Old Millpond

 

Across the road and just through the woods, there is an old millpond. Yesterday's warmer temperatures and rainfall melted the ice that had covered the surface following Friday and Saturday's very cold temps. Today there were mallards, black ducks, and wood ducks swimming there. In the warmer months it's a good place to find a variety of snakes and turtles, including spotted turtles. It's always a good place to find an assortment of predators -- or at least evidence of them...

 

This owl pellet was along the shore line of the old pond. Rodent teeth, long bones, and bird beaks give evidence of some of the small animals that live around the pond. Nearby there were a couple of bobcat scats containing hair and a few larger bones, most likely rabbit.

 

I like knowing that across the road and just through the woods there is an old millpond...

What Is It??

No, really, if you know, please tell me! This stuff is driving me crazy (although there are those who would argue that I reached crazy long ago...but I digress). It is growing on the pawpaw trees along one of our trails in the work swamp. If I can ID it then I can include it in some meaningful way during the interpretive hikes I lead. Currently I just point it out and say something intelligent like, "I don't know what it is, but isn't it cool?" Not exactly stellar interpretation and education ;)

So, what's your guess? Fungi? Lichen? Slime mold? Alien being from space?

What?

This Morning's Walk

click on the collage to get a closer look at individual pictures

It was 7 degrees F this morning when we woke up. A couple hours later it had warmed to near 20 so we decided to walk down to the pond to see what was stirring.

The critters in the collage are a nutria (grrr), a hermit thrush, and one crazy great blue heron. The heron was in full sun, way across the pond, standing on one long leg. Made me cold just to look at him!

As for the bird dropping...I had to add it in because it had frozen bubbles in it. You just can't pass up frozen bubbles!

The freaky frost is included because we don't often see that around here. Same goes for the other icy pix.

Collared

 

Weasel is the last of the Triplicats to get "fixed." She will be in her lovely E-collar for a few days to be sure that she doesn't pull out her stitches. The other cats are hissing and fussing - they seem to be a little bit afraid of her - but she seems to be taking it all in stride.

Of course, I'm giving her loads of extra attention and pampering to help compensate for the humiliation of her having to wear a cone on her head. And seriously, Treebeard and I try not to laugh when she attempts to back out of the collar...but we're only human and she does look funny ;)

A Case of Sunshine

Having a Friday off is a wonderful thing. Having to go to the dentist on that Friday off to have a filling repaired is not a wonderful thing. Arriving home to find that a whole case of delicious oranges had been delivered while we were gone is a wonderful thing. Having a sister-in-law as thoughtful as mine is a wonderful thing.

That's three wonderful things to one not-wonderful thing...wonderful wins!!

Thanks, SIL!! They are delicious and very juicy.

 

 

Hack, Hack

 

While out cutting trail today I happened upon this owl pellet. If I had had a container to put it in I would have packed it up for further study. It would have been interesting to find out what sort of bones these are. Alas, I had nothing handy and the pellet was sopping wet...not an ideal condition for popping into one's pocket.

It was a beautiful day with blue skies and bright sunshine but comfortably chilly, great conditions for the trail work that needed to be done. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures to share -- it is difficult to swing a brush axe and take pictures at the same time, don't you know.

Swamp Squiggles

 

Too tired to blog, but I didn't want to leave you totally swampless...

A Sad Good-bye

No pictures today I'm afraid. Instead, just sad news to report. One of my friends and colleagues lost her beloved pet today. His name was Thatcher and he was a great cat. He was just three months shy of turning 19 years old. I was at the vet's office with her as she said goodbye while cradling him as he breathed his last breath. He was much loved and will be greatly missed.

An Acquired Taste

 

Dr. Treebeard prescribed a walk in the warm sunshine for my cold so yesterday we went for a short jaunt into the swamp across the road from the house. Did I mention that the new house has swamp on three sides? Perfect!

I didn't get many pictures because we were walking west into a fierce winter afternoon sun. Being a bit under the weather, I didn't feel like futzing around with camera settings to compensate. As a result, there are no images of the kinglets, chickadees, white-throated sparrows, red-headed woodpeckers, brown thrashers, cardinals, etc. to share with you this morning. Nor do I have any photos of the swamp stretching out in all directions. All I have to offer is the image of a partially eaten bald cypress cone.

Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, has to rank as one of my all-time favorite trees. It is beautiful in any season and has a number of intriguing traits. It is a deciduous confier (hence "bald") and produces knobbly knees (true function as yet undetermined) under the proper circumstances. It also produces hard round cones that are tough to open until fully mature. Squirrels, of course, are not deterred by the toughness. They seem to enjoy the challenge. We found quite a few dismantled cones on our walk.

Now wouldn't it be neat if some of those cones had been dismantled by yet another creature who was undaunted by the challenge? Alas, that particular creature, the Carolina Parakeet, is now extinct. What must it have been like to see a flock of those birds working on opening cypress cones? One can only imagine...

Catchin' Some Rays

Out in Treebeard's blueberry patch there was a party going on. Three turkey vultures were hanging out catching some rays from the morning sun. They'd hold their wings open for several minutes then close them up for a minute or two, shift position and open them back up. I watched them from the kitchen, knowing that if I opened the door and tried to sneak out on the porch they would take off. That's why you get a hazy picture for this Saturday - window screens are tough to focus through ;)

 

When I finally did step out on the porch I managed to just raise my camera before all three vultures took off. I picked my way through the muddy yard to see if they left any prints behind. Only one that was sort of recognizable -- oh, well, maybe they'll be back...

 

I'm staying close to home today. Seems I have my second cold in just over a month. Guess my body is trying to make up for me having four cold-free years. But why, oh why, does it have to do so on my only days off?!? Now, if you will excuse me, I am going downstairs to brew yet another cup of tea.

Goodbye 2008

...and hello to 2009. Here's hoping it will be a good year for all.

Track of the Cat

 

The bobcat that made these tracks was about half mile ahead of me on the trail. I watched him through my binoculars for about 10 minutes. Sometimes our super-straight, long trails offer up wildlife viewing opportunities you don't get on more picturesque hiking trails. This was one of three bobcats I was able to observe this week -- have I mentioned lately that I love my job ;)

Sighting

 

The rare and elusive one-eyed swamp woozie...


Oh, okay. So it's not rare or elusive or even a swamp woozie. It's the open seed pod of a plant called anglepod, Gonolobus gonocarpus.

Sunrise From the Side Porch

 

Good morning. It's chilly out there this morning. Temps are in the upper teens to low twenties (yeah, I know, for some of you that's downright balmy) The sky was really pretty as the sun rose so I stepped out on the porch to snap a picture to share. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to play with camera settings -- the rising sun waits on no one -- so it's not the most beautiful of shots. But somehow, I didn't think most of you would mind ;)

I'm off to work...hope you have a peaceful day.

Solstice

 

 

 

 

We had our Solstice fire last night and celebrated the change in season by roasting oysters and steaming shrimp - our favorite way of welcoming winter. Technically, I guess it was more a Solstice Eve thing since today is the Solstice. But, whatever it was, it sure was good!

Hope your first day of winter is a happy one. And smile! The days will start getting longer now.

Flower for a Rainy Day

The weather today was damp and chilly -- not what some would consider ideal walking weather. Me, I like damp and chilly provided I am dressed for it and I was today. So, while out on patrol, I decided to park my truck and walk a four and a half mile loop. Sometimes it is a good thing to take the time to do foot patrol, it reconnects one in a way that driving can't.

Not much was out and about today. The deer were bedded down, the bears where probably snoozing a bit, and the bobcat were being sly. I found plenty of tracks and some pretty impressive scat, but I never laid eyes on any critters other that birds. It was quiet and I was alone with my thoughts - not a bad way to spend a Tuesday morning. Of course, I was aggravated when I happened upon some litter on the trail. Please someone explain to me why an individual can carry a full beverage can eight miles out into the park, but that same individual is unable to carry the much lighter, empty can back?!? But I digress...

As I was walking I spied a yellow blossom on the ground - Yellow jessamine.

 

I looked around for the vine it had fallen from and found this little face peering back at me. A bud, waiting to open. Isn't life grand?

 

Triplicats

 

The triplicats enjoyed all the extra laps that were available over the Thanksgiving holiday, but they were particularly fond of No. 1 son Hippie's lap. They spent many a contented hour keeping him company during his visit.

Friday and Smidgen have been "fixed" and Weasel is waiting for her turn at the vet's. We believe in spaying and neutering and we also feel that cats should be kept indoors. Thus, the kitties have pretty much taken over the house and consider anything and everything a toy. Today they followed me from room to room as I did a little housekeeping. Cleaning the toilets seemed to be especially fascinating to them and changing the sheets has become one of their favorite activities. My big cat, Wiki, is not amused by their antics for the most part -- although, I have spied her playing with them when she thinks I'm not looking.

Damn cats ;)

Calling Card

 

We had some visitors to the yard...and they left their calling cards! A tidy little pile of bobwhite (quail) droppings - the birds tend to roost in a sort of circle with their heads pointing out and their tails pointing toward the center. As a result, you end up with a cute little collection of droppings.