Posts from the ‘Nature’ category

Another episode of Wild Kingdom

Despite my prior very poor batting average at identifying birds…and especially birds of prey…I believe this is a Cooper’s Hawk.

And, I have to credit Bob for seeing it at all :( !!

Bob was where you see him, but instead of looking at me, he was looking up – with GREAT intenseness. His tail was thwap-thawapping on the porch.

So I looked also – and saw the hawk. Hawk was my first thought but when I was looking at the photos and thinking about my past experiences, I wasn’t sure…young eagle???

I settled on Cooper’s Hawk as it fits other photos I found on the web AND the behavior fits as well. According to my reading, the Cooper’s Hawk is at home in the “forrest”, is an extraordinary flyer capable of darting among the trees in a dense wood. And they typically perch low. That was my other quandry…I had NEVER seen a hawk – in the woods – and as low as this bird at maybe 10 feet off the ground.

Earlier in the day, I had a somewhat terse conversation with God regarding the mice that have been frequenting my house in the night. Despite traps, despite Bob and Bear, despite me picking up every bit of tempting food…in they come, leaving their little poopie calling cards here, there and everywhere. (traps, Bob and Bear have dispatched a number of them, but in more of them come!!)

So…seeing the hawk, I gave thanks. God sent a hawk to help with the mice! But then I read that the Cooper’s Hawk hunts small birds…like chickadees and nuthatches… I have no quarrel with the little birds and would hate to think of them being hunted even though I also love the birds of prey and know everything has to eat… hmmm. Ultimately, I decided that it was not an issue that was mine to trouble over and the circle of life must go on.

Still earlier in the day – earlier than the hawk and mice but later than the moon and Venus…Bear and I were on the last leg of our morning perimeter walk when Bear alerted and ran toward the house but down on the game trail below the footpath that I walk.

A bear! A smallish bear, but not a cub and it stood quietly by a tree as Bear approached and then stopped. All was a standoff until Bear barked. The bear went up the tree, Bear rushed to the tree and stood on it barking. I was a little concerned as the tree was sounding a bit stressed…approximately 120 pounds of black bear went up a medium-smallish tree with a LOT of noise and branch breaking. I had visions of tree and bear toppling on to my Bear…I called and he came and headed straight for the front door and in the house.

Bear (the dog) was trembling with adrenalin and I was not far behind. I praised Bear, hugged him tightly (I’ve found this calms him … it doesn’t hurt me either!), removed his collar and got his normal treat.

He was not interested in the treat, but ran for the bedroom to watch…and to sniff. The windows were open.

That is not a smile…he is gulping scent. He gulped scent, barked, watched and stuck his nose up and sniffed. I stayed back and let him figure it all out. I am sure he now knows what a bear smells like and what a bear is. It was a good first experience for a ‘Jersey dog’ without western wilderness experience.

Later when we went out he was calm. We have had two outings…just like normal. Hoo rah Bear!

Thistle saga

I have spent a fair amount of time whacking thistles this summer. They are extremely prolific!! And the St. John’s Wort. And most of the other weeds classified by the State of Montana as noxious weeds…weeds that by law must be eradicated. For me, it is not just the law, it is thoughtfulness for my cattle ranching neighbors as well as for the health of my woods.

So, I’ve been pulling weeds and whacking thistles. But, this year…the thistles, especially, are out of hand!

Thistles, like most of the noxious weeds have their beauty. They attract butterflies and bumble bees. My first practice shots at getting bokeh were in a small patch of thistles in my woods. As a side note…bokeh and/or depth of field – it is that part of photography that I love most. Depth of field is the one thing that I set my camera for with intent. For me, it is the way to tell a story with a photo. I highly recommend reading, practicing, learning…how to use depth of field. Thus ends today’s sermon :)!

Albino thistle??? I don’t know, but pretty!

Back to the out of hand thing. The thistles…they are out of hand…and they are impossible to pull by hand unless you have steel gloves. Hence my whacking approach.

But…I googled….and I bing-ed and I discovered that whacking them off did little to control them. Thistles have a strong and deep root system. Rats. Now, what???

I hated the thought of a chemical solution, but after some discussion and reading, I decided on RoundUp applied low on the thistles to avoid the seeds that birds, bees and butterflies eat.

I bought a new sprayer.

It has a 3 gallon tank and is mounted on a wheeled frame.

As I was looking up information on the ratio of the RoundUp Pro concentrate to water, I happened on a tidbit of info that sent me away from RoundUp. The original patent was held by Monsanto. I will not knowingly use a Monsanto product.

A week or so earlier, I had read about using vinegar on weeds. I had even dumped the end of a bottle on some driveway weeds and was astonished to see them turn brown overnight. I use a vinegar mix – half distilled white vinegar and half water – as my household cleaner. I spritz it on the floor before damp-dusting with a cloth mop. I clean counters and appliances with it. A spritzer sits in my shower and I spray the shower walls, doors and fixtures as a daily cleaner. I even spritz my head once a week to get rid of hair product build up. I use the same kind of vinegar full strength to clean my coffee and tea pot.

And then I found this article: Vinegar as an Herbicide

So…

The thistles drank Heinz Distilled White Vinegar – straight up – this morning.

So did some of the driveway weeds:

Above was taken mid-afternoon after a morning spray with straight vinegar.

It is hard to tell from this photo, but the thistle leaves have started to brown and curl also.

I have yet to find anything that suggests there is a downside to using vinegar on weeds. Time will tell if this really works, but I’m far happier spraying vinegar than any chemical.

Saturday miscellany

Maybe subtle in this photo but the truth is, it got very ugly today…warm, rain and ultimately freezing rain and sleet. Fortunately, at least for my day, the worst happened this afternoon after Bear and I returned from a shopping expedition.

Part of the shopping was for a new snow blower…oh, yea…you might be able to tell that my driveway and turnaround was plowed. It was not blown…The blower made it 3/4 of the way down the driveway – first pass – before the auger quit… AGAIN!!

Anyway…I found my dream machine but it may be a dream for another year. Oh, well. Currently it is 38F and the formerly beautiful snow is now slush and could not be “blown” anywhere with anything. Blech!!

On the home front, Bob and Bear progress. If I wasn’t such a wimp they would probably be fine…maybe some mutual avoidance but I think they are at the point of at least grudging acceptance.

Actually, I think Bear is intimidated by Bob and prefers to pretend that he does not exist.

See… Bob on his table, Bear knows it, the gate is open…no one cares. The main problem is me. I’m working on it.

And I made crackers. I’ve been making crackers at least a couple of times a week for months now. I made a batch over a year ago and dealing with thin dough…seemed more trouble than it was worth. But then I got hooked on La Panzella Rosemary Garlic crackers – they are very spendy and not always available here.

What to do??? I happened on this video …

I ordered the little silicon roller, the Silpat …

And the pastry wheel…

Now I make my own rosemary garlic crackers and they are very good! It takes me about 10 minutes to mix the dough, roll it out in the pan right on the silpat, score them with the pastry wheel and get them in the oven.

These turkeys have nothing to do with the weather or Bob and Bear or crackers. But they were here today and I took some delight at how often they shook in the drizzle…darn, messy birds! …their footprints are funny, though :)!

Saturday miscellany.

Just another day at the office

Work day today…

…sometimes it gets a bit boring…

But a beardog must stay vigilant!

Yowza! Mule deer here versus the whitetail deer at home. Well fed mule deer here!

The old man keeps a harem of 6 or 8. He keeps an eye out as they eat and follows them to safety back up the hill, guarding from the rear, when they move.

Suddenly gold

Suddenly, it is cold…low 20’s (F) overnight last night and it never reached 45 yesterday or today.

And the larch…from the valley to the mountaintop, they are…

…suddenly gold.

Turkeys: Class of 2011

I thought the Ravens were going to eat all the eggs before they became turkey chicks as there was often a fresh empty eggshell on their favored stump in the morning. (see A Raven’s Breakfast )

But, this afternoon, we had these visitors. There is another hen and a few more chicks out of sight, stage left. There look to be 3 sizes of chicks so apparently each of the hens hatched a few.

Bob took a laid back approach to keeping an eye on things.

I noticed the group as 2 of the hens were heading for the front porch with a determined glint in their eyes…

I’m not sure if they were bearing down on Bob or Bob’s food…

The food and Bob are safe.