The Beauty Of The Changing Seasons

Alrighty then....let the season Storms begin. Ne'er a dull moment, as I said.

I had a dental appt. this morning, of course a major storm was in progress. I got to the end of my driveway and heard chainsaws. Well....I am in a battle for firewood again this year, but I wasn't expecting to get it this way. LOL This large oak tree was on the road at my driveway. This pic is after we cleaned most of the big stuff off:

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I was lucky, 4 guys from a tree service company were on their way to a job. They stopped, (not a choice there) grabbed their chainsaws and cut it up enough that we could haul it off the road.
The city just north of me took a big hit and lost power. The sky over there looked as dark as night.

I got to the dental appt. just in time. I went back to the house afterward and my Pops was already there to assess it and he headed back to get his chainsaw and trailer so he could get the wood up to the house for me. He is such a great dude! My hero...my Pops. :)

So I decided to head on in to work and had a good show when some left over pizza was thrown out for the seagulls. A very brave squirrel ran into the midst of them and stole the pizza!

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That slice of pizza was almost as big as he was, but he got it up the tree. So cute.

Hope everyone is doing well. PeeJay...where U at? Is all well there?

:circle-of-love:
 
I love that kind of natural slice of life from the US. :thanks: Canna. More like that whenever you fancy, please. Now September's here, I'm seeing lots of the large, black squirrels again. One ran like an acrobat across the telephone line this morning. Terrific.

And yes, I've been wondering also :wood: PeeJay?
 
I know how to get PeeJay out and about. I've found a match for your lonely Preying Mantis!

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He is hanging out on the building next door looking for that special someone. Contact him soon, before he gets into trouble with the alarm company and gets locked up!

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Best regards and good luck from your "match.420" friends.

(just a joke mods)

:circle-of-love:
 
Mr Teddy said:
I love that kind of natural slice of life from the US. :thanks: Canna. More like that whenever you fancy, please. Now September's here, I'm seeing lots of the large, black squirrels again. One ran like an acrobat across the telephone line this morning. Terrific.

And yes, I've been wondering also :wood: PeeJay?
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Squirrels are such funny animals to watch, and quite the acrobats as you said. I've got black squirrels too, but they are very tiny in my area compared to the city dwellers. This is probably due to the amount of human food they get into. Where I live they survive on what nature provides.
Another storm rolling in......oh, what will this one leave behind in it's path? LOL
 
I couldn't find out much about the big black squirrels over here on the 'net. It's just full of UK scare press stories about how our lovely native red squirrels were over-run by your evil, American grey and now you're sending over your devil black one. :laughtwo::laughtwo::laughtwo: (But then, as we know, if the news media aren't frightening us, they're not doing their job. :))

Anyway, I say that's unfair. I say they're just better at being squirrels. :rofl:

Jolly good Mantis Plan to tempt out PJ. :bravo:
:Love: Mr Teddy x
 
Well, I didn't send any grey squirrels over there....I've got half a country's worth here. LOL Do the ears on the squirrels in your area have little "tufts" on the top of them Mr. Teddy?

I've got grey, red, black, flying squirrels...and I've got skunks with reverse colors. Some of them have a black streak and are mostly white or more cream color instead of the traditional white streak. It's really strange, I've only seen them a couple of times in the last twenty or so years here.

I've also seen badgers (they are MEAN critters), which some people mistake for Wolverines, and Minks and river rats are plentiful around my area due to all of the fresh streams and rivers. Every year I have trouble with River rats in my pond, they are actually called "Muskrats" here.

I also have Eagles and my favorite bird, the Red Tailed Hawk, in addition to Osprey and the ever present Mourning Doves (which I have successfully learned to call in during their breeding season).

The most exciting critter I have witnessed on my property was a large Bobcat who was hanging around my barn and chicken pens. I would see him at the edge of the woods just watching them during the early evenings. Never attacked them, the raccoon's were the chicken killers.

There's a general breakdown of critters around here. Geez, long winded tonight ....I am.

:cool:
 
gardenfaerie said:
OMG, I could never live there! All that killing and eating each other. It would put me in a coma. If I see a bird eat an insect it bothers me.

That does sound like amazing property, though.
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LOL, I'm thinking this would definitely not be the right place for you Victoria. There is a lot of "circle of life" that happens out here and you have to have a good strong stomach and be able to understand what you see (and hear) as nature's way and accept it. Had I been brought up in the city or any area that is not so populated with wildlife I would be the same as you, I'm sure.

:)
 
I also have this neurotic attachment with animals and life forms. I just cannot kill things with any comfort about it. Actually, as a Buddhist and a serious practitioner (who is NOT BUDDHA OR PERFECT), I have taken a set of vows and one of those is don't kill. Anything. So it's a big deal.

If I hear a mouse squeal I freak because I know it is entering a snake. I run in the house yelling waaa wwaaa waaa waaaa like I don't want to hear it and I don't listen! Such a baby. I know.

Put me in a city and I can strut next to anyone, of any color, shape, size, religion, sexual orientation and I am completely comfortable.
 
Well, I'm busy! Good busy. For one thing, I hopped on a scale a couple of weeks ago and was disturbed... I'm on a quest to lose 25 pounds of ugly fat that creeped up on me over the last couple of years. That means swimming 2000 yards five days a week. I've also been riding my bike in the bosque most mornings. A bosque is the riparian flood plane along rivers in the desert Southwest. It's a pretty place to ride, kind of flat.... You can go miles and miles. Since I usually post in the A.M. while I enjoy the morning coffee the biking has cut down on my posting. I've lost 8.5 pounds in two weeks, though. A view from the bosque path:

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Saw this roadrunner (beep beep) in someone's front yard on an evening walk the other day.

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There was a cool spider with a bright red abdomen on the watering can the other morning.

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And, a fun katydid on the window screen last night.

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My silly mantis just hangs out on the wall of the greenhouse. She doesn't ever go on the plants. Your mantis probably wouldn't be interested in my boring wallflower, Canna.
 
That is great to lose 8.5 so fast. If I put my mind to it, I lose pretty fast, also. Or at least I used to. I could stand to lose some weight I put on during my 18 hours a day of sleeping while needing 60 grams of fat per dose of treatment! That'll pack em on.

I have to say, the more you describe where you live, the more I'm interested in another look. It is so beautiful. The thing I don't like is how dry it is. It's even 2/3 drier than it is here in average rainfall. I'm already dried out!

But those mountains...and hills.
How is your son doing?
 
First of all, did I just see a squirrel in a tree with a piece of pizza holding it like New Yorka??? AM I seeing things?? :rofl: LOL

Secondly, good to hear from you brother PJ. Very nice pictures of the katydids and I think that spider is the Johnson Jumper, nice spiders to have around actually.

I have some pics to share from just a few minutes ago. M. and Fang doing there nature thing. :surf:

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:Namaste:
 
I agree...great pics from PeeJay! Good to know things are going well and congrats on the weight loss...send some to me, I will gladly take it. LOL The Mantis left the area, I think that judging by the color of it and the unsteady way he was moving that he was either drunk as a sailor or he was extremely old. :laughtwo:

And Lester, yes...that is a squirrel chowing down on pizza. ;-)

I love the pics of Methuselah and Fang. Methuselah should be labeled "Guardian of the Cannabis". What critter would mess with them with him at the helm?

:goof:
 
That 'bosque' is really something. Stunning. Thanks, PeeJay. I might consider exercise if the scenery was as beautiful as that. And as flat. :laughtwo:

AND you've solved a puzzle for me. THAT'S what we have around on the plants - Katydids. (And I thought it was just an album title).
:thanks::cheertwo:
 
So it's a wonderful afternoon, raining as if it will never stop raining and thunder bouncing off the cliffs like cannon-fire. Eeexcellent, Smithers. No watering for me today. We sat outside last night and watched dry lightening going from cloud to cloud, illuminating the whole gulf in electric pinks and purples. Whoever's putting on this show sure knows what he's doing.

In a dry patch this morning the sun came out with that special, clean light you only see between storms. The garden was already saying thank you as Mrs Teddy and I took a stroll. She took some snaps she thought you might like. Could this thread include the beauty in early autumn colour too, Canna? (OK, I know, you'll want it fall color. :laughtwo: You sensible spellers, you).

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And I'm pleased with the rockery I made where the border is baked all day. The Moses-in-the-Cradle have gone purple-crazy
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The Nazi Kittens From Hell that we gave succour to have decided to follow me everywhere. Meet Bingo:
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And Bootsie:
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Also I've been starting the autumn and winter veg this week, planting out the lettuce, broccolli and cabbages.
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Please help! My baby plant is 2 days old and her leaves are...oh, sorry, that's another thread. But I bet you all know how to tell if a melon is ready for picking. Please let me know. I have absolutely no idea. This one's been swelling rapidly for a couple of weeks. I don't know what the variety is so have no idea what the finished colour (color) is. :goof:

I do hope all is tickety-boo in your worlds.
:circle-of-love: Mr Teddy x
 
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