Bird Refuge Photos Round 1

Of Skunks and Squirrels

and other weird animal experiences.

We have a squirrel problem.  They like to store their winter supply in the fan housings, on the batteries and just about anywhere else under the hood of our vehicles.

 This causes the dogs to try to climb up inside the Bronco.  They will also spend hours laying underneath or worse, chew on the wires and pull stuff apart to get to the squirrel.

 Last Sunday, Jasmin sniffed one hiding out in a siphon tube.  At some point it ran out of the tube, across the road and into the engine compartment of a tractor.  So, I called out Boyd and Buddy and they spent the next hour trying to get one teeny, tiny little squirrel.  Finally, with the help of a pellet gun and some starting fluid, Boyd got it out of the tractor and the dogs did the rest.  I would feel more sorry for the squirrels around here if they would just stop putting nuts in our cars and live on the other 89 acres of the farm and leave 1 acre for us.

 Boyd found this wasps' nest in the lawn.  They made a nice little earthen home, which Boyd drowned in starter fluid. 

 These geese and ducks get let out of their pen and spend the day in the canal in front of their farm. 

 Then at night they either return on their own or get herded back by the farmer on a motorcycle.

 Skunks!  Man, have we smelled our share of these guys lately.  One day Laura and I were walking and Jasmin found a skunk on each end of the walk.  She constantly goes after them and gets sprayed every time. 
When Boyd, the dogs and I went out to the Bird Refuge, this guy was walking around where I was standing taking pictures.  He/she didn't seem to be disturbed by me, so I kept snapping shots.  I just might be dumber than my dog !

Eyes Are Bigger

Than its' stomach.  I am sure you have heard that phrase when someone takes more food than they can eat.  Well, can you see the size of the itty bitty spider that has caught this huge wasp?

 And, not just one, but two big insects.

 Good luck with that!

Saturday is a Special Day

Recently, Boyd and I have been having lively "discussions" about getting a new vehicle.  Well, I just got to listen while he expounded on the reasons why I need to trade in the Edge while it still has value, I deserve to drive a nice car, and many more points.  He was right about them, I just didn't want to get rid of my Edge.  I just wanted to drive it till it died.  It is still in great shape even though it has 95,000 miles.

I agreed to go to the Ford place Saturday morning.  I wanted to find something that got great gas mileage and fit my huge body.  What I found out is that those cars don't exist.  I drove a Ford Focus and loved it.  It felt like I was driving an enclosed Moped and my back was killing me by the time we got back from the test drive.   Then we drove the new Edge.  I liked my old one better.  In the meantime, I had sat in a Ranger because for the last couple of weeks that was the car on my mind.  Our salesman mentioned that he would be getting a Ranger in on trade that same morning.  Well, when we got back from one of the test drives, there it was.  We took it out for a drive ourselves and really liked it.  It made a lot of sense as Boyd had been talking this summer about getting a Ranger as a farm truck.   I also traded in my Tacoma with a shell for the 07 F150 we now have.  That made the Edge the dog hauling vehicle.  Not a big deal, but I much prefer driving wet, stinky dogs in the back of a truck than the back of my Edge.  So,  we decided to go for it and get the Ranger and keep my Edge.  I will drive both to work and save miles on the Edge.  At some point in time, the Ranger will become more of a full time farm truck and by then I will hopefully be ready to trade in the Edge.  Seems crazy now, but I know this was the right purchase.  I told my husband that I would know the vehicle to buy when I saw it and lucky for us, it showed up on the lot!

 In between car deals, we took a side trip to the temple. 

 When we got the truck home, Buddy hopped in an stayed.  I think he missed the Tacoma like I did.

Back to Narnia

Since the safflower is off we can now get to Narnia.  Boyd knocked down a few trees and dumped some leftover stuff while planing the field.

 So, we took a little journey to Narnia.

 It seems by the look of the trees that we aren't the only ones who venture there.

 You can see that it is thick with weeds.  These guys stand around 8 ft tall.

 Somewhere in there is a Golden Retriever.

 Our rides and the view back at the house.

 Mr. Pyro was present and active as always.

 As was Mr. Psycho.

 Yes, you will be trespassing if you enter Narnia, even if you are the owners.    Someone, we really don't know who, posted this sign one year before the bird hunting started.  It is well within our property line, so they had to trespass to hang it. :0 
Give me a call if you want a personal tour of Narnia. 

Safflower Harvest

It's time to harvest the safflower and we already have a semi load full.

 It is actually very pretty all dried up.

 The little white seeds in the dirt are what we are after.

 And a view inside the semi.

 We will get docked for all the extra "stuff".

 But at least we are getting something off. Last year these fields were flooded.