A Very Quiet Summer

With Covid-19, all activities in the park were cancelled indefinitely.  The ATV jamboree and Octoberfest were cancelled this week.  Ordinarily there are lots of things to do...Kentucky Derby party, Cinco de Mayo, Independence Day, etc.  Not this year.  To my knowledge, there have been no cases at all in park and about 80 cases in Grant County, most associated with the three big copper mines. 

Casual socializing, distanced appropriately of course, still is popular.  At a recent Happy Hour across the street, the hostess, Karen modeled her hummingbird hat.  They have three or four feeders and literally dozens of hummingbirds.

Interestingly enough, business at the park has been very good.  There have been 17 new leases written so far and the park has been booked up in advance for the holiday weekends. 

Living out here in the middle of 3.5 million acres of national forest presents some interesting problems.  Two of the neighbors came out on a Sunday a few weeks ago to find flat tires.  

Above is a photo of the across-the-lane neighbor's tire.  Note the teeth marks.  It was a complete surprise to me that bears are attracted to tires!  Bob, the neighbor, said that they are attracted to oil/fat.  Mutilated tires are a common problem for hunters who take vehicles into the wilderness.  

Update:  Last night I heard gunshots at about 10 pm.  This morning I checked with the neighbor across the street.  A full grown bear was on their deck licking the grill.  When Bob went out with a big flashlight (and a pistol); the bear just looked at him.  So Bob fired five shots into the ground to run off the bear.  It may be the same one who tried to eat Bob's tire.  Time for Fish and Game to come out to trap and relocate him to a more remote area.  

We have new neighbors in the park who have a home in Deming.  This summer, with the heat wave, Deming has been slightly hotter than the surface of the sun so they decided to find someplace at the higher altitudes close to Deming where they can spend time.  They stumbled onto Burro Mountain Homestead, saw a place for sale, talked with the owner, agreed on a price.  Within a week or so, the park had run their background check and they had turned over the money to the owner.  Diane left everything...patio furniture, accessories, linens, kitchen equipment, the works.  

Their new neighbor across the lane had an Arctic Cat Wildcat side-by-side she wanted to sell so they bought that as well.  They had no experience in driving an off-road vehicle and, of course, no knowledge of the trails up here.  We've been coaching them on both.

Yesterday we got a phone call from them that they had gone out by themselves (a very risky idea) and their Wildcat had sprung an oil leak and they were stranded.  It was over 90 degrees.  Took several hours to go out to where they were, set up the tow strap, and then tow them back to the park.  

Mary Anne and Nina at the top of O Shit Hill

On a ride with Nina and Roger, their friend Deb saw a great rock climbing opportunity.  She is far braver than I am.

This is the time of the year when we start seeing the does with their new babies in the park.  Mule deer commonly have twins.  We had two moms and their two each babies this morning at the salt block we recently put in the yard.  The photo is a little fuzzy because I had to take it through the window of the trailer.  I also put out pieces of apple for them.  First one to come by gets it all.