That's a Wrap For 2012

That is what my hubby said as he pulled into the garage on the rider mower.  The season has come to an end. We are done with raking, mowing and weeding for the year. Now bring on the snow blower and the shovels.

The boat is put to bed too

OOPS! Hubby bought the new winter cover too short.  He says that will do.

Hoses are put away, all lawn furniture put away. Looks pretty bare out there.  Walking around the yard today I saw we will have to replace the wren box.

The Wrens haven't used the Wren house for 2 seasons now.  This is the first time we haven't had Wrens.  It must be at least 20 years old so maybe it has outlasted it's usefulness.

The Wrens still come every Spring but build their house elsewhere.

These are House Wrens. Some call them Jenny Wrens. I don't know where that term comes from. Wrens are medium-small to very small birds. I think they are so cute. And they are such good singers.






Once we had a Carolina Wren that made it's nest in our Boat Shed. They are cute birds too.

The Carolina Wren is noted for its loud song, popularly rendered as "teakettle-teakettle-teakettle".

It is a fairly large wren; among the United States species it is second largest after the Cactus Wren.

We had to fill the feeders today. Every 2 days they are empty.  I fill them all myself except the feeders hanging in front of the computer window.  I can't reach it as it hangs from a wire from the roof eavesdrops.  My hubby is going to fix it so I can refill it without calling him to come help.

I don't know how he will fix it but he is a handy man so I know he will do it up right. I have 2 finch feeders hanging from a metal pole he made me. It is about 12 feet from the ground. Now I can't reach that either but he made me a hook to reach up and grab the feeders. I fill them back up and re hook.
Pretty clever how he did that.

Feeder pole hubby made.....

He also made my potter bench from scratch. Plans right out of his head.  I just love it too.

Potter Bench up next to the house

 I heard we were to get snow in 3 days. We will see. They often say that and we don't. But it is coming. We are almost ready.

While sitting in the garage after we were all done with yard work. Guess who showed up?

Didn't I say I never saw it in the garage this year? Well it ran right in and under some boxes. Hope it makes it back out before hubby puts out the mouse traps. We usually get at least one in the garage over the winter. They can do so much damage in a garage or home. Never had one in the house thank heavens.

Nothing different at the feeders lately. Soon the feeders will look like this

BRRRR!!!

On the Road Again

My grand kids had a couple of days off from school which gave them a long weekend. So they were coming for a visit. While on my way to pick them up at the half way meeting point which is 50 minutes away I was wondering what I'd see along the way.

I saw a Hawk on a dead tree branch.  I saw it out of the corner of my eye but could not get a good look at it.

As I continued on my way there was a small group of Sandhill Cranes eating corn from a plowed field. I could hear them before I saw them.

They are quite noisy. Sandhills are very big birds. 2.6 to 3.9 ft high with a wing span of 5.4 to 6.9 feet.
This crane frequently gives a loud trumpeting call that suggests a French-style "r" rolled in the throat, and they can be heard from a long distance. And believe me, you can hear them long before you ever see them. And sometimes you never do.

They will be going South soon. New Mexico is a favorite winter hang out. There is an annual Sandhill Crane Festival in November in New Mexico.

A deer had been hit. Not much of it was left. I felt bad for the person, the car (and the deer) who hit it. Going 70 does a lot of damage to a person, car and deer along a freeway. The deer looked like it was beheaded, skinned and left in pieces. I never saw such a mess on the highway or anywhere.

A tiny little black kitten was in the weeds along the road. I so wanted to stop and pick it up. It was facing the woods. It looked to be only about 5 or 6 weeks old. I hoped it hadn't been just dropped off along the road.  But knew it had. There were no houses or city life along that stretch of the highway. Just road and woods. Poor thing.

There was an unusual amount of tire blow outs on the freeway. They seemed to be everywhere along the highway. I have never had that happen nor seen a tire blow. It must be so scary.  Some pieces were the size of the whole tire.

Not something enjoyable along the highway. Very dangerous too.

I reached the meeting point which is a car share parking lot. I picked up my grand kids and back we went. I didn't see anything all the way home but then I wasn't paying much attention with me keeping an eye on the road and listening to the kids, singing Christmas songs I forgot to look for anything interesting along the way.

We get to my house right when a group of Sandhill Cranes are flying over head. Making the racket they make. Very loud, noisy birds as I said.

So my journey ended as it had began...with the Cranes. Beautiful birds.

Feeders

We just filled the feeders in the rain. Now that is a bird lover. It wasn't pouring but still raining.  Oh the birds are so happy. They are flying all over the place like they just got something special to eat. I guess even birds think a full plate looks better then a half plate.

I have 10 feeders. Some are summer feeders but most are winter feeders and some are all year round feeders.

Some look like a house type feeder and some are platform feeders, some are tube type feeders, some suet feeders that look like a small cage. Most are wood but a few are plastic. And one a net bag. I once bought a copper feeder that was expensive. It was $35.00 and only lasted a year. The copper all rusted and it didn't hold up. I went back to the cheaper types. They seem to last for several years.

a platform type

Some of the feeders hang in trees, some are on a pole and some hang from shepherd hooks and some hang from the roof on wire. I have from time to time turned onion bags into feeders.

Tube type feeder

Then there are the Hummingbird feeders. I have two. One hangs from the house and one in a tree. The trouble with the one hanging in the tree is it is always full of ants. The ants get inside and drown in their own sugar fix. The one hanging from the roof attracts bees. I once watched the bees chase the Hummingbirds away all afternoon. I have one feeder that looks like this red one and another that looks like a light house. This is the one that the ants get in and drown.

This is the Lighthouse feeder I have

I have made nature feeders too. Taken pine cones and rubbed peanut butter and seed all over them. Birds like those. I hang them from tree branches. I also nail a half of an orange to a tree trunk. Citrus attracts Orioles for one. We have a lot of Baltimore Orioles in the Spring and Summer.

Male Baltimore Oriole

One of my feeders is both a seed feeder with a suet holder on both ends

A plastic type feeder

 The copper type I had that I spent alot of money on and didn't last at all. All the copper rusted.

I have a couple separate suet feeders. By that I mean not attached to another seed feeder.

You have to wire the top shut to keep animals and Hawks from running off with the suet cake.


Hanging from shepherd hooks

My husband has modified several of the feeders to try to keep the squirrels out. The platform feeders are up on a metal pole with squirrel baffles. Others hang by a wire.  Some by hooks. It is worthless to but a a feeder in a tree unless you don't mind the cost of buying huge amounts of seeds and refilling 2x a day. Animals love seed too.

How the baffles work.

However squirrels are rascals. They can think of many clever ways to get into a feeder. I have seen some jump over the baffle and also climb metal. How they did this I have no idea.  But I was very upset when I saw that squirrel in the feeder.

 I have a log feeder given to me by a friend. It is packed away for the winter now so I can't take a picture.

Net bags make good thistle seed feeders. I know my finches love them

And onion bags make good feeders

 There are so many ways to feed the birds. From planting trees or bushes that produce some kind of seed or berry to home made feeders, to fancy bought ones, to very simple to just spreading seed on the ground.  You feed them they will come. 

Woodpeckers

The other day I was at the feed store looking at all the kinds of suet to buy. I have 3 suet feeders hanging here and there in my backyard.  But the main one I enjoy is the one I can see from my computer room window. The others are on the other side of the back yard.

Anyway, I was looking at the suet cakes wondering which to buy. Fruit? Nut? Fruit and Nut? For song birds? On and on...the one that I was interested in said " For Woodpeckers" It then went on to say it would attract all types of those little pecker birds.

I thought sure it would. What is so different that this type would attract them  over the other types of suet. It seemed to have the same things in it as the other suet's. Seeds, berries nuts. Why was it so special?

Well I bought the Woodpecker suet cake and a couple of others for the other feeders.

Later in the day I went out to hang the suet cake that would attract all the peckers from the neighborhood.

Since it was later in the day I didn't sit and watch the feeder. By the next day I had forgotten I was going to sit and watch that woodpecker feeder.

That afternoon I was on the computer when out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. I looked up and low and behold I had a tree full of wood peckers. Several kinds of woodpeckers. In fact as I write this there is one at the suet feeder and one waiting it's turn in the Lilac Bush.

There is a female Hairy Woodpecker at the feeder.

Here are both male and female Hairy Woodpeckers

There was some Downy Woodpeckers also

A male Downy

a female Downy


So similar it is hard to tell the difference. The Hairy Woody's are bigger then the downys are.

The suet attracted a Flicker also

 

 Later in the day the Red-Breasted Woodpecker came to visit

But my all time goal for Woodpeckers is Woody Woodpecker......a Pileated Woodpecker

a Flicker and a Pileated Woodpecker at a feeder.

I saw one at a State Park close to me this Fall.
But I want to see one in my yard. And they do visit backyard feeders. I know people who get them.

All in all me buying a Woodpecker suet cake was a huge success!

Hodge-Podge of Things

Yesterday I went to my parents house. They live 50 minutes from me. Both country and city streets.
Saw lots of road-kill. Isn't that interesting? The usual, racoons, squirrels and one duck.

I was watching their bird feeder and noticed they had mostly the same type birds I do.

Today was a rest day. It was very chilly 49 degrees compared to yesterday's 78 degrees. Big difference. The other day when I was raking the leaves I got 5 nasty blisters on my hand. Quite painful. I went outside today to see if I could use the leaf blower but it was too painful to use it. So I sat and looked around for a short time. I heard robins but could not see them. Blue Jays were calling back and forth all over the neighborhood. I didn't hear them much in the middle of the hot summer but they are noisy now. They will stay over the winter if there is a food supply.

a Blue Jay

While walking around my yard there was several places where a fungus or mushrooms were growing. Yuck...they seemed to be out in the open and under bushes.

I have no idea what these are. But we have them every fall. But never in the spring or summer.

The Red Breasted Woodpecker was back today. It is a pretty bird.

These woodpeckers are  9 to 10.5 inches long, and have a wingspan of 15 to 18 inches. Their heads are very eye catching.

After dinner tonight I sat at the computer looking out the window and saw the male and female Black Squirrels running up and down the Lilac Bushes. Playing chase it looked like.

There was a cat sitting down by the water edge just looking for the longest time. I think it was a neighbors cat 4 houses down. It comes by every now and then. Or it could have been a wild cat. We get a lot of wild cats around my neighborhood. Non cat lovers complain about them but we have always liked that they were around. They keep down the rodent population. And they don't bother anyone. Once there was a litter of kittens that were so cute. I saw them in my back yard under a bush. I bent down to pick the cutest one up but it hissed and got in full battle mode. I left it alone. Too bad, I would have kept it. It looked to be about 5 weeks old. I could have tamed it. But it wanted to claw me to pieces. I walked away.

Saw the Grebe's swimming today so they are still here. But our neighbors groundhog is nowhere to be seen so I am assuming it is hibernating already. Like all the frogs and turtles. Long gone now.
It lives under the neighbors pier and always comes over to our yard to eat something in our yard. It really hasn't done any damage so we just let it be. I don't know what it eats in our yard. Grubs or clover maybe. I don't know what they eat. I just looked them up... they are a rodent

belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as Marmots. Groundhogs primarily eat wild grasses and other vegetation, including berries and agricultural crops, when ^available.  Groundhogs also eat grubs, grasshoppers, insects, snails and other small animals. Very interesting! No wonder it lives down by the water's edge. A perfect smorgasbord for it.

Maybe tomorrow will be more interesting

 

Leaves, More Leaves and Then Some More Leaves..and Old Friends

Today was a beautiful Fall day. Almost 80 degrees and sunny. The Maple Tree's leafs were half way down.

How our tree looked a week ago before the leaves started to drop.

We started raking about 12:30 pm and finished about 4 pm. We use rakes, leaf blower and a plastic sheet. The plastic sheet works the fasted and best. I stand on a corner of it and Dick rakes the leaves on it. We close up the sheet and drag it to the trench.

It really pooped me out to do all this raking. Hubby too I noticed.  Living in the country everyone burns here.  We have many piles going.  Burning leaves brings back such childhood memories. I can see my dad raking the leaves to the alley and burning them. I just love the smell of burning leaves. I will even open a window so I can smell them burning in the house.

I was too busy today notice any wild life. I did see the Grebe's swimming and I saw the Muskrat once. The Black Squirrel was eating the corn. I saw a few birds at the feeder. I heard the Chipmunk scolding us.

When we were done I looked at the big Maple Tree thinking...we are only half way done...
There was half the tree left to rake. UGH

After our yard work was done I was meeting some friends I haven't seen a several years for dinner. We used to be neighbors in my old neighborhood.  We have known each other for 30 plus years.
Dinner was delicious. And it was great to see them.

Odyssey

Today we went to see our Grandkids. They live 160 miles from us round trip. Besides looking forward to seeing them, I was looking forward to seeing any nature along the way.

First we came across  a Cooper's Hawk. We saw one of these fellows a few miles from our house. He was sitting on a telephone pole wire looking around.

Come to find out, today was a day for these birds. We saw 3 of them along our journey. All sitting on a telephone wire.

Going to our Grandkids house we cross the St Joseph River 4 times. Really 8 times round trip. This river runs thru my city. Here is a description of this historical river:

St. Joseph River

 

Few rivers in Indiana have had more historical significance than the St., Joseph. Interestingly, the river is also said to be the hardest worker in the state.
The St. Joseph is really only a visitor to Indiana. It rises near Hillsdale, Michigan, flows across half of that State, dips into Indiana and flows back into Michigan to complete its 210 mile journey to Lake Michigan. Approximately 42 miles are spent in Indiana but Hoosiers have never hesitated to reap all the benefits they could from this river. In our state alone there are 4 dams on the river.

A plaque of the beginnings of the St Joe River in Hillsdale, Michigan

I went this summer with my brother to see the beginnings of this river.

Continuing on, we also cross the Black River and the Paw Paw river in Michigan. And many other large ponds. Water is in abundance in my area. And I can't get enough of these beautiful lakes, rivers and streams.

The Paw Paw River and the Black Rivers in Michigan

I was hoping to see some wildlife somewhere around all this water. I didn't see much at all. Three Great Blue Herons at a very small pond. They were all standing together near the shore.

Nothing else to talk about on our journey to our destination.

Once we got to the school football field where my grandson was playing flag football, it started to pour. Just pour. We were prepared with rain gear. As I watched these little guys play flag football, I saw movement across the field. The whole area on the other side of the field was plowed corn fields. Again I thought I saw movement. I did. The field was full of  Sandhill Cranes. They were spreading their wings, walking about, pecking for corn. I would have been able to hear them if it hadn't been raining so hard.

  Our visit was over and we headed home. It was now dark and on the highway I didn't think I would see much. Well we didn't almost 80 miles back home. It wasn't until we were 4 miles from our house when I saw 2 deer standing along the highway waiting to cross the road. The most dangerous place to cross the road is a highway.

 

 As I have said, I live on a lake, but this lake is surrounded by farm fields and woods too. It is nothing to see deer around. Every time I do it is as exciting as the first time. 

I should also mention in my town runs railroad tracks. Now here in my town the train whistle is not banned. I love to hear a train whistle. And I wasn't disappointed....the tracks are 7 miles from my house and run thru the center of town. We had to wait for the train and I got to enjoy the sound.

Grandkids, family, day trip, deer, birds and a train. A wonderful odyssey!