In the predawn light, gunnison sage grouse. Head up, tail up, chest puffed.
Grouse
Here in a riparian forest along the river surrounded by sageland hills? Grouse live in sageland hills. A phone call to the division of wildlife the day before. Up at dawn. At the lek by six. Seventy-five yards away, Sharp-Tailed Grouse, wings extended horizontally, heads down, sharp white tails up, buzzing and clucking. They danced for almost an hour before they suddenly stopped and flew off. Off to the next spot; we were there by seven; an overlook over rolling grassy hills covered with flowers. Three hundred yards away, Greater Sage Grouse puffing and strutting for another half hour. Home and back to work by eight. Life on the road.
Life on the road
Up at dawn, packed up, pulled out, headed for Taos. It will be a full day driving. Straight down the middle of Colorado. Glenwood Springs to Minturn, then south on Highway 24 to Leadville, through Buena Vista, Salida, into the San Luis Valley, through Alamosa, continue south following the Rio Grande into New Mexico and on to Taos. Highways, not freeways. It’s a great drive. But while we were still in the driveway of the RV Park in Glenwood Springs, the phone rang. It was Jamie at the office. The Taos client isn’t ready. Oops. So we idle. Now what? Got to do something. Hey, the Steamboat job the week after has already sent their advance stuff into the office and Jamie has it set up. Maybe they can take us a week early. It’s still only 7:30 am. It takes a while to sort out, but it is likely that we can do the Steamboat job next week, so we drive north instead of south. Glenwood Springs to Rifle, then north on Colorado 13 through Rio Blanco, past the turn-off to Rangely, through Meeker, and on to Craig. A right turn on US 40 at Craig takes us to Yampa River State Park outside Hayden. We’ll set up here to work and wait to see if we get to go on to Steamboat. We’re perfectly situated. Steamboat is only about a half hour away from here. Here in a riparian forest along the river surrounded by sageland hills. Eighty degrees, blue sky, puffy white clouds. The low is going to be about fifty. We can do this. Life on the road.
Bear damage
We thought beating up the bird feeders was the only damage the bear was going to do, but noooooooooo. We had noticed that he had knocked the dump hose loose from the receptacle while he was stumbling around the outside of our motorhome in the night. No big deal, we just put it back together properly. Well, tomorrow is a travel day, so I spent some time disconnecting and putting stuff away in preparation. In the process, I discovered the two inch gash in our brand new heavy-duty dump hose. Didn’t look like tooth marks. I don’t think he bit it. He probably stepped on it against something sharp. Good for us the cut wasn’t right in the middle, it was more toward one end. Some quick work with a knife and wire cutters, and the dump hose is as good as before, just a little shorter. Tonight, the bird feeders are stowed, the hoses are stowed, the flower pots are put away. We should get an early getaway tomorrow morning.
Night before last…
…the bird feeder got knocked over. We got up the next morning to the whole thing in a pile on the ground. Some seed had spilled, but nothing was eaten, so maybe it wasn’t an animal. There had been some teenagers messing around across the road the evening before. The bird feeder is out front of the coach so we can see it through the windshield during the day. Pretty easy to get to. The kids could have knocked it over after dark. Or it could have been the wind, but we had left the awning out overnight and nothing triggered the wind sensor. Judy thought it was probably raccoons. I figured it was a bear.We decided to reconfigure and narrow it down. We put the birdfeeder assembly all back together, but behind the motorhome this time. Less likely kids will casually get back there and mess with it. We kept the good feeders in and hung the suet back up. Next night, boom. Annie starts barking. The feeder is down. Judy goes outside with a flashlight to chase the raccoons. I don’t think its raccoons. We have a heavy metal post on a heavy metal stand, with heavy rocks piled on the base. A raccoon climbing the pole would exert a vertical force. He might trash the feeders and knock them down, but I don’t think he’s going to generate the horizontal force to knock the whole contraption down. I stayed in the house.Tonight, there were headlights in the park; not an RV coming in late, but headlights starting and stopping and turning. They had a spotlight; and the guy walking around outside of the truck had a badge; and a gun. Wildlife wardens, responding to the call of a marauding bear in the neighborhood.No more birdfeeders outside at night here. Judy spent the rest of the night watching out the window for the bear.