Wildlife and Wood

If it's not the deer eating my roses, it's this:

Squirrels have been gnawing on the wood frame of my back door.

A woodpecker has devastated one of the trees in the back yard.

The Squirrel

Naturally, following a post about a hawk, I should follow up with a post about a squirrel.

This is a very big red squirrel that hangs around the back yard. He has a seriously long tail.

I took this picture the same day I saw the hawk!

However, Mr. Squirrel does not seem overly concerned. In fact, he looks like he hasn't a care in the world!

Just hangin' around, waitin' on Santa!

Bad Hair Day

This has absolutely nothing to do with the pictures, really. I subscribe to this thing that sends me a platitude daily, "hang in there, Anita" kind of stuff. They are called Notes from the Universe. I usually read them, make a mental note of them if they seem relevant, and move on.

However, this morning, I really liked what came in my email so I thought I'd share it here. It's a Note from the Universe that I think everyone could benefit from.

Here 'tis.

The Top 10 things about time and space that most people seem to forget . . .

10. You chose to be here and you knew what you were doing.

9. There are no "tests" and you're not being judged.

8. Everyone's doing their best with what they know.

7. You already have whatever you're looking for.

6. You are of the Divine, pure God, and so is everyone else.

5. Religion needs spirituality; spirituality does not need religion.

4. You're naturally inclined to succeed - at everything you do.

3. You happen to life, life does not happen to you.

2. Order, healing, and love belie every moment of chaos, pain, and fear.

1. Following your heart is the best way to help others.


I actually don't necessarily agree with #10 but it is a nice thought. I need to think on that one a little more.

Have a nice day, folks! No bad hair Mondays, please!

Squirrels

Around the yard of my house we have squirrels. We have hickory, oak, and mulberry trees (or something like that) in the back and they attract these critters. The ground this year is littered with acorns and the little fuzzballs have been busy burying things.

They have grown brazen, too. This year one of them is attacking my one of my flower pots on a daily basis, turning it over and digging out the dirt. Every morning I find it tipped over and I put the dirt back and right it, only to have to do it again on the morrow. The pot has some hen and chicks in it or I would just bring it inside.

Another, or maybe the same animal, ripped open a bag of mulch I had left on the deck. This surprised me. Maybe there was a grub worm in the mulch? In any event, there was mulch all over the deck yesterday morning.

Our squirrels are gray squirrels or red squirrels. They are quite large. I kid my husband and tell him that when we are old and poor (because goodness knows there isn't going to be any safety net for us like our parents have had) we will subsist on squirrel if he can still see to shoot them. I have eaten squirrel but I was quite young and I can't recall if I liked it. Probably not as I am not fond of wild game.

I enjoy watching the squirrels out the window. They are not quite as difficult to photograph as birds, and certainly not as hard to get a picture of as a chipmunk, but they still scamper quickly and do not stand still if you open the back door for a clear shot.

However, if I venture to the edge of the lawn where the trees are, and stand very still for 10 minutes or so, I am usually rewarded as the squirrels venture out. They keep a safe distance but continue with their day so long as I don't make much movement.

We can learn a lot from a squirrel. I suppose if I put more acorns aside every year I wouldn't worry so much about eating rodents when I am old. However, unlike an acorn, money doesn't just drop off of trees.

It's also probably safer if you put your money in a jar and bury it like the squirrels do the acorns. For sure the banks aren't safe anymore!

Okay, I am rambling so I will stop now. Thank you for reading and have a good day.

If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence. - George Eliot

Question Mark

No, I'm not asking a question! Question mark is the name of this butterfly! I spied it fluttering about in the woods recently when I was taking photos of the colorful leaves.

According to my guide book, it feeds on elm trees and nettles, and hibernates in December, January, and February.

Meet Chippy

Recently I stepped outside to take a few shots of the change of season. I had the camera on a tripod. I was standing so still that the squirrels and birds were not bothered by my presence.

I spied movement at a woodpile in the woods below the shed.

A chipmunk!

I had never been able to photograph a chipmunk before. They are so swift they're difficult to catch with the camera.

He raised his head up over the log to have a look-see. He emitted a bark (which sounded nothing at all like Alvin).

There he is! So cute!

Squirrels

Bear Cubs

I am posting this because I daresay none of us seeing this picture will ever see bear cubs this young again.

This is my brother's snapshot. He still lives on the farm where I grew up, and Saturday some of his friends and their dogs went rabbit hunting.

During the course of their hunt, the dogs and men came across a bear. The bear attacked and the men killed it in self-defense.

They found these three small cubs.

The game warden ruled the kill as in self-defense and took the cubs to Virginia Tech.

The mama bear of course was only defending her tiny little babies. My brother said they weighed about four pounds and the game warden said they were maybe two weeks old.

I feel very bad for the bear and for the cubs. People need to be more careful when they are out in the woods. The bear, after all, was there first.

The Black Swan Remains

The black swan, first seen on Thursday, was still here yesterday. He or she was floating serenely on the pond.



Black swan theory subscribes rarity to the notion of black swans. Things unexpected are black swan events. Things that are a surprise, which have a major impact, and which can later be rationalized though not expected, are black swan events.



That's because prior to 1697, when black swans were discovered in Australia by the Europeans, the more civilized folks did not think such birds existed. And the birds are still quite rare, apparently.



Black swans, like all black animals, are thought by some to be devil's pets or witches familiars. Swans, though not necessarily black ones, are found in many aspects of myth, fairy tales and literature, such as the story of Leda and the Swan and Swan Lake.



Swans mate for life, leaving me to wonder if this one has lost its mate. That thought makes me sad.

The Black Swan

This is not something we see often:







The black swan, if that is indeed what it was, spent hours in the hayfield plucking up grasses. My husband spied it from the road and called me. "You need to come and take pictures of this weird-looking goose," he said.

We have flocks of geese. They stop for a visit as they migrate, leaving a mess of goose poop in the hay fields and down by the ponds.

But this was no long-necked goose, I realized when I drove by to see what I could see. I could only think that it must be a black swan.

Neither my husband nor I had ever seen a real living swan and certainly never a black one. Nor had we ever seen a picture of one out of the water. Swans are always in fairy book tales; they are almost an unreal creature, something of myth. They are birds that haul princesses away, carrying them across lakes.

Whatever this bird was, it was not native to our area.

Having a swan land in the hayfield was like being visited by a demigod. Wouldn't it be something if this bird and its mate, if it has one, has decided to call our farm home?

The Unexpected

Hay fields are places that have more than grass.

They also harbor animals.

This week, with the sun shining down and the rains out of the forecast, the husband and his dad are cutting hay.

Animals in the field generally run away, but not always.

Young animals sometimes get caught in the machinery. I have heard tales of baby fawns getting mutilated in mowing machines. They hide in the tall grass and farmers simply can't see them.

Rabbits, groundhogs, etc. also have the same problem. They cower in fright and the machine gets them. The farmer can't see them.

This year a large bird of some kind laid eggs in the hay field.

Several of the eggs were crushed during mowing, but these were not. Of course the mother bird is nowhere to be seen and with her habitat gone she will abandon the nest.

My husband thinks these are wild turkey eggs, and if so that is very sad indeed. We love watching the wild turkey on the farm.

He brought them home to show me and then threw them out. No, we had no thoughts of eating them. Who knows how old those things are?

Sometimes stuff happens on a farm whether you want it to or not.