I’m going to go out on a limb here and say my husband likes our new grill.
After a long day of yard work, instead of going inside to take a shower and change….
He sat in front of it, spell bound…. watching our steaks cook through the viewing window.
A man and his grill.
The baby woodchucks are everywhere.
Behind the barn, in the rock wall, on the porch, under the deck.
Which means….
They’re going to be saturating my blog for a while.
Because really….
If there’s anything cuter than a mini woodchuck eating apples?
I don’t know if I’d survive it.
No, not the Hendrix kind.
The Japanese Iris kind.
They don’t last long.
But they sure are pretty while they’re here.
Especially after a rain shower.
At night.
Our resident buck with the felt covered mini rack has flown the proverbial coop, which is a shame, because I think most of you…. some of you?…. alright, at least one of you… was enjoying the fuzzy updates on antler growth progress.
But never fear.
Our old doe, who we call pregnant because she always seems to be, has last year’s progeny with her on a daily basis now.
So we’ll start from scratch.
Baby buck antlers.
At this point, they’re just little nubs that he keeps rubbing on trees and rocks.
And can you blame him?
The poor little guy looks like a four legged Frankenstein.
Strange things are happening at Casa River this year.
First, the husband wanted to clean out the big barn ( Okay, he didn’t really. It was just a bit of organizing… but I’m counting it.)
Second, the husband helped me make a garden bed. ( I would have laid money on that never happening. )
And a week ago…
I looked out back….
And saw the husband planting a tree.
Planting! Not chopping down.
Somewhere in America, pigs are flying.
Okay, he didn’t buy them.
And only one of the three stands taller than my knee, but hey.
It’s still a miracle.
He dug them up from the wood line and I seriously doubt he got enough roots to make them viable…. which is why I told him they were going to need lots of water for the first few weeks.
Shall I give you one guess who has to drag that water to the far reaches of our property line because we only have 200 feet of hose and it won’t reach?
Yeah.
I didn’t think so.
Apparently even miracles have limits.
So, can you see it?
Look closely now.
Not until you get near enough to look up.
There.
The neighbor’s tree adjacant tree house, hidden from sight by trees.
I love trees.
Here’s the husband for size reference, holding the enemy of trees. The chain saw birthday gift I’ve lived to regret.
I neither know, nor want to find out what he was cutting down there.
I shall just enjoy the leaf cover those glorious trees provide.
And maybe do this –
I heard some Hellacious (Yes, that’s a word. At least in Maine.) chattering the other afternoon.
Looked out back…
And saw momma red squirrel perched on the plant hanger.
She was flicking her tail and screeching like a Hollywood starlet who ran out of Botox.
She screeched so hard a seed fell out of her mouth.
It only took me a minute to figure out why.
The other visitor.
No worries readers, momma escaped unharmed.
At least that’s what it looked like in the field across the street.
(Pardon the picture quality, it was far away and my zoom was maxxed out.)
I thought it was a dog…..
But it wasn’t a dog.
It was the often heard, but seldom seen coyote.
And while I recognize his necessary part in the eco system…..
I admit I was a little nervous seeing him cross the street….
And head down into the woods where our deer, fox, raccoons, skunks and woodchucks live.
But what made me even more nervous?
Was realizing there were actually two of them.
First there were two in back of the big barn.
Then three.
Then four.
Then five little scampers!
No wonder momma chucker needs a support bra.
First let’s deal with the peckers.
Because we all know not paying attention to peckers makes them crazy.
This is a hairy woodpecker.
Why hairy?
Your guess is as good as mine.
He loves the peanut nugget feeder and is an expert at extracting them.
There.
Now you can say you’ve had a hairy pecker wink at you.
This is a downy woodpecker.
Why downy?
Your guess is as good as mine.
To be honest, he looks more like a Storm Trooper from Star Wars to me.
Then we have a pair of Mallard ducks who visit daily.
The female strolls around under the bird feeder collecting scraps….
While the drake plops down and takes a load off.
That’s one chill duck.
Big Tom turkey?
Yes, we have one of those too.
And finally, a Baltimore Oriole getting his junk food Jones satisfied with some grape jelly.
It would be nice if he didn’t poo all over the feeder…. but hey.
Who am I to judge?
River's world..... 