24: favorites
- Leslie Bevans
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Dear Friend,
So sorry for the strange Banner Artifact that shows up in the middle of this post. I will have to try to troubleshoot this soon, in the meantime, I hope that you and yours are doing well on this beautiful Sunday morning.
I’ll write about the good things that have happened and are happening this weekend.
Gentle winds are bringing cooling air to the high desert.
Clouds are moving across the sky… it rained for almost eight minutes yesterday, pattering fat drops onto the dust and sage and blooming yellow rabbitbrush. And, yesterday afternoon, right before our very eyes, a herd of pronghorn ran faster than the hunters’ arrows.
Following that and considering what was to be unfolding in the coming days, we decided to relocate yesterday afternoon. We packed up and were back on the road in record time.
An unplanned leap into wherever, away from there.
Up until yesterday afternoon, the week had been wonderful. After leaving Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in Oregon last Saturday, we wound up at a ‘dry camping’ campground at Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada.
We were the only people there, and for miles around. It was quiet, nearly silent. Nature was enjoying the final sips and gulps of a drying lake less than 200 yards from our trailer.
We kept to ourselves but were incredibly fortunate to have a ‘front row seat in the nose-bleed section’ to the comings and goings of so many beautiful friends.
The night sky was full of planets, stars, meteors… and coyote song.
This campground and its raw, real-time natural-unfoldings, made it one of our all-time favorite places to be. ‘Then why leave? What happened?’ The short answer is that after calling authorities just for information, not to inform, I wanted to find out if the posted, “Hunting is strictly prohibited,” means what it says, and the authorities (who did actually call us back) weren’t sure themselves…
Most of the hunters we’ve met are nature lovers, they care about creatures very much, they want the rules to be adhered to so that there can be a healthy balance. That’s the general feeling of most of the hunters we’ve met.
The element that arrived in force yesterday afternoon to this peaceful place with the obvious intention of (literally) running from their truck down to the middle of the lakebed, bows and arrows up, shooting into an unsuspecting herd of pronghorn…
We’d been told, we’d read, and we continued to read, that no one could hunt there, not ever… we understand that a ‘wildlife refuge’ does not equate to ‘no hunting.’ But there were exceptions where hunting is 'always prohibited,' and this place is one of those exceptions. Whomever wrote all of those ‘hunting restricted’ online posts, and printed all of those pamphlets … left the door of ambiguity open, and, as we were told by the warden yesterday, “It is nearly always hunting season, everywhere in Nevada.”
Reality is that the pronghorn and all the other creatures have been dealing with hot dry summers and hunter-filled seasons for a very long time.
We’re waking up this morning in another very quiet place. Smoke is hanging low and we’re not sure if we’re staying. But we’re so grateful for every single moment we have in nature!
Last week, Frank was able to photograph all day, every day. The views were spectacular!
We got to see coyote, jack rabbits, bunnies, Canada geese, a cougar, lots of night hawk,
Northern Harrier Hawks, cutie bats, quail,
Sage Brush Sparrows
Brewer's Sparrows,
grouse,
damselflies,
dragonflies, a mouse named Brigid, mule deer, pronghorn, and this guy ...
.. a lone stallion. He’s kind of a legend because only a few people have actually ever seen him. But, Frank and horses… they talk.
How about you? What are the best things about your week and weekend so far?
Please write and let us know how you are doing. Your emailed letters are so fun to receive and we are very grateful for your good thoughts in our direction!
Thank you for being here to read Tracks by the Post! We thought of you yesterday as we were packing up to leave, not fleeing for our lives, just placing ourselves away from the enthusiasm that suddenly showed up … we talked about you, wondering if leaving was what you would have done…
Sending you our heartfelt gratitude to you and happy wishes that the week ahead becomes one of your favorites!
Gently Be,
Leslie and Frank
PS: Drum rolls heard way off in the distance....
Lovable Halloween-themed characters plow ahead clumsily and everyone is so, so sad until they discover, "Your gnats have been safe in your hat all along!" Lessons: Jumping to conclusions, assuming, taking the time to ask questions, sometimes we’re wrong. A full-story word-list is included for reading practice. Yay!
Pps: A very short video
There were tell-tale mouse-sounds on Friday night, so I baited our humane mouse trap with fresh peanut butter and early yesterday morning, the trap was tripped. This is the release of cutie-pie mouse 'Brigid,' (2026 Mouse ‘B’ named by the first person to send me a ‘B’ name, thank you)! We’re hoping that we won’t need a ‘C’ name. : )
