Feeding the birds...

...is a wonderful past time, although can be somewhat costly.  That is if you feed the such things as hulled sunflower seeds.  People who do that do not want a "mess" of hulls on their patio or whatever.  And some people even feel that it's so much better for the birds, since it's "easier" for them to feed.  Personally, I feel that since they're getting "free food" they can "work for it" a bit.  As for the mess, my backyard is so shaded nothing grows there anyway, so the hulls are almost a type of mulch to walk on.

But the upside is seeing all the different varieties in one place, and on occasion, the oddballs that may be passing through on their migration and find a free meal.    I think I may have covered some of that in an earlier post. 

The picture below show a small part of the number and type of birds coming to the feeder on this snowy afternoon.  I took the picture through the kitchen window.  Every time the curtain moves a bit, the birds have a tendency to scatter.  Therefore, we really have more coming to the feeder, but these were the more bold ones.  All the red spots in the trees are cardinals.  They have a tendency to feed early in the morning and later in the afternoon.  The smaller birds feed all day long.

There are three fill-type feeders, one saucer feeder, and to the left, four suet feeders (suet cakes are back to back.)   I use sunflower seed, safflower seed, canary seed, and thistle seed.  The feeders are filled every morning and every evening.  The suet feeders usually last about a week or two.  The joy is forever!

One man's trash is another man's treasure, or is it just garbage?

Since it's a nice, sunny day, we (the significant other and I) decided to clean up the fence row along the road, of saplings, etc. I was astounded, although I should know better having lived here for over 15 years, of all the trash that people fling from their cars and onto our property. I decided to go back with some trash bags and do my semi-annual pick up.


Some things have not changed. People still think that a brown paper bag disguises a bottle or can of beer. Hey, we all know what's in there! Did you get the bag to keep it cold? And you can still buy beer in big brown bottles. However, there were some more modern ways to get your alcohol, such as small, I mean really small bottle of wine and/or hooch. You can also get hooch in a small bag-type container. Do you think these people figure they won't get as loaded if they drink small quantities at a time?

Speaking of flinging trash, why can't these people take it home with them? Perhaps if you were to visit them, their yards are littered with plastic bottles, Wal Mart bags, Big Gulp cups, etc, etc.

You can't assume that just alcoholics going down the road fling trash either. I volunteer at a Nature center and I took a trash bag out to see what I could pick up walking the trails. There is a stream that runs through there and lots of things get washed down, but the trash I found was no where near the stream. Interestingly enough I found drink containers that are associated with health food and the like. Shows you even the so-called physically fit people don't care where they leave their trash. Everyone is to blame!

I did pick up about a pound of aluminum cans in about 1/2 hour. At the current rate of $.65/pound locally, that's $1.30/hour. Far less than minimum wage, but that's the "treasure" I got out of another man's trash.

On the bright side, we did see two bald eagles down by the river, a mile from our house, and we have two pileated woodpeckers living in the woods directly behind the house.  Cornell bird count, here I come!  But until then, I'll just kick back and have a nice glass of piesporter!

Call the vet!

I hate having to even THINK those words, but when  you have livestock, it's a distinct possibility.    These things never happen during regular business hours!  So of course last night, Sunday night (!), was one of those nights!

One of our horses had "choke."  That's when they eat too fast, or eat the wrong thing, or don't get enough water to wash something down, and it lodges in their throat.  Symptoms can be heavy breathing as their airways are partially closed off, EXCESSIVE salivating out of their noses and mouths, head hanging.  We had all of those going on.

This was my FIRST experience with choke, after owning horses for over 40 years.  Hopefully it will be my last!  But every new "adventure" helps me better understand what to do in such situations.  In this case, just monitoring the horse, was the protocol.  He did not need to have the food moved out of his esophagus.  He moved it somehow, himself, either through coughing, or the saliva lubricated it enough to get it moved down his digestive tract. 

Fortunately, this one had a happy ending, and as soon as I get off the computer, I need to go out and give him a smaller amount of food, and a hug!

"The tree is gone"*

*(sung to the tune of "The Thrill Is Gone" by B.B. King)  And we've got the pictures to prove it.  These were taken from the front of the house.

Before the cut...

Dennis surveying...

Cleanup started...

All done...

The tree was surrounded by a really nice forsythia bush. That's the clump that's left. We had been kicking around adding on an extension in the direction of the downed tree, approximately 20-20, which means this bush will have to go. But until then...

your vote DOES count!

I just got home from a "recount."  Whenever the deciding number of votes between candidates on a ballot is less than a certain percentage, the affected candidates are allowed a recount if they so choose.  In this case, the difference was 15 votes!

After we hand-recounted all the votes, which were originally counted by machine, we changed the count by one vote.  The winner won by 14 votes instead of 15. 

In this vein, think of the friends of either candidate.  If only 15 for the winner stayed home, their candidate would not have won.  The same rings true for the loser.  If only 15 more people showed up at the polls, instead of staying home, that candidate would be the winner today. 

You may look at this as just a local race in a small town, but multiply that by all the people who think their single vote won't count, especially in a presidential race.  Of course the totals are much bigger, and the margins are much bigger, but add it all up, and all of your votes might make the difference.  Presidential races are lost by thousands, but when there are thousands of people out there who think their vote won't count...think again!

Why call a tree surgeon?

We had a very, very fast storm come through with horrendous winds this afternoon.  Probably lasted all of 15 minutes.   Don't know how much water was dumped as we never put up any of our myriad of rain gauges. 

Backtrack a bit, we have some very, VERY large trees very close to the house.   One of them, a gnarly elm, had died this year.  We've been kicking around cutting it ourselves (bad idea), calling on a friend who has a lawn service (slightly better idea) or calling a professional tree service (probably best idea).  Of course cost is the all important factor.  

Fast forward to the storm.  Heard something on the roof, (I was on the lower level), and  went outside after the rain passed.   Found that said tree is pruning itself!  The first picture shows the proximity to the house.  In the second picture I tried to show the size of the tree, and the size of the branch.  Now I'm trying to figure out..."if any other branches break off, will they fall straight down or hit the house?  Or was this a wake-up call to GET THAT TREE SERVICE NOW!!!

 The tree on the other side of the house, just as close, is a much taller oak!!!  What about it's branches?   I think I'll go back to reading my book.

Biting the hand that feeds you...

You may know, or not, that we keep various reptiles at our farm.  Some are ones we caught/bought/wanted and care for.  Others are "rescues" which means they're from people who didn't want to take care of them, couldn't take care of them, wouldn't take care of them.  We care for them too.

We currently have 3 alligators of various sizes.  The smallest one is about 18 inches long.  When we got him he would "chirp", as baby alligators do, to gain the attention of their mother when they feel threatened.   I don't think he's grown that much, but he doesn't chirp any more, and he's copped an attitude since he's in an outdoor pen, and enjoying the natural sunlight, and any food that falls into his enclosure (e.g. grasshoppers.)  We also supplement his feed with small mice or chicken parts.

The significant other decided to feed him by hand the other day.  Those little devils have very sharp teeth, but then we always think we're smarter and quicker than the baby...

Obviously this is not/was not the case!!!  This was taken on Day 2, after the bandage was removed...