Today

 Mostly a cold overcast day today. The sun did come out for a little while this afternoon. Sherry and I worked outside for about an hour and it was cold. Later this afternoon towards dusk "medium" deer strolled just outside the fence. I think he was heading down to get a drink of water, or he may have been on his way to have a late lunch.. (pumpkin)

Lunch Time!

 Remember me mentioning in an earlier blog about having three bucks going through our back yard that we had named "small" "medium" and "large.  Well yesterday afternoon "large" was next door having lunch eating some of the neighbors pumpkins. Beautiful creature..

Pictures are kind of grainy. This is when it would be nice to have a tele-photo lens on our "good" camera. OK camera buffs, what would be a good tele-photo lens for a 35mm camera?

It's Christmas Time!

 Well anyway that's what our Christmas cactus think... 

The Path(s)

I have mentioned on different occasions that we are going to redo the trails that went back to the pond. Well these pictures will give you a little idea of what we are up against.

This is part of the lower path. The "leaning tree" has to come down, even tho it is well anchored at the top. All of these types of trees are considered "widow makers" in my books. Trees either stand vertical, or they are on the ground.  You can see the tractor tracks, the first layer of brush has already been removed so we can at least walk on the path.

After about 6 passes with the landscape rake the path is pretty well cleaned of brush and buckthorn.

The landscape rake on the tractor can rip out buckthorn roots on buckthorn up to about 3 inches in diameter. It's nice to rip them out by the roots, then they are gone. If the roots are too big, I just rip them loose and use the rake to pull them the rest of the way out. I hate just cutting them off, because you have the stub of the buckthorn still showing and easy to trip on. Plus, they will grow back.

This shows a portion of the completed path. The path will be about 6 feet wide in most places. If there are big standing trees, the path will be narrow, or we might just go around the other side of the tree.  Yes, I/we have a new tractor. That will be a blog all by itself. Without it, this job would never have been started. 

Just a couple pictures to show some of the "stuff" that has to be cleared. I'm sure there are many of you that are thinking "why are they doing all that work!" Well, we both know what it use to be like and the enjoyment that we had walking the paths. Besides, it is good exercise and we are out in the woods and it really is quite relaxing. The deer/turkeys will like the cleared paths too.

Backyard

This is what I see from my chair. The deer normally walk behind the back building, sometimes they go between the fence and the back building. There are also a "few" that like to jump over the fence and have a few flowers on the way..

Lunch time! Our neighbors buy at least a 100 pumpkins for Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations. Well, deer also like pumpkins! This picture is taken out our dining room window. Notice there is also a bird feeder out here. To the left is also a heated bird waterer that is heavily used by all the wildlife during the winter (including the deer)

 

Deer Season

It is firearm deer season here now. I am sitting in my chair looking out the window and here comes one of the three bucks slowly walking across the back yard. The three bucks are named "small", "medium, and "large". As you can imagine, the names are in reference to the size of their racks. It is fun to watch them slowly stroll across our back yard, because that tells us that they aren't under stress. Oh, "medium" is the one that just went by.

Back in my younger years, when hunters came and asked my dad if they could hunt our 160 acres, his answer was: "no, the animals have to have a peaceful place to rest". Over time, I think the animals realized that they were safe on that 160 acres..

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Have a good day.  Jim

It's Time To Relax!

The election is over, no more commercials! The COVID-19 numbers are spiking all over the place. It's time to RELAX!

I subscribe to a daily newsletter called Treehugger that has interesting articles on anything and everything. There are some newsletters that I read and there are some that I just kind of skim over.  Well recently, there was an article that may be helpful to many of you. The article is named:  Everyone Needs a Special 'Sit Spot' in Nature  I found this article very interesting because it definitely applied to me! As I'm growing older (I'm now 79), I have been spending more and more time just "smelling the roses" and I guess day dreaming. I have learned to relax more so than I ever had in the past. In my younger years, I was definitely a "Type A" personality. In 1983 when I had my first heart attack (I have had 4.) and was laying in intensive care looking at the wall, I transformed from a Type A to a lower stress level. I had a cartologists once tell me "Jim the best thing you can do for your heart is reduce your stress level as much as possible..) Well, that is kind of easier said than done, and not something that can be done overnight. However, I can still remember the conversation, which means "It stuck in my mind." 

Well this year with the COVID-19 issue, Sherry and I have been very fortunate to live out in the country and have wildlife galore around us. This has really reduced our stress level and with it, anyway in my case, has really put me more in contact with nature. I can sit outside with a cup of coffee or a bottle of water and just watch what is going on around me. 

I have a bow and arrow deer hunter friend that made the comment: "You know, when I go deer hunting now, it really doesn't matter if I get a deer or not, I just enjoy sitting in my tree stand and watching nature". If you read the attached article, he has found "one" of his spots. I know he has more.. 😊 

I am in the process of reopening the path that we had to our pond (presently filled in by a heavy rain years ago). Along that path we had named different trees because of their shape or inhabitants. One tree was call the "slingshot tree" because it looked like a slingshot, one main trunk and then at about 15 feet it split into two trunks like a sling shot. Another tree was called the "raccoon tree" because a mother raccoon had decided that was a good place to raise a family. In early spring we would see her face looking out the opening and then later on we would see the little faces of the babies peeking out the hole. Sometimes she would cover up the whole hole with her body so all you seen was her back. Sadly, over the years, both trees have fallen down because of age.. So when I get the path done, there will be benches placed along the path for nature watching/day dreaming. Your all invited to come and do the same..

Stay healthy my friends.. Jim