It looks like winter is coming

Its been an interesting start to November. Cold, windy, and then of all things actual snow!

We got about four inches of snow on Saturday, in which you saw the Kitty checking out the live trap. The cat has not visited the trap again. Hopefully he has gone to a better hunting ground. I was running out of Chickens fast.

https://vimeo.com/241302185        password    owyheeflyer

With the snow that heavy I didn't hunt Hope. I had a little spell of the sweats and chills, accompanied by some seriously achy joints. No other symptoms, but I was going through the aspirin's like crazy. So I grabbed a blanky, along with a bottle of Whiskey to wait it out. Not sure what was going on, but now I seem to be about as normal as I get. I just couldn't regulate my body temps for a couple of days.

The snow of course did not last all that long and for the most part melted off by yesterday morning. Of course the change in pressure had both of the Hawks feeling the need to stock up on food. The wind Saturday was blowing in the high 40's, so I fed both birds a maintenance diet, ( practically nothing) hoping that the weather would improve. I hated to walk out the back door as both Hope and Jessie were straining at their bonds hoping that I was actually going to feed them, all the while, too fat to actually fly.

The wind abated around 3 PM, so I got Jessie ready, put the drone up with the new battery. As soon as it got in the air, I could see a dust devil whirl up out at the fence coming our way. I set the drone back down, just in case. Now Dust Devils are a product of the summer, and it for sure wasn't summer out there. I have never seen a Dust Devil later than August. I should have followed my first inclination, but I put the drone up. The wind where we were wasn't that bad, about 8 MPH, but when it got to altitude it began to drift. Now the drone has a setting that runs off of the Satellites and is supposed to hang where you neutralize the sticks. That just wasn't happening at all. I have "fences set up through the Computer that is supposed to keep the drone within 100 yards. Every time I tried to bring it back it wouldn't come back, all it would do was drop rapidly towards the ground. The lure line was pulling so hard against the drone that it couldn't come back. I tried several times to get control and there was just no way at all that was going to happen. By that time Jessie had climbed up into the wind and pulled the lure and the chute loose from the drone. I flipped the switch which would call the thing home and put it on the ground, hoping for the best. Jessie in the meantime had went with the wind and landed out in the Sage about 600 yards away. Without the drag of the lure and all that line it was able to come back and land.

I neglected to mention that yesterday was one of the days where I decided to save time by not putting the transmitter on the little minx. Hoping to save time before the real nasty weather started back up again. I told Karen to watch the drone and tell me what happened to it, while I did my best to mark where Jessie went down. They are harder to find on the ground than one would think. They are also really vulnerable landing in the Sage with food in their feet, so I was hustling as fast as I could.

As I am slogging through the snow and mud to where I think she is,  a large female Prairie cruises over the Sage looking for her and trying to figure her chances of taking Jessie's food away. I eventually get a fix on her location by seeing the red parachute, making it possible to follow the string to where Jessie is standing and eating. I use the time by coiling up the chute and line. I stuff it in my vest and Jessie comes to me for the rest of her food. Her Jesses are all wadded up with the Quail and her feet, so I clip my leash into one of the Jesses, figuring that will work until I can get back home again. Jessie eats while I climb fence and walk back to the house. As I approach the yard she finishes the rest of her quail and bates off the fist. To my utter surprise she is not snapped in to the jess as I had believed, and I am left holding an empty leash with nothing on the business end. SHEEZ!

Now Jessie at her best, is still a character. With fronts blowing through with the preview of just how nasty the weather can be, she is a "pain in the butt character". I have always noticed that she takes great pains to keep me humble, and being a top of the line predator that makes a living by seeing or sensing weakness in other creatures, cuts right through all my subterfuge to the very weakest, vulnerable part of me.   She automatically knows what I want her to do and almost always does the opposite, or at least tries.

So there she goes, no transmitter, I am out of food, and nothing that I can offer her to get her back. She flies around and lands on the fifth wheel, waiting to see what I am going to do. I tell Karen to keep an eye out for her while I go get a frozen Quail.  I put the quail in the new (replaced at the end of August) set it to "Turbo Defrost", and push the button. It runs for about 3 seconds, and goes completely dark. Nothing I can do will make it show life. I take the quail, chop off the legs with a large butcher knife, that I have to hammer through the quailsickle, and  dump it in hot water.

I go back outside with the partially defrosted quail legs. She obviously wants more food, as she landed on the shooting table. I approach and she flies off. I take out the lure, toss it on the ground, she strafes it and of course tries to carry it off. Lands a bit further out. I offer her the fist with the food and she flies off again. At this time I tell her to have fun and start off in a huff. I figure either way she will either be out of my hair or willing to come to me - tomorrow. Karen asks me for the food and the glove. I gave it to her and went into the house. Within 5 minutes Karen comes back with her on the fist.

The Snow Geese have been streaking through the area both day and night for the last three days.  Skeen after skeen, as far as the eye can see. With the full Moon, they fly all night long. Many of them yesterday flew over the house low enough to shoot, but I don't like Ducks or Geese well enough to pick one of them, so I just wished them well. It was pretty amazing yesterday, but there wasn't a time that the sound of flying Geese was not audible.

Today was a bit better, frosty to be sure, but the wind was down. Hope had not hunted for three days and she wanted to hunt very badly. I gathered everything up and started down the Hwy. I didn't get more than a couple of miles down the road when the dreaded "low tire" lite came on. I turned around and went back home to pump it up. I decided to take it to Jordan Valley to get it fixed, and then hunt. I had picked up a roofing nail, apparently in the yard.

After the tire repair, I drove to the spot that I wanted to hunt. Jordan Valley is about 500 feet higher than here at the house, so there was still snow on the ground there. I decided to give it a try. The snow was pretty thin, so I didn't think it would cause her any problems. She caught the forth Jack to jump. She flew an interception flight and managed to grab him by the butt with one foot. I was very happy. We had walked about 400 feet from the car.

The wind was down when I got back, so I got everything ready for Jessie. This time thing went off without a hitch, even though the wind immediately started up as soon as I got the drone out. We did it any way.

After I no longer needed it, I unplugged the Microwave to check the socket, found it to be good. When I plugged it back in, the Micro wave worked as it was supposed to. "The hurrieder I go the behinder I get"!