From my studio window

 I have a stand-up computer desk so, as if my wandering mind isn't enough distraction, I can look out the window instead of paying bills or writing. Today I saw our neighborhood groundhog inspecting the daffodil bed.  I called to Paul who fetched his weapon, but the animal disappeared before a shot was taken.  Tomorrow, tomorrow, there's always tomorrow. Without Gambol to retrieve the hunt, Paul may have to be a crack shot.  

Storm and I continued our 3:00 ritual walk.  She steps into her harness nicely and lets me hook it up.  Today she ran out the door knowing what was coming.  We walked out to the mound to inspect the lupines, Jerusalem artichokes, and rosinweed  (Silphium trifoliatum) that Richard gave us last fall.  All are doing well. I don't see any columbines or 4 o'clocks. 

Storm has decided she should snack on grass.  I'm discouraging that by pulling her along or picking her up.  She prances along till the next set of interesting grasses. At the turn passed the hemlock a squirrel started chittering.  Storm sat and looked all around, apparently very interested in the noise.  We never did find it in the trees, so we came along home. So far, no ticks.  

Sometimes she enjoys a good snuggle but I can't move, or she bounces off to find a quieter bed. She is so soft, sleek, and shiny she could be a seal. It's hard to keep my hands off her. 

Yesterday Paul sawed a pair of fallen trees that were making a mess of the view over the grape wires.  This was one of the few times the chain saw was out of the shed since Jim Finley's death by fallen tree in October 2021.  If Jim's death taught us anything it is that we aren't as spry as we think we are.  We only use the chain saw on fallen trees and choose which ones of those we cut. But, the view out the bathroom window is much better now.  There's hardly a hole in the forest edge.  

Labor Day Wildlife

Hummingbirds are leaving.  We only see an occasional bird at the feeders, not the swarm we had in July.
Two hen turkeys with 3 poults graced our afternoon for a few minutes.  The dogs must have been worn out not to alert. We've seen signs of them in scattered leaves, and scratched dirt.  Paul saw one fly as the dogs approached, and we've seen the south end of north running birds in the grapes and hazelnuts.  This is the first time they've been up close in full view.
It took 4 boys (Paul included) to protect this damsel from a disturbed groundhog.  Gambol took him on, gave his "I've got one" yelp to spur Kilo into action.  Buddy even got into the fray, although he stepped back when the bugger bit him.  Eventually, after Gambol and Kilo pulling him like the yellow chicken toy, Paul took over.  This guy was probably the owner of the hole that Jonathan and I filled with rocks last Christmas in the snow. and maybe the destroyer of our garden kale and tomatoes. The dogs and I continued on our walk (although the dogs had to be convinced to go in my direction) while Paul finished the g'hog off and put him on a brush pile. As we returned to the shed for drinks and cooling baths, a turkey vulture flew overhead.  I predict no bones will be there in the morning.
I saw 5 monarchs dancing together in the walnut grove, and we have 8 cats munching on milkweed by the front door.  We're doing our part.
It's dry and ugly hot; leaves are falling yellow. We probably won't have a good color year.

lifer and FOY

Gambol and Kilo 1; Groundhog 0
First groundhog kill but they might have barked it to death. This was supposed to be the first walk for me with Kilo off leash. HA! Gambol raced out the door and pounced on the GH. Kilo listened for a moment then joined his brother. Gambol raced around with the thing in his mouth, tossing it in the air.  I think he broke her back because when I finally got all 4 dogs in the house the GH was alive but not moving. Kilo did a great job of sticking around and helping get rid of the infiltrator. No dogs were damaged in the fight. Paul finished her off with some high velocity lead poisoning.  Gambol smelled the gun at the door and seemed to know it had been fired.
Tonight Gambol pointed his first of the season Eastern Box Turtle. A big female. We put her back where we found her.
Gambol found her at the pinch of the meadows at abou 7:00pm.

Eggs and things

We were filling the RTV with composted horse manure from the Penn State mushroom farm that was delivered about 2 weeks ago to our compost area by the side of the house. Suddenly eggs were falling our of the compost as it dropped from the tractor: 1" by 1.25", very leathery, bumpy, most had some discoloration, a few were folded over or collapsed. One was cracked and dripping so we pried it open, thinking what ever was in it wasn't going to make it anyway. Snake! We eventually found over 20 eggs and reburied them in a compost nest up the hill a bit. No wonder the snake had been hanging around our hill. We found a small snake, 36" long and maybe 1.25" diameter, tangled in the blueberry netting, too late to save it.

As we reburied the snake eggs we found an interesting nest of the Baldfaced Hornet (Dolichovespula maculata. It's a mound of dirt,8" high, covered by a paper nest. The entry is at the dirt line. Wasps are black and white and about 3/4" long.


Chicklets will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. They stayed outside last night til almost dark and about 70 degrees. (We went to the PFHT picnic and then stopped in Harrisburg for an Appalachian Brewery dinner.) They were huddled up against the wall, tight together. Their feet were cold and not one gave me any trouble about getting caught for the tub.
When I let them out this morning, downy feathers flew all over the place. The girls raced around as if they'd never been outside before, even without their usual blueberry breakfast. Maybe I was late getting them out. Maybe they are just getting cramped in their tub. They are definitely growing real feathers. They have pantaloons and their ears are visible now.
A couple can fly up to the roost. We held a grasshoppers so they have to be on the perch to get it; no problemo! Those who know the trick haven't figured out how to stay on the perch while they eat. Instead they fly down to show off their treat and are immediately mobbed. Birdbrain?


When I open their door, I am mobbed by a half dozen chicks who want blueberries, or whatever else I'm serving, or, if nothing is available, they'd like to jump out and find their own. I've let a few do that; one followed me around between my feet pecking at bugs I kicked up. They don't like to be far from their sisters however. Most are a bit more wary and let the others mob the door.

They use the tube-drinker easily so that's what we use in the tub. We gave them some potato peelings, Swiss Chard hunks and egg plant peelings. Potatoes were OK, but blueberries and grasshoppers are better.

Tonight bedtime was a little more difficult than last night. It's lighter and a little warmer. Most came right in with blueberry treats. The last one, apparently doesn't like blueberries or maybe she doesn't like to be stepped on to get one. She was peeping mournfully just out of grabbing range. Finally I let the bird who kept flying out of the tub to my knee call the lone star in the tractor. She came in when her sister told her to.
The Baron is still conducting his war against the groundhogs on our property, and so far this year he has taken 8 of them with his .22 rifle. Still with all that we know there are at least 4 more groundhogs running around on the meadow right now. The battle continues. It's Sunday so he won't shoot, and they seem to know it.

Bwana Paul: #7, some sporting and some not so, but never on Sunday

As I prepared to check on the chicks and glanced out the stair landing window, I saw a groundhog waddling along the rock path. I yelled for Bwana Paul to get his gun and save the damsel or at least take the critter out before he got the chicks or my garden. It couldn't have taken more than 20 seconds for him to jump into action. There not much he hates more than groundhogs these days. By the time he loaded the gun and leapt down the stairs the critter was gone. On further inspection he saw a hole under the propane tank with 2 beady eyes looking back. Bad news: guns and propane tanks. Very bad news: groundhog under the house. Bwana stepped back to think. I could see Pop Mac: hands clenching and unclenching, what to do? No good can come of this for one of them. The groundhog didn't come out with his hands up after about 3 minutes so Bwana stuck the gun down the hole and fired 3 times.
So, now we have a dead groundhog under the house. Still not good news, but the propane tank is intact. Bwana tried to use our walking sticks as chopsticks to move the 'hog close to the opening so he could pull him out. Of course the critter used the path behind the propane tank to enter his hole because he was too big to fit easily between the tank and the sled it sat on. Chopsticks don't work on fat groundhogs. Next trick up was a lasso. That and the chopticks pulled him close enough for Bwana to stick his arm down the hole and pull. He came up with all his fingers and the dead and bloody 'hog. He's at the bait shop now.
Bwana has 3 non-sporting kills (fire in the hole) but 4 were real hunting; he even got one as it was running away. 30 yards is a good distance for his WWII vintage .22 gun.

Phil on the cross quarter day

He may predict more winter (as does NWS and The Baron) but I don't believe he saw his shadow. Our temp hasn't changed more than 2 degrees today under thick, constant clouds. We were out burning trash and commented on our lack of shadows. Was it Peter Pan who was afraid of having his shadow stolen? Perhaps ours were stolen today.
Besides, I think the legend is if he sees his shadow it's 6 more weeks of winter, but if he doesn't, spring will be here in 6 weeks. At least this year he didn't cave to the global warming hysteria the way he did last year. It's half way between winter and spring, the cross quarter day called Imbolc by the Celts, as good as any for prognostication.
If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
there'll be two winters in the year.

Encouraging and discouraging

Encouraging a jake
Seriously cool. I just confused the 1-2” bearded jake. He was at the corn so I got the squawk box and yelped a few times. He looked up every time. It sort of wore off so I got the slate. He gobbled and fanned. He was looking straight at me from the driveway. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d flown up to the deck. He didn’t, but I held his attention for maybe 15 min. We “chatted” for a couple. He ran off up the hill but came back once with some encouragement from the box. I have a couple of picts but the deck rails are in the way. That’s how close he was, and it’s awfully hard to yelp and take picts at the same time. I didn’t even have the door more than cracked. I didn’t notice the fanned tail feathers’ length. I’ll have to get him back to measure.
Seriously cool.

Discouraging the squirrels
On the squirrel discouragement front, I changed feeders and moved it to the pine tree next to the corn area. It took a few min for everyone to find the new food site. I watched a squirrel climb a really spindly 2” maple to several feet above the feeder, jump (with a twist) down maybe 3 feet and land directly on top of the feeder. I went out and yelled. He crouched then ran down the safe way, but left the feeder alone. I’m not sure he could see it from where he was. It’s kind of protected by needles. (A little bit.) Anyway, it’s been out for 2 hrs now and the squirrels are still cleaning up the old site and working the corn, but the little birds have found it. Doves, crows, cardinals, blue jays, even a flicker and redbellied, and, of course, the turkey have chowed down on the corn this morning. An interesting difference between these squirrels and the Bellevue Skippy is that these guys don't seem to ever get full and don't rush off to bury the leftovers.

Later:
One climbed up the quince where the sunflowers used to be. He looked around; I could almost see him scratching his head. Another (or maybe the same one, they mostly look alike to me) climbed up to the higher pine branch, higher than the deck and it’s a good 10-15 feet over the branch where the feeder hangs. He went out to the tips of several branches looking. More head scratching. He’d lean out over and try the smallest branches he could. At one time I though he was going to leap. He went down below the feeder on the ground at some dropped seeds and looked up. The light bulb went on. He climbed to the correct branch and directly to the feeder. Amazing psychology study. It took maybe 45 min of this experimenting and GPS positioning to figure it out. When I went out to clap and yell at him, he scurried off.

Groundhogs Day?
Back in February Phil of Puxatauney fame predicted an early Spring. He was dead on; we had temps in the upper 60s and low 70s for a while. The rest of the story must have been that there'd also be an early winter: some human forecasters are calling for 10" snow this weekend! Today was the first time I've seen our gh. and he was down by the mound, not in the meadow where he normally is seen. Quite a traveler that guy.