Purple Martins are very brave or very stupid, I haven’t figured out which, yet.
Martins will dive bomb anyone that comes out the door. They have a fit when I’m standing on the back deck. They will swoop and whistle. Nearly hitting me and Uriah! The cats watch from the inside windows and love the attention they’re getting from those beautiful little birds.
I have never seen feathers that matte black, it reminds me of charcoal. I have to admit my camera isn’t able to capture their beauty.
I love having them around. I will overlook their mud nests because they eat their weight in mosquitoes daily.
Purple Martins have nested around my house for years, sometimes with dire consequences. They can build a nest fast; within two hours they can set up home. My first summer in this house, I made a mistake of leaving the garage doors open while I cleaned out the garage. I had no idea they had made a nest on the electric overhead garage door opener. So when I was finished I closed the birds in the garage, accidentally. The only reason I knew they were trapped, was when one of my cats brought a bird into the house and let it go…
Last night I took Uriah for his walk a little later than usual. I was trying to avoid the mosquitoes by heading outside when it was nearly dark. That didn’t work. They were busy buzzing, and bugging me just as they did and hour earlier.
Wednesday is garbage day. I have notes posted to remind me of the fact. I only had a couple of bags I debated dragging them down the driveway, but last week when I attempted that, Uriah though we were playing and grabbed one of the bags, breaking it, and spreading the trash all over the driveway…
This week, I tossed the two bags on the hood of the car and slowly pulled out of the garage.
I rolled down the car widow as slowly passed that large Blue Spruce when I felt a pinch on the side of my face. My immediate thought was, “Mosquitoes!” I tried to brush it off out the window, except it wouldn’t move. The small inset struck itself to my skin. Without even thinking, I peeled it off with my nails. I was still slowly moving towards the road. (I have a four hundred foot driveway.)
I glanced at what I pulled off the side of my face and stared at it. It was upside down and wiggling its little legs furiously. It was cute in a way. Sort of! The shiny back body sparkled in the sunlight. I was not amused, when my eyes adjusted and I recognized it as a tick. Still irritated when I pulled back into the garage, I told my husband all about being ticked when I rolled down the car window. He couldn’t stop laughing,..at me! He said, between laughter, that he never met anyone who attracted so many ticks the way I do.
He called me a tick magnet!
I would rather be a money magnet!
*I have been out of it for the past couple of weeks. I realized I had written the above post on Thursday, July 1st and never posted it to my Blog. Way too many things have been creeping up around here and I’m not including the mosquitoes, or the odd looking flying bugs. I even made a video that I never posted… Ooops! Had to find it! Here it is! It is a little long- four minutes. You are walking with me among the milkweeds near the front pond, and you won’t be bothered by the bugs.
The weather has been interesting. High heat and humidity and storms that attempt to blow the house down.
Today, July 10 is our eighth wedding anniversary. I know I’m on the internet updating. Michael is still sleeping so it’s okay:-)
My husband’s health took a turn for the worse. I dragged him kicking and screaming to a new neurologist. He now has tests all this month. He can’t drive until we know what’s up. He is not happy about that..
I have had thyroid problems my entire life, I no longer have a thyroid and it still causes issues. Heavy Sigh!
Just before my husband’s doctor’s appointment, I decided to try for examiner.com and they accepted me. I will write articles on, Hampshire’s plant life. If you stop over there I would appreciate any comments. Or, just send me an email and tell me what I am missing. Or, just read. I need to work on the set up of the articles.
If anyone wants to try to write for the examiner and needs some advice on how to get noticed- ask me. I will be very happy to help.
If you give them my examiner ID number 56021 I get a referral fee.
I will keep posting here, this Blog is for me and all of you who like to take a walk without the bug bites:-)
I was up at four thirty this morning. I wandered around the quiet house, then I opened the blinds and kitchen door and stepped outside onto the deck to watch and listen to the sunrise. Birds raised their voices in the cool morning air and sang.
When I make a video I try and choose the best audio I believe fits with the visual aspects. Doesn’t always work…
But, standing out in the early morning sunrise I don’t think anyone could have chosen any sounds better for this moment.
Yellow pink clouds in a clear baby blue sky, mists rising off the fields and the sun slowly rising in the east. I watched as the colors deepened to reds and yellows.
“Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning” I whispered to the Robin sitting on the roof.
The odd weather we have been having lately, baking in the humid heat, to storms with seventy five mile and hour winds, I wonder what today will bring. Behind me to the west the sky was a deep misty grey. I guessed maybe around noon I should see what Mother Nature has in store for us.
Uriah complained. He wanted to go outside. I pushed past the cats huddled near the screen. All were hopefully waiting for a bird or a horsefly to come their way. Kaoru talks to flies and Sanosuke eats them.
“Eat too many and you’re going to throw up!” I warn him over and over.
Kenshin stands close by and in total agreement about the flies. He had to be given antibiotics because of his infatuation with flies. Now he ignores them.
Uriah whined again. I let him out through the garage doors, then came back inside and collected his breakfast. Some Iams dry food, two liver snaps and a beef basted dog bone.
By the time I stepped outside he was already hunting out his ‘mouse’ formally known as, That Rat.
If, I call it a mouse he chases it. If, I call it a rat, well, I think he hears cat and we don’t chase cats.
I took a few moments to notice the wet grass and the chilly air was a bit more uncomfortable, while standing in the grass, than on the deck.
Still, early mornings, in the summertime, remind me of camping.
I would wake up starving and make an attempt to light a fire. Some worked most didn’t. When the fire started I would fry some bacon in a pan, add an egg or two and pull out some stale bread, which I would toast by setting on the edge of the pan.
When the wet wood refused to burn; I would let my nose find breakfast. In state parks they have a small store, with a little area where they cooked up and sold a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and coffee, milk or juice. Sitting around on a damp picnic table wrapped in a sweat shirt, half asleep, eating like I was starving in that cool damp morning air, and usually the only meal without the added protein of bugs. Was a wonderful adventure! And that food was amazing!
The sun lifted up over the trees. Bright white yellow and reflecting off the mist and dew everything sparkled.
Uriah munched on his breakfast and I headed into the house for some pancakes and coffee, minus the bugs…
I walk outside andStare up into the sky andWonder, what you see…
I grabbed a can of Off bug spray and waved it over my head encompassing myself, and Uriah. He sat next to me leaning against my legs panting from the heat and humidity.
The mosquitoes are worse early morning and at dusk. Right now it was only ten in the morning. I was hoping for a reprieve from their onslaught.
Last night I had made it to the back path, I pushed past the Bog Willows, as they hung heavy from the rain storm. I stepped out onto bare dirt in the drainage area and I immediately became food.
I heard them first, that irritating high pitch buzzing. Then I felt them surrounding me, like a piece of cheese cloth, barely touching my skin, yet laying heavy.
I swatted and waved my arms around my head and muttered to the mosquitoes, telling them to leave me alone. They followed me all the way back to the house. Uriah was watching from under the deck. He rolled in the dirt, which seemed to dissuade the mosquitoes from attacking him.
Just for a moment I thought of crawling under the deck with Uriah. I shook off the thought when I pictured myself getting stuck with a happy wiggly, smooching dog covered in dirt..
I looked up at the large fluffy clouds floating over head in a baby blue sky. I spotted a thickening grey line off near the horizon. We’re in for another afternoon thunderstorm.
I set the bug spray back inside the garage door. Picked up my walking stick, and motioned to Uriah to walk. He headed for the Blue Spruce next to the driveway. He pushed past the heavy boughs, wiggling underneath. Turning around he faced me, then sat down.
I left Uriah to his cool spot under the tree and started walking along the drive way, checking out the grass. It needs to be cut, but with the rains and heat, I keep putting it off.
I noticed a thin, two to three foot spiky leaved stem pushing up between the grass. Every year these wildflowers blossom out with some very pretty neon blue flowers, hanging off the side branches like tiny frilly bells
I hope to take some pictures when that happens.
To take pictures of this plant, I need to come outside early, before six or seven. At that time of day, there are flowers that open up and smile upwards into the cool morning sky. Those same flowers are closed tight by nine to ten in the morning.
I spotted a stem full of closed flower buds; I knelt down to take a look. Uriah pushed in front of me and sat on the unopened flower and grinned.
“Uriah you’re a nut!” I rubbed his face and gave him a push.
He took that as time to play and fell flat on his back and started to roll and moan. All over the plant I was looking at….
I started to chastise him, but when I looked up, inches away from his head was another plant. All the way down the driveway they stood waving at me slightly higher than the field grass, waiting for morning to come.
Here is a video from Rebecca Novak she took these pictures at the Dekalb Animal Control in Georgia.
I laughed and cried as I watched these dogs on death row.
Please! Pass this on!
I was going to post this as a response to a comment. Then I decided it needed to be posted up front with the video.
Pit-Bulls are tortured to be mean. Pit-bulls were bred to be a nursemaid; a family’s protector.
We should have stricter laws protecting animals from abusers and exploiters.
But, so many people turn away from the anger and evil, allowing the exploiters to treat animals and people so cruelly. It filters into everyday living. We can see it in the oil spill, and the disregard for life there.
It is sad we can’t even fully protect humans from cruelty.
When that cruelty falls on innocent animals, and then rolls over children due to the disrespect and self-serving greed of an abuser, then we all feel the pain.
There are more than Pit-Bulls in that video. Maybe some one will adopt them.
Also, Rebecca Novak won’t allow a dog to go to a home with out training both the dog and the owners.
She works with a team of wonderful animal rescuers in Georgia.
This morning when I opened Uriah’s dog food container I noticed it was very low. I usually set the bag of dry food inside a tall plastic container, so each time I scoop out a cup I don’t have to lift the bag. Today I lifted a nearly empty bag.
Time to go dog food shopping!
Uriah has a bad habit of not eating what I give him, at least not right away. When his brothers were alive he would tease them with his food. They ate faster then he did, with his usual, “I am starting trouble!” grin! He would sit on his food and wait. Literally! Sit on his food! So when they were finished and came nosing around he would show off by slowly eating in front of them.
Uriah, set in his ways, keeps up that play. With no one to show off to, Uriah wanders off and those country rats steal each morsel right under his nose. A problem starts when the mice take his food and carry it into the cars engines.
To get Uriah to eat I have to stand next to his food bowl, no matter where it is.
Or, I try to anyway. Uriah is a dog that has the ability to ‘out wait’ anyone.
He can hold his pee for hours, then still wander around and hold it in until I can’t take it any more. I will stand next to a bush and pretend that I’m lifting my leg, until Uriah looks likes he’s laughing at me, and then joins in.
Today I opened the garage doors and pulled out my car. I opened the engine and Uriah helped me look under the hood.
Mouse poop littered the top of the engine!
I loosened the air filter and pulled it out. Mouse poop inside under the air filter! Great! When I had taken my car last month for a fix on a recall, I had to dish out an extra eight hundred dollars to remove a ten pound bag of dog food from my air intake. Lovely little Mice!
Michael had a doctor’s appointment on Friday. He took his old Saturn, not trusting my mouse condo. *His car saved our lives in an accident in 2004. A young girl on a cell phone..* So he totally trusts it to fend off mice:-)
Michael came home two hours late riding in the cab of a tow truck. Seems the mice may have invaded his engine too. Lack of a dollar, means his car is now a paper weight in the garage.
Back to Uriah helping with my engine!
I pulled out the Shop Vac and vacuumed up mice poop on my engine. Then I popped the hood of the Saturn. I removed the air filter and didn’t see any mice droppings. Michel told me, that the air intake was under the car, and that will need to be removed to find the problem.
If a mouse was sucked into the engine…well, bye, bye engine. I can’t crawl under that car …
I stepped outside with Uriah and we both contemplated the problem. Or, I should say all three of us thought about it! Me and Uriah, and That Rat who was sitting near the door on his hind legs watching us with a thoughtful, “what’s going on guys?” look…
I jumped when I saw that reddish- brown haired rat. He in turn jumped and raced into the horseradish plant as I yelled after him. “We are not your family! Stupid Rat!”
Hmmm! I wonder if he could be trained to keep the mice out of the garage.
I looked down at Uriah; he never made a move to chase the rat. But he did take a mouth full of his food and started to chew, slowly.
*
Sanosuke had me laughing this morning. So I made a video for fun. Enjoy!
I was shifting through bird names and I pulled up, Dickcissel. Then I Googled the Dickcissel’s picture; he looks similar to some of the smaller song birds I saw in the Blue Spruce just outside the window next to the computer.
Then I played the Dickcisselcall/song, both Sanosuke and Kaoru sat up and listened. As the young cats ran out of the room my attention turned back to checking my email. I had closed the site with the bird’s song, so when I heard a bird singing again I automatically rechecked my task bar.
It’s like checking if I left the iron on…not that I use the iron anymore.
It took me a minute to realize, that singing bird was coming from outside the window, in the Blue Spruce. And that bird was talking to my computer. Hmmm!
What all this rambling means is I added a Dickcissel to my list of birds I have seen and heard.
I took this picture while standing in the kitchen, hiding behind the counter and zooming in through the window. The bird, I believe, is a Brown Thrasher.
What do you think?
I played the Brown Thrasher’s song and Sanosuke and Kaoru went crazy, again. I really shouldn’t laugh when they start jumping from window ledge, to window ledge all excited, but I couldn’t help myself.
I wrote and rewrote this Blog. I had a hard time writing this.
On June 3rd in the middle of the afternoon, just when I decided to slather my face with a face mask someone knocked on the front door. I splashed water on my face and hurried to the door. I was worried about Uriah, he was wandering around the back and he could get hurt when a car comes down the driveway.
I was surprised by a state police officer informing me that a neighbor was going to be working on the drainage tiles…Long story, very stressful.
In 2008 this neighbor, the one who told me to get a gun because of the Cougars and Wolves wandering around- We don’t have Cougars or Wolves!- He filed against me and another neighbor to tear up the drainage tiles. This man had bought the lowest area of land in 2004, and it flooded regularly. He wanted to replace ancient drainage tiles, without putting a retention pond on his property. He also broke through the Aquifer so he could have a swimming pond on his property and he wanted to attach the pond to the tiles that would add to the water problem and tap into the fresh water. Bad idea to go into court thinking this is crazy and someone will listen-when you don’t have a lawyer.. *
I asked the policeman, why now? He had told me two years ago, that he was working on the tiles, and it would only take two weeks. But he never touched anything. The police officer said, that neighbor had been waiting for approval from the, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, concerning the wet lands. And he, the policeman, was sent to tell me what my neighbor was up to…
I will call this neighbor, Bob, not his real name.
I asked when Bob, would be digging. He didn’t know.
How long would it take? He didn’t know.
I didn’t trust Bob; I asked how much digging would he be doing? I was told he would only take out a fifteen foot wide section of trees, running along the tiles.
I told him Bob couldn’t bring his young kids on my land. If they got hurt I could be sued. He agreed that could happen. He said, he would inform Bob, not to bring his children on my land.
The police officer told me Bob would replace my fence and toss around grass seed.
Grass seed? He needs to replace the wetlands vegetation!
The policeman shrugged and said nothing.
My thirteen year old was graduating from eight grade that evening, so I went back inside and made a note to send out and email to the county and find out what was going on.
I didn’t have a chance to send the email that night. The next morning before I got up, Bob had torn out the trees. He ripped through the wetlands destroying nesting areas of countless birds and animals. From the deck I watched the birds circling and screaming.
He pulled out more than fifteen feet; the least was twenty feet wide. I need to measure to be exact, but it looks like he tore a crooked line of up to thirty feet wide. The length from north to south is around five hundred feet.
I was under the impression it was illegal to tear out vegetation during nesting season. Or am I wrong…?
This may be small compared to the oil spill in the Gulf. But each time a tree is ripped out a nest destroyed, a plant or fish is killed. We are losing a little bit more of nature. A little more fresh air, a little more life is gone. It makes me ill to think of all those baby birds that died. I have a hard time wondering what else died under his wheels.
I was shocked at how someone could come onto my land and do so much damage. Later that evening I took Uriah out for a walk. I watched Bob driving along the road in a four wheel, off road vehicle; he turned into the farm field, next to me. He wasn’t on his land. He saw me with Uriah and turned away. His two boys were with him. He was taking his kids to check out the area he tore up..
Here is a very small list of the birds that live around me. There are some odd birds and songs like the bird that looks like a Miniature Blue Heron; it has a loud screaming call. Or the one I can’t seem to see very well through the trees, it has a throaty growl. There’s a beautiful bird with reddish-brown back and head, with a beige underbelly that holds itself like a Jay. It might be a Cuckoo or maybe a Brown Thrasher. I didn’t add the foxes, skunks, muskrats, or coyotes.
This is not a complete list at all.
Great Blue HeronBlue JaysCrowsHorned OwlCardinalsRed-Tailed HawksTurkey VulturesScreech OwlPheasant Peregrine FalconSedge WrenDucksGeeseWoodpeckersRobinToadsIn the video I turned and faced the neighbor’s house, you can see where he dragged the downed trees. This pile, earlier, was circled by birds franticly searching until they finally gave up.
The air is still hot and heavy with moisture. Add to that a mixture of bug sprays, chemicals and manure, spread across the fields by plane or tractor. At that point, breathing becomes an inflexible process.
The skies this morning were blue, then deep, dark angry grey that rumbled and barked, spitting out streaks of light, then changing back to blue.
I took Uriah out for his morning walk by sitting on the front step and waving him off. With a happy wag of his tail he headed to the pond where he startled some ducks and blackbirds. As I waited for him to return I was bombarded by annoying mosquitoes.
Uriah took his time. So I just stared out over the field grass and watched it grow.
I had the tractor running a couple of weeks ago. It had roared to life, with as much exuberance as Uriah running to the pond.
*If you didn’t get that reference, well, Uriah walks slowly sticking his head in every hole sneezing and rolling in everything that smells bad… The tractor coughed, wheezed, chugged and rolled, jerked and smelled bad…
I checked and filled the tires, added water and oil. Brushed off the cutting deck and oiled anything that moved. Once I pulled her out of the barn I decided to move that downed tree.
I was very careful..
Before I took her on the path, I stopped the engine and walked the area, poking at the ground. I didn’t want to get stuck in heavy mud, or caught up on a stump. I backed into the path and tried to get as close as I could to that tree. Driving backwards is not within my tractor maneuvering ability, so it took me a while.
Satisfied I wasn’t going to be stuck in the mud; I turned off the engine and gracefully slipped off the seat unto a wild rose bush. Ouch!
Finally I was able to wrap the chain around the back hitch and around the middle of the tree.
Once back in the driver’s seat I slowly moved forward, dragging the tree not forward but sideways, just as I planned. The trees roots were facing south and its upper branches to the north. I could only move it a few feet, or it would get caught up on the Bog Willows.
Slowly I inched forward.
Uriah was watching me from the edge of the path. As soon as I made my first lurching movement his tail disappeared between his legs and he ran towards the house. Smart dog! He remembered when that same chain broke free from the last tree I moved and went flying, taking out some branches. I had found it hanging in a tree some fifty feet away.
I hesitated for a moment and watched Uriah run. For a second, I debated what I was doing and thought that maybe this wasn’t a good idea…
That lasted for a minute.
Then I set the tractor in forward motion, slowly the chain went taut. I was very surprised when the tree moved off the path and ended up right where I wanted it to be, top facing west and roots to the East.
Nothing tried to bite me. I didn’t get the tractor stuck in the mud. The best part, I didn’t see one tick!
I removed the chain from the hitch. Then I put Uriah in his outside kennel. And came back to cut the path, I was tempting fate by not walking the path first.. But even that turned out well, so well in fact I took Uriah out for a walk..
A walk that ended with us being chased by a few angry Bumble Bees, luckily they only sting if cornered…
