A deer appearance

October 18, 2021 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

It’s been a while to see deer in the trail cams, but this morning, I saw a whole bunch!

These were the first to come by.

It’s really hard to tell, but there is a third deer on the other side of the fence. They like to slip between the barbed while in this spot.

The little one nearer the fence, which would have been born this spring, went through, but the adult in the foreground ended up waking off towards the driveway.

Then this guy showed up…

A handsome three point buck!

What a catch! I rarely use image enhancement on my photos (mostly because I don’t know how and don’t care enough to learn), but I did use the auto fix in my software on these ones, so you could better see the deer jumping the fence.

The “light” behind him is actually a reflection. That’s our driveway marker, which shows up in the infrared flash looking like a bright light.

In previous years, we would be buying deer feed and including it with the bird seed at the feeding station outside our living room window, but with our mild temperatures this year, there has been no need. We’ll probably start supplementing them once there is snow on the ground that stays. Which may not be until mid-November, if the long range forecasts are right!

The Re-Farmer

Not a happy critter!

July 21, 2021 / Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

While heading back and forth between garden and house today, passing by the hanging bird feeder, I kept disturbing woodchucks, eating the sunflower seeds on the ground. I saw all four of them today, including the little one the girls had told me about. A few times, there were two of them at the bird seed at once.

Usually, they’d run off into the spruces, or under the garden shed. Then one of them decided to run along the back of the house, where we still have a row of various things used to hold the insulation we put around the based of the house in the winter. We just kept forgetting to move them. :-/ The little bugger decided to hide in the ceramic chimney inserts, running from one to the other, then back again. I didn’t want him using the house as a place to hide, so I tried to get him to go elsewhere, but he just wouldn’t leave the inserts.

I got close enough that I could have touched that angry looking face (not that I would have!), and he still wouldn’t run off! I finally had to get a long stick and basically shepherd him along before he finally ran to the garden shed.

Of the various woodchucks we’ve seen, there’s just the one that tends to freeze in a sort of panic mode, rather than run off like the others. He was especially unhappy that Nutmeg was with me. Nutmeg completely ignored him and kept trying to rub against me to pet him, even when the woodchuck tried running his way, saw him, froze and started to… growl? I’m not sure how to describe the noise it made!

Among the things I’ve read to use to keep woodchucks from eating the garden is to scatter cat hair around the plants, because cats are their natural predators. Which I find hilarious. The woodchucks are bigger than any of our yard cats! They also seem to get along just fine. I even saw a woodchuck drinking from the water bowl we have by the junk pile for Butterscotch and her kittens.

Cheeky little buggers.

Also… just look at that hand in the photo!!! :-D

The Re-Farmer

So many deer!

April 7, 2021 / Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

The deer are out in full force!

We’re actually seeing a lot more than usual, for this time of year. Particularly at our main gate. With how dry this winter had been, I suspect they are hunting for water sources.

These ones were caught on the trail cam a couple of evenings ago.

Can you spot all six of them?

There was a seventh one, but it jumped the fence on the far side of the gate before the last three reached the road. They won’t jump the gate, though they are clearly curious about it. They much prefer going through, or over, the barbed wire fence.

This next image was captured just this morning.

The arrow points out the second deer going through the ditch. In the video file, taken after this still shot, a third deer is seen in the trees in the background, jumping the fence from inside the old hay yard. Not far from there is where there is an old dugout that would normally have water in it, this time of year. Which is why I think we’re seeing more deer because they’re searching for water. There isn’t even mud there right now. :-( There is an old dugout on my brother’s property, across the road, not far from his gate. I suspect there isn’t much water there, either.

An interesting thing I’m noticing about the new trail camera. The camera’s internal temperature readings can be very different from the ambient temperature. For example, in the second photo, it reads -8C/18F Our overnight temperatures did not get that low last night.

The Re-Farmer

Morning smiles – and a surprise!

June 3, 2020 / Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

When visiting the kittens this morning, I was viciously attacked!

By a Nicco! :-D

Saffron has one eye that is a bit gooby, so I took the time to clean and medicate it. Then, after they’d all had a chance to devour some wet cat food, they all went after my legs!

They are tearing my clothes to shreds. :-D

Also, they really, really like my shoelaces.

Even Beep Beep got in on the action!

For a cat that has spent her entire life outdoors, she is really taking to this “inside” thing – and having access to people to cuddle!

Later on, while checking the trail cam files, I found a lovely surprise.

Other than discovering that FedEx made a delivery after we got home yesterday, and left a package shoved into the gate. I never even saw it, when I did my rounds! If I hadn’t seen the video, I would never have known until this afternoon. I was expecting it to come in the mail, tomorrow.

No, it was this surprise that really made me smile.