Pancho - the early times!

We recently found out what breed of cat Shadow is:

She's a Russian Blue and this description explains a lot about her:

"The Russian Blue is a cat breed that has a silver-blue coat. These cats are known to be highly intelligent and playful but tend to be timid around strangers. They also develop close bonds with their human companions and are highly sought after due to their personalities and unique coat."

As many of you know, Shadow often comes running up to us when we step outside.  She goes with us when we walk the trails or go to the mail box.  She loves to stay with me when I work in the greenhouse and she just has a very fetching personality.  We didn't really want another outside cat but quickly learned - when Shadow decided that she was going to live here - that she wasn't your ordinary cat..

Seeker of the Fleece!

So - whose lap does Pancho chose to lie on?  The one with the fleece throw on it.  (Can be empirically proven.)

Wish I had a photo for this one

We were walking the trail this morning and Glynda stopped suddenly and pointed ahead.  About 20-30 yards ahead was a big buck (deer) probably an 8-10 pointer.  We stared at each other for a minute or so then he raised his tail and trotted off.

(Shadow was with us but had dropped away at the time.  We'd been at the Treehouse and she'd gained access to it by climbing a small tree beside it and then jumping over to it. When we got back to the house she still had not rejoined us and the last I'd heard of her sounded like distress.  So I hopped on the lawn tractor and drove back to the Treehouse and she came walking down the steps to see me.  I petted her a bit and since she was OK I got on the tractor to go back to the house - and Shadow ran over to the same small tree, climbed it, and jumped over to the Treehouse again. I guess she wanted to stay there awhile?) 

Have you ever seen a "White-lined Sphinx Hummingbird Moth"?

They act like a hummingbird but they are a moth.  It does have a long proboscis and can feed deep into a flower (Mirabillis here).  They zip around like a silent hummingbird.  Never knew there was such a thing and when I ran to get the camera I thought I was going to be taking a picture of a strange, lost, little hummer!

This is how he does it!

I've gone to great lengths to get a bird feeder that the squirrels can't get to and the most recent is a trolley of sorts.  I've got a wire stretched with the bird feeder hanging on it and I move the feeder in and out by some small ropes and pulleys.  I've trimmed back some tree branches but he's still been getting in it. I've been told that they can jump eight feet so it's clear at least that far. Then I saw him actually doing it today.  He ran away when I came out but, greedy little creature that he is, he ignored me when I came back out with the camera and executed a command performance.

(Next day addendum - Glynda saw him doing a hanging walk today.)

Our new house bunny

Our new house bunny came in an Easter flower basket from Deanna and Cody.  He looked photogenic so I took him around the place for a photo shoot!

Easter - my favorite holiday!  I seem to get more attention then!

This is me visiting with a couple of my basket buds.  They're living on the deck right now.

There were definitely Easter eggs in here on Saturday!

Pancho, the only other house creature, is usually on the bed.

My favorite beer - or at least, one of them.

I'm on the pier at the pond in this one.

I'd never tried this before - pretty fun!

Shadow and me at the Treehouse - a really cool place!

Wow!  This new Zip Line is fast!!

Dang that hurt!  They did say the landing was the hard part!

Being a house bunny is living the good life - but every now and then I like to "get back to nature".

Darn near done!

Looking better all the time!!  I was hoping to post video of Alex riding the new zip line but for technical reasons beyond my control those are not available.  In the first test Daniel came very close to landing in the pond - missed it by just 2-3 feet.  So we tightened it up a bit and now Daniel clears the pond fine but Alex is the one that comes close now - and no more tightening available (without major efforts).  So excuse us if we get all excited if you tell us that you weigh over 220 and you want to ride this thing.  We just know something that you don't!

On a more serious note - when we walked to trail early this morning after the heavy rains last night the water in the pond was beautiful - not a word that you can normally come even close to using when talking about the pond,  Then we climbed up to the tower and was admiring it from there when a couple of wood ducks landed there and started to swim around.  Really nice!

Here's one from the top. You can see the cable running from the upper left.  It goes just to the right side of the pier.

Last of three posts today -

CAT ON A (not so ) HOT (piece of) TIN (that used to be a) ROOF

Sunday was a squirrely day

Nothing special about that but these are all different squirrels and I took all the pictures at the same time - just stood at the kitchen window and fired away at them - with the camera!

A couple signs of Spring!

The nest in the chapel now has a couple eggs

A sorta new resident on the road to the Nature Preserve!

Two Wildernest construction projects

This is the project we've been working on and we're almost to the point of adding the final bracing and hand rails. Then we'll need to redo the Zipline part of it.

This is the other construction project. It's being built on a candle holder in the chapel and the builder-artist has put many more hours into it than we have on our bridge-tower project. It's really very well done and there's a lot of beauty to it.

Daniel killed a wild hog on the Red Trail

Daniel has been leaving bait for a couple weeks and it paid off last night.  This guy had his last meal just a moment before Daniel shot him.  (My flashlight was shining on his large tusks when Daniel took the picture with his phone camera.)  We are guessing that he must have weighed a couple hundred pounds.  Don't ask how we do know that his head weighed 25lbs. The hole in the ground where they have been digging for the bait is about four feet deep. How'd you like to meet him on the trail some day.  Glad this one is gone but there are a lot more where he came from!

Why do cows lay down? It's a mystery!

So here are cows in four different fields - same day, same time! Who sent the memo? You can Google "why do cows lay down" and get some pretty far out answers - like their legs have absorbed so much moisture from the coming rain that they can't stand up?!?!?

Cattle pictures

I almost said "cow pictures" but that would have been discriminatory! And inaccurate! So - there are these two longhorns down the road here that I've been meaning to photograph for some time now and everything fell in line to do that today. Then we came across a field full of bovine creatures and added to the collection.

How cows stay warm on a cold but sunny day

Walking the red trail, I detoured over to the fence where I could see some of Oscar's cows trying to stay warm. I like the picture! Before I could get off a second shot, half of them were standing up and the picture was gone.

Mentally challanged blue jay

We really think it is! In this picture though, just a little strange and the feather colors are not right either. Sometimes this bird will just sits there more laying on the rail than standing, sorta lopsided, with his head twisted and beak open - for a long period of time. I'm surprised he hasn't become cat food already!

Here's an older picture -

A few of God's creatures!!

I've see a couple incredible videos yesterday and today. One came in an email and the other was posted on Facebook. Hope you enjoy them both as much as I did!! I've got a lot more respect for turtles now - both in their "humanitarianism" and their ability to diagnose and solve problems. I thought they were just dumb creatures. And we've always known how dogs love to play - but deer?

Turtles

Deer and dog

Feral hogs

This is just a picture from the internet but they're very much like the one we saw on the property this morning. On the way to the mailbox we would heard the sound of a hog in the woods very close to the house. I took a few steps down the Green Trail and saw one of these and heard a bunch of them scattering away in the undergrowth. Later in the day we walked the Orange Trail and saw places where they had been digging from one end of the trail to the other. I guess they had moved on to adjoining properties by then because we saw no more of them. But then they could have still been back along the long trail.

Adult content post!

Oops - too late. You've already seen the picture! Shadow's been taking care of us recently. She likes to put her kill on the door mat. This morning we were greeted with this one when we went out to the deck for breakfast. It was dead but she was playing with it like it wasn't! She's left us mice, a rat head, frogs, lizards, a mole, a flying squirrel, and other goodies too enticing to mention. Birds? She knows she dare not bring one of those around although we've found their remains in the carport and shop!