Playing Catch Up

*****this was written for yesterday, but it was just too hectic here to get it proofread so......

The garden  should really be all planted by now, but this is a late spring.

Thus we are doing what the title says, playing catch up. The boss and I put in fifteen tomatoes that Becky and I started way back when and TWO zucchettas this morning. That's right. Only two. Last year we planted ten, and although we made good use of them, we really couldn't eat that many.....in fact we are still eating on them.

 Speaking, of which, hey Mappy...we have one saved back for you, as promised. Plus one tomato plant for Sean. Plus more herbs than I know what to do with. What was I thinking anyhow?

We turned Cinnamon up the hill with the old cows yesterday. She was out all last summer and pretty much knows the routine.Of course she immediately came into season and was abusing the old cows terribly. We kept her for beef, so that is just another thing to deal with.....

Huge coyote hit by car at the bottom of the driveway. Alan says sixty pounds at least. I knew those tracks we've been seeing in the barnyard weren't from any little puppy.

As I was talking to our boy, who came home last night, while walking out on the long lawn, I happened to glance up....felt someone watching me...and there she was, that same old doe. The boss saw a fawn up in the field yesterday, but this old girl doesn't look as if she has one again this year...time will tell.

My other project for the day is keeping an eBird list of the birds I see today. Up to 28 species so far and a fair number of individuals. Numbers already dropping off from may though.

See ya later, alligator 

Now You See Me

Actually there were two of them. The boss saw them from the big windows.

Peekaboo

The first shots are taken from those windows. Silly deers were right next to the corner of the house eating weeds under the mulberry trees.

I see you

When I stepped out on the back porch and down into the driveway, they didn't even look at me or flag their tails....just faded into the brush and waited for me to go away.

Still shedding

I'll bet they are out there all the time.

 Wish they would leave their ticks somewhere else though.

Now you don't

Why Did the c̶h̶i̶c̶k̶e̶n̶

Very large oops.
Although you can't see it, that left tire is buried completely in mud

er....deer, cross the road?

We don't know, but it's a good thing I was with the boss yesterday. We were hurtling down one of those huge hills over on the very aptly named Corbin Hill Road....don't know of any Corbins, but they sure have hills....

When I saw a deer come bolting up the edge of the road down at the bottom...He didn't notice her.

All I could do was stammer, "Look out, look out, look out." (Do warnings in triplicate carry more emphasis?)

He heard me and reacted quickly enough to save us from would have been a certain collision with at least one of what turned out to be deer in triplicate. Looked like a doe and two of last year's fawns.

They were panicked, whirling and leaping in terror as they hurtled across in front of us. They were a lot more worried about whatever was behind them than they were about the road.

He barely got stopped in time by the way. And of course the guy behind us in the big white truck never saw them and was outraged about the way he hauled on the brakes and set the Durango's nose down like that.

Gotta tell you, besides being afraid of something behind them...it was noon....you expect them to be stupid at twilight and dawn, but not noon...they were starved right down to nothing. Their coats had faded from the usual dark grey of winter to the exact pale color of the dead Canary grass they popped out of. And shaggy. Fur hung in untidy swatches. 

If all the deer wintering down there look that bad I don't imagine there will be much of a fawn crop this year. I kinda wondered why they looked so poor. Although it has been a very prolonged and cold winter there hasn't been all that much snow and there are plenty of alfalfa fields, lots of leftover corn, and acres of woods for them down there. Maybe they were just having a bad hair day. Or maybe there was a pack of coyotes out in that grass.

Two trips to the Lykers pond in two days.
I have been off the farm more in the past week than I have in the past six months.

Anyhoo, although yesterday was not perhaps one of the best we ever experienced, whomever owns the backhoe above has worse problems than we do.

The Excitment

Is happening somewhere else, which is fine with me. Finished up the old science experiments in the fridge yesterday, got it all cleaned up nice, and put the turkey in to thaw.

Got enough snow to track on Sunday, so the guys tracked, and got a doe. 

You do not want to be anywhere in the proximity of any man who has carried a deer for any distance. I work in a cow barn and am accustomed to a wide assortment of noxious odors but......

Deer is worse. Much worse. I was GLAD to go to the barn to get away from it. Glad I tell you.

I am dreading having to dig through all those layers of huntin' clothes to wash them. And checking the pockets. Ugh. Smells kind of like a rank billy goat in a closed barn on a hot day in July...

But I do like venison.

Been feeling sorry for those fool Carolina wrens. They come and hang around the bird feeder, all hunched up and cold, and feeling sorry for themselves, but they don't really eat sunflower seeds, which is what we feed. I dug through the cupboard for an old jar of peanut butter and put some of that out for them....I dunno....not looking like a nice winter for them.

Anyhoo, tis the season for Yak Trax, and rock salt, and every single layer of down, wool, and whatever else that can be found. Happy winter to ya.

Nothing Runs Like a Deer(e)

The upper deer was truly fortuitous. I had the camera up to my eye and focused, in the act of taking a photo of some trees. Suddenly there was a crackling in the hedgerow, maybe twenty feet from me. Out popped this little spike buck and off he bounded. I would have never caught the shot if I hadn't already had the camera up in mid-click. Alan says he has been seeing him everywhere the past couple of weeks. Hope he has his syllabus with him and knows the season will be starting soon.

Then I came across this other Deere. It was sitting still while its appendage was greased and prepared for the afternoon.

Soon it too moseyed off, a bit slower than its furry counterpart, taking a couple of my dears along for the ride.

And over in some mud left over from the storm, I found more deer tracks, plus one from a coyote.....but what is that smaller track next to the coyote print?

I don't know. Do you?

You Hear Stories

Of gun shop owners refusing service to those who voted for the folks in charge of gun control. You know the party that never lets a good crisis go to waste?

Well, yesterday Alan was trying to talk a second box of shells for his new rifle out of the owner of a gun shop, which will remain anonymous. The man was willing to sell him one, but wanted to keep the second.

The boy was polite, but asked if there was any way the man could see fit to sell him the second. He likes to target shoot...has been to the range a lot this week, sighting in that rifle....and shells are hard to come by.

So, the fellow asked him. "Who did you vote for?'

After some clarification on what election was under scrutiny, our young man...who does in fact vote faithfully, said, "Expletive, no, I didn't vote for that guy!"

And he immediately got the second set of shells and a smile from the shop owner.

Later when the sun comes up, I will take a pic of the target he brought home yesterday. Shot that beastly 300 Win Mag from the back bench and got a nice grouping. I guess he bought this gun because the ammo is fairly available. He has a smaller rifle that is very hard to use to target shoot as shells are so hard to find, although it is very good for hunting. Deer season impends......

Deers

Deer have a particular way of walking, as if they had just shined their hoofs and didn't want to get them dirty. Or maybe as if they had wooden blocks glued on the bottom and they were kinda tippy. Gangly I guess you'd call it... 

Then there're those long stick tails, wagging away, like flagmen directing traffic at a really busy intersection. The bugs must drive them nutty.

The doe and those two yearlings just came down across the horse pasture and stood in the driveway for a bit, then wandered around in that funny-walking way they have.

I like to watch them. Despite the ticks...

**I know the plural of deer is not deers, but calling them so is a family failing.....

Silver with a Splash of Red

Brrrrrrrrr

Having a welcome spell of cold, dry weather..well, the cold isn't all that welcome, but the dry surely is. Still the boss got badly and serially stuck in the mud the other day trying to chop the last of the forages, so that is not so good. Sunrises are pretty anyhow. Pic above was taken at dawn and only cropped a little. It was still too dark to tell who the heifer is, but she looks kind of chilly.

Every morning every twig and blade of grass is frosted silver; every footprint leaves a trail across the yard and every kitty stands out like a stop sign. They are quite entertaining when they try to drink from the garden pond, which is skimmed with ice these days. It is just thin enough to dampen their paws and they don't think much of that.

Opening day of the southern deer season here. I expect plenty of fallout from that, especially with only the boss home these days to keep an eye on things. We're feeding the stock in the close pasture this morning instead of letting them up in back. Never can be sure that some folks can tell golden Jersey cows from brown white-tails. Oh, well.....

Missing our boy quite a lot even though he is living home....sort of...he is working a job that calls for six ten-hour days a week, welcome in terms of having a job while so many don't, but he comes home at night, staggers to bed and is gone before we get up in the morning.

And now he has to work Sundays too, making for weeks rivaling farming in the summertime, only spent somewhere else. I'm glad he has work though and not getting the hours cut or anything.

Finally got some bird seed yesterday, although I haven't put it out yet. Still, I was cleaning Nick's crate...old age is causing accidents...and a glorious male cardinal came so close to the office window I could look right into his eyes. He seemed wild and yet as warm and friendly as a pair of wool socks. Of course when I grabbed the camera he broke off our staring match and pumped off across the frosty yard, but what a delight.

Today is Dad's birthday, if you see him, wish him a happy....Happy Birthday from all of us dad, love you.

And this story made my morning. Go, read, laugh, and celebrate the Second Amendment.

HT, Jeff at Alphecca

Darn You Bambi

C'mon Marge, the coast is clear

The boss is pretty sure the Amish are coming on our posted land to hunt. This probably means the deer herd is getting thinned, fast, hard, and out of season.

I see you, but you don't scare me a bit

It also means that such deer as are still standing upright have moved to the house and environs.

Om, nom, nom, if you used weed killer on your lawn I wouldn't find all these goodies to eat

It also means, although perhaps not through direct cause and effect, that we are overrun with ticks. These photos were taken from the back porch, midday. I hooted and hollered and made silly talk while banging the wall to try to get some action shots.

None of them did more than lift their heads while chewing whatever that is that they are eating.


Then Alan ran after them like a wolf.

Run away!!!!

Then they got shifting. Don't they realize that while obeying the law of the land and waiting for season to open, we DO like venison?

Interesting Post

Over on Buckin' Junction, Liz's blog. She saw a three legged deer the other day and got a photo of its companion patiently waiting for it.

Thank You

Global Warming. Not too bad here so far, although it is supposed to chill later in the week. I will take every passing warm day we get and rejoice!

Been reading in the local paper about all the hooligans being arrested for assorted crimes against wildlife and private property.

Imagine what would happen if they really got out there after them. They could balance the state budget in a wink. The boys caught two trespassers in one hunting trip here, both in full cammo, and there are more every day...just can't chase them all due to the whole having to work thing.

Wish the DEC would catch our band of outlaws for us. Alan went up in the field to have a look around yesterday and found that some yahoo with a pick up truck rutted a couple of new seeding hay fields all to heck...big fixit job there I guess.

They had to drive over rocks and trees and through a whole darned hedgerow to get in, right past a posted sign. Guess they poached a deer off us and were too lazy to drag it out.

First

Doe permit=filled