Uh Mom...there's a snapping turtle in the canoe

One of the many details of the aftermath of Calvin's Party was that a canoe and a kayak had been left, upside down, in the pond. No big deal, they would not sink and could be retrieved on a hot day. Like today.

Calvin and Mr. Attitude were doing just that, when Mr. Attitude interrupted my tomato planting. "Mom", he announced. "There's a big snapping turtle in the canoe! Come see it!"

Of course I grabbed the camera, thinking "bloggable moment!" But I also knew that the real question was "Mom, can you get that snapping turtle OUT of the canoe?"

Hmmm...yes...a medium size, but no less vicious snapper. The kids know that I regularly wrangle with snapping turtles as part of my job. Only this one was easy, it was not in the wrong part of a one-way net. All I had to do was grab it by the tail.

Of course, it protested. I held it long enough to take this photo, then I released it into the pond. On second thought, was that a good idea? We swim there...But I don't think it will be a problem...I hope...

I stayed to help bring in the kayak, and surprise! There was a large painted turtle in there! They must have liked the cave-like cover of overturned canoes.

garden visitor

This picture was taken by the kids the other day. The nerve, to be so close to my garden beds in broad daylight! I think she may have even snacked on some lettuce or kale. Some kind of protection is definitely in order.

I spent the day hauling composted horse manure from a pile out towards the pond to the garden beds about 100 yards away, then working it in with the Mantis. I didn't get all of the beds ready for planting, but I'm getting close. It started raining about 3:30, which was a good quitting time. While I was hauling one load, I picked up a red bellied snake for the kids to see. It is temporarily residing in the former turtle-quarium. Temporarily is the operative word here. :)

northern prairie skink

We have a new addition to the list of Wildlife Known To Inhabit Sand Creek. Which is always good. Hooray for biodiversity!

Starflower and Mr. Attitude found this little lizard hanging out by the pond yesterday. The photo is larger than life; the red jasper stone in the upper right hand corner is about an inch long. I don't know how they managed to find something that small! But then again, these kids are no strangers to critters of all shapes and sizes around here. They thought it was a cross between a snake and a salamander at first.

I did not even think we had any lizard species around here. The northern prairie skink is one of the only, if not THE only, lizards found in Minnesota, and I think we're at the northern extreme of its range. But to see such a little one suggests that there are more, and they are reproducing.

Once again, the photo credit goes to Starflower. I have pretty much relinquished my Canon Powershot A520 to her, while I'm using the Kodak EasyShare Z740 more lately.

Spring training

This made me smile when I uploaded it this morning. If you have your sound turned on, you can hear Sally bark and hear the crack of the bat.



On a sad note, Starflower's pet rabbit Cocoa died last night. Cocoa was the rabbit who had an eye problem last summer. Her eye never quite returned to normal, and I think it may have been bulging due to a tumor underneath. Cocoa had been losing weight recently, and last night she looked very listless. Poor thing.

Getting ready for w...wi...win...oh, I can't say it yet

Today was Turtle Freedom Day. The six painted turtles, which the kids had caught on various occasions and which we had kept in the aquarium in the cabin all summer, needed to prepare for overwintering in the pond. We found last year it's not good for a turtle's shell if it is kept in an aquarium over winter.

The turtles seemed unfazed by the cool water of the pond; they all scrambled happily into the water to be wild turtles once again. That is, until they are caught next summer on some turtle catching expedition.

Of course, any time there is a walk to the pond, there is Sally. And a few recollections of the summer's good days at the pond. Note the water level; it's as high as it gets.

I got a bit of work done in the garden, including mulching my blueberry plants, above, with a generous helping of pine needles from the white pine near the bed. I have never done that before, but it's supposed to be good. I also brought some newly unearthed rocks and arranged them to start the edge of what may be my lingonberry bed next year.

I have been digging in some of my garden beds, trying to remove the thick layer of weeds before winter. I have six beds done; I don't think I will get to all 21 by freeze up. But anything I do is more than I did last year.

I kept pausing to look at the tamaracks behind the house. Their golden needles were especially beautiful against the sapphire blue sky. But weather is an ever changing thing here in Minnesota, and tomorrow promises to be cloudy, rainy, gloomy, even perhaps snowy?

NO!!!!! I'm not ready for this!!!!!

Azamat the Toad

Biggest. toad. ever.

(so much for an enlightened, thoughtfully written post!)

the culprit

This is the guy that stung me. Anyone have any ideas as to identity? Sorry about the blurriness; I'm really beginning to dislike my Canon Powershot A520's macro focus. Or could it be user error? Naahhh...

Update: Why didn't I think of Googling before I posted, rather than after? It appears to be an Io moth, and now I realize I have seen many adults on my cook shed screen door this summer.

I nailed it, and a bat story

We installed locally harvested and sawed pine flooring in two rooms on Sunday. We are fortunate to have a source for this flooring, which turned out to be cheaper than just about any other option, and very good looking as well.

In case you're wondering, they still do make square cut nails. If you need a source, you should be able to read the Web sites in the otherwise very traditional looking nail box above.

We went through two boxes of these nails on Sunday. Chris and I were the nailers, while The Hermit and Calvin sawed floorboards to the proper length. Since these were old fashioned nails we were using, there was no chance of using an automatic nailer to do the job. Every one of those ten pounds of nails had to be driven in by hand. I have the blisters and sore knees to prove it.

Here is Calvin's room, just a layer of floor finish away from moving in! I think the flooring has so much character, especially the rows of nails. I'll remember every one.

And here's an update on the exterior stain. It's coming along, and it's time for scaffolding to finish the rest.

We've been sleeping beneath that upper window for nearly a month now, on king sized air mattresses. It's been comfortable and restful, mostly, except for Sunday night. I was tired from seven hours of floor nailing, and after dinner I wanted to head straight to my bed in the loft. But as I settled in I noticed the fluttering of wings near the balcony. BAT!!! Great. I was tired, getting cranky, and I knew it would be difficult if not impossible to remove a bat from the house, and sleeping with a bat indoors was not an option. I ran to the backyard of the cabin to fetch a tennis racket, always a good bat weapon.

Alas, a tennis racket is no match for a bat in a house with a cathedral (or at least Minnesota Lutheran church) ceiling. There is too much high, open space. After fetching a second weapon, a twelve foot stepladder which at this point I have no idea HOW I managed to get in the house, The Hermit presented a third weapon: a long 1 x 6 board. The bat was perched high up on a window frame, and somehow I managed to pin it against the frame with the board. I pushed as hard as I could. I hope you realize, bad as I feel about it, there was no way I could get this creature removed from the house alive.

I felt a slight crunching, then somehow the bat managed to escape and fly across the house into the bedroom. The place we sleep. I saw it go down. Starflower and Mr. Attitude were in one bed, with the covers over their heads as I had frantically instructed them. I walked across to the bedroom, searched the floor for about five minutes, when I heard a scream from Starflower:

"It's HERE! In our bed!"

I looked, and sure enough there it was, not moving much but definitely in their bed. The tennis racket was within reach so I grabbed it, swept the bat onto the floor, and proceeded to crush the remaining life out of it. The Hermit took it away in a rag. It looked so small, so harmless. I felt bad for killing it, but I know they often carry rabies and I just can't abide with flying creatures in my sleeping space.

I'm done with my big project at work. I'll try to post the highlights tomorrow.

update- the not so expensive rabbit after all

First, thanks for all the good bunny wishes. Good news- another vet at the office got a chance to look at Cocoa, and she thought it may just be myositis behind the eye that's making it look bulgy. So instead of surgery, we got prednisone drops to put in the eye for a week. Hopefully that will take care of the problem. I think the eye looked better this morning even before the drops were put in.

the expensive rabbit

For the most part, the rabbits have been low maintenance pets; just give them rabbit food and water, and some fresh greens now and then, and they're happy.

But early this week I noticed something wrong with Cocoa, Starflower's rabbit. Its right eye was bulging out and the eyelid was red. A little pinkeye, I thought, maybe it will go away and I can avoid a $45 vet visit. But today when the eye was still red and bulging I decided maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to give the vet a call. Come in for a $45 visit and get the $5 eye drops or whatever.

The first obstacle to that plan was finding a vet who worked with rabbits. One would think, in a rural area like this, vets would come out in the middle of the night to treat an eggbound chicken. Nope. My first call was to the local vet ten miles away, who has spayed and neutered a few of our canine and feline companions and euthanized one. I set up an appointment with the assistant, but she called back about half an hour with the news: "Dr. Vet does not see rabbits." Okay. Maybe she will not see any of our other pets in the future, even those that are her preferred species.

Next I called a clinic in the next nearest town, twenty miles away. "Do you see rabbits?" I asked. "No. You could try Cloquet." 45 miles away. So I called. "Do you see rabbits?" "Yes we do! But...we can't get you in till Monday. Two of our vets are on vacation. But the Moose Lake clinic does take rabbits."

"I already tried them, and they said no."

"Did you call Arrowhead Lane clinic?"

"Yes."

"Oh, call the OTHER one!" Little did I know the small town of Moose Lake, MN supports two vet clinics. I called the other one, asked if they saw rabbits, and the receptionist said she'd ask the doctor. She came back and said "Yes, but he says he's no expert on them, he'll probably be reading the book while he examines it. We can get you in at 4."

"Good enough", I said. At least he was willing to give it a try. Conjunctivitis isn't that hard to diagnose, I thought.

So we arrived at 4, and the vet was actually at the front desk waiting for us. A younger guy, and obviously enthusiastic and eager to help us. We went into the exam room. They ruled out glaucoma, did some X rays (cha-CHING!) to rule out a tumor, then he came with the news:

"It appears her eye may have been pushed out of its socket." Ugh. Poor bunny. POOR BUNNY! But bunnies are great at hiding things like that. They try to go on with life as usual.

But there is hope. He consulted with a friend in Wales who apparently is a rabbit expert, and he can put the bunny under anesthesia (cha-CHING!) and attempt to poke the eye back in. Ouch. But what are the alternatives? Surgery to remove the eye, euthanasia, or nothing. I can't do anything but the best for Starflower's pet bunny. Sigh.

So I'll be bringing Cocoa in at 7:30 AM for eye-poking surgery. Please pray that all goes well! And thank God it's The Hermit's payday Monday.

garden cheating

Now tell me, is this fair?

my tomato

his tomato

I have been growing tomato plants from seed since March, and the seedling in the top photo was one of the healthier ones. Maybe three inches tall. I didn't have the space to transplant them from their cells, but you'd think they could have grown a little bigger! I planted a bunch of them out in the garden on Sunday, and of course not all of them survived.

So into the picture is The Hermit with the monster tomato he didn't grow, he bought it from the garden center. That sucker already has green tomatoes on it! I don't know why I even bother growing from seed sometimes. Oh well, next year will be better, in the new house.

And, as long as I was posting, I had to get this photo in. Aren't "gray" treefrogs the cutest? And you may ask yourself, how does that tattered cook shed screen keep the mosquitoes out?

Actually, it doesn't.

morning at the feeder

you may want to mute the audio, unless you like hearing the TV in the background and an occasional exclamation from Mr. Attitude.

The wind is howling out of the northwest this morning, adding an extra bite to the frigid air. As I sipped my morning coffee, the bird feeder and the ground below, where I had scattered extra sunflower seeds, were a constant hub of activity. Pine grosbeaks, redpolls and goldfinches would descend one by one from the branches of the dead spruce (the "tree of life", as I like to call it) to the feeder or the ground, then some unseen cue would send them all flying back up, then once again the birds descended. While the finches engaged in this dance, the chickadees flitted to and from the feeder, each independent of all the others.

I am enjoying a quiet morning at home. The Hermit took Mr. Attitude to Wal Mart, and Calvin and Starflower are at friends' houses until about noon. So I'll sip some peppermint tea and play some banjo, or maybe get the guitar out and sing. I have laundry to fold, but that can wait. :)

Mr. Attitude found one of our turtles, which had disappeared from the aquarium, alive and crawling on the floor this morning! We put it back with the other turtle and The Hermit has a cat-proof aquarium cover on his shopping list.

UPDATE- When I was driving to pick up Starflower, I saw a bald eagle AND a rough legged hawk flying above my car at the same time! Is that a blessing or what?

random happenings

I must be suffering from Midwinter Blog Writing Freeze. I think the lack of sunlight affects my motivation and ability to compose a thoughtful, coherent post. But the sun is shining, and the south facing office is full of natural light, so I better seize the moment.

On Saturday I finally got the snow cleared off the pond for skating. Or, I should say, I removed about a two inch crust that was all that was left of the twenty inches of snow that had covered the pond since the weekend after Christmas. What happened to the rest of the snow?

When a heavy snowfall covers a layer of ice (assuming the ice is thick enough to support it), often the weight of the snow will push the ice down, forcing water up around the edges and through any cracks that may be in the ice. The thick blanket of snow insulates the water and keeps it from freezing solid. Dig or step down in the snow, and you will encounter a layer of slush between the snow and the ice. On large lakes where people are normally driving their vehicles on the ice this time of year to go ice fishing, the slushy conditions create a sometimes invisible safety hazard. On a small skating pond, it mostly creates a mess and dashes hopes for skating for the year.

However, it got cold enough, and the water seeped up enough to freeze solid beneath a snowy crust. It took a bit of physical force with the shovel sometimes to push through the crust, but I got the pond cleared. The ice is far from ideal for skating, but Mr. Attitude and I went out and made the most of it. It was Mr. Attitude's first time on skates, and he impressed me with his self confidence and ability to stay standing as he made skating-like motions.

I was already feeling the shoveling part that night when I could barely lift my arms. Ouch.

Our chickens (about a half dozen now) have been roosting outside the last couple of nights, even though this morning it was 18 below zero! What's up with that? Are the geese not sharing the space? Yesterday morning as I was racing to drive Calvin out to the bus, which was early, I nearly ran over a Rhode Island Red.

This morning on the way to work, I saw something large fly across the road ahead of me. It didn't have the speed of a goshawk; even though I was inside the car and could not hear anything outside, the flight struck me as being "silent", if that makes any sense. I immediately thought "owl". Since I was on a low traffic gravel road, and no one was behind me, I was able to stop and locate where the bird had landed in an aspen tree about 50 yards into the woods off the road. Barred owl! I managed to get a good look with the binoculars and tried to guide Mr. Attitude so he could see it too. I don't know if he ever found it, but I was happy that he seemed as excited as I was.

happy critters

It was cold this morning; our thermometer, which tends to read cold, said 15 degrees at sunrise. So naturally, the kids were reluctant to bring the bunnies outside right away. Instead, they created the "Mini Lop Hotel". Sweet. The Hotel, by the way, is a doll house built for me by my grandpa. Of course I had to pass it on to my daughter.



Why do these sheep look so contented? Because they just spent the day outside, grazing on fresh grass, while we moved their pen. They were good sheep, not straying outside the bounds of home and yard. And now they have a pen that isn't so spongy with layers of hay and sheep droppings and rain. I was thinking, I could really get into being a shepherd; lots of time to think, and play banjo.

We also got the young chickens moved from the chicken tractor to the main chicken house, and I weeded a couple garden beds, then The Hermit moved four loads of dirt and composted horse manure from the horse enclosure. It was a farmy kind of day, and I enjoyed it.

Random moments

My stepson was here today, and now our (new house) roof is just over 3/4 protected from downpours. In a surprising twist, my dad said on the phone the other day he would like to come here one weekend and help with building! This is the same dad who came up here 13 years ago when we were building the cabin...err, house that we are living in...and helped finish the roof after The Hermit broke his ankle in a fall from the roof. Actually, I can take credit for most of the actual roof covering on this place. I specialized in it, in my day. But I'm not about to take on metal roofing on a 12:12 pitch. And I don't know if I want my dad up there either!

I've been doing laundry in the wringer washer again, for the last month or so, and hanging it out to dry. Sure saves a lot in laundromat fees, and I actually enjoy spending the time in my backyard instead of that beacon to the lowest common denominator that we call a laundromat. Today when I went out to the clothesline when I got home from work, I got there just in time to see a Cooper's hawk swooping just above the clothesline, chasing some some small unfortunate bird. It all happened so fast, all I saw for ID was a long barred tail, crow sized bird with bluish gray feathers. It took my breath away.

Speaking of taking my breath away, I woke up several times last night, gasping for breath. Dang it, I think I may have sleep apnea, or maybe some anxiety thing. My sleep has been a bit more disturbed in the last month or so, for some unknown reason. And I'm having some really epic, vivid dreams when I'm sleeping. Weird.

I'm within 75 pages of finishing my first 500 page book in a long time. I think the last long book I read was "Prairyerth" by William Least Heat Moon. I don't even think I finished that one. What I'm reading now is "Collapse" by Jared Diamond. Fascinating stuff. He tells how various societies have made choices, or were the victims of conditions they knew not how to control, that led to their ultimate demise or success. I'm just getting to the good part, where he writes about how this all relates to our modern day global society. I really wish more college textbook writers would have his knack for telling a story, and for repeating the important points. Reading this book has been a real window into the history of human society for me. I especially liked his accounts of the Viking settlement in Greenland; I share some blood with the Norse.

I cleaned out the chicken house on Saturday; that is, after helping The Hermit clean out the composting outhouse. What a sh*t day, I tell ya! The composting outhouse really isn't as bad as it sounds; a couple months later, the stuff smells all earthy and nothing at all like a toilet. And, in the pile from last year, I found several very vigorous looking tomato plants. Few fruits, but they're giving it a try! So on to the chicken house...it is home to very few chickens these days, but in a week or so we're moving our chicks from the chicken tractor to the chicken house. There also reside within the fence three very mean, ornery Toulouse geese, whom I'm secretly wishing would be massacred by some predator. But if that hasn't happened in four years and two orders of chickens, it's not going to happen. So, I entered the enclosure, made a few threatening gestures with my compost fork, and they got the idea and left me alone.

The chicken house had not been properly cleaned out for over a year, so it was layers of scattered hay and chicken droppings. all dried out to create a fine dust that penetrated the air as soon as I started attacking the tough layers with the compost fork. I would take a deep breath of fresh air, go in, loosen all I could, go out and wait for the dust to settle, and go back in to shovel it out. Luckily, Calvin freely offered his help, and with two hands the job got much lighter. Did I say "freely?" Actually, it involved a bonus to the allowance. I tend to reward work that is initially offered up without an ulterior motive.

We were perhaps rewarded for that work tonight; there is a single baby chick in the chicken house! There is one very broody Buff Orpington hen who did not leave her post the entire time we were cleaning; I'm hoping more of the dozen or more eggs she's sitting on will hatch.

In my leisure time, I've been contemplating taking up the banjo. I love the sound of it, have been listening to a lot of Bela Fleck lately, and just think it's time for something new, musically.

So can a blog post get any more rambling than this? That's life, it rambles around from here to there.

Autumn is creeping in, and some bunny blogging

This is a maple in our woods. Seems a bit early, doesn't it? Actually, the trees have been turning since early this month, gradually giving up on having enough water to grow and carry on the functions of life. I wish them steady rains next spring. Anytime after our roof is done.



Awww....These are two of our bunnies in their outdoor pen where they spend the day nibbling on cucumbers and a bit of fresh grass and clover. I think the one on the right has got the "disapproving" look down already. "We disapprove of chicken wire!" The whole "disapproving rabbits" thing comes from Sharon the Birdchick.


And this (I think) is Cedar, the bunny not pictured with the other two. She (I think) was too tired to participate in a group photo. The other bunnies have names, Cocoa and Brownie, but I don't know which is which.

the bunnies are here

I'm too tired to post much tonight, but I had to get a picture of the kids and their new pets. We spent the day building an outdoor bunny cage, then went to the fair to pick up the wascal wabbits. While at the fair I got to see the tail end of a performance by Minnesota bluegrass group Monroe Crossing. I wish I had seen more; they put on a great show and I ended up buying one of their CD's.

It was a cool weekend, with highs barely topping 60, overcast skies, and occasional misty rain. It felt more like late September, so a big pot of beef vegetable soup with homemade bread made a warm comforting meal both Saturday and Sunday nights. I cut the tops off the garlic, coming up with seventeen pounds total, and cut the tops off the red and yellow onions and spread them out in the new house to dry a bit for storage. I estimate maybe forty pounds. Then I dug potatoes today, and although there were a lot of tiny tubers, I ended up with 62 pounds of usable spuds. I think a good potato, onion, and garlic soup is in order! I'll post more about the potatoes later; I need to get some pictures because the eight varieties I planted all have their unique qualities.

Back to work tomorrow. Where did the weekend go?

Critter House

Living in the country, I have found, leads to an inescapable conclusion: you become host to many critters. Especially when you have kids.

The above picture is the new Turtle Hotel, the ten gallon aquarium I found at the thrift store at the same time I found fellow blogger Gina. The turtles seem to like the increased amount of space per turtle, and we like being able to see them better.

I had also mentioned purchasing rabbit food. Long story, the kids rescued a baby rabbit from a cat, tried to keep it indoors, and perhaps inevitably, it died this morning. But The Hermit took the kids to the Carlton County Fair this afternoon, and for some reason I had a feeling they would not leave the fair rabbitless.

We are now the owners of three brown lop eared rabbits, which we are picking up Sunday. Add them to the cats, the dogs, the sheep, the geese, the chickens, the horses...oh wait, yeah the turtles.

So...I've never been a rabbit person. I just don't understand keeping rabbits as pets. I know there are a lot of you rabbit keepers out there, so please tell me: What do you like about rabbits? Any hints for rabbit keeping success? I guess we have two boys, one girl, and we're supposed to keep the boys apart so they don't fight, but if we have a girl that means baby bunnies in the future...unless we keep her away from the boys...I'm so new to this!

Morning temperature 32 degrees. Frost damage in the garden, although I covered a lot of beds last night so that probably helped some. No month without frost here.

visit of the deer

Okay, so there's one gift I can be thankful for on this gray day. As I was sitting in the bedroom playing mandolin, or flute, or maybe guitar, I can't remember which, we were visited by several white tailed deer. Calvin saw them first, and we watched as they cautiously approached the house. They were three fawns, all young from this year, and they stayed for a long time just watching and listening. Maybe it was the music that drew them in here in the first place. Calvin asked why we didn't get out the deer rifle and blow them away; I responded as diplomatically and philosophically as I could, that I enjoyed seeing the deer and maybe I would want to eat one someday but for now I just enjoyed watching them.

Tales of feline heroism

Let me make this clear: I realize that bats are part of God's creation, that they are relatively harmless and eat lots of mosquitoes, so they are generally a good thing to have around. I like having them here, outdoors. The key word here is outdoors. Once one gets inside my living space, especially at night, I authorize all use of force necessary to get rid of it. Or, more accurately, I authorize my husband to use any means whatsoever to get rid of it, while I lie cowering under the covers. I have issues with flying rodents.

Last night, I had been asleep for maybe half an hour when I heard my husband say "Damn. There's a BAT in here!" Out of the corner of my eye I saw something fluttering and circling, too close, and I dove under the covers while spouse went to find a suitable bat removal tool. Since we aren't into tennis or badminton, the only thing he could find was the broom, a rather clumsy thing to swing at a bat with, especially in a very small cabin. He took a few swings at the bat in the living room, and then it disappeared for about twenty minutes. Bats are kind of frustrating in that they can hide in very small cracks and crevices when someone is swinging a long-handled object at them.

I was just getting the courage to peek out from under the covers when I saw it again, circling in the bedroom. "It's here!" I screamed and took cover.

"Open the patio door!" spouse yelled. Yeah, right. I'm going to get up, with a bat circling around my head, and open the door. Actually I don't even have to get out of bed to open the door, but that was too much exposure for a bat-phobe like me. So he went out the front door, around the house, and opened the patio door. Bat apparently was scared by this and left the bedroom. Spouse came back in through the front door.

It was then that I heard a little flurry of activity, a pause, then the sound of the broom hitting the floor.

"Got it! Right in midair!"

"Did you kill it?"

"No, Puff did! Leaped about three feet in the air and grabbed it!"

Puff is our blue eyed, cuddly, three month old kitten. Apparently he has some fine hunting skills in his genes. I believe this was his first catch ever. He has earned Spouse's utmost respect, and Spouse does not generally hold most felines in high regard. I am just grateful to Puff for allowing me to sleep in peace last night, without things fluttering around my face, although I am somewhat embarrassed that a kitten has more courage than me.