Don’t you hate it when someone beats you to the buffet line?
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The only thing you can do is use your superior size to muscle out the competition.
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Or so I’ve heard.
The next two pictures aren’t the best quality…blame my zoom lens and our resident buck’s propensity for showing up at dusk…. but I thought someone might be interested to see the antler shedding process.
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One half gone, one to go. Talk about being lopsided.
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Right after the shed. What’s left are big boney bumps with an active blood flow.
It always looks painful to me, but I’m assured it’s not. Though how any anter-less naturalist can vouch for that I don’t know.
As I mentioned before, spring has brought an abundance of showers to my little corner of Maine. As proof…. I offer the new visitors who dropped by this week.
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A pair of mallard ducks who’ve made our backyard puddle their temporary home.
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We had ducks as pets years ago and I’ve always enjoyed watching them. They’re quite comical.
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But this pair is wild and flies off if they spot me. So for now, this is as close as my zoom lens will get me.
Winter in Maine was virtually nonexistent this year. One good snow storm and enough wind to blow down even the sturdiest of little piggy houses was about it. Now that spring is starting to emerge what we are having is rain.
Lots of rain. Rain every other day. And while that can be a bit depressing….
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It’s hard to argue with the beauty it leaves behind.
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I don’t know why, but we’re blessed with killer rainbows at Casa River. And even though there’s no pot of gold at the end…
It’s time to dive into all those slightly disturbing repressed memories and remember….
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I know most people will pick a horror film like the Exorcist…. and granted, Linda Blair’s spinning head and projectile vomit was enough to keep anyone up at night… but for me there’s only one answer.
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Yes, the heartwarming true story of Elsa the adopted lioness cub that became a beloved pet but had to be released back into the wild when grown damn near wrecked me.
I’m an animal lover to the N’th degree. I rescue the ones I can and weep for the ones I can’t. I come by it naturally as my mother and father were also animal crazy. We always had a houseful of stray pets and wounded birds when I was a child. My father was Scottish, but raised in England. Stiff upper lip et al. He wasn’t a man to give in to his emotions in public, but I saw him weep like a baby at the vet when his beloved dog died. What can I say? We’re animal people.
I can’t watch the commercials about abused pets, I have nightmares and wake up screaming. As a kid I refused to watch Sounder, the Yearling and most of the Lassie tv series. I was a tender hearted young soul.
But when Born Free finally came to television my mother decided it was a good family film and we would all watch it. What the hell was she thinking! I saw elephants and antelopes shot. I saw a woman being eaten by a man eating lion. My mother’s innocent family film turned out to be pretty bloody.
I, like everyone else, fell in love with Elsa the adorable frolicking cub. I loved her even more as she grew to become a proud lioness… and wanted her to live happily with the Adamsons forever. And ever, amen.
Seeing George and Joy forced to set her free had me weeping, openly gasping for breath. I couldn’t shake the sadness. Not that night, or the next. I kid you not… I was one depressed little girl for weeks on end after watching that damn film. And the song? Wow. To this day I can’t hear it without choking up.
So there you have it. Jaws didn’t scare me. Texas Chain Saw Massacre had me chuckling. The Omen? Come on…
But Born Free? That was pure unadulterated trauma.
So how about you? What childhood movie permanently scarred your psyche…
She most definitely is and judging by what’s scattered all over our lawn …
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And stuck in our shrubbery…
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She’s been busy.
It only took me a minute to find her latest project. I simply looked up….
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And there was the proof. Waving at me like a flag in the breeze.
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That little red bitch has chewed her way into our house… again! To be honest, I don’t even know what that vent is for, but I’m guessing it’s going to be filled with little red bitch offspring in no time flat.
As we’ve previously established, my small rural Maine town has a sense of humor. This was on full display today when I saw an offer of services on the town’s Facebook page.
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While I would have appreciated a good Mother in Law trap back in the day, the picture in this post will probably give me nightmares of the inevitable beaver uprising for weeks to come.
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While we had an extremely mild winter with very little snow this year, we did have rain. And ice. And more rain. Which lead to rapid melting, soft earth, mud and occasional washouts. Imagine driving over this section of road?
Yikes.
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Sadly, this is the only bunny I’ve ever seen in our town.
And so we reach the end of another series of highlights. I have to say, Mary Roach has really grown on me. I live for weird and wonderful facts and in this respect, she certainly is full of it.
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2×3 = 9,000,000? That is a completely mind boggling statistic. You would think even a rabbit has a headache now and then. Nine million bunnies in 3 years? That’s some serious fornicating my friends.
Sadly the end of the book dealt with all the horrible ways we humans react to what we perceive as an over abundance of wildlife. Simply put…if you get in our way? You’re toast.
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Well, that’s a bit extreme.
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Climate change, loss of habitat, deforestation, pesticides. We kill even when we don’t mean to.
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Seen at the Penguin Place private conservation reserve. The Yellow Eyed Penguin is endanged.
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Another beautiful creature whose time is almost up. Adapt to the damage we wreak upon the planet or perish.
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Neither choice is good. Even if you’re wearing pink go go boots.
😰
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Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
River's world..... 