The deep dark woods

On Saturday morning I was washing dishes and looking out the kitchen window when I saw what looked like a deer. Seeing deer is common, so I wasn't paying close attention until it lifted its head and had what looked like an elephant's trunk. What? Then it lumbered off into the woods, into that dark hole in the center of the photo. It was walking like a big cat, not a deer, and I noticed just before it disappeared, that the trunk was probably a dead fawn in the big cat's mouth. I clearly saw legs hanging down.

Of course I wish I had taken a photo, but a photo of a deer would not be all that exciting so I didn't even think to grab the camera. By the time I realized it was probably a mountain lion/cougar, it was gone. Other close neighbors have reported seeing this big cat around here, the size of an adult deer but shorter and stockier, but the naysayers say there are none in this area. I had posted my sighting on a local group on Facebook just to make people aware that there is at least one big cat here, and I got 150+ comments in the ongoing debate. (Maybe I enjoy a good debate now and then. Maybe I made a few of those comments defending my beliefs.)

As we have a large portion of our property preserved with a conservation easement specifically to encourage wildlife and to sustain the natural environment, I am in awe that we have these beautiful creatures here. But I must admit that I am also afraid now to go into the deep dark woods as carelessly as I have done before. I now have an even greater respect for Mother Nature.

Lillies for a day and tag-team hens

In doing a plant swap yesterday with my friend June, I discovered that I have 4 blooming day lily varieties, not the 3 that I thought I had. Each flower only lasts a day, but they put on quite a show for the few days they are in bloom.

We swapped some irises, columbines and bleeding hearts, and once these lilies are done blooming we may trade a few of these as well.

The bird in the chimney turned out to be a sparrow (I think). Chimney Man coaxed him (or her) out into a bucket, and escorted him outside where he flew off as if he had not spent 2 hot days inside my dirty living room chimney. Chimney is now clean and waiting for the next frigid July morning...

The chicken saga continues. Blond broody hen was bumped out of her nest box by Biely hen (a Bielefelder breed). I thought perhaps Blondy would lay even more eggs in the box next door where she is sitting, but when she came out for food and drink, I saw there are no eggs under her. She is still claiming responsibility for her babies.

The original 10 eggs, now under Biely, I think are down to 9, and should have hatched either yesterday or today if my calculations are correct.

I did one last chick check before going into work, and still none. I hope, for the sake of both of those hot, patient, broody mamas, that they get a few chicks for all their hard work. Not that we really need any more, but they are awfully cute, especially when mama(s) do the raising.

Blondy (left) and Biely (right) are playing tag team in trying to hatch those eggs

Trapped bird and the same bug (I think)

I was wondering why the cats were hanging out together on the ledge by the stairs this morning. Monkey almost always spends his days down here with the dogs, and Willie is usually too shy to come down here for more than a quick sprint into the basement.

And then I heard what they heard, a bird trapped in the chimney of the woodstove. Of course I don't really know what it is, and I hope that it is a starling or some other annoying bird, but either way I am not going to open up the chimney to find out. I am tempted, except the chimney sweep is coming tomorrow morning anyway (good timing!) and I will leave that for him to discover. And what would I do with a half-dead bird in the living room with 2 interested cats, and 2 very much interested big dogs?

So I was out walking one of those big dogs just now when I saw another dragonfly very similar to the one in the last post. I would think it was the same exact one, except this one has white wingtips, and the other one's were clear. Unfortunately with Cyrus leading the way, and it was windy, it was impossible to focus the iPhone.

I think this is going to be another good year for dragonflies. There were at least a dozen small ones and one little red one out front that I saw on the same walk. Maybe soon I will catch a better photo. They don't stay still for very long.

More bugs

I love when I look up the name of some exotic insect I have never seen before only to find out it is common.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_whitetail

According to my Google search and Wikipedia, this is the male common whitetail or long-tailed skimmer dragonfly.

The only common thing about this for me is that I saw one here yesterday (best pic I could get) and the same kind on Wednesday over at Colin's house about a mile from here while I was walking his beagle.

More chickens

In February 2018 we bought 5 heritage breed hens. In July 2018 one of our previous hens went broody and hatched 5 chicks. In August 2018 one of those heritage girls hatched 4 chicks.

This happened before as well, we bought 12 chicks, and then 2 of our hens went broody and hatched some more.

Should be lesson learned, but no, this year I couldn't pass up a bargain and bought 10 chicks through the mail. This must have been a signal to the broodies to get to work.

This blond hen is one of the remaining 2 chicks hatched here last year. She is sitting on 10 eggs. I guess this is a competition.

She is inexperienced at the egg-sitting thing and failed on her first try. I think a heat wave made the coop unbearably hot and she gave up on the 5 eggs after 2 days. When she returned that night, she went in a different box. So I tossed those eggs and thought she was done, but no, she's back and doing much better this time. She does sneak out for a few minutes every day, but it is warm enough that I don't think it will harm the eggs.

Only time will tell. Chicks should start hatching on July 25 if she does her job well.

July 13 is Flag Day

We didn't succeed in raising the flag for Flag Day in June, and we missed the Fourth of July, but we owe a huge thanks to Don on the Hill for making today Flag Day.

The flag pole is out front near where the trailer used to be. It was just begging for someone to put up a flag, but neither The Husband nor I had the nerve or the know-how to make it happen.

Only sorry I didn't get a pic of the extension ladder in the back of the truck, leaning up against the pole. I will let you guess who had to climb the ladder.

And did I mention we are right on the edge of a busy State highway?

Nothing in the sky but sky

No more Rorschach tests...see whatever you want in these endless pretty sunsets... The Husband thought the Woody cloud looked like a drumstick. 'Nuff said.

Continuing with the anniversary theme, here is the post from 10 years ago today.

http://lestersflat.blogspot.com/2009/07/anticipation.html

I missed my 10th anniversary!

I started this blog on June 20, 2009, on the advice of my friend Janet who said it would be a good way to keep everyone from asking me what was going on with the house in NY.

http://lestersflat.blogspot.com/2009/06/never-tried-this-before.html

My intention was just to do this as a way of documenting the adventure of building a new house, but once I got used to it, I enjoyed it. Plus it has turned out to be a good way of keeping track of not only the whole house-building project, but everything else that happens here, like when goats were born and who they belong to, and other interesting (probably to me only) details of our lives up here.

So you will have to forgive me if I do some back-tracking for the rest of this year and provide you with comparison posts from the same day so long ago.

Here is the post from June 20, 2019. Quite appropriate for an anniversary posting I would say. :)

http://lestersflat.blogspot.com/2019/06/i-heart-ny.html

And today's pic is of a bug I had never seen before, a "Beelike Tachnid Fly, Bombyliopsis abrupta". Females lay eggs on the bodies of other insects and the larvae eventually kill the host. They are considered to be important in controlling many insect pests.

This I learned on facebook from the Delaware Otsego Audubon Society.

Learning as I go. And still love living here.

Woody in the sky

'Tis the season for beautiful backyard sunsets. And now I have decided that it is also the season for finding images in the clouds.

I enjoyed the discussion on facebook about the chicken in the sky, and how no one agreed with me that it looked like a chicken. So I will make you look at my interpretation of the Woody head in the sky in such a way that you must agree with me.

Ha!

Just sorry I couldn't get a better profile pic of the WoodMan.

Chickens not in the sky

The little chicks are no longer little. I haven't seen another tiny egg to know if they are laying yet, but even if they are, they spend all day out in the weeds for the shade and rain protection, so I am not sure they know how to find the nest boxes inside the coop.

At least they willingly return to the coop in the evening with the big girls now.

One of last year's youngsters decided to go broody and sit on eggs. I was just thinking that every time we buy more chicks, someone here decides to hatch a few extras. But then the broody young lady got bored (and probably hot) and left the nest after only 2 days.

Also, the other day while walking Woody, I saw this small dead bird that I couldn't recognize. Turns out it is a woodcock. The local Audubon Society confirmed the ID, and said it was probably a domestic cat that got it. Woodcocks are ground birds and won't fly until you practically step on them. I knew we had at least one around here because of the sound they make. It sounds like something electric, a long buzz.