Changes

Besides changing the page on the calendar, lots of other things are changing around here.  Like the temperatures.  Whoa!  Last week we were in the 90’s.  This morning was a chilly 37 degrees.
 
The variety of birds have switched completely.  There’s still a couple hummingbirds passing through, but every day more winter birds are appearing.  Woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and blue jays.  Gone are the towhees, catbirds, bluebirds and rose breasted grosbeaks.

The deer have changed from their pretty red summer coats to the darker winter hair.





The bucks are starting to rub the velvet  off their antlers.  Kind of scraggly looking isn’t it?


Of course at this time of year, the trees and brush start changing too.  Lots of maples are showing off their pretty leaves.  The ferns and ash trees have turned yellow and brown.  Different kinds of red berries are visible now that the leaves have fallen off.  The days are becoming so much shorter and it gets dark so fast, too.  I really love fall with all the changes and pretty colors.  In my perfect world, I’d want it to be fall all year long.

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The other night we tried another choice edible mushroom.  I made a chicken and wild rice dish and added some pear shaped puffballs to it.  Oh my goodness…was it ever good!  Don’t worry, I’m very careful about picking and eating these.  I double, triple and quadruple check each variety before I even consider picking it and the research is well worth it.   There’s nothing fresher or naturally organic than these things.  They taste and smell so good, nothing like store bought button mushrooms.   And they’re right out the door just waiting to be enjoyed.

It sure has gotten quite around here

Seems like it happened overnight.  The pretty song birds have stopped singing, the woodpeckers aren’t tapping on deadwood, no frogs croaking and we haven’t seen a bear, squirrel or beaver in weeks.  Every once in awhile we hear a Blue Jay scolding or the whip-poor-will, whip-poor-willing and the little hummingbirds are always right outside the windows doing their chirpy thing, but the rest of them have gone silent or disappeared. 

With the trail cams, we still see what’s lurking out there.  I’m not a big fan of raccoons, but this is one of the cutest pictures we’ve gotten of one of them.

Last night the big ol’ buck stopped by with the little buck we’re calling Junior.  Oh my gosh, he looks so tiny next to the big guy.  He must  think “when I grow up I want to look just like him”.  The buck really is a beauty.  Here he is with one of the many bunnies that hang around here.  This buck will make some hunter very happy this fall.  But maybe he’ll survive another year.  We couldn’t believe he survived last winter.

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Tomorrow we’re going home for a couple days .  I have a gallon of sugar water ready to  fill the hummingbird feeders and hope it will last them for 2-3 days.  Jim refills the big one everyday.   He’ll put out sunflower seeds for the birds and probably throw down a handful or two of corn for the little doe that comes by way too often.   It will be a quick trip home.  Pick up the mail, do laundry, mow the grass and then back on the road again.  We sure can’t complain about the kind of weather we’ve had up here lately.  So nice compare to the heat, humidity and storms so many of you are enduring.   You won’t hear one word of complaining out of me.

June 30 Visitors

The first visitor I saw was when I was walking on the path to the east of the cabin.  I’m heading one way and this big ol’ painted turtle was coming the other way.  I thought it was pretty cool that it was using the path too.  I think it was heading back to the pond.
 
Besides the birds, squirrels and chipmunks that are around here most of the day, we had a visit from a small bear last night.  While it was cleaning out the bird feeder, a deer came by to have a little evening snack.  She didn’t see the bear right away, but took off like a flash when it moved in her direction.  This blurry picture is taken from inside. 

The bear hung around until I decided it was time to scare it away.  But that was after we got a close up picture of it on the trail cam.
Here’s some of the other evening visitors.
 

And another visit  from the bear.  This was after he dug up an ant hill on our lawn.  Sheesh!  Jim had to scare him away and hopefully he’ll go out and find some blueberries, raspberries or other natural bear food out there in the big woods.

Father’s Day Visitors

These two came by last night to get their pictures taken.  I don’t know if they’re father and son or not, but I’m going to say they are.   The big guy gets kind of pushy with the little spike buck and makes him run off, but last night they were getting along and let me take their picture.  I’d be very surprised if this one makes it through another hunting season and northern winter.  We were shocked to see him this spring.  Oh and Jim did find both of his antlers from last year.