New Life, the babies of the forest

It’s been a great time here seeing the new life coming forth. From the little black kitten that joined our family. To all the little babies that have been coming around with their proud mothers showing them off to me. I just saw a old deer friend tonight and she looks a bit thinner. I didn’t see the babies but I’m sure Momma Girl had her babies. There are other mothers having a hard time biting their butts because they are so pregnant. It’s been really hot here and the cherry’s are just about gone. The birds have gotten them. The turkey have been spending the days under the canapé of the forest. There’s an old road that was used before they put the power lines in that I keep clean. It was made some time around the turn of the century, that’s the 1900’s. I like walking along the old road and checking out the forest flower. The oak tree leaves cover the ground in parts of the forest and in other areas it’s nothing but pine needles. There are these reddish blue clover growing in many areas unique to that spot in the forest. There are some flower that look like they are backwards. The peddles point back while the pestles point forward. There is a unique bee that just pollenates that flower. There are so many pollinators in the forest besides the European Honey Bee. The other day I noticed a tree with flowers on it and bumble bees flying all around it. Under the bushes the deer like to lay down and rest and get out of the heat of the day. The bur clover are winning in many areas but I’ve turned to pulling them out by hand. A weed whacker just plants the seeds. It removes the plants but it removes all the plants that’s why I turned to weeding by hand. So far it’s been a lot of work but I’ve seen so many tiny plants under the tops of the small plants.

Here’s one plant that is just a couple inches tall that lives under the small plants. I don’t know what this is called but I’ll have to look it up. There was a real good web site I used to go to to find plants but it’s seems to be gone now. It was one of the best plant sites I have been to. It had great pictures of the plants. It gave you the Latin name and history along with the native American name and common name. In the Native American name it told you what it was used for and how it was used. I’d like to find out what the name is for the type sage I have growing because it brings in the Tiger Swallow Tail Butterflies. I haven’t seen them fly to any other plant but these sage plants with a bright red flower. The flower is too bright and covers a wide spectrum of light and doesn’t photograph like you see it.

 

Mrs. Pinky and her two babies.

The Big Bird, the leader of the group of 12 birds.

Mom and baby taking in the sights.

Look how pregnant my deer friend is. Her daughter looks so much like her and so does her son with the tiny antlers. Her older son by a couple years is growing a real large set of antlers this year. They look so much like his grandfathers antlers. Genes are amazing watching them being handed down from generation to generation. I’m so glad I’ve taken close up photos of all the deer's faces to see in the different families. It’s also amazing to see that wildlife expresses emotions. I’ve seen happy and sad faces. Young deer have friends they like to play with and they are so happy being with their friends.

Another grateful day in the forest.

My forest friends are on the porch and one is so tired. Little Miss Pinky is laying on the walkway sleeping. She is a wonderful raccoon who had three babies this year. She was born to Mrs. Nippers and her four other babies a couple years ago. I have to over turned stackable containers on the porch and the skunks will find their ways under them to rest and sleep. I’ll just see a tip of a tail sticking out.

My hands are dry from pulling weeds. There’s two type I mainly pull out. The bur clover and the weed that is related to carrots but has burs also.When I’m pulling weeds I pull up the tangled mess on the ground. The other day when I stepped out of the car I started pulling bur clover at me feet. I pulled more and more until I was near the sage plants. I don’t know what type of sage they are yet. I’m pulling up the bur clover growing up to and under them. I don’t want to take a chance with weed killer and not get the sage.

I have to cut down the thistles. There was several of them by the cherry tree and the path leading into the creek. I pulled the other weeds on the path to keep it clear for the deer coming out of the creek.

I was rubbing Tiggers belly, she really likes that when I found a could burs. I worked them out and continued rubbing her when I found a bmp in her hair. It wasn’t like a bur, closer to the skin. Sort of like knotted hair which I worked out and placed into an ash tray.When I looked closer it was a black tick. Flat and with wiggly little legs. I took a flame to it to make sure it wasn’t going to be crawling out. ticks are so tough, you can pinch them and the shell doesn’t break. They are tough like flees. I haven’t found many of these this was the first tick on Tiggers. I seen a tick on one of the skunks and a tick on Pinky’s ear. She really went to town on her ear and even split her ear really getting the tick out which was fat and sticking out. It’s legs couldn’t grab her ear so her head was the only thing latching on to her.

There was wet ground this morning at day break when I came out to feed the kitties. I found out later Mrs. Nippers was sleeping all day under the porch on the bed. I made a small frame with padding and carpet that sets above the ground so they would stay warm and dry. After making some noise on the floor of the porch Nippers woke up and walked off. Tiggers and Sprockets were checking out the little black male kitten. It didn’t want anything to do with them and let out a scream, Stay back she cried. When he saw me the mode changed and it was now a calm meow to me. Friend she meowed to me. I meowed back and she came up to me where I had a plate of Friskys and cry cat food waiting. The poor kitty is so scared because of the Rusty cat that attacked him a couple months ago. Ever since then he’s been apprehensive about other kitties.

I brought out a couple more scoops of dry food and a can of beef in gravy for the back porch. Everything was almost gone. There’s more food on the front porch for the night shift. I check the kitties, they were all sleeping on the side deck peacefully. I’m going to see if I can train them this summer to come in the house. I’ll do this slowly and let them come in at their own speed. I feel so sad for them in the winter time when it gets cold. I do have heating pads to keep them warm.

Well, another day comes tomorrow bright an early at 5 AM. Coffee and maybe oat meal before I step outside. So night to see my happy kitties in the morning. I’ll check to see if Nippers is sleeping on the bed. Buddy Kat has been sleeping in the cartons to stay out of any weather. Weeding calls for me tomorrow along with maybe some tools.

Not back all hunched over. Knee is in pain. Hip is in pain. Screws in hip from spine are pulling out. Neck feels like a spike stabbed into it. All en all I’m doing pretty good but slow.

Tiny, the rat tail skunk

Don’t know where Tiny has been but where ever it was it was a small space where it got it’s tail hair stuck on something. It did have a normal tail and it still a normal tail just without hair. I’ve got Tiny used to me and now Tiny comes over when I call. I can also pet Tiny. She’s a real scrapper and doesn’t care how big the other skunks are. She will let out a scream and try biting the other skunks. The other skunks just ignore her. I know now why they have such thick fur it’s so others can bite on them without feeling it.

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Mrs. Nippers

Mrs. Nippers a little better or worse for wear. This is what happens when you have five babies all at once last year. She’s a good girl and eats cookies with me on warm summer nights. I saw her babies last night traveling together. Momma Nippers is a somewhat friendly raccoon. She trust me to a point. No matter how good the raccoons know you they still look at you like a giant and they don’t want to be harmed by no giant. Momma nippers has a missing piece to her ear so Mrs. Nippers. Was great watching the babies grow up and watch Nippers teach the babies how to be a raccoon. She’s rather protective while she’s raising the babies and will give you a growl to tell you to stay away. The babies will run up the nearest tree for protection. It’s simply amazing watch them grow up and go off on their own. I’ve noticed that most all the animals live in one area and if you don’t see them every day then they are dead. I not sure how many years a raccoon can live but it has to be ten to twenty years.

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The Little Puppy

There’s my little Sprout coming to say hi. Her mother hasn’t shown up but was here yesterday. I’m surprised the shot came out as good as it did. I just set the distance because I couldn’t see anything through the camera, it was too dark. The gray foxes are just the coolest creatures. They have shown me how smart they are. She was a bit nervous when a deer came through. I guess something that much bigger then her walking around and worried about getting stepped on. My cats and skunks seem to get along fine with the foxes. The only ones that sort of give the fox some problems is the raccoons but they are bigger then the foxes.

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It’s Puppy Girl

There’s the Puppy Girl my fox friend who comes by most every night about 9 PM. After Puppy Girl stops by her daughter Sprout comes by. I can tell them apart by where they sit. They will sit for hours waiting for me to come out and great them. They seem to let every one else to eat before they come on the porch to eat. When I first saw the Puppy Girl I thought she was a kitty that had been hanging around because she was in the shadows and I couldn’t see her it was so dark out. I think I was going to get the laundry when I saw her. I pointed to the porch and said it’s okay. The Puppy Girl ran to the porch and started eating. I was amazed and so I stood there watching her. There’s three girls that come here all after 9 PM. Sprout will come the closest to me. She will come on the porch if I’m to one side. The new baby is a little shy but will sit on the steps waiting for me. If I toss them a treat they prance away until they get into the shadows then start running. It’s so cute watching them trotting off nice and happy. Another reason I thought it was a cat because they hop up on the cedar fence and walk down it like a cat. I need to rig up a camera outside with a flash. I can shoot from the porch but then I need a real bright flash. I have been using the flashes manually taking the foxes picture. It’s hard to get the frame in focus because it’s so dark. I want to get better photos of the possum. If I’m shooting through the door window I’m going to have to have the flashes on the outside. I have a couple TTL flashes and a couple flashes that plug into the wall that are pretty bright. It’s going to take a bit of planning and trail and error.

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Observations of Emotions

I was watching a porch full of skunks last night. Well not a porch full but three skunks on the porch and two skunks out by the water bowls. When I heard the two at the water bowls fighting. They are pretty good most of the time and don’t like fighting except when it’s about food. They always thing the other skunk that’s close to them wants to steel their food. So they make some noise to keep the other skunk away. The other noise they make is if a skunk is biting one of them. I could see the passive skunks by me panicking hearing a skunk in pain or being hurt crying out. the way they look at me, it’s like “Please help that skunk he’s hurting.” Or it could be, “Keep me safe here for being hurt.” People are afraid of skunks when they are so passive and easy going. They panic all the time that someone wants to do them harm. They really are a shy creatures when you get down to it. That’s just their way of staying safe. Since I live in the sticks, I’m the only human they have ever seen. These skunks once they got used to seeing me turned out to be good little friend. They like getting pets. It’s so cute when they stand on their back feet to get a better view. I’m amazed at what great sniffers they have. You can throw something they eat through the air, it can bounce away from them but they can smell the air and follow the scent down to where every the food item went. Skunks don’t see so well but good enough. They use their sense of smell to get around. I’ve never seen any animal with a better sniffer. I’m not sure why some skunks get alone with each other and some are so fearful and nip at other skunks. When I make friends with them they tend to get alone with each other a lot better.

Little Buddy with the Bo-Boo leg. I don’t know where it lives but it’s getting it’s tail thinned by getting the hair caught on something over and over. It’s so amazing seeing them take a cat treat out of my hand and back up to eat it. They have small front hands and bigger back legs so they are like a wedge. It must be for hunting and dragging something out of the ground. They are good diggers and have the claws to do some digging.

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Little Bo-Boo Leg Buddy

Ran out of cheddar cheese so I tried Cream Cheese and my little Bo-Boo leg Buddy likes it. She’s got a hurt back leg and has become weak but I’m feeding here extra good so she will get stronger.  I don’t know is she is the one with the babies under the back of the house but by the dust on her forehead she’s living under there too. I don’t know if she has a broke leg or foot but I can see that it’s swollen. She lifts her leg while walking. When skunks are eating  they lay down to eat at least they do here. It’s real cute watching them eat the cats food. The raccoons and foxes come for the cat food also.

Such a cute ferret face. No skunk don’t go around spraying everything in sight. They will only spray you if you try to eat them or hurt them. Most of the time they just stomp their front feet to get your attention. It just amazes me how good all the wildlife get along with each other. They get a little possessive over their food but if there is enough they don’t fight. I may have six skunks and six raccoons on the small front porch at the same time.  The skunks can be in contacted with each other and then they might do some pushing. I noticed the raccoons will just push them out of the way. They put their little hands on their back which causes them to back up. Skunks are built like a wedge and backing up is their best strengths to get food away from another animal. They like getting petted on their sides and don’t like a hand over the top of them. You can tell a skunk is relaxed because their tail will be down unless it’s snow there or it’s wet. I’ve been trying to get her where her foot heals but I don’t know if it needs to be set or something. I’m hoping it’s just a sprain or something minor.

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Ground Clouds

Another rainy day and the clouds are on the ground. Just staying inside where it’s warm and dry. My kitties are on the back porch snuggling together staying warm except Dieter who is roaming around. She my watch kitty and gets jealous if any other animal comes around that I might pet. I don’t know how I’m going to break her of this because she might get hurt picking on creatures bigger then her. Car is working again. Fixed the problem. It’s an indoor movie day.

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Funny I didn’t feel like I was in a Rut

My deer friend with his nose up smelling the air for female hormones. At times they will be so much into the rut they will go without eating if a females hormones are in the air. The musk gland is near their eye and will open and close as they breath. It’s more noticeable on the mule deer then the black tail deer like this one. The deer aren’t alarmed seeing me so then get rather close. This is a view from my porch or from the front door window. The views are always amazing.

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Mom and baby

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From baby kitties to baby squirrels and soon baby deer. there’s some of my favorite one year old male deer here along with the girls. Momma squirrel and her baby too.

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Pretty Birds

		Black Headed Gross Beak VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I’m always amazed at the wildlife here. Every spring and summer birds come through like this Black Headed Gross Beak. I’m not sure but think it’s the bird with a great song. I’ll hear the songs but never see the bird directly singing. They don’t seem to like landing on the ground at least I haven’t seen them there. Seems the birds come by at different times of the day. Morning time is one time that all the birds want something to eat. Then there’s a pause in the day until late afternoon and evening.

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The Amazing Nose

		Much Bigger then Boo-Boo VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The porch light came on and this is what I got to see. A big nose wandering around sniffing things. I was at my desk on the computer and grabbed my camera when I saw the nose at the window looking in at me. I’m always amazed at the wildlife here. There’s always something new to see. Have to wonder what’s going on in that big head when it looked into my eyes as I was looking into it’s brown eyes.

This is the first time the bears have been around more then just a sighting. There’s a baby Boo-Boo bear which I thing is one of these guys baby. So there must be a den where they live. I don’t know if they are always on the move or not.

When the bears were here last night the owls were real vocal. when the bears came through in the day time the birds seem to go silent. The small bear, Boo-Boo looks cute sitting on the picnic table and looks real small but is rather large and will grow even large. I’ve noticed that long lived animals stay with mom for a while where they learn how to be themselves. They have to learn what to eat and where to look for it.  I feel sorry for them in that their lands are being taken over. I saw a story on the news where a woman couldn’t understand why a mother bear and it’s two babies walked through their back yard in the house they just built near Tahoe. She was so confused that a bear could even think about walking in her yard after moving from the city to the forest. She couldn’t figure out they built a house in the bears backyard. 

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Deer Friends

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I’m always amazed here seeing what the deer do and see their personalities and social behaviors. Seeing a deer smile is one thing. Seeing baby deer playing with their friends is a real joy. Seeing that deer have friends is amazing. They may call out to their friends if they don’t see them and be disappointed if they don’t show up. That they care about each other is a wonder that is so touching. How people can call shooting them a sport when they do have a developed brain. I’ve even had one deer that would get jealous if I paid attention to other deer. When I talk to them and they respond to what I’m saying shows me they have the ability to learn and are intelligent. Anyone that says they are stupid animals is an idiot and needs his head examined. Sure they live a different life then we do but they are built for that life style as we learned and evolved to stand up and get out of the trees. What made humans successful, our claim to fame is are ability to kill everything else. We are the only life form that kills for fun. Is that really make us better then them. They just love life as much as anyone except human who are depressed, war, kill themselves, kill others, have greed and put that above life itself and the planet they live on.

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Boo-Boo Bear

Boo-Boo Bear

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Mr. Tommy T. Big Bird

What a good looking bird looks like. Smart friendly big bird comes right up to me. You don’t see birds like this on your dinner table those birds are really messed up. Those farmed birds don’t have a normal set of feathers. They grow them so fast they never learn anything like wild birds. That’s a male three years of training to become a big bird. They are very long lived birds too. The males put on parades to impress the girls. It’s like the king and his court marching in front of the girls. I was amazed at seeing them form up like that. Unlike the farmed birds these birds do fly. One year there was six baby birds that mom raised up. The next year they were on their own and stuck together. When I saw them charge a bear to chase it off I was really amazed. All six flapping their wing running after the bear. The bear was going to climb a tree but didn’t have time and ran off. I’ve heard people say they are stupid birds and will drown if left in the rain but that’s not true. They know enough to get out of the rain and under the trees and bushes. They are a passive bird and I think people see that as a weakness. I was painting some board and kneeling down. The turkeys came up behind me and watched me painting until I stood up. I really find them an interesting bird.

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My Deer Friends

Started snowing around 3 PM today. After an hour I started to get worried because the ground was covered and it hadn’t let up. That’s when I saw a couple deer friends up the hill getting out of the snow and under the pine trees. I was taking pictures of the snow and two deer when I looked over and there was the rest of the herd. My oldest momma deer and her baby and all the rest of the herd along with Mister Stump my semi-blind deer that needs to travel with others to help him along. He’s one of my oldest male deer. He was full grown when I moved in ten years ago. The deer came over to eat on the bushes but were covered with snow. There were some grass patches that they found. I had put out a couple cups of rice for my friend Stumpy. He of course came over and ate it all up and with a big smile too.


It was nice seeing my deer friends today. Momma deer is still in charge of the herd. She’s been a good leader. Wish Buddy was around he would be proud of her. Deer need to grow up together and socialize to learn. They learn what to eat at different times a year. Where to get water. Where to get all their needs. They all live with in two miles of where they were born. I’m very happy being a part of their lives. I’ve learned a lot from my deer friends. Seeing them smile is the biggest treat. It doesn’t take much to make them smile because they are so full of life. Seeing babies playing and looking for their play friends and being unhappy when they don’t find their friends. They call out, “where are you play friend.” They will run and look for their friends crying out the whole way. Seeing the bond they develop is amazing. One mother was keeping her two boys up the hill with her when baby girl came up. Baby girl was jumping and bucking to get the boys to play chase with her. She would take off at a full run circle around and come back but mom didn’t want the kids playing that day. The baby girl was so disappointed you could see it in her face. Still she was happy seeing her playmates even if they couldn’t come out and play.
Snows dropping from the trees with a big thud. Stopped snowing a few hours ago. There was a large car pile up on Interstate 80 today in the snow. I think they said it was 40 cars.

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Snow and skunks

Put some cat food out a bit ago not thinking that I’d have any guests beside the little kitty. Looks like momma skunk and a baby since it’s so small. Usually the babies don’t come out until May. The weather in January and February has been real warm like summer and trees have blossoms on them for now until they freeze. It’s really snowing now and has been for about one hour. The high winds have stopped which is good.

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What’s up with Winter?

As I just made coffee with my espresso machine and killing off the ants. For the last four years January and part of February has been summer weather. The bugs start coming out like flies and moths and ants. Then it snows. The trees start to bloom depending on where they are planted. Rich my neighbor up the hill has peach blossoms started and had to cover his tree. Lucky for him it's small.

The ranchers I've talked to said that apples have been down and real small apples. Blossoms fall off trees when it snows late in the year. Been having snow as late as end of May.

What is amazing when you heat the ocean it expands and takes up more space. Simple concept. When you heat water moisture comes off water too. That's easy to understand. Think of it as taking a shower and the rest of the house is cold. Steam condenses on the cold surfaces. That's like the big freeze on the east coast this winter. We are having snow where it never snows before because the moistures in the air from the warm expanding ocean.

Bark beetles are suppose to die in the winter when it gets cold. Since we have this warm winters the only way to kill off back beetles is when they run out of food. They eat pine and there are several types of them. They live at different heights of the tree. One night I was sitting here when it sounded like a bird hit the screen, it was in summer. I looked at the door and it was a bark beetle the size of a small bird. I've found that adding fertilizer to the base of a tree will keep the tree going but the bugs are still there. I used a weed and feed and think that killed the bark beetles because it brought up stuff in the sap they weren't ready for. I've checked many colleges about back beetle and there's nothing you can do about them. Until they run out of food they are going to be here.

Took pictures of it snowing but it's too hard to hold up the camera. I even put my smallest lens on and it's still to heavy.

If you can get KPFA streaming they are playing Grateful Dead a lot of never heard tracks before. Then they have been like that for years. Made money touring and not on records. They were also the only bands that would give out bootlegs of concerts.

One reason I'm bringing up this winters weather is because I've been active in phenology with many colleges. I've been sending them pictures of plants here that they never have seen before and when they have bloomed. Times are changing. If our food stocks start blooming and then goes into a freeze the blooms die. So does out food. So this is a real problem.

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Can you feel me now? 5.1 south of the border

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