Thursday, October 02, 2008, 04:38
Observations For the Day
The Juncoes have arrived. I saw one out in the yard Wednesday morning. Juncoes are sometimes referred to as "snow birds." They come up around the yard in the fall and will stay until spring. They are so cute to watch while they are eating bird seed in the bird feeder. Like miniature gray/slate/black chickens scratching around.
I am dismayed to see that the west end of the hayfield is full of ground-level Yellow Rocket plants. I am hoping that they will not survive the winter. Certainly they will not have time to go to seed this fall, and with any luck at all, they will die out over winter. If not, I will have a lot of weeding to do in the hayfield next spring.
There is once again a buck scrape on the ground by the Box Elder tree at the end of the hayfield. There has been a buck scrape in that same spot for the past several years. The deer like to travel the fence line between us and the neighbor's palce. It would be fun to see what the buck looks like. I have seen a few deer beds around the edge of the hayfield, too.
The pocket gophers are digging at the edge of the hayfield. They are digging in the lawn, too, by the drainfield. Randy has been setting traps in the lawn. Nothing yet. Little Sister caught 6 or 7 pocket gophers this summer. I wish she would get after the ones digging around the edge of the hayfield and in the drain field.
The blue birds are here yet. And so are the robins. I heard them twittering while I was outside this morning.
The geese, however, are flying south in increasing numbers. I always think it is such a lonely sound to hear the geese honking as they fly overhead, going south.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 05:56
Rat-a-Tat BANG!
Whenever I am outside, I often hear . . . BANG! . . BANG! . . BANG! . . BANG!
It is the sound of acorns falling off oak trees and landing on the tin roof of the neighbor's garage across the road.
The trees have grown up now between us and them. Two box elders at the edge of our driveway. And a grove of aspen trees along the south fence in Isabelle's pasture. And pine trees along the road. And trees in their yard. I cannot really see much of the neighbor's place anymore.
But I can hear those acorns . . . BANG! . . BANG! . . BANG! . . BANG! The acorns start falling in late August and continue on through the fall.
And what can be more "fall" than acorns? Sometimes, when I am walking up the dirt road, acorns fall off the oaks there, too. So far I have not yet gotten hit with one, though.
I am feeling under the weather. Randy snagged a cold virus, brought it home, and now I've got it. Ho-hum.
LeAnn R. Ralph