They were Probably Harmless

It's all about the turkeys

The boss doesn't sleep much.....or at least not at one time.

Thus last night at midnight he was struggling with his TV....set top box is old and worn out and he really should get it replaced....and wide awake in the living room.

It was Friday, and sometimes Fridays mean Alan coming home, although he is actually working through this weekend down in DC.

But still....we never really know....

Thus when he saw headlights coming up the driveway, at first he was happy rather than alarmed.

But then the beams from flashlights started sweeping across the living room ceiling and he knew something was wrong.

He went to the back door to discover complete strangers wandering around the yard with flashlights.....merrily snooping at will.....

He was not happy. We are quite some ways from the road, up a twisting, rough old driveway. We have signs at the bottom to repel uninvited boarders, of which we get more than our share. It is not an inviting place for midnight perambulation...yet there they were, right by our car and the kids' trucks.

Supposedly they were looking for dogs missing from down in town. Brindle dogs, so I am thinking pit bulls....

So they just trundled right up the driveway, past the two, yes two, sets of posted signs to start searching the yard.

They were treated to a taste of the boss mad, an event which, once experienced, is not something you want to repeat.

Myself, I would have called the police on them, dogs or no dogs. In fact I have the non emergency number for the sheriff memorized in case I need it. However, I never even woke up.

Maybe they were just trying to give that guinea hen from yesterday a run for her money in the fastest hamster wheel competition and really were looking for dogs. Maybe they had something else in mind.....whatever..... long before this I had taken to re-locking the doors when I get up before the rest of the world and after I walk our dog. And nagging about bringing in keys, and locking up cars, and putting tools away.

If there were dogs I hope they find them. If there were no dogs I am glad the boss was awake and vigilant. And either way I hope they never come back.


And btw, the guinea hen turned herself in to the poultry authorities early yesterday morning, and put herself right back in the coop. She is now safely down in the barn with the rest of the flock.

There's One in Every Flock

The boys of summer leave in the fall

Night before last what was probably a weasel killed the last white guinea keet. Well, really they aren't keets anymore, but not quite full grown either.

Now, how did I get up here...and how do I get down?

Thus Liz moved the rest of them to the big chicken coop and Laura and her rooster to the peacock coop.

Except for this one. If turkeys have the reputation for not being likely candidates for Mensa, it is guinea fowl which come right from the factory devoid of anybody home upstairs but a rapidly whirling hamster on crack.

Programmed to panic, so to speak.


This one shot out of the top of the little coop when Liz lifted the roof panel, like a bean out of a pea shooter shot by a tornado.

Oh, no, here comes the person who raised me from the egg and fed me every day
Flee, flee I tell you, flee!!!!

I was upstairs picking up laundry when it hit the window of the room I was in. And clung, frantic, to the crossbar before falling to the porch roof. Then it went up on the big roof.

They chased it, lured it, tried to trap it, all afternoon.

No soap. This is one of the same birds that came running in their little yard, whenever I went out, in case I might stop to feed them drop apples or fallen grapes....the little ingrate....or maybe ingrape. 

And this morning, having somehow evaded foxes and other varmints all night, it is still, not unlike the new mercury light bulbs, not quite bright enough to do its job. Such as roosting in a tree, for Pete's sake.

We have lots of trees.

Oh, well. 

Alas, the turkeys go today and I will miss them, but Thanksgiving dinner was always their fate. More next year I truly hope.

And incidentally, one of my very first blog friends has written a whole bunch of good ones lately. Rather than link to just one post, you could just go check out her whole blog.

  

Why, yes, that lump out in the snow on the back lawn is the stupidest of domestic fowl
Why do you ask?

Sunshine all Around

Counting our blessings.

The big storm missed us. I don't think we even got an inch. Lots of prayers for those poor souls who did get nailed..... just a couple hours from here it is really bad.

The barn water thawed so we could do chores in the normal manner this morning. You don't know whatchu got til it's gone.....We were looking at hauling enough for all the stock and to wash the pipeline, so not having to do so brought big smiles.

It is a lot warmer than recent days...see above. The best part is there are hardly any birds coming in. Although I like to see them, when there is a crowd, you know what comes next....a nasty storm.

The boy made it safely to DC...always a big worry for his mama. I was so happy to get that phone call last night that he was there okay.

And the little peanut above brightens the days more than a little, especially when she isn't teething up a storm of her own.

Christmas in November

Becky bought me a refurbished Nook and gave it to me early. Then B$N gave me five bucks for a free book. I found a lot of other free books too.....

See you next spring. 

Seriously, the thing is beyond cool. I spent yesterday evening figuring out how to use it and reading on that first free book. I chose The Last of the Breed, by Louis L'Amour. We used to have a paperback copy, but I guess we read it to death.....you get that sometimes....when you really like a good yarn. 

This particular book is the one Alan was thrown out of study hall for reading because it wasn't "approved". Guess how long it took me to go up to the school and straighten that out....

Anyhow, yesterday was cold, but interesting. We went up to see Mom and Dad and take Dad a slightly belated birthday gift. This morning it is also cold, middle of January, glassy ice, and frozen feet cold, and I don't like it much. Maybe I should curl up with a warm blanket and a nice, cozy Nook.......

First bird today, a large flock of indignant House Finches and a bunch of Gold Finches. Oh, my, they are loud.

Aux Birds

This

Went out yesterday to take a picture of the seven-point buck Alan got opening day....which by the way will be processed here this evening, a job which I dread, but which must be done.

Plus this
equals a big deer in anybody's woods

I got carried away. The deer was in the shed. Not on the top of the heifer pasture hill. Not in the heifer pasture woods.

Not in the lane. Not down by the creek.

Nope, but I still went to all those places and the birds went with me. Song Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos down by the buildings. Pileated Woodpeckers right behind the hop house.... Of all things a low-flying plane spooked one out over me at the top of the hill.....how odd to look up to see the chicken-like bird flying right below the plane.

There were Robins in the woods. A flock of Cardinals. Tufted Titmice galore. We have never had so many before this year. Chickadees. Gold Finches, White-thoated Sparrows tentatively whistling "Old Sam Peabody...." A Red-Tailed Hawk that kept just out of good camera range, but didn't deign to actually fly away. Always the Carolina Wrens.

 Crows and a flock of Canada Geese that flew right over me. I was so glad I didn't take a step forward in their wake. The oak leaves at my feet rattled as if there was hail. But it wasn't hail. At least they missed.

Red-bellied Woodpecker. Some Downies. Blue Jays. A Corvid-like something or other I could not identify, though it called and called and called. Not a Fish Crow. Not a Raven. Not any jay that I know. I wonder what it was.

There were Grey Squirrels, every single one masquerading as a nineteen-point, nine-hundred-pound, White-tailed buck. Squirrels are stinkers.

Can you imagine how they must sit in their dreys and snicker at the end of each cold November day? "Hah, I had a guy practically falling out of his tree stand over me today. I just hop-hop-hopped slowly through the leaves right under him. He was so excited he nearly choked himself with his gun sling trying to bring it around to shoot. Then I spoiled his day by chattering at him and warning every deer for miles. I almost fell out of the tree laughing."

Yeah, the squirrels all do it and even when you KNOW it is a squirrel, and you SEE that is a squirrel, it still sounds more like a deer than a deer does.

Anyhow, it was quite a walk, all unintended. And if I forgotten any of you friendly local winter birds I apologize....next time I need to take a pen and paper for my list. 

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Sunday Stills....Shallow DOF

For more Sunday Stills.......

Opening Day South

Be careful out there! There are a lot more people in the woods and fields than on a normal fall morning. Some of them are not exactly woodsmen, but hopefully no one will squeeze the trigger until there is an actual deer in their sights.

Beautiful day for it though. Cold, frosty, with a peach and gold and green and blue sunrise just now flowing over the horizon like cool, bright water in an exotic fruit drink. Mango anyone?

Birds aren't up yet, so I don't know first bird for the day...oops, there it is, a Chickadee peeping on the feeder......but a Bald Eagle visited right behind the house yesterday.

And of course when I was creeping up the lawn trying to get some good shots, some power company tree trimmers walked right up behind me to ask it they could cut some box elders....I am always glad when they are polite enough to ask before hacking down trees. Plus delighted to tell them that they could cut as many box elders as they wanted to. What are the odds though?

Their timing stank to say the least.

There were Crows earlier. Lots of Crows. Red-tailed hawks, what I thought was a Harrier, (no pics of the latter) plus the normal cast of characters at the feeders, which they now empty in a day or less.

It's supposed to snow tomorrow night. Guess everything is on the move.

And, as always on this special holiday for Upstate NY deer hunters, the Youpers.... Second Week of Deer Camp



.

First Snow

Fell all unwelcome and unwanted, last night into this morning. I worried, as mothers will, because our boy was on the road from Washington DC, in a Camaro, in the dark of the night. 

Woke very early, long before the daylight, and padded outdoors in my bare feet, flashlight in hand.

Camaro in the driveway?

Yes, there is. 

And back to sleep until dawn's early light. Resting peacefully.

Boycott American Women

Just  call me immature and unchaste and all that

 The comment below showed up overnight on my handy-dandy photo blog, which I use upon occasion to dump photos that are too good not too keep, but too numerous to save forever on my computer.


I am an American man, and I have decided to boycott American women. In a nutshell, American women are the most likely to cheat on you, to divorce you, to get fat, to steal half of your money in the divorce courts, don’t know how to cook or clean, don’t want to have children, etc. Therefore, what intelligent man would want to get involved with American women?

American women are generally immature, selfish, extremely arrogant and self-centered, mentally unstable, irresponsible, and highly unchaste. The behavior of most American women is utterly disgusting, to say the least.

This blog is my attempt to explain why I feel American women are inferior to foreign women (non-American women), and why American men should boycott American women, and date/marry only foreign (non-American) women.

BOYCOTT AMERICAN WOMEN!

Do you suppose this is spam? Do you think he knows that I am an American woman? Should I boycott myself? Should I click that link?

Nah, I don't feel like catching anything he is spreading.

But I feel all fat and cheaty now. And unstable. Arrogant, and self-centered.....Yeah, that too.

I guess he told me! 

Anyhow, I will leave it there for today as a source of sneering laughter and satire, and then he is going to get his sorry, insulting, ignorant fanny deleted. Yep. Click.

Recall and Equine Edjamucation

All our computer charger cords were recalled....every single one in the house. Here is the link to check yours. 

Seen on the highway in front of the house, on the bridge in town, and over by the fairgrounds....not by me, alas, or there would be pictures....

An Amish horse, hooked to a wagon, with another horse tied to the tailgate, hooked to yet another wagon....like a tandem with a horse in the middle.

 Guess the rig held up traffic on the bridge for ages, as the rear horse was not excited about following the front horse and wagon.

I assume the guy was attempting to train the horse on the rear cart to travel in traffic and pull something behind him.

At any rate he tied him up to the new posts in front of the fairgrounds entrance and went down to the river to get him some water. 

You just never know what you will see in small town, Upstate NY.

Huntin' season south opens this weekend BTW. I generally share a link to the state's laws on trespassing for all the folks who think that little bit of paper is a license to trot through pasture and cornfields willy-nilly.

And here it is.

Thanks for your Service

One of my favorite veterans

Garlic Quest

High headed Amish horse

It's getting late to plant garlic here and we were getting desperate for some sets. 

The boss called about everywhere he could think of and didn't find so much as a clove until he called an orchard....not too far from here, but not "our" orchard...and found that they had a few pounds left.

We made plans to stop along the way at "the garlic lady" because they have the best we have ever grown. However usually she is sold out by this time of year.

We hit it lucky both places. At the garlic lady we bought some huge bulbs of the mild, sweet kind we love.

At the orchard we bought some rather small Russian garlic and some really nice squash and got to talk to the owner for a bit. 

He is perhaps the most traveled person I have ever met. A highly trained orchardist and farmer he has traveled the world for decades sharing his knowledge. He was kind enough to share a few tales with us today, which was a lot of fum.

We heard about Nepal and Lebanon and Israel. And Liberia, Egypt, Kazakhstan and other places I can't bring to mind. We heard about customs, food and drink, ideas, planes, and how small the world has become.

He kept telling me that I need to ramble, to travel, to get out and see. And I kept thinking, no....thank you, but no...I am thrilled to listen, to read, to learn, but I haven't worn out the USA yet in my mind...I think I'll stay. 

But thanks. It was fun. And we will enjoy the squash and plant most of the garlic....some of those giant cloves are going to get eaten this fall....it is too good to resist.

Monday

Anybody know what this plant is?

Rose hips

Deer on the lawn

Sunday Stills...the 1940s

Putting the cows up the hill

Contemplating whether to cut these up into firewood or build some planters for the wife

For this challenge I found a 1948 model husband. I actually found him way back in the 80s but he is pretty well preserved. As you can see there is quite a lot of wear left on the tread. 

For more Sunday Stills......

Git along little dogie....or Bama Breeze as the case may be

That was Not

The sound of a tool chest falling down the stairs.

No, it was the sound of every single pan, cookie sheet, and broiler....and rack....and kettle....and every other heavy metal object stored there falling out of the cupboard under the microwave and cascading around my feet when I reached up to turn up the heat this early morning.

If that is any indication of the way the day is going to go I think I had better go back to bed. 

I will apologize to any who may have been awakened, although I am not guilty of piling them in there like that.

I blame November.

Circles

So many years ago...the shop is closed now I guess...but I used to buy herb plants and bring them home. They have been moved so many times to so many different gardens over the years, perhaps the best traveled mint in town. There used to be many more kinds, but alas, they have perished from winters and oats and such.

I lost the Apple Mint last winter, so cold, so cold....and the Thyme, but that is always chancy.



When it was decided to drop the big Honey Locust...which hasn't happened yet...I moved the tiny remaining Orange Mint plant and a Chocolate Mint Liz bought last year to new beds near the house.

They liked their new beds and have flourished. And in the interests of potential income next spring I have been cutting and rooting and potting. They take to it like bunnies, multiplying happily on windowsills and upstairs in the big windows there.

I have discovered that the plastic tool trays out of old tool boxes from garage sales are perfect for small plant pots. Nice handles, and you can fill them with water and keep thirsty plants comfy. Quite a few plants fit in each.

Today I picked a bunch more of all three mints...I have a tiny Peppermint too...and put more to root, and more in pots, and more upstairs. To root them in water, one must strip off the lower leaves. These get washed and dried on a paper plate for cooking later...or at least the Orange Mint does...great seasoning for meats and sauces.

 I ordered a package of Apple Mint seeds on Amazon today, with rewards I get for taking surveys....feels like a circle to me.

Ticked Off

Tufted Titmouse scolding me for intruding on the wild

No, no, not by the election. There were no real surprises there. 

Nope, it's the darned ticks that irk me. When we were kids we could roll around in the grass all day playing French Foreign Legion, which was a biggie for us....

Or cowboys and Indians, stage coach driver, combat, or any of those things, which we did a lot. (And by the way we played with every imaginable kind of toy weapon....we had a veritable arsenal, plus "real" dummy training rifles out of dad's shop, and all of us still grew up to be responsible tax paying citizens. And yes I was a tomboy and had my own set of plastic grenades, dummy rifle, and all. I was good at football too but too blind and slow to be much use at baseball.)

And yet I never even saw a tick until I worked in an animal hospital in my teens and  a brown dog tick came in on a dog. It caused much consternation among the staff who had never seen one either.

What is up with this? I don't believe for a minute that it is the alleged warmer weather. Ticks don't care how cold it gets, although I once thought they did. Nope, they live in very cold places and come through the harshest winters happy as clams....which by the way are much nicer than ticks, not to mention very tasty.

White-throated Sparrow wondering about the commotion

One might point the finger in a few possible directions. We use vastly fewer pesticides today than we did then. Municipalities routinely conducted spraying for mosquitoes and black flies back then. They wouldn't dare today. This is, of course a good thing in many ways, but there are always unexpected consequences.

And all kinds of critters change their ranges constantly. Didn't they teach us in school that nature abhors a vacuum? If there is a market for the product provided by a bird, animal, or loathsome parasite, it will be filled.

 Or something for them to eat....if you build it they will come. No cardinals to brighten your landscape? Wait a decade or so. No bloodthirsty pests wanting to kill you if you step outdoors? Ditto.

Not to mention, the ticks causing the problems are deer ticks and there are a LOT more deer now than then. I won't tell you what I saw along those lines up in the fields yesterday, but let's just say that they outnumber the cows.....(Alan, send your mama a text if you want the details.)

Anyhow, I helped the boss put the cows up in their field when he went out for wood, and then followed his path up to the T-Field, where he is cutting that wood. 

I am absolutely psychotic about ticks and was constantly careful to choose my path so as not to brush against brush. 

Or twigs. 

Or grass.

I wore high rubber boots.

And still, as I sat editing the photos I took after pishing up a sweet little feeding flock up in the old cow pasture, a deer tick crawled down my arm.

Dagnabbit, I feel sorry for kids growing up today who could never play out in the woods like we did.

Another creature, which is much more common than when we were kids
And much more welcome too.