Its been a bit hot here lately and every thing is staying in the shade as much as possible. I've been up in the Mountains where it has been fairly cool, but I still stayed in the shade as much as possible however.
On my last deployment, I discovered that my little "airplane" tent, ( as light as possible, thus pretty small ) wasn't all that much fun to sleep in for 8 days. Its not that bad if you are alone in an area, so that putting your pants on outside the tent is not likely to cause either scorn or alarm. I decided that since I was making all that "extra" money I would get a good medium sized tent that I could both get my cot and a chair inside it. All the other ones that I have are either too small or too big. Obviously a shopping trip to Cabela's and Sportsman's ware house was in order.
We found just what I was looking for in Sportsman's Warehouse and it was $20.00 cheaper than Cabela's. We got back home and I helped Karen put it up, so that she would know what she needed to do if she used it. After putting it up and admiring our handiwork, she announced that she would like to go camping. Like most of her suggestions and comments, it swirled around in my brain for a day or so, when I also came to the conclusion that she deserved a trip to the trees if that was what she desired. We had not taken the new fifth wheel for a test trip either as of yet. So I started looking into some of the camping areas around Burns. Yellow Jacket Camp ground came up as the best option. Quiet, up in the trees and the road to it was also paved, perfect for a first trip with no other expectations other than quiet, wooded, and not likely to be crowded.
We made arrangements with out neighbor to feed what critters we left behind. We decided to take the dogs, as well as the cats, since the cats required medication each day for their asthma. "Its a pretty big trailer with its slide out" was the reasoning at the time, as I recall.
Actually the trip with the trailer turned out to be pretty easy in spite of my pessimism, and we made the trip in about three hours. The only spot that I would consider ( all the way back and away from any of the other three camps in the area.) was not very level. None of them were actually, but we managed to get things pretty well squared away.
While we were getting set up, Karen told me that we either had a Goshawk nest nearby or a Stellers Jay. ( Very good at mimicry ) I went to the back of the trailer just in time to see a juvenile Goshawk come soaring out of the trees. A male and his sister were calling very loudly for Mom to come feed them. They entertained us for the duration of our visit. At about 5 PM Mom came in with food, and the male, (faster and more agile) grabbed it and the chase was on through the trees. Not sure if he got to eat it all or the female took her share. It appeared to be a Chipmunk, as it was pretty small. Oh by the way, there weren't any of those little guy's living in the campground either. Mom had apparently taken care of them.
They were pretty curious and came up to look me over. I went down to the lake to see what was there, and the female flew within 15 feet of my head going over to a perching spot on the outlet of the lake.
Of course we took the racing dogs down there with us. Josie was busy cooling off, while Betsy was doing her racing bit.
We had a little Mule Deer Doe come down by camp. It appears that she has some kind of skin problem to her right side. I was not able to determine what if anything the problem was.
It got pretty hot and in the trees there was no breeze, so the night was a lot hotter than I can sleep in. We forgot to bring our pillows and that only made the problem worse. Betsy, our Pointer, is by nature a pain in the ass at the best of times, and a strange place only makes her worse. She hears Bogey men every where, and of course barks, which makes me bark as well. We had brought our two cats as they both need medication. They generally sleep in a large dog kennel, which we had brought. I put Betsy in it so that she would shut up. That left Tiger and Frank on the loose.
I had abandoned any thought of getting to sleep in the bed and was out on the couch with all the windows and door open. In spite of having to lay cross ways on the couch, I had just about gone to sleep when Tiger started twanging the screen door. Of course I had to be wide awake to run him down and swat his butt. Then shutting the door raised the temps about 5 degrees. Finally it cooled enough and I got tired enough that I was able to go to and get to sleep. Then Frank ( the idiot that has claimed me ) came in a started purring in my ear. Strangely enough It did not disturb me, of course a claw in the butt made up for it. I decided that the hell with it, I was going home to the air conditioner as early the next morning as I could.
Well of course reason returned with the daylight, and I decided that I would suffer through, with modification, for Karen's sake. I had a generator with us. One that I had bought specifically with a rating that would be able to run the air conditioner. I decided that I would run it from 6 PM to 10 PM, and hopefully get the temps down enough that it would last us until it cooled off. It made the generator grunt and groan, but I finally got both of them running, and things were looking up.
I had cooked burgers on a small grill that I had used on the RR. The cheese ran over a bit, so I left the lid open in the hopes that it would burn off.
Karen and I had finished eating and the generator was running in the truck at the front of the trailer. Karen poked me, pointing out the rear of the trailer. A Doe, older than the first, was walking down the hill, ignoring all the noise. She walked right up to the back of the trailer, then turned towards the picnic table. She then proceeded to lick my grill as clean as she could get it, as well as all the grease that she could get off the table.
I will admit that this was a new one for me. The hell with salt, I am going to barbecue the next time I go hunting.
Our second night was a lot nicer. Betsy was shut up in the kennel, and it was pretty cool for a change. I even fell asleep pretty quickly. Some time in the night Frank came in to serenade us with contented purrs. Then about 4:30 or 5 Josey came in to cuddle, and that wasn't even too bad. Then of course they ganged up on us and wallowed us awake. Still not bad, it was daylight and time to be up.
We learned some good lessons on our trial run that will be implemented our next trip. I will personally make sure my pillow is in the trailer, Much more music, potatoes and bacon will be high on the list as well. A dog and two cats will be left at home as well. Things will then be nicer. Too bad if they feel left out, they had their chance.
On the way back home as soon as we got into cell range, Sharron, the sweety that was caring for the ones left behind, called and informed us that a raid on the Pigeons had taken place this morning. From the sound of it, I was pretty sure that we had another Bobcat visiting us.
There were 15 birds that he was not able to eat left scattered around the floor, and I was then sure that it was a Bobcat. I have a live trap set for him, if he is smart he will get in it. I am going to try to keep him out of my livestock, but a Cat on Welfare is not an easy or smart adversary.
Back home again and there is a Red Flag warning for the area. Winds so far have been in the 25 MPH range, and now there is the smell of a new fire towards Rome. Every one here is out at the time, so I don't know if we will be going out to try to fight it or at least limit its spread.
