Bunny Tracks

I've seen deer and I've seen turkey. I've seen chipmunks too, but since we moved out here, I haven't seen a bunny yet. I was fairly certain they would be around since they are everywhere. We saw them several times at the old place. They are snowshoe hares. Cute little bunnies that are brown in summer and white in the winter.

Snowshoe in the summer.

Snowshoe in the winter.

I hadn't seen any since being out here, and even started to think that maybe they didn't want to be out here for whatever reason... train, too many cars, humans, whatever.

I was ecstatic when I saw bunny prints in the snow! I was so excited that I grabbed my camera and walked around the yard following them. They have been right next to the house - hmmm, that would explain the motion sensor flood light turning on in the middle of the night! The tracks wound around trees, through the bushes and finally into my garden, around the perimeter and back out.

Bunny Tracks!

What's left of my garden.

I knew they were around! Now if I could only get a picture of one in action!

A Hike Up The Mountain

Since we've moved to this new house, I've wanted to explore the mountain behind me. It looms above me, calling me to climb. Okay, so it's not that big, but I've wanted to explore.

Call me lazy, or maybe I've just procrastinated for whatever reason, but I've been here for 5 months now and only went out yesterday.

I'm glad I did and I wish I had gone sooner! It was a nice invigorating hike up, the air was clean and cold and the steepness made it great exercise. Though the hike up was great, there wasn't much to see that was all that interesting. Just trees and rocks. More trees and rocks.

Trees and rocks...

While I don't mind the trees and rocks (they are still beautiful!), I was somewhat disappointed that I didn't see anything spectacular like a waterfall, or even a deer! Though there were TONS of footprints! (Apparently the deer and turkey live up there!)

Look! The turkey prints made a star!

It wasn't until we reached a curve in the path and my son yelled at me "Stay away from that area mom! That's the direction where the mountain goes DOWN!" He's scared of high places now after he broke his leg climbing rocks. I decided to trek through the trees and see what was beyond...

It


WAS


BREATHTAKING!



If it horribly snowy most of the time, I would totally build my house on top where I can wake up to these views every morning. OR if I had a tractor or snow plow.

Obviously the views were awesome, and I really didn't want to head back down, but it was cold. I think the high was only 29, and it was a lot colder up top! So we headed down to the warmth of the house.

On the way down, Dustin found a "Dragon Egg"...


And I spotted a neat icicle!


We'll definitely make the hike again!

Eclipse

No, I'm not talking about the Twilight stuff... I'm talking about a real live lunar eclipse!

Picture from NatGeo

I've been fascinated with anything to do with the sky for as long as I can remember. Stars, planets, eclipses, and the Northern Lights - I have yet to see these!

Today, there's a full moon and a full lunar eclipse at...well, right at this very moment. Naturally I woke up early so I could watch. I even tried taking a few pictures, but my camera is not cooperating. I think it's on its last leg.

I got super lucky this year! Normally, I have to go outside and find a spot where I can catch a glimpse of the moon between the trees and freeze...and that was being up on a mountain. This time, I can watch the eclipse, nice and toasty, inside the house, from my computer desk no less! It's awesome! I've got my coffee and I'm watching as the shadow slowly takes over the moon!

For those of you who can't see the eclipse, there is an awesome website where you can see it online! Check it out!

http://events.slooh.com/

Now if I could just see those darn Aurora!

Reindeer

Okay, I know it's not a reindeer... but it was so cool to see this guy walk through!

I was on the phone with my mom and I saw something walking up our driveway. It's not uncommon to see deer, but I was shocked to see a deer with antlers! All the years I've been up here, I have not seen a buck.


My nutty dog Poppy was looking out the window whining- she really REALLY wanted to go out to play.


He didn't stick around long, he ran off with a doe down the train tracks and disappeared.

No Hunting Please!

Gobble Gobble!

Turkey Day is over! We can come out to play now!

Winter Wonderland

After a big snow storm, we have such pretty scenery...

Huge icicles!

Just a little tree near the house.

Stand of Birch


Snowy Boulders

Snow behind the house.

The Colors of Fall

I love the colors of fall. The reds and golds are so rich and stand out beautifully against the bright blue sky. That is, on a cloudless day.


Most of the leaves have dropped off these golden trees....



...making a golden carpet for "Turkeys on Parade"!

Early Playdate

My bed sits under a window that overlooks a little field.
My living room window faces the opposite direction and looks sees a winding mountain path...okay, it's really a little road that heads up the hill to some other houses, but it's tiny and winds through the trees.

This morning I woke up and looked out my bedroom window. There, just at the bottom of the stairs, is Mama Deer. She was nibbling on some grass. From behind the house, her two babies came running, and they headed north across the field.

I slid my feet into my slippers and headed down the stairs to the living room and as I did, I look out the window, as I do every morning. Standing in the middle of the "mountain path" were Mama and 2 baby deer. I actually did a double take and looked out my bedroom window again - I could see Mama and 2 babies heading north. Again I looked out the living room window. Mama and 2 babies heading up the "path".

All this time I thought Mama and the babies were just confused and heading back from where they came from. Nope, it's an early morning play date for the little ones at my house! They were just heading back home.

It's Going to Rain

Okay, well, it's been raining off and on all night, so to wake up thinking it's going to rain is no big deal at this point.

The funniest thing - maybe not really funny, but I find it interesting at least, is that any time it is raining or going to rain, I see that white turkey. I assume that it's out and about mostly during the rain because it knows that it has more cover and that the recreational hunters won't bother to be outside - oh no, they might get wet! I'm sure a serious hunter would brave any of the elements to catch their prize.

Anyway, this white turkey comes out when it's dark and rainy. It follows another larger turkey that also looks strange - do turkeys have fluffy feathers on their necks?? The white one is getting bigger, so I'm pretty sure it is the offspring, but it's always the two of them wandering through.

I saw the white turkey again this morning and now it's raining. That turkey is a better weather forecaster than the weather girl on tv!

Alvin Simon and Theodore

Alvin the Chipmunk popped up while hubby was splitting firewood. Or is it Simon or Theodore?

Either way, he's so cute!

Invasion of the Lady Bugs!

All summer long I did not see a single lady bug. I saw plenty of aphids and other bugs, but not one lady bug.

Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, there are lady bugs dropping on our heads and crawling all over the windows...inside!

I like lady bugs, I really do, but I have never seen so many in one area at one time. And how did they get IN the house, and why? It's kind of strange.

Another Casualty

I nearly stepped on this little critter this morning when I came down the stairs, it blended right into the carpet.
Not sure what it is though, not a mouse. Whatever it was, Pearl had fun with it.

White Turkey?

Or is it a chicken?


I saw this lone turkey wandering through and thought it kind of odd that there would only be one. However, when I went outside to get a picture of it (you know I have to take a picture of everything!) I noticed a small white thing following it. Could it be an albino turkey or is it a chicken?

Today's Harvest

Fresh out of the garden - hadn't even had a chance to wash the dirt off I was so excited. I picked the tomatoes green because we are starting get really cold nights and I don't think they will redden before they freeze.
Guess I can have lots of fried green tomatoes!

A Family Affair

I've been watching the family of deer that come through all the time. Mom and two little ones stop for breakfast and dinner every morning at 6:30 am and evening at 6:30 pm. The little ones are so cute!

This morning I managed to get pictures of all of them during their morning family activities. Enjoy the Deer Family Photo Album

"No Hunting Please!"

"Behave yourselves children!"

"Mom said this spot was okay!"

"Even though I eat your roses, you know you love me!"

"Smile for the camera children!"

"Momma's little cherub."

Oh The Cuteness

Naughty Mama Deer comes through again. This afternoon her kids are tagging along. Baby stopped long enough to nibble and pose for a picture.

Naughty Naughty Deer!

I moved my rose bushes out to the garden - we were expecting the property management maintenance to come and refinish the porch and the garden seemed like the best place since it has a fence around it. I was a little reluctant seeing as how there are deer here. I know they can jump fences.

The first few days, the rose bushes were fine. Then one evening I saw her...


I enjoyed watching her wander through the field (no babies were with her!) and thought nothing of it. Deer. Garden. Salad. Nope, it didn't cross my mind.

Two days later I noticed that my rose bushes were less...well bushy. The deer had eaten the tops of the rose bushes over the fence. UGH! So I moved them to the middle of the garden.

The next morning I woke up and looked out the window - my rose bushes were decimated! Even in the middle of the garden! Lots and lots of deer prints in my garden... grr! Then I saw that the naughty deer had nibbled on my potato plants!

That's that! I rifled through some of my husband's garage boxes until I found the coyote pee. It was empty.
So I grabbed a couple of bottles of ammonia and poured it all around the garden - not on the garden, but about a few feet around the outside of the fence. Then I took some of my husband's old clothes and stuffed them with rags and set them out on a garden chair in the middle of the garden. I topped it off with a basketball head. haha!

This morning I woke up and no plants were eaten.

Grasshopper

I saw this great big grasshopper on my rose bush while working in the garden this morning...

Garden Update

With hot summer days, my garden has just taken off! I see big changes just over a couple of days. Yesterday I harvested a 12 inch zucchini and today there is another ready to be picked.


My tomatoes are LOADED! Lots of little green balls. All of these are on ONE plant - I have 5.





The squash isn't doing as well as I thought, I have 4 plants and most the squashes are fairly small, at least compared to the zucchini.


I also picked a cucumber yesterday, it was perfect! I made a salad with it and it was SO GOOD!

I've never tried growing peppers before, but I have been pleasantly surprised that they have been doing so well. When they orange, I'll pick them.



Then I have lettuce coming out of my ears! I have a total of 10 lettuce plants like this...


And then there are the potatoes I dug up this morning...


I love my garden!