Strike A Pose

Smile you’re on candid cam…

Oops 😬, seems I’m a tad slow on the ole iPhone camera draw, alas.

Here are a few examples where had I been a little faster, perhaps I’d have a picture or two to share. Sadly, being I’m all thumbs 👍 sometimes, the below descriptions is all I have for you. You’ll need to use your imagination -

I stepped off the walking trail yesterday morning to shake the dew of my trouser lily 😉, next to Moon Creek. Well, I startled an otter 🦦, yes an otter 🦦! He didn’t stick around for a photo shoot, noppers, rather he took off like a dart and was gone with water 💦 splashing and swooshing. He startled me so that it was all I could do to not wet myself, forget reaching for my camera. Alas, a missed opportunity.

Or when a BIG raccoon 🦝 crossed the walking trail just feet away from me, as it ran into the soybean field! I was too slow again.

How bout the time I scared a mother deer 🦌 and her youngster? It was another one of those moments when, truth be told, we scared each other. I was in deep thought having already walked six miles, when the pair darted from along side the corn 🌽 field. With the mother taking the lead, they both crossed the walking trail and the street (Eden street) running parallel to it. However, the far side of the street has a wire fence running along it and there are trees on both sides of said fence and all sorts of overgrowth covering it all, so there was no easy access spot to get over. Both deer ran up and down the fence line several times searching for an opening. The mother found it first and jumped the fence with confidence and ease. The youngest on the other hand was less sure of itself but finally made the jump and off they disappeared into the overgrowth. In hindsight, I prolly had time to pull out my phone and snap a pic but I was captivated with watching them flee and hearing their hoofs clippity-clopping on the street.

Or the time I spied a lizard 🦎 on the Tusculum university Bill and Jean Pilloni pedestrian bridge; the one that spans over Rt107. I did a double take on this dude because I was VERY surprised to see such a critter here in East Tennessee.  Florida yes, definitely, but not here.

Unless I can improve my reaction times, might need to consider a body camera or perhaps a Go Pro. These missed opportunities to get these cool sighting captured is a bummer.

Lazy Or Opportunistic

Hard to believe times are tough for these carrion eating scavengers, as route 11e, sadly, is littered with unfortunate roadkill.

However, this Black Vulture was scavenging cat food from a frying pan instead of doing its intended job -

There are several homes that abut the trail where this handsome orange tabby is always at.

I’ve seen him every day, always sleeping under some pine trees next to the walking trail -

Seems he’s fed using the frying pan but on this day this black vulture was in the midst of dinning and dashing.

A Little Joey

I came across this young opossum the other day lying in the driveway when delivering a package.  It was still alive but in rough shape and struggling. There were a couple yellow-jacket on it and it was covered with what looked like lice or nits or something.

I still had a couple hours of deliveries ahead of me and I had nothing to put this dude in or any way of helping it at that point. Perhaps, if it looked better, and I thought it would have had a fighting chance, I may have risked taken it and tried to help it.  Instead I moved it out of the driveway to the base of a tree and laid a piece of pine bark over top, in an effort to keep the bees aways.

I scanned the area and didn't see any signs of the mother or others babies, so guessing this little fella fell off it's momma while she was out and about, or perhaps, she knew something was wrong with it and intentionally left it behind.

The circle of life...

I've Got A Nibbler Visiting...

Although, gardening season is coming to an end and just about over, I do still have pepper and tomato plants alive and plugging away.

The tomato plants are all but gone and the plants look pathetic but they still have green and reddish fruit a com'n.  The pepper plants are still looking good and are loaded with peppers.  However, this year was a frustrating one for my peppers - in years past I would leave some of the bigger green peppers alone to let them turn red.  This year, as they were in the midst of turning, most began to rot from the bottom up and sadly those went into the compost instead of my freezer. This was a weird gardening season here in New England overall, so I'll chalk it up to that.

What's happening now, and although I've not seen it or them myself, there is clear evidence that the deer are sneaking in my yard and eating the ends of both my pepper and tomato plants, see below -

You don't need to be Daniel Boone or some Indian tracker to see the signs beyond the missing plant ends!

Here are a couple examples -

At this time of the year I would prefer they stick to eating the perennials that are starting to die off.  This way there will be less Fall clean up work for me to do.

Speaking about deer, here is what I believe is a mother and daughter deer that I spotted while out on my delivery route the other afternoon -

Mother with daughter having just walked into the golden rod to the right -

Although, I'm not seeing them in my yard, I have been seeing them when out driving more often lately.  I suspect they know the colder weather is a coming, so they're bolder on their pursuit to bulk up as they forage in preparation.

Hello?! Hey, Where Did Everybody Go?!

It's been a weird, eerie kinda summer.

My veggies are struggling.

I haven't seen or had a single frog in my pool.

I've only seen one or two toads.

No snakes.

Signs deer have visited but I seldom see them like I used to.

Wild rabbits galore, too many.

There's been only a handful of honey bees visiting my flowers.

Butterflies have been scarce, with only a couple Monarch.

NOT a single Monarch caterpillar on all of my big beautiful milkweed plants.

On a positive note, I was awakened the other morning by the vocals of two Barred Owls talking to each other.  Alas, it was 4:00AMish and dark, so I was unable to see them but they were sitting in the oak trees in my front yard having a conversation!

I sat by the open window and listened to them for while.  So cool and peaceful.

There was no use in going back to bed at that point, instead I brewed a cup of coffee and started my day.

"The early bird gets the worm", they say...

Car-go Beep Beep!

 Returning from my walk on Wednesday, I came across this site.

An opportunistic Turkey Vulture taking advantage of an opossum that clearly did NOT look BOTH ways before trying to cross the street, alas.

I took a quick video as I approached, click the link below to watch - 

Roadkill Café

I'm sure the conditions we've had here recently are taking a toll on the wildlife and making it difficult to find food. Perhaps, no so much for scavengers like the vulture but certainly for those critters that forage, as everything has been a sheet of ice with little to no melting.

Caught Yeah (Pics)!

Here are a few pics that Emilie took back in April of some of the critters who call my little piece of heaven their home too - 

She has a good eye with the camera!

 

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the above picture?!

This summer I've noticed quite a bit more of the plant leaves in and around my yard, and in my veggie gardens, being eaten.  Plants from my peppers above to my sunflowers, basil, broccoli, hostas, butterfly bushes, harlequin glorybower, etc.

I've been finding more critters than in the past on the above plants. Critters like; Japanese beetles, cabbage moths, aphids, slugs, and others too.  They've all been very destructive too, alas!

I am not a fan of using pesticides and chemicals in general, instead I try other methods like sprinkling Diatomaceous Earth around the base of the plants, beer in saucers, sprinkling spicy\hot spices on leaves, spray plants with warm water with Dawn dish soap, etc.  Some of these work, some not so much, however, the one that never fails in squashing those I can get a hold of between my fingers!

The tomato hornworm caterpillar youngster below, the critter dining on my peppers, was small compared to the size it would have become had I not found it and it was left to continue gorging.  In the past I would feed these dudes to my chickens who would gobble them up.  I would do the same when skimming my pool, too offer the insects to the chickens!  This time of year the pool is a magnet for beetles, oodles of them in there all the time, which takes time to skim, stop and squash each one but that's what I do.  It's a war!

Ah, the joys of gardening!

Wicked Smaht Idea

For Father's Day Emilie bought me an animal escape ramp, which is a floating animal saver rescue tool for pools. 

You fill the main pad up with air, using a small hand pump that was included with the item, then put stones in the pouch that sits on the deck to secure it and keep it in place.

The premise is critters such as frogs, toads, chipmunks, etc. have a place to get out of the water and rest.  The smarter ones can use the ramp to escape to safety.

I can only assume this works as advertised, as there's no way of knowing for sure just how many critters make their way out.

This morning, during my regular pool inspection, I was happy to see this Green frog taking advantage of the floating lily pad, HAHA!

I'm guessing most frogs and toads will need assistance is getting out out -

Shoo! Go Away! Scram!

It's that time of year, which I believe I've posted about before, where the stink bugs, boxelder bugs and ladybugs swarm and amass on my house. Here are a couple pics, which really doesn't do justice to how many of these darn things there are -

They get up under the cracks of the clapboards -

Part of the problem is doing this is they poop all over, which of course is showing and staining the clapboards, gross!  I've killed thousands, from when they first started to appear when youngsters, to now where they can fly.  However, from the looks you wouldn't guess I killed any.  They come out and cover the house on the nice sunny and warm days, otherwise they're hidden and somewhat dormant.

It's been this way every fall since I moved into the house.

Ugly Yet Unique

I found these Redhumped Caterpillars all over one of our blueberry bushes.

Fall is not upon us yet but I noticed the bush was loosing a lot of leaves.  Well, here was the cause!

I took the handful of them and introduced them to our chickens (Apologies for the blurry pic. I didn't realize how bad it was.).  They didn't last very long at all in the coop!

The circle of life.

I Thought Unique But Diseased...

From what I've been able to determine some of our echinaceas, more so the Purple Coneflower but some Black-eyed Susan's too, have a disease called "Aster Yellows". 

Aster yellows is a viral-like disease caused by a phytoplasma (formerly called a mycoplasma-like organism). Insects that suck the sap of plants, especially the aster leafhopper.  There is no cure, treatment, pesticide or insecticide, to control aster yellows. That's why early diagnosis is crucial. Promptly remove any infected plants from your garden and dispose of them so no more aster leafhoppers can feed on them and spread the disease further.

Reluctantly, I've been pulled the affected plants and putting them in the trash, versus compost, to ensure they're gone so not to infect our others coneflowers.

Who's Who Visiting?!

The covering of snow we now have gives some insight to the critters that visit and pass though our yard.  I was out and about yesterday and captured the following pics -

Bird tracks -

Two deer passed thorough, eventually hoping the fence, and making their way across the street -

A fox also passed through too -

The handsome homeowners boot print -

I'm sure the prints would have been much better had I grabbed the pics before things warmed up and melting began.  However, still interesting to walk around to see who visited.

Shoo, Go Away, Scram!

We've been having a heck of a time with some critter rooting around the yard.  Making a terrible mess and ripping up grass; holes everywhere.  I suspect they're after grubs, which is another problem in and of itself.  One that I intend to address first thing come Spring time.

In the meantime, I set the hav-a-heart traps and come morning, two pesky critters caught.  One adult, mostly white (on top) skunk and a juvenile opossum. 

Both were given a stern talking to and warning to take their foraging elsewhere...

A Pasel of Opossum, Perhaps?!

Recently we've had a whole lot of digging taking place in and around the tomato garden.  Deep holes too.  I'm guessing there are grubs present and these dudes, as well as the skunks, are digging for them.  As much as I appreciate them help rid my gardens, and even lawn, of these nasty, destructive insects, they're making too much of a mess, so...

I set two hav-a-heart traps the other night, both baited with a fresh grown peach, and come morning both traps had young'ns in them.  Newbie opossums -

Trap #1 -

Trap #2 -

I've had great success this spring and summer catching vermin in our yard.  Yet, surprisingly, they keep a coming.

There's No Hiding With Fresh Snow

Some random animal tracks in the dusting of snow we had several weeks ago.  I took these while visiting my farmer friend just before Christmas.

Fox -

Rabbit -

Turkey -

Always interesting to get a peak at what wild critters are lurking about.

Hosta Damage

Thank goodness that Hosta are a very hardy plant otherwise we wouldn't have a one. They're one of my bestest favorites too with so many varieties to choose from.  I'd guess we have over 15 different kinds throughout or yard.

The hostas we have along the back yard are prime targets of the deer, who appear to love them as much as I do but in a dinner kinda way. They do a number on them year after year eating them to the ground.  The ones in the deer 'safe' zones, and the ones that proudly display their leaves, are victims to another pest, the slug UGG!

The slugs eat the leaves, same as the deer, just at a slower pace.

Here's an example of deer damage -

 More deer damage -

 Slug damage -

More slug damage -

They've both worn their welcome out at the ole homestead!

Backyard Critter Shenanigans

All kinds of activity in the backyard in early January.

This black cat was attempting to stock these three turkeys.  The turkeys didn't seem too afraid of the cat rather more curious. They'd take turns approaching one another as they moved from right to left.

At one point the turkeys chased the cat up a tree.  Watching all the shenanigans from a safe distance high above was a crow  -