Christmas 2024

 Another cycle around the Sun is near to completion, so I thought I might catch you up on the happenings or rather nonhappening's here in the High Desert. In retrospect quite a lot of changes have taken place this year, yet my mental reaction to the year was mostly boredom. 

Brenda and I are still getting along better than anyone likely deserves. I have no complaints other than she seems to be totally committed to testing my willpower with goodies and tasty things that are laying around waiting for me to gobble them up.

We met my 1st cousin and his Lady at the Painted Desert again this year and had a great time. I got my knee replaced on the 5th of June, bought a new Brittany Puppy  on the 10th of June. Most of the summer was dedicated to healing, and raising a pup. 

I've had a lot of dogs over my lifetime. All were wonderful! Several were exceptional. This one stands out from all of them in the "cuteness" category. Her parents were "Field Trail dogs" and she has the motor to match. As a small pup she was always running, and mostly out of sight. She is highly intelligent and as manipulative as a "bar girl". She seems to think that I am the next best thing since "kitty box Nougats".  A four mile shock collar is imperative with her. Its not necessary to shock her, but its ability to call her back is its main feature. All of the pups in her litter were named after Star Wars characters. She is Leah. Probably not the right spelling, but it is what it is.

Our fly-in was the highlight of the year. We are dwindling down as we age out of flying, but the ones who come make it special. Leah got to go on her first flight due to refusing to let one of the guy's take off. At my suggestion he stuffed her in his other seat and took off. She only got excited when she saw the trucks on the Hwy.

                                                                 Nap time

After the fly in I took Brenda to the coast via Crater Lake again. We went to the Redwoods, and traveled up the Coast seeing the sights. We spent a few days camping at one of the regular fly-in friends. The thing that made the biggest impression on Brenda was how many Pine trees there are in Oregon. Coming from W.Va. where the dominate tree is a Hardwood, all the Pines were a bit of a shock to her. We lost fifth gear on the truck coming back about 50 miles from the coast. It was a bit slower driving in forth gear, but we made it back with no problems.

As you might be aware, I turned 80 this year. Something that I never considered would happen. I guess it made a bit bigger impression than I anticipated. I haven't been able to hunt since 2018, when the Rabbits starved to near extinction. During that time my left shoulder got to the point that I couldn't exercise or hardly put a coat on. I somehow decided that flying had lost it's edge. Primarily due to gasoline costing around five dollars a gallon. I did pretty well until the recuperation time to get my knee healed to the point that I could use it again. Then when I did get to where I could get around almost as well as before, the Rabbits were still non existent.

It seems that almost all of the people that were in my "circle" are gone. Most of us don't live to be 80 years old. I guess that I became a bit depressed. I didn't think so until yesterday. I was going to town for a couple of Veterans appointments. The Sun was just coming up, and as usual the Sunrises here in the High Desert are spectacular, I was thinking about the friends that have gone before me, and the ones that I still have. The tears were blurring my vision. Sorrow that they couldn't share the beauty with me and gratitude for the times that they did.   I thanked God for each and every one of you, and promised to do better.

Merry Christmas!                                              

I give up!

 Much to my chagrin another year is going to have to pass before there are enough Jack Rabbits to allow me to actually hunt them. I put in 40 miles last week with little to no Jacks to show for it. In early June there was a sudden influx of Jacks that seemed to indicate that they were back. I had 6 to 8 Jacks each evening, traveling across the open field below the house to get water from the creek. Then they disappeared! I blamed it on my new Pup scaring them off, but they are not any where to be seen. Tami was telling me that she was seeing 20-30 Jacks on the road from the ranch to Cow Camp, but they aren't there now either.

I had always assumed that the "Jack Rabbit cycle" was that it just took 7 years to rebuild through the survivors eventually building back the populations through breeding. I am not so sure anymore. For one thing the influx of Jacks was real. I had two Jacks that survived the winter and I would see their tracks in the snow throughout the winter. One of them died on my alternate runway this spring, and then all of a sudden they were everywhere, and just like that after about a month or so they were gone again. The Coyotes and my dog could not possibly be that effective in killing and running off so many overnight.

As a last resort I went to the area ( a 60 mile round trip ) that I had found so many Jacks in the past. Where the Lave flows were, was full of Brush Bunnies. Hope went nuts, and they wore her to a frazzle. However since they only live in volcanic areas they are never more than 20 yards from a hole. With a ferret they wouldn't have a chance, but on their own its almost impossible for a Harris Hawk to be fast enough to catch one of the little "pocket rockets. " I walked the entire area and finally saw one Jack. 

I decided to give it one last shot. The field just West of the house has always held at least four Jacks. Hope and I, without the dog, traversed the entire thing and only saw 3 Bunnies I hate to say it, but its time to give it up.

  

#$%*#%

 Yah I know that is a heck of a title, but that is exactly what I am feeling. I have hunted every day since the last post and there is basically nothing of  the Rabbit family to hunt. The only interesting part of the days efforts since my last post is watching the new pup run. I've hit new spots every day since we caught the half grown rabbit and have found nothing to chase. 

I need to find at least four different fields to alternate my hunts so that I don't burn out the ones that actually do have enough Rabbits to hunt. That has not happened yet. We just got back from another fruitless  search, wherein We tried at least four spots in that area and did not turn up a single Rabbit. I have walked 40 miles according to my phone this month and killed one Rabbit. I am trying to find someplace local that I can hunt, but that apparently isn't going to happen. I will drive to Arock tomorrow to see if I can get permission to hunt one of the good areas there. It has been my mainstay in the past, but the old owner died and the ranch has been sold, so no idea if I will be able to hunt there or not.

The pup is a hoot to watch. She runs full out leaping over the Sage that gets in her way. Not what I had in mind when I decided to get another pup. It is possible that she scares every Rabbit within miles with her soaring flight over tall Sage Brush. Its easy to tell if she jumps a Rabbit, its yip yip fading off in the distance when she does find one. I have not yet made up my mind as of yet if she is a plus or a minus. I have my suspicions but hell there doesn't seem to be anything out there to scare. Poor ole Hope has taken to following the pup in the hopes that she will jump something, it appears she has lost faith in me. So far she has not found any rabbits so I have no idea what Hope will be able to make of that. I had thought that she might attack the pup, but so far she doesn't seem bothered by her, even walking past Leah on the ground without even giving her a second look. No idea what Leah will do if and when Hope does get a Rabbit in her feet. That may not happen though. 

October 2024

 I imagine that some of you are a bit surprised to once again finding one of these in your inbox. Its a bit of a surprise to me as well. This last year has had a bit more of a cost than usual. I'm still kicking, but sometimes you have to check, just to make sure.

I managed to get the VA to replace my left knee in June. I picked up a new puppy five days after the operation. The knee was interesting to say the least. I still need several steps with a grimace before I get lined out. Hopefully that will go away with time.

The actual main reason that I have not wanted to do anything with the computer is that I had to buy a new one last year and it appears that every thing that I did using Windows 7 is not anywhere near the same. The things that were so intuitive with 7 is now much more of a problem with W 11. One of the more endearing features of this version is that I have to keep moving the page up so that I can see what I am typing. I am sure that there is some way to center the text, but my current fix is to make the font so small that I have trouble reading it. 

I turned 80 just a few days ago, and with all the forced inactivity it is much harder to fight against the current.

I took Brenda to the coast after the fly in this year. We did most of the Coast, and I got to show her all of the features that I like about the coast. I guess I did pretty well, she remarked to me that she had never known that there were so many Pine trees in Oregon.

After our return, I began to trim Hope down for some hunting. She has as much trouble losing weight as I do apparently. Today was our second attempt at finding some rabbits to chase. I walked 2.75 miles this afternoon only finding 5 Jacks to chase.  I walked most of the distance in what had been one of my best spots, only finding 4 in an area that would normally hold 8 to 10 Jacks. I changed fields and lucky for us, found a half grown Jack that has not learned all the tricks of evasion.

If I had to guess this year is still going to be difficult, requiring a lot of travel just to find something to chase. I'm not sure how long I am going to put up with the scarcity of rabbits, before I pull the plug.