Al Hansen
Well-known member
Since my Mule has been in the hospital for a while, I sure was glad to get my mechanic back from Michigan. My Kawasaki Mule died on August 9th and I decided to wait for Mac, instead of bringing it to the dealership. To be blunt, paying at least $100.00 an hour to have it fixed was not an option. When Mac arrived he found the culprit right away. It was in the rear left hub where the splines are or should be. This hub had none. Mac pointed out the amount of rust in this area. So I ordered my new part. That, too, was a shock to the system because it was $316.00. It got here in a week and Mac came over right away. Within 15 to 20 minutes it was installed and he said I was good to go. Well, I had to secure the cowling for that houses the belt and that was no fun, but it is done.
So, yesterday at 2PM, I got Belize and Sunny to jump up on the seat with me and we headed out to scout for ducks. Just prior to that I did look at my phone to see what the temperature was and kind of said really warm. It was 97F. Funny how scouting for ducks can make you rationalize uncomfortable situations like driving the Mule 15mph and thinking that makes one cooler when it is 97F outside.
Our season opens on Saturday the 12th of September. I am super excited about this just because there is still some water left in the pond that I like to hunt. For the past two years I have not hunted the early teal season because it has been so dry. Funny how you don't forget certain times and on this particular day, which was a Sunday in early August, Bev ordered a Domino's pizza and I had to run to town to get it. I have to admit that it sure looked like we might get some rain with how dark the clouds were but nothing much was happening yet. At 5:00PM I got to the drive up window at Domino's and got my pizza. It was sprinkling a bit and I remember smiling because the last time it rained was back in April.
When I pulled out onto the main drag in Socorro, all of a sudden it poured like there might not be a tomorrow. With the wipers on full blast, I headed home. When I was about 1 mile from our house, I found myself slowing down and following a very large front end loader that the state highway department uses. He was driving as fast as he could and when we got into the village of Luis Lopez, where we live just on the outskirts before heading for San Antonio, NM, he stopped in the middle of the highway blocking the road. I pulled over to the bank of Post Office boxes where we get our mail and began checking out what was happening. The arroyo that we have on the north side of our 7 acres was running across the highway. Normally when it is just running even I will venture across in our Prius. Well, this huge front end loader did not venture out in this very fast moving river that was blocking the highway. I went to grab my phone and then remembered that I had forgotten it on the livingroom table by my chair. So, since the rain had abated some, I dashed over to talk to the driver of the loader. I ended up giving him two pieces of pizza so I could use his phone to call Bev. I could see our home up on the hill but there was no way I could get home. The driver told me that the arroyo he was going to was the first one south of our place and that was running harder than this one, which sure looked like the Colorado River during spring runoff. Well, that might be an old timer's reaction I guess. It was good to talk with Bev and I said, "See you when the river subsides and most likely the pizza will be cold."
I got to this spot which is 1/4 mile from our home at 5:15PM and at 7:30PM, when the front end loader had completed his job of clearing the highway of the debris, rocks, and gravel, I was the last vehicle to drive through the stream still running across the highway and found myself waiting for the garage door to open. After handing Bev what was left of the pizza, she told me she had eaten already and that we could have the left overs tomorrow. The last thing I mentioned prior to watching a favorite program of ours was this. "Bev, you should see our driveway. It looks like what the Grand Canyon must have looked like after that first big gully washer event. I have to call Ted and see if he can run over tomorrow and help us out." He is our neighbor only a 1/2 mile to the south of us and has been fixing our driveway for the past 23 years. I am thinking since we live in the desert southwest and in the midst of a climate change that maybe Ted has graded our driveway 8 to 10 times. Just a guess on my part.
Well, some of that water from that day in August is still in that pond I hunt and boy was it fun to pull up to it yesterday. Here is what I saw.
Al
I did some figuring while I was there checking out a spot for a blind and for me to be able to hunt this year of 2020 means that 66 years ago, I shot my first duck, a bluewing teal, in western Minnesota. Yes, I was the wide eyed kid of 13 thinking it couldn't get any better than this. Well, it has---now even though I am an old phart, I still found myself smiling when I saw that the water was still there and then to add a flock of about 40 bluewings/cinnamons made that smile much broader.
View attachment _MG_0071.JPG
View attachment _MG_9981.JPG
View attachment _MG_9992.JPGView attachment _MG_0016.JPG
View attachment _MG_0024.JPG
View attachment _MG_0027.JPG
View attachment _MG_0073.JPG
We enjoy eating pancakes on Sunday morning. So do our big pups. Yesterday, Sunny, Belize, Casa and new comer, Jalapeno shared two left over pancakes just for them. This is the only people food they ever get. I take small pieces to make it last longer. The only time they can react is when they hear their name called. Then it is their turn for a tasty morsel. By the way, Jalapeno aka Jali has that bigger than a house look. She,no doubt will be the game changer when it comes to hunting teal. I'm thinking that it will be around the 12th when she has her pups. Oh well, I love being involved when mom's have their pups.
The last pup from Belize's litter of 6 yellow pups, left yesterday when we had a family from Tucson, AZ drive over to pick up their pup. I was thrilled to see them because they had told me how excited they were to get Rebel. Not only that, this pup will be trained to retireve ducks! Nothing could be better. Half of the pups stayed in New Mexico and then Rebel went to Tucson, Bianka is now living in Fort Collins, CO and Scout found out how much he loves grass that he found in San Jose, CA. All of these folks drove to our area to pick up their new pups. Covid 19 has made some huge impacts on the way people purchase pups.
View attachment _MG_9937.JPG
To all of you going on your first hunt or first hunt of many hunts, best of luck to you.
View attachment _MG_9351.JPG
This last shot is a favorite of mine. I captured it in August when we had been invaded by a herd of hummingbirds. It has been years since we have seen so many. Years ago in the early 2000s we had hummers here that were consuming 3 gallons of nectar per day. There were times when we saw 200 hummingbirds trying to get something to eat at one of our 5 feeders.
This year was like bringing back the good ol' days. Not quite so many but enough to have fun with my camera. From the last week of July to the end of August we averaged 1 1/2 gallons of nectar per day. There was a period of time that 2 gallons were being consumed. You can't help but smile when you have 75 to 100 hummingbirds flitting around your feeders, creating a fuss here and there and always making sounds by voice or the hum of their wings. They won't be here much longer. In a couple of days it will be 93F for the high in the afternoon and the following morning it is supposed to drop to around 41 or 42F. They will be on their way to Mexico no doubt. I will leave the feeders out just in case we have some stragglers which will be made up of broadtails and or black-chinned hummers.
View attachment _MG_5161.JPG
So, yesterday at 2PM, I got Belize and Sunny to jump up on the seat with me and we headed out to scout for ducks. Just prior to that I did look at my phone to see what the temperature was and kind of said really warm. It was 97F. Funny how scouting for ducks can make you rationalize uncomfortable situations like driving the Mule 15mph and thinking that makes one cooler when it is 97F outside.
Our season opens on Saturday the 12th of September. I am super excited about this just because there is still some water left in the pond that I like to hunt. For the past two years I have not hunted the early teal season because it has been so dry. Funny how you don't forget certain times and on this particular day, which was a Sunday in early August, Bev ordered a Domino's pizza and I had to run to town to get it. I have to admit that it sure looked like we might get some rain with how dark the clouds were but nothing much was happening yet. At 5:00PM I got to the drive up window at Domino's and got my pizza. It was sprinkling a bit and I remember smiling because the last time it rained was back in April.
When I pulled out onto the main drag in Socorro, all of a sudden it poured like there might not be a tomorrow. With the wipers on full blast, I headed home. When I was about 1 mile from our house, I found myself slowing down and following a very large front end loader that the state highway department uses. He was driving as fast as he could and when we got into the village of Luis Lopez, where we live just on the outskirts before heading for San Antonio, NM, he stopped in the middle of the highway blocking the road. I pulled over to the bank of Post Office boxes where we get our mail and began checking out what was happening. The arroyo that we have on the north side of our 7 acres was running across the highway. Normally when it is just running even I will venture across in our Prius. Well, this huge front end loader did not venture out in this very fast moving river that was blocking the highway. I went to grab my phone and then remembered that I had forgotten it on the livingroom table by my chair. So, since the rain had abated some, I dashed over to talk to the driver of the loader. I ended up giving him two pieces of pizza so I could use his phone to call Bev. I could see our home up on the hill but there was no way I could get home. The driver told me that the arroyo he was going to was the first one south of our place and that was running harder than this one, which sure looked like the Colorado River during spring runoff. Well, that might be an old timer's reaction I guess. It was good to talk with Bev and I said, "See you when the river subsides and most likely the pizza will be cold."
I got to this spot which is 1/4 mile from our home at 5:15PM and at 7:30PM, when the front end loader had completed his job of clearing the highway of the debris, rocks, and gravel, I was the last vehicle to drive through the stream still running across the highway and found myself waiting for the garage door to open. After handing Bev what was left of the pizza, she told me she had eaten already and that we could have the left overs tomorrow. The last thing I mentioned prior to watching a favorite program of ours was this. "Bev, you should see our driveway. It looks like what the Grand Canyon must have looked like after that first big gully washer event. I have to call Ted and see if he can run over tomorrow and help us out." He is our neighbor only a 1/2 mile to the south of us and has been fixing our driveway for the past 23 years. I am thinking since we live in the desert southwest and in the midst of a climate change that maybe Ted has graded our driveway 8 to 10 times. Just a guess on my part.
Well, some of that water from that day in August is still in that pond I hunt and boy was it fun to pull up to it yesterday. Here is what I saw.
Al
I did some figuring while I was there checking out a spot for a blind and for me to be able to hunt this year of 2020 means that 66 years ago, I shot my first duck, a bluewing teal, in western Minnesota. Yes, I was the wide eyed kid of 13 thinking it couldn't get any better than this. Well, it has---now even though I am an old phart, I still found myself smiling when I saw that the water was still there and then to add a flock of about 40 bluewings/cinnamons made that smile much broader.
View attachment _MG_0071.JPG
View attachment _MG_9981.JPG
View attachment _MG_9992.JPGView attachment _MG_0016.JPG
View attachment _MG_0024.JPG
View attachment _MG_0027.JPG
View attachment _MG_0073.JPG
We enjoy eating pancakes on Sunday morning. So do our big pups. Yesterday, Sunny, Belize, Casa and new comer, Jalapeno shared two left over pancakes just for them. This is the only people food they ever get. I take small pieces to make it last longer. The only time they can react is when they hear their name called. Then it is their turn for a tasty morsel. By the way, Jalapeno aka Jali has that bigger than a house look. She,no doubt will be the game changer when it comes to hunting teal. I'm thinking that it will be around the 12th when she has her pups. Oh well, I love being involved when mom's have their pups.
The last pup from Belize's litter of 6 yellow pups, left yesterday when we had a family from Tucson, AZ drive over to pick up their pup. I was thrilled to see them because they had told me how excited they were to get Rebel. Not only that, this pup will be trained to retireve ducks! Nothing could be better. Half of the pups stayed in New Mexico and then Rebel went to Tucson, Bianka is now living in Fort Collins, CO and Scout found out how much he loves grass that he found in San Jose, CA. All of these folks drove to our area to pick up their new pups. Covid 19 has made some huge impacts on the way people purchase pups.
View attachment _MG_9937.JPG
To all of you going on your first hunt or first hunt of many hunts, best of luck to you.
View attachment _MG_9351.JPG
This last shot is a favorite of mine. I captured it in August when we had been invaded by a herd of hummingbirds. It has been years since we have seen so many. Years ago in the early 2000s we had hummers here that were consuming 3 gallons of nectar per day. There were times when we saw 200 hummingbirds trying to get something to eat at one of our 5 feeders.
This year was like bringing back the good ol' days. Not quite so many but enough to have fun with my camera. From the last week of July to the end of August we averaged 1 1/2 gallons of nectar per day. There was a period of time that 2 gallons were being consumed. You can't help but smile when you have 75 to 100 hummingbirds flitting around your feeders, creating a fuss here and there and always making sounds by voice or the hum of their wings. They won't be here much longer. In a couple of days it will be 93F for the high in the afternoon and the following morning it is supposed to drop to around 41 or 42F. They will be on their way to Mexico no doubt. I will leave the feeders out just in case we have some stragglers which will be made up of broadtails and or black-chinned hummers.
View attachment _MG_5161.JPG
