The Wise Old Squirrel

Squirrel Study

The Fat Groundhog

We have an acorn tree near our shed, and the groundhog likes acorns.

It also lives under the shed. Nothing I put in the hole or around it makes it leave. I once poured mothballs down the hole and later found them in a pile a few feet away from the opening.

I worry about the foundation of the outbuilding.

When we had a dog, which was 15 years ago, we didn't have trouble with things like groundhogs, but this one moved in a few years after the dog died, and it, or its offspring, has been there ever since.

More Game Camera Pics

The first one of these photos in this batch is my favorite because it has a raccoon in it. I think the other animal to the rear is a deer.

I always enjoy seeing the different critters. Most of the photos are deer. After you sift through a couple hundred of these shots, the unique ones stand out.

The other interesting thing about game cameras is perspective. These photos always look somewhat surreal to me. The difference between these photos and a photo I might take from the bedroom window (which could be as close, the way the animals look in the window) is that ones I take seem to have personality, while these are more flat.

The difference has to be whatever goes on in my brain and the lack of a brain in the game cameras. Or at least that is what I tell myself. I could be giving my brain too much credit. Maybe they don't look that different to anyone else.

The Little Frog

I glanced out the kitchen window and at first I thought someone had placed a rock on the side of my little container in the garden where people sometimes leave things.

 

 

Upon further inspection, I discovered it was a frog.

 

 

Cute!

 

 

 

It did not seem happy to have its picture taken, however.

 

 

As the shade disappeared, so did the frog. He slipped backwards.

 

 

I wondered how it got up there in the first place.

 

 

The next morning I flipped open the lid, and the frog was inside the box.

 

 

I left the lid up, and when I checked back later, froggy was gone.

Hiding

This squirrel decided it could hide from me if it flattened itself out against the branch and blend in, chameleon-like, with the tree.

Toady Went A-Courtin'

On that late August morning when we saw the bear in the backyard, I went outside when the furry critter crossed over into the meadow to see if I could get a better photo.

I nearly stepped on Mr. Toad as he was making his way back to Toad Hall. Apparently he'd had a rough night out and had lost his fine clothes. There was no sign of Mole or Rat, or the fine motorcar that Toad was known for (Wind in the Willows reference for the non-readers out there).

Early Morning Visitor

Too dark for the camera and I was too shaky to get good shots, darn it, but we had a bear in the back yard this morning!

Yee hah!

Cute little thing, too!

Animal Farm

More Fox Photos

Foxy Loxy

This fox was in the front yard Sunday. It was about five feet from my bedroom window when I took this shot.

Flopsy

Going Nuts

This little squirrel seems to have made it through the winter okay. Definitely not starving!

The black and white photo is a little different from the first, I took the shots one right after another through the back door window. I like the last shot the best, I think.

Groundhog

I call this one "The Standoff" 

Gettin' My Buzz On

My neighbor with the chickens also plays host to honey bees.

 

She has five hives.

 

 

The honey bees love sunshine.

 

 

They also like to take a drink of water every now and then.

 

 

My friend says only old honey bees go after water. They actually put water in their little pollen pounches and return it to the hive!

 

 

I guess this would not be an old honey bee, then. He's drinking nectar or whatever it is they do when their head is stuffed in a flower.

 

Fascinating little creatures.