Put in George's Backyard.

Where should we get rid of the solid waste? How about in George Bush's backyard. He seems to think that heavy metals and such seem to be safe and air pollution is something the left wing liberals are making up. Then send George to Bakersfield and let him breath that air for a few days and let him suck in that black air. Seem he might what to have beach front property in a few years but I think in his mind it more that make money now a screw the rest. They care worry about their future while the Republicans drove the earth into a irreparable mess.

 

I know spring is here

 

I was surprised yesterday while folding up the laundry when I saw the jackrabbit out by the telescope. It was creeping up eating a little here and a little there when something spooked it. It took off running north down the old road, more a path but never used for cars.

 

Then today I've seen my first robin. I like watching them on the hunt standing tall to get a good view of things moving. Then running over and snatch up what ever it saw moving, usually bugs.

 

I found some sort of wild Lilly yesterday. It's not the regular show piece that you'd get in a flower shop. The slim white pedals and it delicate features look like it could fall apart with just a touch. I'm going to that area to take some pictures of them today. Along with that, do some tree trimming. The area has a  lot of dead under branches. Call me anal-retentive in forest care but I think that's what mans design was. To take care of the forest so that all life could live. It's okay that we learned to learn but when it gets into the area of destroying the planet for profit is more important then being able to breath, then there's something wrong.

 

 

Christmas Out at Bob's

I got a surprise Christmas night, my friend Big Buddy came by for a bite. I had been so worried that something had happened to my big forest friend. His rake has four antlers with little splits at the tips of them making then look like can openers. It was Christmas so I gave my friend a large apple which I put at the edge of the porch. Buddy had a bit of a hard time biting the apple so I cut it up for him. He was about two when I first met him four years ago. Big Buddy, Mr. Fuzzy Antlers and Stumpy are my oldest deer here with a large group of offspring. I can see each of the fathers features in the offspring by the markings and antlers. Mr. Fuzzy Antlers was my first friend. We would go out foraging together. I would help him out by getting the things he couldn't reach. Our friendship started by me getting a arm full of apples and offering them to him. He saw that I wasn't a threat. He started hanging out after that letting me work outside without running off with the load noises I was making. I could use the chain saw and it didn't seem to bother him as long as he saw me making the noise. Big Buddy and Stumpy were a couple years younger when I met them. When I was sick Buddy used to walk up the stairs and look in the front door window to see where I was. I don't know if he could sense how sick I was but it help me get outside even though I didn't feel like getting out of bed. Some of the most interesting things I never would have imagined was one deer would control the herd and look out for them. I saw all the deer in the thick forest eating and there was Buddy in the creek looking up the hill seeing where everyone was. This year Buddy broke his rear leg. That really troubled me. I tried getting help for him but no one wanted to help not without money. His leg was just hanging and it scared me. He limped around for months. I put out more bird seed and picked up a bale of alfalfa to help him eat so he wouldn't have to travel so far. It seem to work and he never was far from the property. After a few months he started putting weight on his leg but still limping. Soon after his antlers were full he was pushing other large deer around. What I thought was cute was watching him as a young deer came up to him slowly trying to challenge him but not to make him angry. Buddy was good, he gentle pressed up against his head and started pushing. The young deer didn't stand a chance. Buddy just pushed the little deer around like he wasn't even there. Buddy didn't want to hurt the little deer and if I didn't know better through the challenge and let the little deer win. The little deer started strutting like he was king of the roost. I never thought I'd see deer being affectionate to each other. One young deer who's mother died in a car accident was all along one night. It was raining and the little guy seemed to be so afraid without his mother. That's when Buddy came up next to him and started licking him on the neck. The little deer leaned into Buddy to keep him warm. Buddy pulled the little guy closer. He set his head over the little deer and pull him closer.

A day of rain and criiters

Rain looks like it's going  to let up if not stop. It has been raining a lot over the past few days. The creek started running. Well, I spoke to soon. Weather people just said there will be a couple more storms blowing in. I guess I won't be doing any outdoor stuff for a while. Still don't have the phone working yet. Phone guys should be coming out while it's raining. Couldn't happen to nicer people. It's been a day with the turkey, deer and squirrels. Lots of little bird here for the winter. I watched a wood pecker work on the oak tree for about a half hour. The wood pecker has been working on the same part of the tree for a few weeks.

 

Took a break to get dinner started. Got the pork chops cooking. Oh, I forgot the Fresno peppers. The sun is setting, time to watch the BBC News. I forgot to pick up food for the skunks and raccoons.

 

I was listening to the radio and noticed this load pecking sounds. It was the turkeys on the porch eating the seeds that have fallen of the railing and on to the bins. I didn't think to much about it because they do that often. Then there was a loud squeak and the sight of a turkey flying the door's window. Some one scared the hen and she took off. Must have been a squirrel sneaking up behind her. The rest of the turkeys just looked at her and continued eating the cracked corn. There had to be at least thirty big birds here today. It sure looks good seeing them looking for bugs on the side of the hill.

 

I hope I see Big Buddy again tonight. I really missed him through the fall season.

 

Christmas commercials are coming to an end. The amount of commercial this year have gone to new limits. "Oh honey thanks for the car for Christmas." It wasn't just the cheap cars but almost all the car manufactures. Now it's going to be the end of year shows telling me all the things that happened this last year. Wish people paid more attention in what's going on. The other day a reporter was giving his prospective on the ruling from Dover, Pennsylvania. When he said that 50% of Americans didn't know that the earth goes around the sun and that 30% of them didn't know how many days there were in a year. That they believe that the earth was 6,000 to 10,000 year old. That most of the people that didn't know these things were deeply religious. With Bush and his evangelical buddies pushing this kind of teachings it's going to dumb down the people of America. Looking at it from a history prospective, going this way is a good way of making followers with no thought of their own. This is a good way of making an army of blind followers and only keeping education to the rich. They could make up a good slogan and the people will follow the policy you set whether it's right or wrong. Sort of like what Bush and this administration has been doing for the last five years and how we got into a war we can't win. I really think that the Neo-Cons started this war by not telling Bush what was going on in the world. They let the terrorist commit the crime on 9/11 so they could get into a war. I never understood why the people that kept telling the administration about the terrorist but the only thing they did was demote or fire anyone who knew what was going on. Anyone in the FBI that talked about terrorist were pushed out because they were making to many waves. O'Neal wrote in his book about how this administration wanted to invade Iraq as soon as they took office. Richard Clarke was demoted from his job of head of counter terrorism. Frank Clark the man that knew the most about Alquada but was demoted and stuck off in some remote office. It's almost like they wanted the terrorist attacks to happen. This was a theme in one episodes of the "X-Files." The whole story deals with the CIA's budget being cut after the end of the cold war. They put a plan together to get some terrorist group to take blame for something the CIA did. They were thinking that some group would take credit for the attack and we could start a war with that country.

 

Well, time to recline and watch the news.

 

 

flooding and more rain.

Just amazing listening to the news people describe the water and rain. One woman news reader compared the river to Lake Michigan. They obviously never been to Michigan before. Wind has been rather bad here, my antennas turned 90 degrees. The creek is a river. There's a creek going through the yard. The tarp over the porch is down. I was going to cover my telescope but the rain kicked up. I saw a woman picking up sand bags on TV. She said there is three inches of water in her house. I have to say, getting sand bags now is to late. You need to prepare for a storm in the summer. That's what I do every year. I spend most of all summer cleaning the forest, moving dirt so water would run off the place. The news people just crack me up with there descriptions. A pond is an inland sea. A creek is a river. A couple of inches of water on a road is a flood. You can always tell a person that never gets out by what they say. I'm going to have to take some picture of the water here as soon as I fix a few things. Need to wrap the camera in a plastic bag.

 

Went outside. Rain slowed a bit but there is gusts with heavy rain. Walked to the park. My ears are still ringing from the sound of water. The creek is doing some serious white water. Even the creek by the house is flowing with white water.

 

Had to tighten up the u-bolt on the antenna. So far it's staying in place. Saw one of my little Buddy's and a squirrel. Nice almost break in the storm. Looks like a large cell coming this way according to the weather map on TV.At least I haven't heard anyone ask the dumbest question I ever heard when I was down south. That was, "Why is there water in the flood basin?"

 

Looks like we got about 10 to 12 inches of rain in Placerville in the last 24 hours. It amazes me how much the news people fabricate the news. There might be a foot of water and they will say it's waste deep.

 

A little squirrel is on the railing eating seeds. She's really packing in the seeds as fast as she can. There's a couple more squirrels eating. Taking advantage of the break in the rain.

 

They say there is another storm still coming. Up in Truckee there is a land slide. What gets me is the news people say, "look there's no traffic" right after they say both lanes are closed.

 

Glad I'm not riding my bike like I used to. Never let a little rain stop me from going anywhere in the rain or snow. Riding a 650 pound bike in the snow is a real challenge. Sure taught me to be water proofed. I think the worst thing was the snow that would gather between my legs and the seat.

 

Not much traffic in town. Still people drive like there has been no rain.

 

Have a leak in the roof. The texture on the ceiling is falling down in the corner of my bedroom. It's the same area that I patched a couple years ago. I went into the attack to see what was leaking, it looked like the valley where the two roofs meet. I check the roof when I went outside but didn't see anything when it was raining.

 

Just saw the stupidest sand bagging job on TV. These people put a line of sand bags in front of their house. Straight across, with no idea that when the water would go around the line of sand bags when it got to them.

 

One reporter said the water was 5 feet deep in his house. When you see the water mark is only a foot high. The reporter only got a few inches inside his place. In the same complex a woman could understand why the water came into here place blaming the county for not warning her.

 

No national news tonight. My antenna turned again so I can't get channel 10 to see what's on it..

 

When you live in a flood plane you should expect your going to get flooded.

Flood plane Living

Watching the aftermath of the last storms on the news. Seeing the people living in flood plane areas and wondering why it flooded in their neighborhoods just has to make me laugh. Not that I like to see people misery but to see the shallow thoughts of the people living in an undesirable area reclamation area. Just like the person driving like they are invincible, living below sea level isn't a good idea. When people think that insurance is going to protect their lives and not just their property they must have something wrong with their thinking. Looking at a map should tell you that where your living isn't the best place if a river is above your house. Since most of the levees were built in the 1800's should give you an idea that they went built to well.

 

I wrote a paper about people living on unsafe grounds several years ago that was published right after the Big Bear Landers earthquakes. I also included people living out in the Palm Springs area. Out there they live in dry river beds, parts of a bahada. I equated the people living there as people living on a train track, a train will be by sooner or later.

 

I was also amazed at people that bought houses on mud flows. They are all marked on USGS, State and county maps. When houses start sliding of creeping down the hill they wonder why. They always say, "buyer beware." I guess you have to add to that carry a lot of stupid people insurance. That will protects people for things they do that a normal thinking persons wouldn't do. Some people are just so oblivious to the world. When I heard that 50% of the people in the United States didn't know the earth went around the sun or how many days it took. I have to say anyone living in a flood zone need to have a large note pinned to their shirts telling then that where they are living could flood and their responsibility for their stuff if it floods. That they will have to pay for their new stuff unless the insurance companies don't.

Still raining

The rain doesn't seem to bother the little birds. I was just watching a sparrow bathing. The little guy looked like he was having a great time swimming. I thought he would have just splashed around a little but he was diving and swimming. There was a few turkeys here this morning. Saw a few squirrels too. Oh hell, I'm going to have to go out in the rain to cover my work table, the plastic has blown off. I was hoping I wouldn't have to get dressed up and go outdoors but I don't want my table to warp.

 

There's a few downed branches by an oak tree on the road. Not to worry, I'm not going anywhere. It's almost like the clouds are on the ground. I was only out there for a couple minutes and rain gear is soaking wet.

 

It bothers me that Bush is looking into the phone tapping of people. It's more like data mining as I understand. The outing of Valerie Plain still drags on since it was this administration that came up with the idea of leaking a CIA agents identity. Well, Poncho Bush don't need no stinking badges.

 

Yesterday I found out the conservative republican philosophy was. They say they are conservative but when it come to the environment it's anything goes. The world can be used for anything without and consequences. I guess my idea of strip mining the desert is a good idea. Making a mile wide several miles long ditch seems okay in their eyes.

 

Still no phone. Damn phone company.

 

 

 

Rain and politics

Lots of rain and some interesting things in politics. Deer seem to be having a fun day while it's not raining right now. One small deer was sort of motivated by another deer and he jumped on the picnic table. The table was wet so he went sliding across the table. As he was going to fall off he jumped and landed on all fours. Male turkeys are hiding under the trees with leaves to get out of the rain. I had to get out in the rain to make some channels to direct the water draining through the yard. Water is boiling out of gopher holes. I put out sunflower seeds for the turkey but the deer found them and they look like they like them.

 

Looks like some heavy rain going to come down in the next few minutes. I did see some blue sky but that's being covered up by the black clouds. Not much snow in this storm and there are several more coming. There's a lot of run off and the rivers are full and the dams are letting out water. What I don't get about people up here is they live at the bottom of a river and put a dike around them and feel safe. Let's get this straight, they are living on the bottom of a flood plain and don't think anything about flooding. I guess like W.C. Fields said, "there's a sucker born every minute." Sure the flood plain has fertile land but putting a house on it is just stupid.

 

There's a guy who shot is son and ex-wife running around. Sheriffs haven't caught him yet. There was a sheriffs helicopter that flew over. Don't know if they were looking for him or all the accidents happening on the roads.

 

In the Enron scandal, the government made a deal with one person. Instead of him going on trial for thirty counts he's pleading guilty to one count of fraud. He has to testify against others in his ex-company. What a deal, steal billions screw over states with high electric prices and destroy people saving and stock holdings and only go to jail for five years. He will be fined 1.5 million though. He does gets to keep the millions he walked away with though. Seems like he did make a good deal. If you rob a bank and get a few thousand dollars and get caught, you go to jail for at least 20 years. These guys steal billions and get a slap on the wrist. Just proves that crime pays when you know the President. Pay off the republicans and you can do anything you want. Stock market made big donations to the republican party and walked away with trillions.

 

Bush is stacking the deck just in case he has to go before the supreme court for all the crimes he pulled off over the past five years. I'd like to see the administration end up in the Hague getting prosecuted for war crimes.

Cut This

Listening to the republicans bull droppings, I can see they are only looking out for the rich and themselves. They are looking out for companies that pollute and make the world a worse place in the pursuit of money. Corporate farmers giving them large subsidies to not grow or compensate their ability to compete with other countries. They don't cut those programs but cut programs that help the poor and almost poor people. If congress and the senate wanted to do something that shows leadership they should cut there retirement programs. They should pay for their own health care just like anyone else or a large portion of it. Out of anyone working in America congress and the senate get the best benefits while everyone else's is being cut. People in congress and the senate are rich to start with. They don't need any help or all the perks they get. With all the things the republicans are doing to labor they are going to produce people that aren't going to be able to make anything. They keep cutting school support. They cut aid to people to go to college. They keep pushing the bible on people so no real science will be done in the future. All the promises our government made has changed their minds saying it's going to cost to much. It looks like they want to take the country back to the 1800's where there wasn't any health care and people died young. People back then were disposable at least that's what the rich people thought. It was the unions that made this country strong and gave use the middle class. If the republicans could they would make savory legal again. They are doing everything they can to destroy the unions. They are working on cutting peoples standard of living. Right now Bush keeps saying that the economy is doing so great, the best ever. Then why do they need to cut social programs.

 

Bush has got this anti-missile program going when he first took office. Nothing to do with terrorism. After 9/11 he kept bringing up the fact of rouge states. So far this program doesn't work. They started making installation in Alaska saying that they will work out the bugs as they go. Out of all the test shots, not one missile was shot down even when it was told where the incoming missile was coming from. The total cost of this project is going to be over a trillion dollars. If one project need to be cut back this is one that need it. If they could start proving the program works then they should go ahead with funding but not before. From working with the Department of Defense I found that there is a lot of things done to help out areas or people in developing these projects. I bet you anything that is it was looked into many officials are getting some sort of kick back in some manor.

 

Looking at it from the prospective that not cutting social programs would cut crime because people wouldn't have to steal or sell drugs to make ends meet. When people can go to school to make a decent living they wouldn't have to turn to crime. When it comes to crime our government is such a bad example for people. They are always getting caught in some scandal where they were cheating on some on. The idea that some corporation can go into bankruptcy and not take responsibility for it is just outrageous. If an airlines in going down the tubes there shouldn't be anyway the government should be bailing them out. Sell a few of those airplanes to pay off the debts you owe.

Lots of rain

Here comes the forty day and forty night. Looks like a lot of run off in the valley. The rivers are at there tops. Not much snow in all of this. My creek is doing it's thing. At least the rain isn't flowing through the yard.

 

Big Buddy stopped by earlier. One of the younger deer challenged him the other night. Buddy being a good father pushed the little guy and let him win the contest.

 

Still without a phone. Been playing card games without the internet. What a bunch of crap but there's nothing you can do with a monopoly.

Tree movement

Oak tree pulled the cable and broke it. Half inch wire snapped like a twig. Wind is really going at it. Can't see to much outside right now. They say most of the rain is going to start tomorrow. Rivers are at flood stage. Lucky I'm in the hills and not in the delta.

Another Tribe of Big Birds

It's been a long time since I've seen Tom and Jerry my oldest turkeys who stuck off last spring with a bunch of their sons. Was good seeing them again. I could see that they remembered me since I could walk among them. It's mating season so all the birds should be coming around again. Last year there was some 50 birds. So far there has only been about 20 birds of various ages. Some rather young, less then a year old, a chicken on stilts. I could see that Tom and Jerry were the big birds and were getting more of the red bumps on their face and neck. I was worried that some animal had eaten them. It still looks like rain. I think we had a couple inches this last storm. I heard today that another storm might be coming also. Whether it will bring rain is another question. This last storm really dumped rain in a short period of time. The rainy season has started late and has met the average rain fall. I hope this winter won't have large dumping storms like the past couple years. Then again, I hear that the amount of rain and snow have lightened up. The snow levels have gone higher in the mountain. Before it used to snow at this elevation and the snow used to stay all winter. So much has changed in these mountains over the last hundred years. I'm sure man has a hand in the change in the weather. In the 60's people discounted pollution in the oceans and water ways. I remember Lake Erie used to catch fire. Most people forget that happened. I think these matters needs to be in our history books to prevent the damage of the future of our environment. We can't trust big business to police themselves.

Bush plans to kill poor people

Bush plans to keep cutting services to the poor saying that they would die off with out medical aid and food. This would help pay for the tax cuts and the hand outs to corperate friends. Since there is no way they can figure out how to exploit the poor anymore it's time to remove them from the food chain. Since the republicans can't cook the books anymore when they claim the economy is great they need more tax cuts to pay for the war. Cheney said, "Hallaburton hasn't made enough money to give him the big kick back he wants." Other corperation stated they didn't have enough free money like Hallaburton's getting.

Critters in the rain

Raccoon stopped by for dinner. Stinkers didn't know what to do with those two large guys eating kitty food with him. No odderoma just a couple threatening jumps at them. Since they didn't move he ate a little and came back later to finish eating. He was here right after sunset and chowed down then so I think he was just topping off for the night. I got closer to the window in the door to watch the raccoons. I can get right up to the skunks so seeing them still is fascinating but these are new critters. I have to spend some time letting them get to know me. The first raccoon I seen up here took several month for me to get close enough to feed him by hand. He would eat the corn from the grain mix and leave everything else. It looks like there are four raccoons in this family, mom, dad and the kids. When they saw me at first, when they came around, they would run off. Now they tolerate me looking at them through the door window. To bad it's so cold at night the first one used to come around in summer so it was easier to sit outside with him. After seeing me several night he saw that I wasn't threatening, disregarding me sitting there. Mom with her kids is a different matter. She would be more protective of the kids then by herself.

 

Raining again, not hard but constant. I like this better then the last couple years where it came down all at once in a few days. I had creeks running through the yard. The creek was really flowing and washing anything loose down river. I need to rake up the leave and get a burn pile going. I'd put the leaves some where but there is only so much space in the forest to keep the place clean. The leaves would make good mulch but where to put it.

 

Those paint fumes are getting to me. Think I'll have to paint outside from now on. Well I might sleep good at least.

Bob the Cat came by

The Bobcat came through but the turkeys chased him off. Nothing like attack turkeys. Bob the cat must weight about 75 to a 100 pound. I grabbed the closest camera which was a film camera with an 85 mm lens. I was hoping to get a closer shot but o'well. Still it was rather exciting to see the bobcat since he only comes around about once a year. He was most likely looking for something to eat and following the sound of the dogs yelling out, "dinner here." People don't get it, they think that a dog barking doesn't attract carnivores. It's like putting up a sign saying, "eat me." or a sign that says, "easy food here." Then when their pet gets eaten they don't understand you can't leave a pet outside in the mountains.

 

I could hear coyotes tonight off in the distance. The deer were apprehensive like usual. Any time they can hear something that can eat them the are very alert.

 

House smells of The Stinkers. George Clinton and Pooh-butt got into it on the porch. I turned on the light so they could see and it seems to calm them down. Now my front room has that aromatic smell. Such a trip watching the little guys. I can look out the door at them for hours. During the summer I can lay on the floor with the door open. The skunks walk by me, sniff and keep looking for food. I do like it when they look up at me with those little eyes.

 

The raccoons were here at least one of them which I saw. Little guy liked the cat food but not the pork scraps. Something will eat them before the nights over.

Herd of birds

The turkeys are here, about twenty two of them. Don't know where the group of males are. One of the young females has something wrong with her foot because she's limping. She won't put any weight on her foot. She's doing okay as far as getting around. The birds headed down to the creek to get bugs. They left the one limping bird behind.

 

Need to get a burn pile going and get rid of some of these leaves.

 

The bandits were here last night. I seen four of the fur balls scooting around. There could have been more but they don't like me looking at them even if I'm inside. Three skunks showed up also a little later. Marty was here again last night. Nothing like a good seven point deer as a friend. Still haven't Seen Big Buddy in weeks. I hope he's okay. I had to nurse him back to health after he broke his leg. Haven't seen Grumpy the stumpy deer. He's full size but with short legs so he looks smaller. Think that gives him his attitude.

 

I need to get outside but the limping hen is still eating. The other birds tend to push her out of the way when they want to eat. Well she moved to the road side of the house to eat some grass. I'll have to put out some seed and corn on the north side of the house so I can do some work on the sprinklers, not that I want to right now, it's a bit cold out. Well, I better get moving before the sun sets.

Forest Friends

How cute, the jack rabbit and the young female deer are out eating together. It's really cold out tonight only 31 degrees out. The stars are out, real good. The rabbit is rather shy and the deer wants to see how it is. She doesn't want to hurt the rabbit but it scares the little rabbit, the deer is so much bigger then the rabbit. Just like me going outside, the deer, skunks and squirrels see me standing up and they think, "Oh Bear." Then they run off. As long as the deer can see me wave to them or hear my whistle they won't run off. The squirrels will run up the trees and hide on the other side of it. Then poke their little heads out to see where I am. Saw Marty and Mr. B tonight which I haven't seen since the rut started. Was getting worried about the big deer being gone for so long. Alright, Stinkers is here. Was getting worried about the skunks not doing so well in the rain. I left some pork scrapes out for him. Hi tail is dragging on the ground so I can't tell which one it is but I think it's Stinkers. Going to have to check the weather to see if it's going to be dry for a while or not. One thing good about the cold, you can walk outside in your slippers ant the turkey dropping don't stick. Took a couple nice pictures of the squirrels today. Have to get a remote control for the camera. Not just for taking steady shot but to set the camera with a power supply to take remote shots from inside. Looks like I need another salt block. Have to bring in the speakers before they get wet, so far they are covered but they still could get wet the way the rain was blowing.

 

Just checked the USGS site and there was a quake near Big Bear. It was a 4.1 and 2.5 miles deep. Shallow. Going to have to keep an eye on things. There was a 4.1 near Mammoth and a few after shocks. I felt that one here. Thought it was the drugs or being tired. There was a lot of activity a few months ago but is went quiet for a while. Now it looks like it's picking up again.

 

Time to turn in the drugs are kicking in.

Was Feeling Down but....

Rainy funky cold day. Not very light out. Was thinking I'd watch Dave on the Tube but started listening to some Jungle on Netscape Radio. Just got the groove on. Didn't realize how much I missed the rave scene. Forget how it is to dance jungle. I have been listening to some house and trance. Even put on some hardcore for a day or two. Didn't have much jungle. This internet radio is good. Good throw down. Was listening to Cream earlier on PBS. Felt like I needed to do some heroine to get into the groove of the music. This jungle has got me going. It got the funk out and I can dance till morning.

Break it up, the skunks are fighting again.

Little guys really went at it tonight. One skunk was eating while the other guy climbed up the stairs. Soon as he got to the top and saw his rival they just went at each other falling down the stairs in the process. They continued out in the front yard rolling in the wet grass. Guess the rain puts everyone in a sort of bad mood. The guy's look like "punkers" with their spiked wet hair. Never saw them fight like they did tonight. Usually they nip at each other or nip and chase each other. This one was a roll on the ground and bite fight. Of course there was the aromatic aroma of the skunks that goes with them fighting. At least it was cold out and the door was closed. During the summer it gets a little funk at night with the guys running around. The babies were real cute growing up but they don't have a lot of control of "the Gland." They are little scrapers when their young. Mom and Dad stay with them until they can be on their own. It was very interesting with three families of skunks here all competing for food. Skunks as far as I can see are like a combination of a dog, cat and raccoon. They live under ground or in anything they can get into that's warm. They have some nice claws in their front paws for digging mostly it looks like for getting food. They have nice k-9's for ripping food apart. What has really got me is they left beef fat and bones until they finished off the dog or cat food. If there is black oil sunflower seeds they will eat those first.

Had a male deer, "Little Buddy" stop by.  He went at the apples for a hour or so. I could see he was a bit spooked by some noise off in the distance which kept him on alert. I never get tired of seeing the wild life. They always amaze me at the new things I see them do.

Cold day, colder night

I don't think it got over 48 degrees today. Too cold to be working outside. I had a hard time staying warm even in the house. Had to resort to working inside the house. When I did go outside there was to much moisture in the air which cut right through the clothing. It's 26 degrees outside right now and the poor deer are freezing. Stinkers my skunk came out for a bit earlier but he's under the house for the night trying to stay warm. He really didn't eat much. Maybe the hair wasn't keeping him so warm. The ground is frozen stiff so nothings wet. I was thinking of putting a tarp out for the deer to lay on. Maybe some old grain bags or something. I'm to attached to the wild life here. The stars are out real good. I could see Orion without any added optics. Then again there isn't a lot of light pollution here so viewing is good. The other night I was laying in bed looking out the sky light when I saw a shooting star, was rather nice. This rain for the last couple days put a damper on doing anything outside. Leaves are all over the place. I cleaned them up before the rain and now it looks like a leaf pile. Good thing I got the tools picked up. I'm doing the usual winter tool thing of sharpening of all the tools. I do that ever winter, sit watching TV sharpening tools for the spring. Get out the burnt linseed oil and coat the wood handle. Sand off any ruff splinters. I need to see how my telescope is. I know it's not totally aligned but it's close. It's going to have some distortion. I wonder how cold it will be in the morning.