weeds around the pond and the edges. I felt bad because I actually had to do some work that we wouldn't go hiking but then Jax finally saw the duck after three days. So while I didn't get to go hiking Jax did run around the pond 30 times trying to get the duck. The duck ignored him and kept diving to get the small catfish that have lived in the pond for months. I'll be surprised if the duck can even get out of the water after at least three solid days of eating catfish.

Later after beginning work on the big garage next door I found some more wine bottles so Jax and I took a little hike over to the Bottle Place and added to the collection.

Meanwhile, in Raven Class

Each morning Jax and I walk outside for raven class. Some days teacher doesn't like me. Other days, ten minute conversation. The very next day moody moody moody. I was thinking just this morning as Jax and I attended raven class....."Isn't anything out here normal?"

Thursday Hike with Jax

After I got all the wood unloaded and the ringtail was tucked away safe Jax and I head over to the Boulder Canyon. There are two canyons that come together so it's shaped like a Y. To get the most boulders involved you need to the start of the most right canyon at the top of the Y. But after a truckload of wood I wasn't sure I had that in me so we dropped in at the intersection of the canyons. Worked our way through the boulders and came out in the valley at the bottom and back up to the Main House to get the truck.