Christmas 2023

 While both Brenda and I have given up on sending Christmas cards, we haven't given up on hoping that you have a great Christmas! 

It's been a year of mixed blessings. The first 6 months of the year was very wet. An unusual situation for the High Desert. Everything grew like weeds, since all we have here are weeds. Brenda seemed to be happy about that as her favorite tool is a weed eater. Since I am such a perceptive and loving partner, I bought her a weed eater with a battery start system.  

With the help of a good friend, and his nephew, we replaced the roofs on the "Cat House" and the Hangar. Both needed the repair, since they were the original roofing from 1978.

 While I didn't get to show Brenda as much of Oregon as I wanted, we did go to Crater Lake, and the Painted Desert. Our biggest problem with traveling was, Brick, our last remaining dog. He has since died. 

We had a lot of company this year and we enjoyed every bit of it. 

Brenda's daughter, Granddaughter, and my niece came a week before our fly-in. My good friend John Hauck, from Alabama, spent 6 weeks or so with us. It was great to have the company. 

The only real downer was the Rabbit populations. There just aren't enough rabbits here to justify killing any of them, so my hawking this year is a bust. The only bad part of that is - will I still be able to hunt them when they do recover. I have been exceptionally blessed with good genes. However, nothing last forever, and at 79 I have been seeing some chinks in my "armor" as of late. My "motorcycle injury" has finally made itself known, but perhaps the worst was finally having to take blood pressure meds. All medications have a physical cost linked to it. I really have no excuse for complaining about it however, nothing last forever.

We have yet to see any snow, other than an 1/8 of an inch a couple weeks ago. I guess we will have to do with Hoar frost this year.

We wish you the best Christmas ever! Cherish your friends, and relatives, and be happy!

 

 

 

 

Nov. 2023

 Well, another bummer type of year. Rabbits are still down! Bird flu is still around. My last dog- Brick has died of old age. Weather is great however!

Once again, the Rabbits are scarce enough to be on the endangered list. About the best I can do in a 4-mile hunt with a hungry hawk on a 7-foot perch is 2-3 Jacks sighted, mostly at 2-300 yards, running at full speed. Last year I quit in the middle of November. I didn't want to do that again.  So, I began to consider the problem.

I reasoned that the drone should supply a way to exercise her and keep her mind normal. I decided to put a quail leg on the normal Drone lure. My thoughts were that she would work her way up to the lure parked at 100 feet. Reality showed me that she had no idea how to fly, beyond a kamikaze dive into Sage Brush. After some head scratching, I realized that had been all the flight opportunities that had been presented to her over her lifetime.  

I took her out of the weathering area, weighed her, then turned her loose to take a perch on top of the hanger. I fired up the drone and started climbing as I got it in the air. When the lure cleared the ground, she started after it. On reflex, I pulled it out of her range. ( Nobody's perfect!) She wasn't even able to fly up 10 feet to grab it. She sat on the ground to try to figure out what happened and what it meant. I brought it back around and made sure that she could get it.

two days later I set the drone up outside, ready to fly, and decided that I would walk the triangle of Sage outside my fence with her on the T Perch. Then if we didn't catch anything, we would go back to the drone. I managed to walk about three hundred yards out in the field, when she left the perch and flew back to where the drone sat. She walked around it, looked it over for a lure and then just sat there waiting for me to come back and feed her. A bit of a quick study, that girl! She learned that as quickly as a bad habit. I did call her back and finished my walk. We did jump one long range Jack, that she couldn't find when she finally got to the last spot that we saw him. 

This time I was more aware of her lack of flight and kept it low enough, flying the lure in a large circle about 50 feet above the ground and made sure she caught it. This was the time that I discovered that an entire quail was more food than she needed. The third day after this flight I set up the drone, but not take it off the ground. I had the lure covered so that she could not see it. 

One of the ways that I measure her intentions about hunting, is that I leave her loose in the Weathering area. If she isn't waiting by the door, she is not coming to me, and I can go on with my other stuff. Her problem with knowing that there is a lure somewhere, meant that she didn't need to come to me, she already had that worked out. So, I didn't feed her at all.     

I didn't make that mistake again, and the next flight was better. I had practiced flying in a large circle with the lure about 75 feet off the ground. I had started putting her in her Giant hood after weighing her. I put the drone up and parked far enough away that she would not grab it before I could regain the controls. This time it all worked like I had intended. 

I have never had to use a lure in her training. I introduced her to it during her initial training and she has never forgotten. In fact, it holds such allure for her that once captured, she does not let go. I am hoping that she learns that it is merely a one- time thing and no more meat will appear. So, when she came to me, she would drag the lure along with her. Today she left the lure and came to the fist. Much better!

I am not sure where I am going with this exercise, but she at least has an interruption to her daily routine. I will try to find a way to run the drone and film it. Perhaps when she has learned to fly I can capture some of it. 

I have decided that I am not going to kill any of the resident Jacks here. They are down to bare minimum here, and I don't have the luxury of paying the gas prices to go to where there might be some. The home range of Jack Rabbits is somewhere around two acres. Some of the 100- or 200-acres plots may only have one or two Jacks in them. The more I kill, if I could, would possibly slow the repopulation down even further. I am getting old enough that I can see the end for me, and it isn't that far in the future.

Some of you may remember Yogi. I got her in 2011 from a rehabber in St. George Utah. She was quite a bird, and was such a smart, thinking, hunting hawk. I flew her for several years in several different cast situations and she always impressed me. I gave her to Sarah Morrison for several years. She sent her back to me when she moved to Montana. I gave her to Tammi Stoddart next door. She started out for her first flight for her this year. She flew to a Sage and came back to the perch. On landing she was unsteady and seemed to have trouble standing up. Tami took her back home and called me. Everything was normal, mutes looked good. After three days of observation, no symptoms other than an inability to stand up. I believe that she had a stroke. She is improving and beginning to regain her ability to stand. 

Catch up

 I seem to have a little time with nothing much to do, so I might as well do some catch up. It's been an interesting year. Not sure if it's my advancing years or just what, but my attitude towards life and everything has changed. I'm not real sure that I am all that happy about it, but don't know what to do to change it. I suppose that it is natural, and I have always been a "closet hermit", but it is worse this year. Perhaps it is just a "phase" that one goes through. My mind seems to be "all there", but of course I would be the last to know. 

With the help of a good friend and his nephew I managed to replace the last two remaining roofs on the property that needed it. The insurance was a nightmare, but it's done. 

Our fly-in went extremely well, the weather was great, and everybody had a great time. Everybody loved Brenda, and she made it so much easier on me during the time that everyone was here. She is also spoiling me completely. Perhaps that is why I am so listless.

Our sleeping habits are quite different, I like Sunrises, she likes going to bed in the AM. I have never snored unless I was really tired. She came to bed the other night, and I was in that point of sleeping where I was aware that she had come into the room, but yet not awake. I was sleeping on my left side when she got into bed. I hadn't moved because I didn't want to wake up. Then I felt her put her fingers on my wrist to check my heartbeat. It was all I could do to not bust out laughing. I suppose that could have been the point when I realized that I might be old.

It has taken me a month almost to get Hope down to flying weight, but there is really no hurry, the Rabbits are still very scarce. I walked for 2.6 miles Tuesday and saw two bunnies and two Jacks, all of which outsmarted my flabby hawk. Perhaps I am spoiled but it would be nice to have a few more critters to chase or be able to afford the gas to find them. 

I am now down to my last dog. Josie died this spring, and Brick my male apparently has the same "I don't give a shit" attitude that I do. He stopped going for a morning walk this Spring. He is a bit more "stove up" than I am, but when I started off with Hope, he came along too. CBD oil and doggy aspirins helps him out when the pains are bad. It's nice to have him along. I accuse him of having a bit of dementia, he seems to know where I am going so that he can get in the way. I tossed down a tidbit for Hope when we returned yesterday. He thought it was for him right up to the point that Hope bit him on the foot.

2023 Fly-in

 As you have noticed my posts have rather dried up. This one may well be the last. I have visited everywhere within range of my little planes fuel tanks at least 20 times, videoed all of them. There is little new, just wash- dry-repeat. Perhaps after I start hunting again things will be a bit more exciting.

Our fly-in was very nice and very smooth. We had 14 visitors this year, and with Brenda's shopping, there was no shortage of things to eat. The weather even cooperated for once, and there was little to no smoke from fires. 

My flying was restricted to checking Cows for the ranch next door and most of my time in the Kitchen. Mine was the only Kolb aircraft, all the others had Experimental Amateur Built planes that were capable of speeds of 90 miles per hour at a minimum. Three of the guy's had the newer 360 degree cameras that take great video. With the increased speed they were able to cover much more ground. This one is from a friend that lives in Arizona and he flies both planes and drones. The video of the house and planes flying are from the drone. I was impressed. I believe you will be as well.

https://youtu.be/Hk9fLli6qSU?si=7OnPMcBKV0aZ9rjZ

Everyone has now gone home except for John Hauck. He is doing exceptionally well, building strength every day. He has apparently beat his Cancer. 

It finally quit raining!

A bit of a screwy title, but in fact the weather has been as close to miserable as is possible. For an area of 4.5 inches of rain, we have had a lot of rain. Now of course we go directly to 90+ temps.

My main goal this year was to replace the roofing on the hangar and Cat House. The asphalt shingles were most likely laid in 78 or 79 and we had shingle rain after any and all windy days. I had been saving for at least a year or so to be able to replace the roofs.. A wind storm in March had been the final straw. I took the measurement to an outstanding metal roofing company in Ontario, Or. I also turned it in to the insurance Co. Their estimate for 3 tab roofing came to $13,000 +. 

My friend Toby from the coast had offered to help me when I was ready. Roger had also offered his help. 

Toby and his nephew, Fletcher came over early and even with the rain squalls and wind finished it in about three days.

Roger coming on the agreed time, arrived well after completion of all the projects, Leaving only fun things left to do.

 I even knocked some of the dust off of the "Fire Dragon", and rolled her out.

 https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/841575829

Its been a while since I have posted, and it appears that there have been a few changes. It appears that the link above used to be able to click on it,  and it would open the video. Now what I have had to do with the "link " is to highlight it, right click on it, then select the line that says "go to Vimeo!", It should take you to the actual video of our flight. 

We had company for at least a week and half, and of course had a great time. Now of course I have no excuse for not doing some playing for a change.

The Painted Hills, Oregon

Finally the weather has broken and it's worth going outside. It has been my wish to show Brenda some of the splendors of Oregon . It has been a long long winter and now we seem to be going from nasty to full summer. 

The first on my list of Brenda's introduction to Oregon, was to visit the Painted Hills in the central part of the state. I have never gotten around to going there, so this was a trip for me as well. The area is about 250 miles North, so we planned to spend three days total. I looked it up on the web and found that there were really no RV camps close to where we wanted to be, but a nice couple had visited the area and told of a chunk of ground owned by the Forest Service that was open to camping and unregulated.  Sounded good to me!

There were two ways to get there so I intended to go one way and back the other. The first leg of our trip went from Burns Or, to John Day, then West to Mitchell. John day is at a much lower elevation than here at the house, so we dropped off down a long steep Canyon about 20-30 miles in length. As we came around a sharp curve, near Canyonville, a tree weakened by all the recent run off of melted winter snow had fallen across the road. The signs were plentiful that the water had been over the road in many places. It was still quite a surprise and I had an interesting time getting all that weight stopped. We sat there as traffic built up in both directions, (Probably 5 cars either direction. Its kinda of remote) before someone with a chainsaw came by and cut it out of the road.

Once past John Day, it was about 77 miles to our turn off. Winding roads, through a narrow sliver of a Canyon, eventually coming to the town of Mitchell. The turn off is about 5 miles past the town.

We found the camping spot with no trouble at all. At the time there were only cows there and it took us no time to get set up. We spent the evening checking out the scenery and even though it was still raining lightly I made a couple of short trail hikes and took a lot of pictures.It had been really pouring the rain, so everything was muddy, as well as water over the road in a few places. The mud was what I call "tallmud", the more you walk in it, the taller you get.

In the four days that we were there we had about 15 different campers stay there. We had a parade every morning when the cows came out of the hills to drink.

I took a LOT of pictures on this trip and have included all of them worth seeing, in an attempt to give you some idea of what the place is about. So this will be short on narration. 

The area is actually pretty small as far as Parks go, but long on beauty. Almost all the hiking trails are about 1/2 mile. It is a lesson and view of time and the changes that have and will occur, apparently quite naturally. Unless the Neanderthals were much more destructive than we thought.

This is the end of the public road. The area beyond this and the lake in the background are all private.

I took a few pictures of the rocks, as all of them were different.

The signage was a bit hard to see, but there was a lot of information on them.

While it rained often the drops were not thick, but they wee big!

The Painted Lady of the Painted Hills!

I let Brick out of the truck to pee while I looked at this large boulder. I was amazed to find that there was a Cholla, "Jumping Cactus", at the base of it. True to its name, a chunk of it managed to get in the hair of Bricks leg. It was only stuck in the hair, so I managed to get it out with a stick.

And last but not least was an outcropping of Rhyolite ( Such as occurs at the Pillars of Rome. just down the road here at the house.)

After all the scenery we decided to do a little scouting around and of course went into the town of Mitchell to see what was there. I neglected to take pictures, but there was a General Store and a Gift shop there. Brenda cannot go past a store without searching it for things she cannot do without, and the little "country Store" in Mitchell is a treasure trove. I saw things in there that I had been searching for, for years. This is a little town serving probably less than a 1000 people within a 50 mile radius. If they didn't have it you didn't need it. Great people too. Brenda found some Strawberries that were almost as big as apples. She made me go back the next day to buy some more.

We stayed a total of four days, and just relaxed. Brenda loved the area, much different from what she is used to. The "park" is small by most standards, but well worth the visit.

All the pictures are shown small in the body of the story, but if you click on one of them it will open up full screen and you can scroll through them.