Camp Mimi

This was the last official Camp Mimi for the summer.  School starts Monday.  We had a great day!  We did puzzles, played barbies, 

played ball outside, 

and invented new games with a plastic ball and badminton racquet.  

We also picked tomatoes, cucumbers and weeds.  And we found a nest of baby grasshoppers.  

Sadie and Allie made me a surprise racquet full of flowers.  We played the marble game and spend a couple of hours on Wii Fit.  I had to leave for a staff meeting at lunch so PopPop took over for a couple of hours.  And we had our tomatoes and lettuce from the garden for supper in a taco salad.  I will repeat myself, It was a great day!
 

Last Group

Joe and I worked the last group of cows and calves this morning. 

We had 11 pairs to work and 7 for me to pregnancy check. 

It was nice finally getting the last ones worked.  Joe will be turning out the bulls out soon. 

The mud is long gone and we are back to dust. Some rain would really be appreciated. 

I did find a surprise in the barn. Luckily, it was just the skin and not the snake. 

Pretty cool how the scales over the eyes even shed. 

 

Trees And Birds

No, the birds are not in the trees.  The trees are on the fence again.  Maybe you remember this tree from last year (HERE)

Well, another part of the tree fell over the same spot in the fence.  

This is on rented land but we have to keep up the fence.  A neighbor drove by and said he would take the wood but he didn't offer to help get it off the fence.  There was a lot of cutting and eventually a tractor was involved. 

But Joe got it done as usual.  

Now there are just 2 trunks left to fall.  

On the bird front, my bird box that had the camera has birds but  no camera.  Ants had gotten into it and I gave the replacement bird house away at Christmas.  But I can open the side and hold my phone over the nest for a picture.  Not sure how many are there.  They are tree swallows.  

And a surprise find inside one of my grapevine balls.  

A mockingbird nest with 3 eggs!  So, if a bird in the hand beats 2 in the bush, what does 3 in a ball get?

Snake!

Joe was mowing the lawn this afternoon when a black snake came slithering out from under the shrubs. 

It was a big one. Joe does not like it when they are heading towards the house. 

He killed it with a hoe. 

 I know they are good snakes but I don’t like it when I find them in the garage.  I also don’t like it when they are heading towards my bird houses. 

First Hummer

I was sitting at the kitchen table yesterday when I saw a hummingbird at the irises off the back deck.  I yelled “it’s a hummer, my first hummingbird”. 

I went directly to the garage to get the hummingbird feeder. I think he appreciated the sugar water.  

Wascally Wabbit

Since the weather has taken a change for the better, I thought it would be nice to walk around the yard and evaluate what needed to be done this Spring.  

Since the blackberry vines have a fungus, I had considered pulling them all up.  I decided to give them one more try.  But when I checked them, it looks like a rabbit has been gnawing on the stems.  I am certain that this will not help their recovery.  I will probably be pulling them up anyway.  

Then I noticed that the rabbits have been pruning my holly bush.  This was not the shape that I was going for.  But I guess it is the shape I now have to work with.  If only I had Elmer Fudd to shoot that wascally wabbit.  
 

CE

I went to a continuing education meeting in Asheville this weekend.  The first night I stayed a the hotel.  Then the next 2 I spent with Emily and Keiran. 

I listened to lectures on skin, 

ears, and kidneys.  The lectures were ok, nothing all that helpful.  Virginia requires 15 hours a years, so I am now done.  The conference had a sponsor for the lunch on Friday but we were on our own for lunch Saturday. 

Where I had stayed at the hotel and signed up for their free rewards program to get a lower rate, I had a coupon for free wings from the bar.  It was better than the meal on Friday.  

I stayed with Emily and Keiran in Brevard.  The town is known for its population of white squirrels.  They are everywhere.     According to the City of Brevard,

"The white squirrels in Brevard originated from a pair of white squirrels that escaped from a carnival truck in Florida around 1949. They were given to a local resident, who later gifted them to his niece. After one escaped and the other was released, they began breeding in the wild and established the local white squirrel population." 

Emily and I walked around her neighborhood this morning and I also spotted a few goats. 

I thought these were exceptionally lifelike renditions.  

 

Spooky

You never know what is running around on the front patio until you put up a bird feeder camera. I haven’t started filling the feeders yet but I did place the camera so I could see if anyone came to the front door.  We have had a variety of visitors so far. 

A opossum 

Socks came by again. 

Molly, who isn’t allowed in the yard, was in the yard. 

And a beautiful fox trotted past. I think the birds camera is better than a trail cam. It has a solar charger so I don’t have to worry with batteries.  Plus, the videos go to the app and I can check them any time along with being able to watch live. It has been a busy month. 

Happy Halloween 

 

Thanksgiving Is Coming

I saw a treat leaving for work last week. 

There were several turkeys just milling around.  

They never acted spooked.  A couple went over the fence but most just went back and forth until they found a way through.  

Looks like they have another month to learn how to hide better.  

This and That

Nothing major happening, just lots of little regular things. Some are more interesting than others. 

We have has some beautiful foggy mornings.  Then it has been in the 30’s for the last two mornings. I don’t think the weather knows that it is still officially summer. 

The goats are climbing trees. 

For some reason I get posts on Facebook from the Dull Men’s Club.  I thought this one was particularly funny.  Plus, it is a double collectable, both a face and a fence. 

I have been working on my rock garden some more. When I turned over a rock to bring it down the hill yesterday I found this black widow spider. I did had on gloves. But I did not let her live. 

 Then there is Kit Kat just because he is so handsome. 

And…They’re Gone

Remember back on July 2nd we had 4 tree swallow babies. 

I ended up not putting the Birdfy camera back in the nesting box because I had found an ant nest in it. 

Apparently, ants are not particularly good for electronic devices and it had stopped working.  I think it is still under warranty so I need to make a call about that. 

Anyway, there has been a lot of activity at the bird house the last few days. 

There were definitely four still on Friday. 

But Saturday looked like only three. 

Today I checked and they were gone! After seeing the first batch of six all die I was trying to not get my hopes up too much.  I’m glad I could witness this success. 

The Sea Turtle Hospital

As promised, here is a little about our trip to the sea turtle hospital.  They have a volunteer lead tour every 10 minutes. 

The volunteer we had was very perky and passionate about turtles.  

She lead us through several exhibits with some hands on displays. 

Then we got to see the turtles.  There were not many current residents.  Google AI said they release about 100 rehabilitated turtles back into the wild every year.  But some of the rescues are not releasable.  This one is not able to dive.

And this one is blind. She has been here for 19 years.

Most seem to have wounds, either caused by nature, boats or fishnets and fishing line.

 It was a very interesting tour.