The wife is gone

You know it is interesting.  As an independent individual who rarely lets anyone know what he is doing or where he is going I have realized that I like to have Doreen keeping track of me.  When I slip out, do something maybe I shouldn't do or just be me it is not near as fun when no one is keeping track of me. I have all of these illusions of what I can do but when it comes to doing iut I lose interest.   I hate to admit it but I must be domesticated,  The only one that is truly happy is Maggie who gets to lay in the living room when I am around.  She still sleeps outside at night.  I miss you Doreen,

Left in the cold

I am sort of depressed today.  I thought that I would have plenty of time to take the mower off the tractor and put the snow blower on.  Well that did not happen.  Saturady came with snow and wind.  Mike and I had a great weekend planned with hunting and fishing that all went up in smake with the weather.  We still had a great weekend.  My place is a 1000 feet above Bear Lake we we got the 18 inches of snow and the lake got a skiff,  The blower is finally on and the deck is clear.  What a bummer.  I have lived here long enough to know that this snow is here for the duration.  La Nina is positioned in the Pacific so batten down the hatches, a long winter is coming.  It would be a little easier if Doreen was here to be depressed with me but she and Audrey and Ashley are in Aruba soaking up the sun.  Good for them, bad for me.

What Has Happened to It?

It is an erie morning for me.  The weather is perfect and the air is still.  Not a sound, no traffic.  I never thought I would see this day come.  Ever since I can remember I have waited, anxiously for this day each year.  I read about what I should do, prepared myself and my equipment for the event and visualized success.  During my years as a warden, it meant a weekend of work, hundreds of  miles on rough roads in the hills, talking to lots of armed people.  I enjoyed the excitement of it all.  But around here it seems to be over.  No sounds of shots in the surrounding mountains, no people in red fluorescent clothing, no antlers exposed in the back if pickup trucks.  It is the opening of the 2011 deer hunt.  To see a deer is rare, a buck even rarer.  If you do see any, they will be in a subdivision.  The biologists don't know where they went.  The old excuses like winter range destruction, predators, weather, chronic wasting disease or anything else don't answer the question.  The kids are probably playing with their phones as the old man desperately scans the hills.  At least the family could get together and ride OHV's and drink beer.  That will end next year when the DWR breaks up the state into micro units.  Then, even if you own private ground with some deer, you can't hunt it unless you draw out on it.  But for the hunters with big money, there will always be a place for you to buy a deer if you have enough $$.  Apparently, commercialization of wildlife is legal if the State does it.  It is over.  Thanks Utah Wildlife Resources.  

Age and Birthdays

Today, since it is my birthday, I am going to talk about myself.  I was born after WWII to an Australian bride and Navy man who went back to Australia, married her an brought her to farm in Utah.  I vaguely remember birthdays as a child, don't remember my 21st birthday and since that time they have come yearly and uneventfully but in my mind I didn't age.  I remained in my early twenties acting the part for years and years.  People around me said I should grow up and I said "look how old I am now".  I thought I could do anything and was on the edge more times than not.  I never purposely exercised for exercise sake but have always be active since I can't stand to sit still.  At the time, the years seemed to pass slowly until I watched my kids grow up.  The passage of time accelerated then and I realized everything was changing but my perception of myself,  What seemed to be a couple of years ago turned into twenty year ago.  All of my old friends started to look old, but not me, or so I thought.  I could still work hard but I don't get as much accomplished as I thought I should have.  I now read obituaries and wonder why do so many people die my age.  Then I look at the "rockers" who abused their bodies beyond belief are still going .  I have been lucky.  I have peered at deathmany times but have never been in a hospital.  I guess it is because I still think I am 22 in my mind even though my carcass is 63 today.  I hope to die old in years but young at heart.

"Fish On!"

Typically August is a slow month for fishing at Bear Lake.  There will be a few guys out dragging downrigger balls around the lake seeing fish but not catching them.  This year has been different.  I started hearing reports about of couple of the Laketown boys catching some nice Mack off the east side.  Then some of the boats out of the marina started doing the same thing but with a mix of cutthroat.  Talk is one thing but seeing is reality and I have seen some great catches of fish along with stories that are almost unbelievable.  So what is happening?  Since I have not seen any of the fisheries data (I have asked) collected by DWR I don't know what they are seeing.  I suspect that the high water and productive inflow have something to do with it.  Maybe the zooplankton have bounced up or the record warm temperatures of the lake have speeded things up but one thing is for sure.  If you want to catch big fish trolling now is the time to do it.

Scourge of the Marina

You know, I can't believe it.  Everyone professes to to be environmentally sensitive.  "We love nature and the way organisms relate to each other" they profess.  They spend hours watching the Discovery channel to become more educated.  Unfortunately there is one amazing insect that creates fear and an instant desire to kill.  Is it aggressive, dangerous or harmful?  No, it is simply an arachnid with many eyes, long legs and the ability to create capture devices out of micro thin silk that are beautiful to behold.  Covered with dew the webs are a subject for photographers and artists.  These highly evolved insects silently wait for their prey to come to them.  Just like I do when I put out decoys to attract ducks and geese.  They don't eat our kids, dogs or cats, only those annoying bugs that try to fly in our eyes and nose.  Everyone thinks they will be bitten but few actually are.  Far fewer with than with dogs and cats.

A marina is a perfect place to be a spider unless you are on some paranoid boat owners vessel.  The light attract the bugs and the spider capture them and relieve them of their bodily fluids for a quick death.  The Cisco Kids take a broom and destroy their creations, customers will not get in a boat with webs and if one shows up unexpectedly the shrieks of horror make me think that a murder is occurring.  I ask them why they are afraid of spiders and all I get is that that they have long legs and are creepy.  I am sure I could hold a spider in my finger and drive them into the lake out of fear, especially Whit.  Sarah even gave up her cell phone to the lake other than to face one of these horrible creatures.

Let's face it, marinas ar perfect spider habitat.  Insects emerging from the lake or swarming around the lights provide a bountiful food source.  Their babies are grown and ready to migrate for miles on the wind above the lake hanging onto a threat in the wind.  They won't survive long and 99% will perish naturally.  Don't pollute the water with insecticides in a futile attempt to destroy them and put the "fear of God" in your childs personality.  Just remember Charlotte's web.  She was kind, loved her babies and never hurt anyone, not even the rat, Templeton..

The Ghost Sheep of Right Hand Fork in Logan Canyon

I have been waiting long time to write this story.  In my travels over the years I have seen stray and lost sheep many times.  I remember, over thirty years ago, I was stocking fish along the shoreline from a barge in Flaming Gorge Reservoir.  I was running along an island in Sheep Creek Bay and I came across a sheep that was mired in the mud and unable to get out.  I put a rope around it and tried to pull it to safety but it's long wool weighed it down and I was unsuccessful.  The animal died a short time later.

I travel Logan Canyon a lot and usually my eyes are on the side of the road instead of where I am driving much to Doreen's dismay.  Over five years ago, before I got to Right Hand Fork, just before the sheer cliff on the north side of the road I noticed three sheep on the side hill.  They had been sheared within the last few years but I had no idea where they came from.  There are no active herds in the area so maybe they escaped a wreck or something.  I figured they were toast due to predators and forgot about them.  As the years and trips passed, much to my surprise, I saw them infrequently on both sides of the road and river at all times of the year.  Two white and one black ewe.  Each time their fleece was longer.  I couldn't believe that they continued to survive.  Last winter, when the snow was up to your butt I saw them by the highway once again.  I couldn't believe they were still alive. There was no where to go and I was sure they would be hit by a vehicle.   It reminded me of an old sheepherder who that said years ago, "that you never kept mirrors around sheep because they were so stupid that if they saw themselves in a mirror and found out they were a sheep they would fall over and die."   Obviously there are no mirrors at Right Hand Fork.  I had also thought that some animal lover would have rescued them over the years but I guess sheep are not as well liked as dogs or deer.

Much to my surprise as I was hauling a boat to Hyrum this week, there they were,  Masses of wool.  No way a predator could bite through that to hurt the old ewe. I was happy they had survived the winter since I am attached to these animals.  They will never reproduce because there are no rams around.  They are destine to spend the rest of their live roaming the hills around right Hand Fork avoiding cars and waiting for someone to come rescue them which will never happen.  If you have seen them let me know and tell me why no one has ever done anything for them.