Busy Busy Sunday

I started the morning out by going into a little blind I set up the night before. It is supposed to be a hunting blind but I thought I'd use it as a photography blind in the hopes that I'd actually be able to watch and photograph some deer.

I got into the blind and zipped up before 6AM. I had my coffee in a thermos. I'd placed a chair inside along with a bucket to use as a 'table'. 
For over an hour I just sat and listened to the birds waking up and other soft morning noises around me.

I decided that nothing was going to happen. It was going to be a bust. So I poured a tiny thermos cup of coffee an sipped it. 

When I looked up I saw deer emerging from the woods.

Soon there were two groups of them. Some young ones raced around the meadow while the others browsed. 
Two young bucks came out and expressed interest in the does. 

Last week I'd caught a nice buck on camera too, but that buck was still in velvet.  These guys aren't. 

So HAH! The blind worked! I waited until the deer left the meadow and then left the blind and headed back to the house.

So the evening before I set up the blind Charlie and I had a Skunk Encounter. I was getting stakes that were made for round bale covers out of a bucket in a shed we rarely visit. I heard thumping behind me and turned to see Charlie and a skunk were about a foot from each other staring each other down.

The skunk had stomped its feet to warn us. Thankfully, the skunk was also between two old barn wood doors that were stacked together and it couldn't turn around.

We exited quickly. [Today the shed gets mothballed and ammonia treated. We don't need a skunk close to the house.]

Charlie and I took two walks yesterday. One to change SD cards in the trail cams out in the woods and see what has been visiting our deer/mule trails.

The bobcat is using the trail more frequently that he/she has before. One trail showed so many photos of a busy squirrel and then raccoons in the night. There were lots of deer also. One nice buck with a 10 point rack showed up and stood right before the camera as if he was posing for us.

Our second walk was to look for fall colors on our ridge and compare it to last year. Last year the leaves had already started turning on the ridge. This year? Not yet!

The ridge is still very green looking. The sky was blue, and the day was beautiful even if it was breezy.

Charlie and I chose to walk around the field above. Another field was being chopped with a combine and trucks were literally racing up and down the gravel road. 

Walking through the hayfield was hard for Charlie, his short legs just aren't built for deep grass. However we eventually came out in the oat field where the cover crop was and walked along there.

Charlie was happier about that.

Your view when you are 7 inches tall.

Back at home...it was time for chores.

Oh! I forgot to mention that we have new neighbors! My now ex-neighbor Justin finally answered my text when I asked if they were moving. The next morning I met the new folks.

Their names are Justin and Cybil and they have two little ones. 

For Rich's sake I call the new Justin.... Justin 2.0. 

Whew.

This week promises to be crazy too.