Spiders, Stars, and stuff

Happy September.

Things certainly have changed as far as daylight is concerned. In a way, I do like the way the hours are arranged right now. The daylight is just about perfect as well as the temperatures for the past two days.

I won't complain. 

Oddly enough, I don't miss the trees that got taken down. This morning while it was still dark, I had an unobstructed view from the porch of the stars in the sky. I was able to see Orion's Belt clearly. The photo is taken with my cell phone using Night Sight on my Google Pixel phone. I imagine that the better models take even neater shots. But I am happy with this.

Yesterday morning started off with Olive showing up and supervising me changing my tire to a donut errrr, spare. We pulled two shards of metal out of the tire and I'll take it to a tire shop on Tuesday to have it fixed. I learned a couple of things. Have a real Universal Lug Nut tool. What comes with the car is a wimp. The jack worked fine and I got hands on experience through the whole process. Now I am confident that I can change a tire. 

Olive spent 3 years driving her car on back roads delivering mail. She said she'd have to change a tire at least every few weeks and repair it. It was so nice of her to spend time teaching this old dog a new trick. 

I decided to take Saturday OFF. I have 15 t posts to drill back into the ground and replace hotwire. But since the mules were happy with the meadow out back and access to the forest, I didn't worry about it.

I did my morning fence check out back.

And...even the wildlife was taking it easy.

In my garden, I was delighted to find Crab Spiders everywhere in my yellow cosmos! If you want to see a larger size of the spiders, then click on the photo and it will show you a larger size!

These guys are ambush spiders. They don't build webs, but wait for prey and then grab them. They are not harmful to people.

Aren't they pretty?

I have a volunteer Sunflower that grew about 4 feet tall on the edge of the porch. Here is a female goldfinch visiting the sunflower. 

I have one porch window that I keep spotless and without a screen to serve as a 'blind' so I can shoot through the glass and not disturb the birds.

A bit later we had several Titmouse visiting the Sunflower. These two were not in the sharing mood.

The Merlin Bird app sent out a message that Migration has now begun. The large Sandhill Cranes are moving along with so many other large birds. 

I knew migration had begun as I've kept note of those birds who have left.

Now, IF I can get my fence done and a few other things out of the way, I can get on a bike trail that runs through Richland County and follows a river and some marshes. What a great way to see migrating birds!

Happy September 1st.

Enjoy the weather.

Today it is cool enough for Charlie and I to enjoy a nice long afternoon walk.

Cold Day ~ Warm Porch Observations

When we remodeled our house, we added a porch on the south side of the house. It has a sloping roof and a concrete pad. It isn't fancy but extends out 10 feet and runs the width of the house.

In the summer the sun is high enough that I can sit in the shade shuck corn or clean veggies and enjoy being outside at the same time.
In the winter the sun is low and shines on to the porch and sunlight fills our house.

Yesterday with the temperature hoovering at 5 degrees F, I was able to sit out on a stiff back chair in my insulated coveralls and furry hat and be warm! The light wind was from the north. I had to wait for a delivery anyway, so I thought fresh air would be nicer than sitting in the house listening to the TV.

I decided to grab my camera and the binoculars and watch the birds. They weren't really bothered by me sitting on the porch and after I settled in, they resumed their activities.

I was surprised by the visitors I was able to see. The fawns below have come up to the south side of the old red shed to avoid the cold north breeze and graze in one of  Lil' Richard & Sven's summer pens. The other fawn decided to browse through my shady perennial garden for things to eat.

The north hillsides are deep in hard crusty snow and so the deer need to find south facing hillsides to graze. I was very surprised to see them in the middle of the day until I checked the forecast. When the barometer moves, so do the deer.

The mules took naps as did the horse. Some stretched out on their sides. Siera is in this shot below. A dragon Mule! 

She got up and shook. No, she is not pregnant. She is fat. She is such an easy keeper, I think if she looked at hay she would gain weight. I used to ride her nearly every day, but this past year, she has pretty much just been a pasture decoration.

The visit by the crows really surprised me. They are such interesting birds. 

This is a terrible shot, but this is also the reason I went out to sit on the porch. The Titmice birds were absolutely fun with their antics flying to and fro from the pines to the feeder. I wanted to 'catch' one with its wings open.

I kept trying but I kept missing her or his flights to the feeder. I tried rapid fire and always seemed to miss them taking flight.

I did learn that the Titmouse grabs a mouthful of seeds and takes it to the tree branches to eat. As does the Nuthatch.

Twice the Big Birds came through. 
Eagles.

We have two pair that hang around here and have a nest about a mile away [as the crow flies].

The Juncos and Titmice seem to get along just fine, except when they want to fight over the seeds on the ground.

I learned to recognize the Downy Woodpecker by the sound of its wings as it raced from one tree to another and swung low in front of the porch.

I finally decided to just close my eyes and listen to the sounds around me. I was warm, the sun was bright and the noises of the forest were pretty comforting.

I started to wonder why I've never been interested in birds before. I mean, I sort of was. But not like this.

I guess this is a good consequence of being sort of home bound.

Maybe learning more about birds and observing them isn't such a bad thing.

Nature seems patient, it seems I could learn this too.

I love Winter

 

Someone told me I was lying to myself when I said I loved winter the most. Chuckle Chuckle.

I love every season of course. Winter always provides me with so much to see. 

Granted. In the spring and fall, I can walk the woods and not be so bothered by insects. Summer brings its own delights which include much longer days and some un-delights of heat and humidity.

I love flowers which only bloom in my garden from Spring to Fall. But Winter provides me with time on my hands to explore the shapes of trees. Time to watch ice falls develop on a rock and moss sandstone wall.

I am afforded the ability to admire the frost that develops on the rocks in a large spring.

I can hike through the valley and bask in warm sunshine in one spot and be in chilled in the shadows and cold breezes in another.

I can be amazed over and over by an old oak tree's shape against the snow or how it casts shadows over the stream.

I can see how the natural order of things progress. I can find deer beds, coyote dens, 'possum trails, and raccoon tracks. I see how nature cleans up after a death. Who strips those bones clean like that? Not coyotes. But the Titmouse, the Bluejay, and Woodpeckers! 

Death in the valley provides a little something for everyone except the unfortunate whitetail perhaps.

The mice will find important minerals in this buck's antlers that will help them. They find calcium, phosphorous, and minerals that may be lacking in their diet in the antlers of some deer and their bones.

This huge spring provides warm water for scuds and caddisfly larvae to survive cold spells.

The spring comes out of the hillside.

It joins the creek as it flows down hill.

View looking towards the south.

No matter how cold it gets, I've never seen this spring freeze over. The water is about 45 F all year. During a very deep freeze, all the moss covered rocks get covered in a beautiful frost.

The first signs of spring arrive here on near this spring. Skunk Cabbage!

Winter provides me with more challenges to find interesting photographs. There is the snow to deal with which throws off the camera meter. There is the cold to deal with. The cold will drain batteries swiftly. Moving cameras from cold to warm can damage them if precautions aren't taken. 
Dressing appropriately can also be an issue. After years of trial and error, I am coming to a happy medium.

This hike last week involved a small backpack with a thermos of hot chocolate, hand warmer packets, fresh mittens in case mine got wet, my pistol, and camera batteries in my inner pockets. 

The thermometer hanging off my camera strap read -9 F at the spring.

My feet got cold while I explored the Big Spring. But I knew that a hard and fast walk with my snowshoes on would warm my feet up.

Eventually I made it to our ridge trail and headed up out of the valley.

That is my shadow and if you look closely, you might even see the shadow of a Teddy Bear face in my backpack.

Silly, I know, but Bear doesn't mind the cold.

By the time I got home, I was damp with sweat. 

And that

is 

some of the

reasons

I like  love winter.