surprise!

What a surprise!

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This time of year, we pretty much never see deer at the feeding station. If they’re coming by, it’s typically when we’re all in bed.

Except tonight.

My daughter happened to be in the living room, with the lights out, escaping the heat of the second floor when she glanced out the window to see this.

The other surprise is actually getting a half decent photo. We didn’t even try to use the DSLR; moving to adjust the settings for a night shot would have spooked the deer away, so this is just using auto on my phone’s camera!

You’ll notice the antlers look very thick and fuzzy. That’s because they are! I have actually never seen a buck with the velvet still on his antlers like this, before! (not counting photographs, of course)

I’m glad he was able to enjoy the seeds I’m still putting on the ground for the birds. Right now, I’m just using black oilseeds – a type of sunflower seed. The grass covers most of the seed on the ground. Not just grass, though. With the rain we’ve been having, there are quite a few sprouted sunflowers in the area, and I can see quite a few other things growing from the mixed bird seed I’d used before. I’m pretty sure a lot of the grass in that area is actually oat grass, too. The birds can get through it to reach the seeds well enough, but it would take more effort for a deer!

Of course, the deer can graze on the seedlings, too, and I’m much rather he eats the sunflower seedlings here, than the ones we deliberately planted in the garden! :-D

What a majestic animal! I’m so happy he came by!

The Re-Farmer

Trail Cam bird

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I’ve been trying our trail cam out in different locations, with varying success. Of the trees in the area, some are too large for the elastic cords used to hold it in place, but I had smaller ones, so I tried different fence posts. Finally, I tried other tree that were smaller but were also growing at quite a bit of an angle.

I’ve since moved it back to where it’s been for almost a year, though the files I went through this morning are from being on one of those leaning trees. It had a bole I could use to level the cam out a bit. Unfortunately, I found it was a bit too close to get a full view of both the gate and the outside of the driveway. Plus, one of the fence posts was right in the view. It’s one of the posts that’s rotten at the bottom, so the only thing holding it upright is the barbed wire. The wind would shift it, causing it to trigger the camera.

I did get a very pleasant surprise, though!!

An excellent video of a bird that landed on the post! There’s a second one on the wagon wheel in the background.

The bird was digging into the rotten top of the post.

Where it found something to eat!

I look forward to when we can set the trail cam up at the feeding station by the house. I just love shots like this!!!

The Re-Farmer

Cat tales

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The kittens have really been enjoying their newfound freedom.

Yesterday morning, they all discovered the ornamental apple trees in the old kitchen garden. At one point, we have 4 or 5 of them in one, and 3 in the other, all at the same time!

All that running around is very tiring.

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10

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While doing the cat stuff this evening, kittens were getting into the old kitchen. When I put out wet cat food for them, I did a head count, to make sure all 9 kittens were accounted for.

I got to 10.

I counted again.

Still 10.

That means the orange kitten we thought was taken back by Rosencrantz or Guildenstern has been here with his sibling all this time, and we couldn’t tell it apart from the other orange ones.

Which also means all those times we did head counts for 9, we were missing a kitten and didn’t know it!

Well, I guess that means it’s eyes healed up fast, because none of the all-orange kittens have eye issues. Just the one tabby (whose eyes are much better today!).

That was rather surreal! 😄

The Re-Farmer

Critter of the Day: Surprise!

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While going outside to investigate some animal noises (the visiting toms were at each other again), my daughter and I were surprised by another noise.

A tiny, squeaking noise.

Coming from the old dog house.

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Window Frogs and awesome brothers

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My older brother unexpectedly came by today, and while I was outside with him, my daughter popped out to warn me that we cannot close the kitchen window right now.

We have a guest.

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It’s been sitting there for several hours, now!

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It is so CUTE!  I love my little green friend. :-D

A nice little surprise to add to a day with a much larger, amazing surprise.

One of the things that has been put on hold until the power is restored to the garage and barn is some work my older brother and his wife want to do in the barn so they can paint it.  So when my brother started talking about bringing over a compressor, I just assumed it was so they could use it in the barn somehow.  There used to be a compressor in one of the side sheds of our garage, and another in the barn, but both are gone – along with many other things, large and small.  Things have been disappearing for years, so even while my dad was still living here, my brother got into the habit of bringing everything he needed to fix things out here, because he couldn’t assume the tools and equipment he would need would still be around.

My brother ended up coming out to help our mom with something and, since he was so close and the compressor was already loaded in the truck, he came by to drop it off.

To my surprise, he didn’t want to unload it in the barn, but in the side shed of the garage.  This meant we had to move out the riding mower and a bunch of other things to clear the corner where the old compressor used to be, then he managed to back his truck in part way.  The space is just barely wide enough for the truck box, and my brother to still squeeze in.  I had intended to help at least somewhat, but I couldn’t fit.  I’m a fair bit wider than my marathon running brother! LOL  Which turned out to be handy, because I ended up being able to grab things for him from my side and pass it through.

Getting that thing unloaded was a huge job.  This thing is incredibly heavy!  But he got it in the corner and set it up.  Once he was able to, he moved the truck so I could come in, and he showed me various things about it, hooked up the hose and the new nozzle, with he had tested to ensure they worked (since we can’t test it here, until the power is hooked up).  He even drilled a hole through the wall so the plug could be passed through and plugged in in the main garage area, because it uses more power than is wired to the outlets in the shed.

At one point, we had to move things from the garage side of the wall, for access.  I have not done anything when it comes to cleaning and sorting the garage right now; we will probably work on that next spring.  So there is a lot there that I’ve never seen.

Including this strange thing with a hand grip, a long nozzle, and a hose.  I had to ask my brother, as I moved it out of the way; what is it?  Looking at it briefly, he said it was likely a torch.  Of the sort that was used to singe the hair off pig carcasses during butchering, though it could also be used for other things.  Very dangerous.  (At least it would be, if it were attached to a gas canister.)

So… It’s a flame thrower.

We have a flame thrower in our garage.  !!

Too funny!

As this was all getting done and he was showing me all these things about the compressor, I finally commented that I was surprised it wasn’t taken to the barn, since I though they were going to use it somehow when they cleaned and painted.

Oh, no, he tells me.  This is for me, in case we ever need to pump our tires.

!!!

I was totally stunned.  All that work to fix up the compressor, much of which was done after it was loaded into the back of the truck (it’s so heavy, it was easier that way), getting it out here, unloading it and setting it up, just so we could have a compressor, if we ever needed one!

I have the most awesome brother.

As we were talking about compressor, and how pleased he was with how little it ended up costing him to fix, I had to ask what a new one would cost.  One like this, he estimated about $1100, but the one that used to be there, he figured was worth about $2500.

!!!

On the one hand, I am so grateful for his generosity and amazed that he did this for us.

On the other, I am dismayed once again over the things that have grown legs and walked away over the years.

But now we have a heavy duty, industrial compressor, with working hose and nozzle (there are still hoses hanging on the wall, but some are missing their tips, and we’d have to test others to see if they were any good anymore; the good one that was being used, of course, is gone with the old compressor).

And I have the most awesome brother!

The Re-Farmer

Kittens!

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I did a walk around the yard, picking up the larger twigs and branches that have come down in the wind.  I was about to head into the house when Beep Beep came over.  Normally, she comes right over for pets, but this time, she wouldn’t let me touch her, and went along the front of the house, which has the door we don’t use.  Thinking she might be more comfortable and come over if I didn’t move too much, I sat on the concrete steps while she lounged behind a bush next to them.

Then she disappeared.

I couldn’t figure out where she went, until I heard a little mmmrrr?  behind me.  Getting up I looked around, then saw her peeking at me from between the concrete steps and the basement wall under the door.

I had no idea there was space back there!  Certainly not enough for her to come through on the side I was looking in.  I walked around and sure enough, there’s a larger gap on the other side.

She came out again, but wouldn’t come near me.  Instead, she lay down on the ground behind the bush again, so I sat down.

Then, suddenly, there were kittens with her!

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I dangled my fingers over the edge of the concrete for a bit, and the tabby went for them, then disappeared behind the stairs.  The tuxedo wouldn’t come close, but was curious.

I think there is a fairly large opening under the stairs.  Not hollow, but not completely solid, either.

I saw two kittens, but when Beep Beep was rolling around, giving herself a dust bath, later on, I could see that she had three lactating teats.  So there is probably a third kitten under there!

Now we just need to figure out where Butterscotch took her babies.  I am still thinking they might be in the threshing machine.

We will then have the “onerous” task of socializing them. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Good Moooorning!

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So my darling husband (picture me speaking with a rictus grin) cheerfully comes traipsing into the bedroom and wakes me up with a “so, are there supposed to be cows in the yard?”

What a way to be awakened!

No.  There are not supposed to be cows in the yard.

He had been hearing the cows mooing and thought to himself, that sounds awfully close.

Then looked out the window.

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That’s not good!

By the time I put my glasses on, they were at the opposite end of the yard, by the fire pit.  When I got outside, there were no longer any cows in our yard, but there were several just outside the barbed wire gate at the fire pit.

I closed the gate.

I could see from the gate the the electric gate at the cow fence was in place, so before we closed the other gates, I went over by the barn, where the second electric gate is.

Sure enough, the wire was down, looking like something went right through it, dragging it into the tall grass on our side of the fence.

That left us with the task of closing up the vehicle gate, and the people gate.

Problem.

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Yeah.  The pole was still there.

Moving a 30 ft pole is awkward, to say the least.  It wasn’t just getting it clear of the opening, but clearing the swing arc of the gate.  So there was a whole lot of rolling and pivoting, but it wasn’t enough.  He really shouldn’t have, but my husband was able to pull it a few feet away from the yard (yeah, I helped, but really… I wasn’t doing much) and it got rolled clear.

This is the first time we’ve closed these gates since we’ve moved here.

*sigh*

They’re broken.

On the vehicle gate, one side isn’t too bad, but had to be lifted to close.  It shouldn’t need to be lifted.  The other was off the top hinge and we weren’t able to put it back at the time (I will need to go back with a tool kit), but we swung it closed.

They are supposed to be able to latch together.

They don’t.

But we could at least sit the parts on top of each other and let gravity to the rest.

*sigh*

Then there’s the people gate.  I had been wondering why there was a bungee cord on the chain link fence.

Now I know why.

The latch parts don’t latch anymore.  So the bungee is used to keep it from swinging open on its own.

After phoning the renter and leaving a message for him (with apologies for calling so early), I went around the yard, just in case we missed a cow in the bushes or something, then went to see what was going on.

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There were 6 altogether; 2 cows and 4 steers.  The rest of the cattle were on the other side of the fence near the electric gate.

I decided not to try and get them out.  They can graze all they want and, at some point, they may well wander back towards the barn and join the rest of the herd.

Granted, the rest of the herd might end up on the wrong side of the fence, too.  But I’m not too worried about it.  They can keep our grass down.

Now.  I wonder if I can get another hour or two of sleep…

The Re-Farmer