Grand Prix, San Jose

A visit to the property presents us with unusual wildlife

Alright, so we've been trying to fill this big empty dirt bowl that Bartlett called a pond for something like seven years now. The first few years were very weak attempts, I admit, but still SEVEN YEARS is a long time to look at a dry dusty pit and be told that it was once a lush Eden full of frogs and bugs and all the other cool stuff boys like to play with. So finally we decided that enough was enough, and made it a point to find the source of the pond, and get some water into this thing. Long story really short, we hacked into the middle of a blackberry patch (more like dense jungle of thorns, Brair Rabbit style), and found the giant valve which delivers life giving water to an otherwise desolate arid region of the property. this is the pond after about 16 hours of filling. We then stocked it with Blue Gill (see below) and crawdads. I am so excited to see what its become in our absence. I think apon it daily. Its almost an obsession. Seriously, I don't know if this is healthy.

So I guess Scott wasn't full of it, and there are a whole lot more Rattle Snakes out this year. Great. Fun, fun. But, other than constantly wondering if your going to be painfully injected with poison every time you walk through dry grass...AKA the property, I guess they're OK. Well, as long as I get to shoot 'em. Yep thats right, I shot this one only to find that it was a mama. Gilly counted ten of these eggs in it. Now some people might say that I'm a bad person or something because I killed a mama snake and her ten babies, but those people probably don't spend as much time hiking around the proberty as we do. Sorry, it's a rough life I guess.

Oh, look at this! While fishing the big water of Wolf Creek we found these little fellows. Blue Gill in the creek? Looks like it, which at first we were not so sure about, 'cause everyone prefers to have trout in there, but after filling the pond we realized what woderful luck we had finding such a hardy species on the property. We quickly caught five of them for the pond.

4th of July

The road to Sean's Pond proves to have exellent views

Upper Spencers, although not quite as beautiful as the lower lake, it takes a close second. This is the stream that flows down the mountain side from one of the many springs in the area, pooling a few times before hittling the lake in the background.

The perfect time of year for wild flower viewing. The entire place was like a garden. Any location with water had flowers, lots of 'em.