Everything is in Full Bloom

This is the time of year when our yard is most beautiful. The azaleas are in full bloom and the honeysuckle is very aromatic.

Fox Crossing

Firewood, anyone?

As you can see, our yard is looking more like a lumber yard after they took down the fallen trees. They still need to grind the stumps, and take down one more dead tree.

Another Deer

I didn't know deer came around that much. We counted the rings on the trees that were cut down to see how old they were, and we estimated a couple trees to be around 70 and 80 years old, and the largest tree that fell we estimated to be at least 100 years old, maybe 120 years old!

Disaster Strikes Backyard

Heavy rains which caused flooding in the yard, followed by extremely high winds, caused a huge tree to fall on our house on Monday! It fell on the tree I used to always have the camera trap on, and broke it in half. A few other trees had branches broken off or are leaning. Luckily it didn't cause much damage to the house, mainly it ripped off the gutter. We are having 4 trees removed that either fell, are dead, or are leaning. Hopefully it won't deter the wildlife from coming around. Our yard used to feel like it blended in with the park and now it is more open. The tadpoles are about the size of peas with tails. Hopefully they will survive tomorrow when the tree crew finishes the job, as the majority of the trunk is resting near the pond still. Luckily we weren't home when the tree fell, although I'm sure our 3 kitties were scared. It must have happened early in the day because they weren't acting scared when we got home, but it must have made quite a commotion when it came down. I had put my new camera trap on a different tree, and it came out of the catastrophe unscathed. The front yard also had its own separate disaster. Trees were touching the power lines which were sparking like fireworks, until a firetruck came and they shut off the power, right as I was about to post these pictures. The power was off all night Monday, and our internet connection was not restored til tonight.

New Views from Inside the House

Here's the new camera trap:

More Tree Shots

First Picture from New Camera Trap

This looks like a small deer. It's nice to finally have good quality pictures! Thanks, codger. By the way, the rat managed to eat the sunflower seeds in the garage, without getting its picture taken.

Fox Sighting!

It was 8 pm and I saw a fox crossing the street towards our house. He seemed to be looking to make sure no cars were coming. Where he comes from, I'm not sure. There is construction going on across the street and so he'd either have to be hiding somewhere til the coast is clear or just come running and hope there's no cars. So we ran to the other side of the house to look out the window to the backyard. He came trotting up the pathway, paused to scent mark an azalea bush, and kept trotting off to the park. He looked good, no mange to be seen. Unfortunately, I had just set my new camera trap up in the garage with some bird seed to try to get pics of Ratella (I give it a new name each time, depending on my mood). But now at least I know that if I put the camera trap on the old tree I used to, I would have missed the fox. So maybe I'll try a new tree tomorrow night and forget the rat, since the foxes are out mainly in April.

New Species Moved In With Us

I went to the garage to get in my car to go to the grocery store, and spotted a new species...I had thought we had raccoons in the garage based on the large dirty footprints on our almost new sofa which is temporarily there while we're doing some remodeling. Also, a finger was missing from my garden gloves which probably smelled of compost that the raccoons love. The other day I thought I heard an animal in the garage when I was leaving for work in the morning, but I looked around and didn't see anything. I thought it was a raccoon, but now I know what it was...a rat!!! Today I saw it scamper across the shelves, with its long tail. At first I was a little freaked out, but then I remembered, rats are nice people. I've started calling it Panya, which makes it seem more like a friend and less like an intruder. You see, Panya (not sure I'm spelling it right) was the only other rat I've known. Panya was our friend's pet rat, who used to sleep with her at night on her pillow. Unfortunately, my camera trap's flash doesn't work anymore, but my dad, a.k.a. Camera Trap Codger, has made me my very own camera trap, which I'm sure will give much higher quality photos. I'm waiting for it to arrive in the mail, and then hopefully I can lure Panya with some bird seed. Other things to note--I saw a hawk being chased by a crow the other morning. This morning we got a dusting of snow (although flowers are blooming), so I hope it didn't have any delerious effects on the tadpoles.

Baby Tadpoles Draw a Crowd

What are they doing in my yard?!
Ah, I think they see something in the pond...
It's baby tadpoles! At least I think that's what those black spots are. They aren't swimming yet, but they just cling to the edge of the pond and any surface they can find. They are very tiny at this point. They were eggs a few weeks ago.