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Every morning for the past week I’ve woken up to honking. Not inner city traffic and pissed off commuters, but honking all the same.
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Canada geese are on their way north, and the river behind our house is a veritable goose super highway. No need for an alarm clock when these fellows are overhead…. they’re loud!
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Large groups and small, for the first hour after dawn the sky is full of travelers.
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A raucous and sure sign spring is on the way.
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❤️
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Saturday afternoon, the deer and the snow showed up at the same time.
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Our two little bowls of sweet grain don’t last long with a herd of 13 and there’s always a good deal of jostling for position. This includes outright kicking.
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It’s hard to tell, but our buck has finally lost part of his rack.
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And as the alpha male he usually gets a bowl to himself.
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For your viewing pleasure, deer tv.
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And we’re blending..
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This time of year deer camouflage comes in handy.
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Of course our backyard is covered in snow one day and melts the next, so what do they know?
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But they enjoyed the green grass while it was here.
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The son of our previously in residence big buck seems to have taken over the old guy’s backyard territory.
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He’s a nice looking fellow and brings his herd of 8 to munch every night.
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Four does and four young’ uns jostle for bowl position while the big guy always claims his own.
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Yes.
I’m talking about you.
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We all know squirrels are dedicated acrobats, pilfering seed from feeders upside down and while hanging from one foot. But the other day I found myself being impressed with their balance.
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This little guy was sitting straight up… on a bent branch of our crabapple tree… in high wind.
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It was cold, and his little front feet were tucked in.
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But his back trotters were gripping for all they were worth.
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Bravo little guy.
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It’s looks like I’m not the only one laying on some winter poundage.
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I don’t know why, but this year?
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Our backyard squirrels are positive porkers .
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Look at this guy…
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If that’s not the definition of chonk…
I don’t know what is.
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Our resident juvenile red tail hawk dropped by the other day.
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He uses our backyard bird feeders as a training ground for hunting, but that afternoon he was perfectly happy hanging out on the back deck railing.
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Until he spied Lord Dudley Mountcatten stalking him from the window behind the couch.
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Then it was bye bye birdie…
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For those of you who haven’t seen the header image on my blog this month…
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Flying woodchuck witches seemed more than appropriate.
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Birds?
Yeah, we got ‘em.
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Flocks of hundreds of starlings that fly in and empty our bird feeders in record time.
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I’m guessing “Your nuts are in this box” is not a package most men expect to receive.
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Can you see the beautiful buck hidden behind the blueberry bushes?
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It seems Lord Dudley Mountcatten has had enough of the glorious fall foliage.
And finally, in honor of Halloween…
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I wish I’d seen this sooner.
It’s a holiday yard decoration I could totally get behind.
🤣
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We haven’t seen a woodchuck for weeks now.
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And while my flower gardens are sighing in relief…
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I have to admit I miss the fat little buggers.
( note – spellcheck always changes buggers to nuggets… and is that really better? )
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It’s ironic that now the ground is littered with apples from our trees, the apple munchers have left the building.
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This is the fourth year in a row we’ve had a woodchuck family move in.
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So I guess we’ll say so long chuckers.
( which spellcheck changes to chiclets every damn time )
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See you next year.
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The woodchucks have left the building.
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After momma chuck and her spring brood of voracious garden nibblers cut a swath of destruction through my flower gardens this spring….
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And fattened up quickly at our all you can eat buffet this summer….
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They have now moved on to where ever the hell it is woodchucks go in the fall.
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And all I’m left with is empty flower pots and leftover photos to sort through.
😊
River's world..... 