Birds, Bees, Flowers, Wildlife, and Mules

We saw this doe walk out of the woods and pretty soon two fawns came racing from the tall grasses. I don't often get to see a doe nursing her fawn, let alone nursing twins.

Fighting Tiny Titans

not a fantastic shot but you can see the hummers chest thumping each other in a dispute over the Bee Balm and the other flowers in our east garden.
 

It's July. It is hot, humid, muggy, and there is a smokey haze. The yard was still too wet from our rain the night before of 1 inch. So I took a chair out next to the garden used my long lens to observe the goings on in my garden.

A Fritillary Butterfly and a Bumble Bee were both enjoying my Blazing Stars.

A Silver Spotted Skipper [?] seemed to be fascinated with my Forget me nots.

The bees were crazy busy. Even extremely tiny ones. 

I caught sight of some house finches enjoying the feeder also.

I can enjoy photographing the flowers and all of the activity and still be near enough to the house to check on my 'patient'. 

Morning light on a pumpkin flower with a busy Bee Butt full of pollen.

I have several pumpkin plants that did free seeding in the mules lot. I'll have to fence them off later if I want pumpkins for this fall. I also have 3 or 4 plants growing in my flower beds. Why not? Less yard I have to mow!

The sun flowers are beginning to get ready to show off their blossoms and with that, the bees will pollinate and the Goldfinches will get busy at eating the seeds. I let them have plenty before I take and save the seeds for next year's planting.

I'm looking forward to having the mule gals' pasture brush hogged. Hopefully it will help keep down the noxious weeds and the burdock. If I can get a regular schedule for next year I will be a happy person and so will my gals.

Sundance looks over Siera's back.

Sunshine enjoys a weedy pasture, she can swipe irritating flies off her body.

They may look like the same red mules, but they aren't. They are half sisters with the same mom, different donkey dads. Sunshine is 28 and Sundance is 16. I can easily tell them apart by their body shape and their tails which are different shades.

I finally did get out into the woods on Sunday morning. I found some very interesting mushrooms.

More...later!

A Day off the Farm!

I always start with a fence-pasture check and see how the elderly girls are doing. I went into what we call the Meadow to put an SD card back in the Trail Cam and came out of the forest to the above shot. I only had my cell phone with me.

I imagine the doe had run off while the fawn was sleeping and suddenly the fawn looked a bit confused.

I stood quietly and just waited.

I was able to switch to video ---> 28 seconds...

I ended up seeing 4 more does on my walk back to the house.

I did chores and got moving as I had a 'date' with my Grand daughter Ariel and a 2.5 + hr drive to her new apartment. This is not something I normally do. Travel that far, but I had two neighbors for back up and prepped lunch ahead of time for hubby.

I cannot believe she is going to be 21 years old in another month or so! OH MY! Where did the time go??? I'm sure her mom and dad are thinking the same thing.

She grew up under my nose! 

She is employed, owns her own vehicle, and now has her own place to live. She wanted me to come see her 'new' place and chill out with her. Here is a view out her living room window. She didn't give me permission to take her photo or to take and post photos of her place so I just won't do it.

Suffice to say, IF I'd had an apartment like hers, I would have loved it! She is in town and can walk all over and ... it is 5 minutes to work for her. Like most young folks she had parents and grand parents who helped provide her with things she needed.

I was so tickled to see one of my favorite shower curtains in her bathroom! Small things matter!

We went to a late breakfast then went shopping at JoAnne Fabrics. Ariel has taken up crocheting and is making soft fuzzy blankets for her relatives. She introduced me to the Big Fuzzy Soft Yarn she likes to work with. She studied all the colors they had to see if anything tickled her fancy. She asked the girl who was stocking the shelves if they had new colors coming out.

I know a lot of ladies who read this blog who love yarn and collect yarn! I could definitely see picking up crocheting with that fuzzy soft yarn. Ariel even showed me some loop yarn that you don't even have to crochet! Hmmmm. I could dig that! Might be something I could do at night while I sit with the other half and he is watching something boring!

We then parked in a public parking lot and took a tour of the town. We spent time in a bookshop that served coffee and sandwiches. We browsed and Ariel showed me the books she admired most.

We ended up at an interesting little shop that sold Geodes, candles, scented soaps, carvings, incense holders, and all sort of cool hippy stuff. I found some neat 3D printed dragons that would go along with my Lego People. I like dragons of all sorts.

They'll show up later in some Lego or Toy adventures.

Back at her place, we relaxed and chatted. She told me about her job and workplace and how she was doing. 

Again. Hard to believe I was sitting in her apartment with her as an adult. But there it was. When I was getting ready to go, she asked if I'd stop and see her brother who works at Culvers. He'd just gotten promoted to a supervisory position, and she thought we should say hi.

Another small kid....who GREW up!

He gave me permission to post his photo.

When Ariel and I started to walk out the door we turned and waved to Dennis and the whole front staff all hollered out "See yah Grandma!"

That was super cool.

I headed home to the farm with warm fuzzy thoughts and a huge smile on my face.

A day off the Farm! 

Fence Checking & Weird Stuff

Usually just after sunrise I head out to do a daily fence check. I can walk the meadow admire the changes each season brings. The grasses have seed heads and are waiting to drop them. 

The Queen Anne's Lace is beginning to bloom and the milkweed is just about done blossoming.

If there is a good morning dew or fog, I get to stop and admire my favorite spiders who start to appear in abundance at the end of July through August. Orb spiders.

Orb Spider shadow!!!

If I stand quietly just after dawn along our fence line, I can watch the deer emerge from the woods and cross the meadow to the east of us.

In another few weeks and up until gun season, I'll probably sneak out a few times a week to sit in a tree with my camera and watch for some does and bucks in velvet. It is fun to catch them on the trail cam but even more exciting to watch them in real time.

I collected some Queen Anne's Lace to dry while out walking.

I just love their beautiful patterns.

Down in the valley I found an area that had a curious slime mold growing all over the place. It seemed to grow at the base of little plants and small saplings. Odd, but not so odd because of all the rain and humidity we've had. It makes for perfect growing conditions for slime molds.

One of my favorite slime molds to find is fresh Dog Vomit Slime Mold. AKA: Scrambled Egg Slime Mold or Fuligo septica. It is hard to miss as it is such a bright yellow. The patch was very tiny. It probably only is visible for about 24 hours.

I was SO excited to find this tiny patch!
[I know, I am odd.]

We are coming up on the great months for finding all sorts of cool Fungi and odd things growing in the forest. I can't wait!

Anyway, this was my morning walk. Checking on my mules and checking on the fencing.

Have a great week.

Free entertainment

It is fun to have coffee and be able to peer out at the neighbor's land where they used to have goats and see this occurring. Two fawns had been staying where their moms had put them. 

The moms would feed them then the fawns would lay still in the tall grasses near some brush and stay until their moms came to get them.

For the first week, all we could see was just the tips of their ears when the twitched them. 

Since the goats left we see the deer making good use of the woods and field. 

I was cleaning out some weeds next to the outhouse when I got buzzed by a hummingbird. So I decided to take a break and sit on the back step with my camera and Charlie in the shade.

Hummingbird in my Siberian Iris? 

There was the friendly wren flitting about and alternating between scolding and singing! 

 

Here is a mule pile up under a box elder tree. They adore standing in the shade under the tree using the low branches as fly deterrent.

Fly season has arrived as well as bot bees that get the mules running and diving into underbrush to get the biting insects off from them.

Our not so brilliant horse that is named 15, came into raging heat. The red headed molly mules decided it would be fun to nibble her flanks and get her to squeal. 

Imagine horse squeals echoing in the woods. It almost sounds like something bizarre is happening. Thank goodness it only lasts about one day.

Sven, the goat loves to be with his pal Little Richard. The goat stands with his head under Little Richard's tail to keep flies off his head.

I thought the goat was really taking a chance of getting his head dumped on by pony poo. Apparently, he darts out before the pony drops a load.

So when the Firestick TV remote died a severe and unfixable death for the 3rd time, hubby had a melt down.

I tried to explain to him that he could find all sorts of free entertainment out doors.

Alas. 

Poor hubby. Did you know there was an app for a smartphone just for these emergencies? Oh yes! Firestick TV Remote app. Thank goodness, the world will not fall apart while waiting on a replacement.

However, since I am the only one who can operate the smartphone, it seems I need to be present any time he wants to watch the TV.

Come on new Remote!

Endless days of snow and rain...

There are good things and not so great things about long stretches of cold rainy and snowy days.

The good thing was I worked on some deep cleaning. During the other half's nappy time, I had to be quiet [no vaccum cleaning or killing dust bison]. I moved Charlie's pillow to the new-old Christmas Chair which has had its legs cut off.

When I came back in the living room to mop the floor, I saw this. What a perfect spot for him! He likes the couch better. 

Squatch decided that he needed to build a good shelter. He was tired of cold wet fur and colder chilly nights.  Besides, he had Dog to think of.

He consulted with Doe who was one of the very first toys in my collection. She suggested building one.

A cream cheese container wrapped in cast off aluminum and encased in clay would make a good small cave.

Not exactly a castle, but...

with a fire, it seems pretty cozy. 

And then a neighbor dropped by for conversation, but the fire was so nice and warm....

He fell fast asleep. But his chicken carried on a conversation with Dog.

I made even a bigger mess in the one room I intended to clean up. I need to go back and do some major sorting. Out with the old junk, and in with the new junk?

I'm my own Hero

 Ahhh, the skid steer saga once more. I am mechanically dis-inclined. If things don't work, I toss up my hands and walk away. An engine is a mystery to me that I'm not even curious enough to investigate.

Since we had the episode last week of the skid steer not starting again, hubby said that he wanted me to go out and put the battery charger on it and to hook up the engine heater thingy.

I did find the battery and I did hook it up though it was a scary place inside the battery compartment. It is hard to see in there and basically I'm rather afraid of batteries.
My father always told us they'd blow up. Guess that stuck with me.

I recall the tech guy saying that I should charge it on the slower setting rather than the fast one.  I should put it on a maintenance trickle charger or just make sure to use it every so many days. All this I explained to hubby who said I was full of bunk.

So I went out and did it the way the tech told me to. It took two days [I didn't leave it charging overnight ~ it is parked near our huge bales of hay]. 

I got it started! I let it run long enough to warm everything up and then shut it off. I plan on using it this week to fill the bucket with manure from the two nights Little Richard spent in his stall and to fill it with the goat's old bedding. Once the driveway is no long mud-mush, I'll dump it in the huge compost pile.

I've run this thing before but it has been a while. I'd rather hubby feel good enough to use it. I really think it is too much machine for the piddly jobs I have around here. 

However, getting it running was a huge relief and I crossed off one big worry for the moment.

To celebrate, I put on my YakTraks and decided to see what the rain, snow and freeze did to the creek area.

The water did flow from the neighbor's pasture and run into the creek. In some places small dams were created by dead leaves.

I decided to sit and listen to the forest. What could I hear? I heard a chickadee, a bluejay, a hawk, and something walking on the land above the creek. It wasn't a human, perhaps it was a squirrel, coyote, or deer.

I just waited.

Now I should have had a long lens, but I didn't. But there was a deer! 
[Click on the picture to enlarge it]

Can you see the doe? She is almost so well camouflaged that I put an arrow on the photo pointing to her face.

It was a doe and a yearling! They must have smelled me or seen me move and off they went.

So happy little dance for me. I got the scary machine started and I saw some wildlife.

I think I need to make myself a superhero cape.
 

Artsie Fartsy

The tree above is a real mess, but in some ways I sort of like it. I enjoyed the process so much I decided to try it again on the tree below.
I added the birds with a brush.

I used to love drawing with pen and ink. I wasn't very good at it. I was more of a Picasso artist and drew a 'interpretation' of what I saw. It tried being accurate and real, and always failed miserably.

Maybe this is why this sort of photo-draw-art-interpretation thing works for me. 

The funny thing is, this 'art' had some rave reviews with a certain subset of folks in
an art group on social media. 

However ~ can a person really trust social media these days? Rhetorical question, obviously.

This yearling deer was photographed through the back door window with my long lens. The original is here:

My 'vision' of what I imagined is here:

And then a wild interpretation that included textures and colors are here:
 

I hike or snowshoe daily with camera in hand and wonder what I can do artistically with the same ol' scenes over and over. How can I see the same tree yet interpret it differently? 

[Hey now, that would make an interesting comparison wouldn't it? This tree and scene over the years? Hmmmm....]

Below is a photo of an apple tree that I've photographed hundreds of times in all sorts of circumstances. This is the version I came up with.

This is the original:

The black and white version is more like a drawing. I like that. It really says a lot about winter. Though winter is not that dull and unexciting.

I enjoy finding out who has been lurking around by their tracks. Mr. or Mrs. Bobcat have been making a trail from one neighbor's property across our place and towards the neighbors west of us.

These shots were taken before the last snowfall. 

We haven't been going anywhere lately. Hubby stays at home and I hike out to the ridge or into the valley to get fresh air and see what is going on in our forest. 

Charlie has not been too excited over the latest cold temperatures and snowfalls. I have to make some trails so he won't have to snow swim.