Earth Day

To celebrate Earth Day, I thought we could take a hike in the woods together.  Come along with Randy and Lynn and enjoy nature.  We are going to go down by a small stream in the woods, and we will follow it to a larger creek.  There's lots to see and hear along the way, so let's get started!

Dogwood tree in bloom

Sun shining through the trees

Apple tree in bloom

Maybe it's a home for some small animal?

Randy walking beside the small stream

A really big tire sits way out in the deep woods.  I know there's a story behind it...

Lynn crossing the creek on a fallen tree

Ferns sprouting.  They know Spring is here!

Here's a short video of the stream.  Listen for the frogs!

Have a nice Earth Day and Good Friday, too.

Happy Easter on Sunday!

Happy Birthday to My Friend

I made some of my friend's favorite cherry cupcakes for her birthday today!

More Green Wine Bottles...

I'm still picking those green wine bottles out of the trash dump on the property.  

I took this video last week.

Emergency Vet Visit

Last weekend started out normal, but ended up with this:

Jack, excited to go to the vet! "Hurry up!  Let's go!!"

Shadow, not feeling well, holding up her right back foot

Saturday started out normal ~ the 2 cats played in the morning, chasing each other around the house like kittens, as they always do.  Up the stairs, through the house, sliding on the wood floors, gaining speed on the carpets.  Jack always squeaks to his heart's delight, as he cannot meow.  Shadow just loves to play.  When Jack squeaks it always calls her to play, even if she was previously sleeping.  During this play session, I heard a quick loud growl that ended with a hiss coming from near the front door, and I ran to see what was going on.  Both cats high-tailed it up the stairs and I didn't think anything about it.  They were playing. 

Daily chores and errands took over, and by afternoon we were being hit by bad thunderstorms, lightening, and thunder, complete with tornado warnings.  It was then that I realized Shadow spent most of the day under the bed.  Shadow doesn't like thunder and sometimes hides when it happens.  But by evening, after the storms passed, Shadow was still under the bed.  She wouldn't come out to eat, either.  I fed her a nibble of sliced turkey under the bed, but she wouldn't eat much.  That is not like Shadow.  She wouldn't drink, either.  Something was up.

Sunday morning Shadow was limping badly on her right back leg.  She couldn't put pressure or stand on her right back leg at all.  Her breathing was fast and shallow. She was super hot to the touch (compared to Jack).  She growled and hissed at us if we tried to touch her leg.  She never growled or hissed at us ever before.  I found an online first aid webpage and discovered her respirations and pulse were both twice as fast as normal for cats.  After reviewing both cats' vet records we realized they both were due for all their shots, and so a vet appointment was quickly made for them both Sunday afternoon.  Jack's presence always calms Shadow, and Jack is always happy-go-lucky, even when heading out to the vet.  He is the most relaxed, easy-going cat there is.  I actually think he may be a dog.

We brought out the cat carriers.  Jack was so excited to see them.  He's a strange cat.  We put them on the floor and he jumped right in and sat down.  That's when I took the picture of him.  At that time Shadow was laying in the kitchen by the windows crying loudly in pain and holding her foot up.  I took the picture of her then.  I think she had tears in her eyes.  I admit I was scared about what the vet would say about her.  Shadow is a tough, previous feral cat and never shows pain.  Jack, on the other hand, is the little sissy, comedian cat.  I should make a cartoon about Jack, he's such a goofball.

The vet admitted Shadow was in obvious severe pain and gave her a shot of buprenorphine, which is is a potent narcotic!!  She got her yearly shots, and Little Jack got his yearly shots, too.  The vet examined Shadow's back and leg, and said she must have a hairline fracture.  He said she should be better in a few days.  She didn't have to get a cast or anything.  He gave us some extra buprenorphine for Shadow to help with her pain.  Shadow's been sleeping a lot these days.  She slept all night Sunday and all day Monday.  She did start eating again on Monday morning, which was good.  I'm not too keen on giving her much more buprenorphine, I really don't want my cat addicted to narcotics.  By Monday night she got up off the bed and was limping around a little, so she must have been feeling better.  This morning she was still limping, but walking around and acting much better.  Hopefully by Wednesday her leg is showing serious signs of improvement or she'll be heading back to the vet.

Who ever knew a cat could break it's leg by running around the house?  This is a first for us.

Every year it seems there's always an emergency vet visit.  Let's hope ours is done and over with this year!

Black Vultures

I believe a black vulture family has moved into my old fallen down barn.  I don't mind black vultures, as they don't kill, but only eat dead things.  They seem to be very alert, constantly watching over the property.  And I've never seen a black vulture and an owl hanging out together.  I don't think they are friends.  So I'll take the vultures over the owls, for my guineas' sake.

Black vulture on the fireplace of the little house beside the old barn

Doesn't the property look like a jungle?  There's a lot of wild grape vines.  And it's barely springtime.  In the summer it gets more jungle-like.

When we first moved here, we explored the small, white, vacated house on the property.  One of the upstairs windows was open, and black vultures must have moved in.  We didn't know what it was, we only knew that when we attempted to go upstairs in the house, we were greeted by loud hissing.  We thought it was a wild cat of some sort!  Only, it was obvious from the loudness of the hiss that it wasn't from any ordinary house cat!  We were excited to think that a wild cat lived in this area, only to find out later that it was just a black vulture!  Lacking a syrinx - the vocal organ of birds - the black vulture's only vocalizations are grunts or hisses.

Little white house ~ photo taken in 2010

  

Fire Ants!

The other day I was out in the woods and I heard a rustling in the leaves.  I went to investigate, thinking a small animal was walking on the crisp leaves making the crunching sound.  But I found nothing, just a crunching sound.  Then, to my horror, I realized fire ants were climbing up my legs! I was standing near a fire ant mound!!!  I had never seen fire ants before and didn't actually know what type of ants they were at this time.

I quickly left the area and brushed all the ants off my legs and feet with sticks.  They were not biting me, just walking on me.  Luckily I was wearing long pants.  I went home and returned later after doing some online ant research with backup - Randy came with me to see the fire ants.  And this time I brought my camera.

The ants were all over some leaves in the woods and they were walking on an old piece of metal.  This is in an area where several pieces of metal were dumped many years ago.  Randy is going to pull all this metal up out of the ground and take it to a metal facility where he will get paid for it.

The ants were everywhere, and they all were working.  They were all carrying sticks and leaves and things, and they all were heading underneath this piece of metal.  I assumed at this time that the crunching sound was caused by so many hundreds of thousands of ants walking on crisp leaves.  Randy, being the man that he is, just had to pull up the metal to see what was underneath. 

And it was a horrible sight.  There were millions of fire ants.  The crunching sound was super loud now.  Maybe the crunching was caused by the irritated ants moving their horrible pinchers?  All the red/brown color in the below photos is ants.  It is not dirt.  The ants went crazy when Randy moved the metal covering their home.  They started swarming, and we quickly had to run away, as they started climbing up our legs and were biting and stinging our shoes and pants in a frenzy.

Here's some information from Wikipedia on fire ants:

A typical fire ant colony produces large mounds in open areas, and feeds mostly on young plants, seeds, and crickets. Fire ants often attack small animals and can kill them. Unlike many other ants, which bite and then spray acid on the wound, fire ants bite only to get a grip and then sting (from the abdomen) and inject a toxic alkaloid venom called solenopsin, a compound from the class of piperidines. For humans, this is a painful sting, a sensation similar to what one feels when burned by fire -hence the name fire ant - and the after effects of the sting can be deadly to sensitive individuals. The venom is both insecticidal and antibiotic.

Fire ants nest in the soil.  Usually the nest will not be visible as it will be built under objects such as timber, logs, rocks, pavers, bricks, etc. If there is no cover for nesting, dome-shaped mounds will be constructed, but this is usually only found in open spaces such as fields, parks and lawns. These mounds can reach heights of 40 cm (15.7 in). The mounds that the fire ants live in can also be as deep as five feet.

Colonies are founded by small groups of queens or single queens. Even if only one queen survives, within a month or so the colony can expand to thousands of individuals. Some colonies may have multiple queens per nest.

Honey and other bees

Carpenter Bee

One thing we noticed since moving out into the middle of the woods a few years ago is that we don't have many honey bees.  We have lots of other bees, mostly carpenter bees and mud dauber wasps, and definitely swarms of those wicked little yellow jackets that make homes in holes in the ground. but honey bees are few and far between.  That's one of the reasons I've been wanting to get some honey bee hives.

Mud dauber organ pipe nest

Randy's not too sure about my desire for bees, as he knows about my deadly fear of bees.  I think honey bees are good bees, and possibly I will get over my fear of them.  I mean, I used to be afraid of chickens. I thought they would peck me.  I got over that fear.  So, we'll see...

Yellow jacket

This week something has changed.  I've noticed many honey bees outside hanging around my house.  I've also noticed the pain-in-the neck carpenter bees making holes in the house right by the front door. They're so big and clumsy, they bump into humans who happen to walk nearby.  And if a big loud carpenter bee bumps into me, I run away screaming.  But the sweet little honey bees were just buzzing around, not being obnoxious at all.  And we've caught and released THREE honey bees from inside our house.  What's up with the honey bees getting inside our house?

Here's a photo of a honey bee which was inside our house. All the honey bees I've seen this week are very calm, they almost act sleepy.  I especially liked to look at his little feet. I thought it was odd that he didn't have any yellow on him.  This is a honey bee, isn't it?  Randy joked with me and told me that maybe a colony of honey bees moved into the walls of our house over the winter and now they are waking up.  Horrific images of a swarm of bees inside my house fill my head, but I attempted to get over my fear and told him we better have our honey bee homes built and ready to go then!

One of our honey bees

Change of Plans

A few weeks ago I said I wanted to start running outside on my property.  It's a great concept, but it's just not working out for me.  I just don't run, it turns into a hike almost every time.  Which isn't bad, I guess, but I was planning on running, not hiking. 

Take tonight, for instance.  I started on the standard run, which goes around in a big loop and ends with a steep hill.  I decided to go in a counterclockwise direction to mix it up a bit, mostly to make that hill be downhill in the beginning instead of uphill in the end of the run.  I went past the trash dump area, then stopped when I passed a large piece of metal.  I inspected it and made a mental note to bring it to Randy's attention to take to the metal recycler.  I look up and see a red fox about 15 feet away from me.  He's looking at me, and he's moving his mouth, licking his chops or something odd.  I think to myself, oh, how cute, a fox.  Then in the background I realize I can hear the guineas up by the house, and the thought in my mind turns to "guinea-killer".  No longer is he a cute and cuddly little friend.  I look around to see if maybe he's licking his mouth because he just ate dinner, but I don't see any guinea dinner.  I walk closer to him, and closer still, until I'm like 5 feet away.  He's not really afraid, but finally he jogs a few feet, and I follow.  He stops and looks at me, daring me to follow, and I do.  The fox bolts, and I chase him, I don't know why. Within seconds he's lost me.

I find myself on a small deer path, which leads me to behind an old empty house on the property.  I notice behind the house is a field in which I have never been before, so I walk into the field and check it out.  Beautiful.  I notice a heavily-used deer path leading out of the field, and I walk on it, following it to a large stream.  I've never been to this exact area before and I inspect everything. I see a large tree that fell over that was once a pilated woodpecker's nest.  I climb down close to the stream water and taste it.  It's cold.  I look at all the deer hoof marks in the mud around me.  They took a drink, too.  I think about going back the way I came, but a path calls me, a path on which I have never walked.  Another deer path.

I follow this new path through the deep woods.  Way up ahead I see sunlight, so I assume there's a field or something, and I decide to go there.  I find another path crossing my path, making a fork in the road.  Hmmm, which way...  I go left because I hear footsteps in the leaves to the left, although the clearing was ahead to the right.  I am just too curious about the footsteps.  After walking quietly down the path for a while, I find myself following a flock of wild turkeys. They don't run, but they aren't really happy that I'm there, and they walk away.  The tom is large and impressive.  His females follow him. I let them go on without me.  Turkeys are friends.

I climb through thick branches in the woods, wondering how many ticks I have on me, and eventually I find another deer path. I love paths, thank you to the deer for making paths.  No thank you to the deer for leaving their ticks behind, though.  I decide maybe I should jog a bit, as I was supposed to be running, after all. I jog a while, wondering where I am.  I wish I brought a cell phone.  It's getting late, the sun is setting by now. I continue jogging and come to a huge field.  It's the ravine area.  I know where I am, and I know it's not too close to the house.  I've gotten way off track.  I stand in the field in a culvert surrounded by hills, thinking I'm going to have to climb my way out of here to get home.  As I climb up a hill I startle up a herd of deer, they run into the trees noisily, irritated at me for interrupting them.  They were laying down in the culvert.  Sorry, guys.

Up and down the hills I climb.  At least there's no trees here, but there's lots of high grasses which I have to wade through.  In the distance, after I climb one last hill, I can see the main road.  I go towards it, and I pass another path.  The path calls me, but I ignore it.  It's late, it'll wait till another day.  I turn left when I get to my well, cut up through the woods to the house, climbing up more hills.  Randy just happens to be standing at the front door wondering where I am as I break out of the woods.   It's almost 8pm.  Time flies in the woods.

And then I go back to my normal life.  So much for all the chores that were on the schedule for the evening. 

New Arrival

About 2 weeks ago we noticed a little black shadow sneaking up and eating what dry cat food Jerry left behind in his food bowl.  The little cat would gobble and run.  If he saw us watching him, he would run without eating.  

Jerry would chase him away.  Jerry hates new things, especially little annoying ones who may steal his food and attention.  Not that Jerry wants much attention, he mostly wants food and a chair on which to nap on the back porch when he desires.  Jerry is the ultimate outdoor cat.  He will NEVER let us touch him, he comes and goes as he pleases, he NEVER wants to come inside.  And he's absolutely happy with the way things are.

Jerry, the outside cat

We have no idea where the little black cat came from.  He was very wild and scared. We couldn't help but notice his left ear was "tipped", which means he was a feral cat that was trapped and fixed.  Odd.  We have no feral cat communities near here.  How did he end up in our woods?  He's young, not adult cat size yet.  I'd say he's a teenager.  Funny, too, is the fact that he looks just like our indoor cat, Shadow, which used to be a very wild outdoor cat.  They both have a little bit of white fur on their chest and belly.  Could they be related?

The indoor cats, Jack on left, Shadow on right

Once Little Cat realized we would feed him, he never left.  All we have to do is step out the back door and call him and he magically appears from the woods.  Little Cat has adjusted to Jerry's routine, he learned that Jerry does NOT like to cuddle and certainly does not want any cat love gestures, such as a head bump.  And so Jerry is tolerating Little Cat.

Jerry on left, Little Cat on right, eating breakfast

 And as the weeks passed, Little Cat became more and more friendly.  One afternoon I sat on the back steps and called him, and he did his magic appearance from the woods and he ran to me.  At first he was cautious, but then finally he left me pet his head.  All it took was one touch and now he's the biggest love-bug.  He loves to be pet and scratched.  He was all skin and bones, I was afraid I was going to break something when I touched him.  But in these 2 weeks he's put on weight and his fur is feeling much thicker.

And so it seems we have a new friend at Razzberry Corner. We certainly didn't expect to have another cat.

Shy Cat

Notice his left ear tipped in this photo

His panther look

Jumping

Shadow is VERY INTERESTED in the new cat

Cleanup Continues

Now that the weather's been warmer, I've been trying to clean up our famous trash dump on our property.  I noticed this area again when I started running outside and I promised myself I'd really try to get it all cleaned up by this summer.  The trash dump appears to be someone's personal landfill.  As if, 20 years ago or more, some family lived in our house, and they took all their household trash out and dumped it in the woods.  If only the house and trees could talk, they'd have lots of stories.

And so, when I have a spare hour or more after all the other chores are done, I sneak out to the woods and bag trash.  And when Randy has a spare hour after all his work is done, he takes all my trash off to the county landfill.  I've made it a game, I try to bag more trash than he's able to fit into the vehicle to take to the dump.  So far I've stayed ahead of him, and we always have a few bags sitting out in the woods ready to go to the dump.  He moans at me about me making more work for him.  I don't take the bags to the dump myself because I cannot lift them, they are too heavy.  I use contractor grade big black trash bags and fill them full.  I also try to separate recyclable items into separate bags and he takes them to a recycling facility.  Mostly I recycle glass bottles.  The people that lived here liked their wine, and there are many different types of wine bottles.  I've learned a lot about the former homeowners by going through their trash.

And speaking of wine, of course I am collecting more big green wine bottles.  I've pulled dozens and dozens more out of the trash dump and added them to my wine bottle collection out in the field.  One day I'm going to find a purpose for them, or maybe I'll find someone who wants them.  Today I am going to count the wine bottles - I've added some since I took these photos. 

PS - We have a new friend living here at Razzberry Corner!! I will be posting about him soon!!! 

Stayed tuned!