Wildlife seen in November

• 132 geese
• 14 deer

November's Backyard Birds

• bluejays
• cardinals
• chickadees
• downy woodpeckers
• goldfinches
• hairy woodpeckers
• red-breasted nuthatches
• white-breasted nuthatches

Photos you won't find in your Christmas card

Now give thanks and enjoy the Christmas season!

Well now that the pictures are over, time to get serious.

And this program keeps canceling what I type. I'm feeling discouraged now, and Grace wants to know why I'm not chatting.

I will summarize what my last attempt said, in the unlikely case that this information won't disappear.

I moved my steel traps from the water to leaning pole sets, in hope of catching a fisher, bobcat, gray fox, or pine marten. I used scraps from the slender young hare I caught last night to bait the sets. I hope to catch another slender young hare soon so that I can put them together in the crockpot and have some hasenpfeffer.

Mr. M said he would let me snare slender young hares on his farm, but that is several miles away and might be inconvenient.

Today Mr. B took me to his house to help train a hearing dog. Alvin (the dog) is getting the point, but he is really hyper. So I will be going to Mr. B's house for the next few weeks to help train Alvin.

I, clever little freak that I am, just thought of something. Since I will be going over to Mr. B's house on weekdays for a while, I could ask to snare slender young hares at his house. He walks his dogs on a long path through the woods, so maybe he could check my snares on weekends.

Found a niche

I've been listening to XM online lately. I find it quite ironic that my favorite station is "The Village". But alas, they play Heidi music. Here's an example, a song I just heard:

The Lilac and the Apple

A lilac bush and an apple tree
Were standing in the woods,
Out on the hill above the town,
Where once a farmhouse stood.

In the winter the leaves are bare
And no one sees the signs
Of a house that stood and a garden that grew
And life in another time.

One spring when the buds came bursting forth
And grass grew on the land,
The lilac spoke to the apple tree
As only a old friend can.

Do you think, said the lilac, this might be the year
When someone will build here once more?
Here by the cellar, still open and deep,
There's room for new walls and a floor.

Oh, no, said the apple, there are so few
Who come here on the mountain this way,
And when they do, they don't often see
Why we're growing here, so far away.

A long time ago we were planted by hands
That worked in the mines and the mills,
When the country was young and the people who came
Built their homes in the hills.

But now there are cities, the roads have come,
And no one lives here today.
And the only signs of the farms in the hills
Are the things not carried away.

Broken dishes, piles of boards,
A tin plate, an old leather shoe.
And an apple tree still bending down,
And a lilac where a garden once grew.

So creative, it's scary!

Overheard during a discussion of the impending Christmas Photo Shoot:

"I know, we'll all wear our jammies and climb into your bed. We'll change the bedding..."
"Yeah, to historic bedding. We'll have a picture of Abe on the comforter."

"We could all wear turtlenecks."
"Do you even have a turtleneck?"
"Well, no, but I have a hoodie I could wear..."

There were also references to ski masks, bubble wrap, the Green Dragon, kilts, and hula hoops. It's anyone's guess what we'll end up doing this year!

Comments

I've changed one of the comment settings. If you've had trouble commenting on my blog in the past, try leaving a short comment here. If it still doesn't work, email me at lowcloud at yahoo dot com and I will try something else.

Thanks!

10/20/30 Meme

I think I've been tagged by Mrs. *Nicklebee, as one of her faithful readers, to share what I was doing 10/20/30 years ago.

10 years ago, I was living in a tiny old trailer in Kentucky. I was rebuilding my marriage after two years of separation. I was praising God enthusiastically, and listening to Amish buggies driving by late at night. I was also discovering a group of Christian moms online, many of whom are still friends, and some of whom read this blog. (Y'all go ahead and leave me a comment!)

20 years ago, I was a complete mess. I was discontent with every area of my life in upstate New York. School was a bad dream, involving daily humiliation, both real and imagined. Home was a nightmare, as my father turned my world upside down. I was quite sure I wouldn't survive it.

30 years ago, I was living in a tiny old trailer, beginning to learn about Minnesota winters. I was breaking the habit of sucking my thumb in school, and hoping someone would realize I could read very well and take me out of the first level reading group with John, John, and Tommy. I was trying to remember APRIL in the list of months, and trying to get out of the lunch room without having to drink my warm milk.

How about you?

I tag... anyone who reads this blog and wants to be tagged!

First snow

We have beautiful, big, fluffy snowballs blowing this way and that all around us. The kids are SO excited! (Me, too!)
I love this picture. Not only is there snow, but now I KNOW there's an apple tree, a partially pruned lilac bush, roses, irises, and over a dozen peonies within this frame. The green plant under the lilac bush is still a mystery. It's got beautiful flowers and intriguing seeds. I might send some to my mom and see if I can talk her into trying to grow them. I think they'd look great by her decorative fence.

That'll teach 'im!

One of the roosters tried several times to attack me this morning.

My sons are great protectors and defenders.

Now I'm looking up yummy chicken recipes.

I was all set and ready for whatever

And a few days ago, when I was tending my traps, I saw the strangest thing near my trap. Was it success? Maybe. If you want to call it that, go ahead. Anyway, what I saw was a surprisingly large mound of pine needles next to my trap. I had to investigate.

I got closer and saw that my snare was empty, but looked like it had caught something. I pulled away at the pine needles out of curiosity, and what was buried under there was a headless rabbit.

I don't know exactly how the rabbit became headless. However, I have a very convincing theory. My theory clearly states:
1. At around 3:30 am, the rabbit smelled the apple I had used for bait, and carefully situated himself comfortably in my snare.
2. Suddenly, he remembered what happens to bunnies that get caught in snares, and began calling for help.
3. He heard something approaching. His plan had almost worked. His mommy had come to help! Only, it wasn't his mommy. It was Bob the Cat. She pounced on the rabbit and bit his head off, and went away to hit a cricket.

Well, it doesn't really matter now, because we ate the rabbit last night. Oh, let me tell you about supper. We had bubble and squeak, pork chops, applesauce, and hasenpfeffer (rabbit). That was good. I need to catch more rabbits.

Mom is cool for letting me plant garlic today. And while I was in the garden, I brought the dogs out and we played in the garden together. Our wonderful town does not allow dogs running at large, so we played in the fenced-in garden.

Mom and I went walking in the back of the property a few days ago, looking for a place to trap foxes, and we saw a bald eagle. She really is a cool mom.