You are here: Home / Archives for Wildlife

Dear Twins

July 27, 2010 By Judy

Dear Twins:  How are you?  Hope you’re having fun!  Oh, wait . . scratch that!

It’s deer twins:

For the past three years, there have been twin fawns in early summer.  These were the ones born in 2008.  The ones born in 2009 have a lot of time in our back yard and they are always together.  This is a picture Chad took of them in early June.

If you look very closely at the one on the right side of the picture, you can see that he is just sprouting some antlers.  Chad was so excited to see that because that means . . he is a buck!  Men like being around other men, you know!  Seriously, we can’t shoot in the city limits and I doubt Chad would shoot this one anyway, since we’ve almost raised him from a baby.  If you think otherwise  . . you probably know my son better than I do but don’t tell me, ok?

This morning I was out very early, and there they were.  Up until a couple of months ago, we could almost walk right up to them but as they’ve gotten older, they are more skittish.

This was the best picture I could get of them together but look at those antlers!  6 points already.

Over the weekend, we saw new baby twins.  They weren’t much bigger than large dogs and they were playing and jumping and having the best time.  It was one of the few times I didn’t have a camera with me.

Chad is so anxious to see the babies and get a closer view of this little buck so he set out a salt lick this morning.  (Notice it matches his clothes!  We’re like that around here . . yep . . everything has to match — especially when it comes to the guy who wears the green shirt, navy shorts and purple crocs.)

And he set up the trail cam.

And now, we wait for those perfect pictures!

But, I’m going to sew while I wait! :)

Tagged Deer, Wildlife Filed Under Home & Garden 7 Comments

Trapped!

July 8, 2010 By Judy

We mostly catch critters at night so in the mornings when I go out to tend to the chickens, I’m always halfway afraid to see what’s in the trap.  I guess my biggest concern is we’ll catch a skunk.  One morning this week there was nothing in the trap so I just left it alone.  About mid-morning I went out to get eggs and noticed the trap was sprung but couldn’t see what was in there til I got right up to it.

Not exactly the chicken eating, garden destroying type critter I was trying to catch!  Could someone please let me outta here?

Those nosy chickens!  They’re watching every move I make and wanting to know what was going to happen to the turtle.

I let him out

And he took his sweet time about walking away.  That’s how turtles move, you know . . slowly!  He’s probably stuffed since he ate a ton of the marshmallows, which is what I use for catching raccoons!

Of all the things I expected to catch in the trap, catching a turtle never entered my mind.

Tagged Havahart, Turtle, Wildlife Filed Under Home & Garden 10 Comments

More Trees to Plant

July 6, 2010 By Judy

Friday afternoon Vince and I put on our boots, sprayed ourselves with tick spray and went to check the crab apple trees.  They weren’t ready yet.  The lady up at the apple orchard had told me she’d have some for me last week so we drove up there and she hadn’t picked them yet and wouldn’t let us pick them.  She said to come back next week but I’ve driven up there twice when she told me to come and I give up on her.  The ones in the woods will get ready within a few weeks and I’ll get some of those.  I doubt the deer will eat them, they’re so blasted sour, but there are so many back there, I don’t think the deer will get them all.

On our way home from the apple orchard, we stopped by the home improvement store and they had all their trees 40% off.  While this isn’t the best time of year to plant trees, they’re guaranteed for one year so if they don’t make it, I’ll just get some replacements when it is a better time to plant.


We got a crab apple, a plum, an apricot and two apple trees.  We set them out back so we could water them really good and went about our business and forgot all about those pesky deer who came right up and munched all the lower leaves off the trees.

So, for now, til Vince has time to dig holes and build fences around them, they’re inside the fenced garden area, where they’re hopefully safe.

And, speaking of the garden area . . look at these tomato plants.  They are loaded!

My chili peppers are beautiful too!  They’ll get dried, along with ancho peppers that are in the other garden and I’ll make a chili powder blend from them.  Aren’t they so pretty . . bright red against the bright green?

I love my gardens!

Tagged Chili Peppers, Fruit Trees, Wildlife Filed Under Home & Garden 8 Comments

Leaping Deer

July 4, 2010 By Judy

I had put a zoom lens on my camera a couple of weeks ago and Chad had it out trying to get shots of the deer.  These two deer hang out in our yard so often that we can get really close to them.  They don’t even run when we walk too close to them.  They’ll just take a few steps away from us and keep watching us.  I think the little buck is telling the doe . . there’s those crazy people with the camera again.

But sometimes there’s a third one with  them and she isn’t as used to seeing us.  Chad got pretty close to her and when she saw him, she took off.  Love the way he caught her with her heels up in the air.

Almost every day the deer are out in the yard but so far, they haven’t figured out how to get into my garden or to my cherry trees.

Tagged Wildlife Filed Under Home & Garden 10 Comments
« Older Posts