Tag: Wildlife

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, nonfiction

#weekendcoffeeshare #167

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Welcome to my #weekendcoffeeshare #167! Please join us and pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea. There are lots of varieties on the bar.

If we were having coffee, the first thing I would share with you is that I have revamped my contact page. If any of you would like to contact me, please feel free. Just click on the link!

It’s been a busy week, both on the blog and in other parts of my life! Summer has begun here in Kentucky, U.S.A! The temperatures are heating up and the vegetation here in Daniel Boone National Forest, where I live, is lush. We had so much rain in the spring that the forest responded and the vegetation is especially lush this year. It’s like living in the rain forest!

Early in the week, my husband was doing some yard work and came across a timber rattlesnake. He was far enough away from it so it couldn’t strike, but it tried. They are quite poisonous. He took care of that problem. Here is an image of a timber rattler in case you need to know.

Timber Rattlesnake

If you see one of these guys, be calm, back away slowly, and either leave it alone or end its life as this snake is very poisonous. It’s also very common in this part of the U.S.

This week, we also attended a Celebration of Life for a friend who just passed away. She was one of my best friends and it’s been a sad time. We met when we were 6 years old and have stayed close our entire lives. I will miss her always. The Celebration of her Life was so nice with a huge turnout. It was nice because I got to see a lot of friends who I seldom see. Carol would have enjoyed it.

The cupboard was bare here at the beginning of the week so we made a trip to a couple of places we shop for groceries. One place was the local vegetable market, only open in the warm months. They have wonderful fresh vegetables and fruit. Since we try to eat healthy, we frequent this old-fashioned market often.

Fannin’s Vegetable Market, West Liberty, KY, USA

We’ve had good and healthy food to eat this week!

I’ve spent a lot of time with my two dogs this week, engaging in some dog training. Sophie, my German Shepherd dog, is already trained in obedience and protection, so I spent some time teaching her to play fly ball, which she loves. The next task is to teach her to play frisbee! Sophie likes to play fly ball with her squeaky chicken!

Sophie and her squeaky chicken

Hazel, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, is my other dog. She will be two years old soon, but she got a rocky start in life. We rescued her and she has some health challenges, so she is a little behind the curve. We love her and have to protect her from too much activity. I’ve started taking her on short walks, getting a bit longer each day. She loves her walks!

Hazel

We went out to dinner this week which we don’t often do. There is a wonderful restaurant in a little town about 40 miles away that is right on the Ohio River. We had dinner with our friends there and we really enjoyed seeing them.


If we were having coffee today, I would very much enjoy seeing you and sharing my week!I look forward to reading your #weekendcoffeeshare.

Thank you to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Horse Racing, Recipes, Uncategorized

#weekendcoffeeshare 164 – May 24, 2024

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Hello and welcome to my #weekendcoffeeshare! I’m so glad you could all join me this morning. We have several kinds of coffee and tea, so grab a cup and let’s go catch up!

One highlight of my week was, once again, horse racing! I wrote about racing in a previous #weekendcoffeeshare; in fact, the Kentucky Derby. The Kentucky Derby is just the first jewel in the races known as the Triple Crown. The second jewel is the Preakness Stakes, ran at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland, USA. The Preakness started off this week for me.

The Preakness is a shorter race than the Derby. It is one mile and 3/16. The Derby is a mile and a quarter. Horse that fade at the end in the Derby often run in the Preakness. This year, just like in the Derby, a long shot won the day. A gray horse, Seize the Grey, came in first. There will be no Triple Crown winner this year.

The last race in the Triple Crown is the Belmont Stakes which happens a few weeks from now. It’s my time of year to enjoy horse racing as it is for many in the U.S. and specifically in Kentucky.

My flower garden. Gardening is disappointing this year. There has been so much rain, daily almost, that my flower blooms have been ruined. It is so disappointing. The weather people have said that my area is going to have the hottest summer on record. The thunderstorms and rain are going to have to stop before that can happen!

The only other thing I’ve been doing is some writing and some reading. Also a little cooking. Fresh produce is starting to arrive at the markets and I love it, so I cook fairly frequently. Sometime, I’ll have to fill you in on U.S. southern cooking. It’s different! If you’re interested in that sort of thing (or in eating!), you might want to take a peek at some of the recipes I’ve posted, particularly this one.

See you next weekend!

Thanks to Natalie the Explorer for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Posted in Non-fiction

A Brush With a Red Fox – #SoCS

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

I live in the country so wildlife is abundant. Deer, raccoons, the occasional bobcat. Even the elusive red fox. The road to get to my house is just barely a two-lane road. Traffic is increasing on that rather dangerous road as more and more people build homes near me.

A few days ago, I was driving home from town and that’s when it happened. My brush with the usually elusive red fox. Even though they live in the forest all around me, you seldom see them. They are shy creatures. You’re lucky if you get a peek at one. This day, I got more than a peek. Far more.

I was driving up a hill on our road and I saw an animal in the road. There is no mistaking a red fox. He was standing in the middle of road. Just standing there. That is very odd behavior for a red fox. I was afraid he would run in front of me, so I stopped. It was fascinating to look at him but terribly disturbing. I had never seen an animal so thin and emaciated. This fox was sick or he wouldn’t have been standing in the middle of the road.

I pulled up to him, but I was afraid to get out of the car. Rabid animals often come out of hiding and approach people. I sat there and wondered what to do. He needed to get off the road before someone ran over him.

Within a few moments, someone pulled behind me and two men got out of the car. They realized why I was stopped. We all looked at the fox and the men mentioned the possibility of rabies, although there are other illnesses that could have been afflicting the fox.

They told me to drive on so I wouldn’t hold up traffic and they pulled their car off to the side. They were going to try to get the fox back into the woods. I came home terribly sad but concerned about just the possibility of rabies. A case of rabies near a populated area is cause for concern.

I reported the fox and his condition to the heath department. In turn, they were going to call Fish and Wildlife. The goal was to find the fox and determine his health condition.

I hope they’ve found the fox. It’s hard to think about any animal being so ill. It disturbed me for the rest of the day and days after.

 

Posted in Non-fiction

#SoCS – 9/1/2018

Posted on by

 

I’m always ranting about property development around where I live here in the Daniel Boone National Forest. I think it should be much more limited than it is. I tire of hearing heavy equipment instead of the birds singing. Increasing numbers of houses and people drive away the birds and wildlife.

I wrote a post a few months ago in which I mentioned that I had not seen two of my favorite specimens of wildlife this year and I was afraid they were gone forever from my little corner of the world. One was the fawn. Since I’ve lived here, I’ve seen single fawns with their mothers or sets of twin fawns every summer. The other was really a favorite – the pileated woodpecker. It is an increasing rare and rather large woodpecker. You don’t see them everywhere, We were lucky enough to have a few here.

I’m happy to report that I finally saw a fawn. Not until late in August, which is very late for fawns to be around, but at least I saw one. The same day, I saw a large pileated woodpecker. Again, I saw just one, but at least I know they are still around, even if they are smaller in number. PIctures of both are at the top of the page.

Years ago, I had my property designated as a wildlife sanctuary through the National Wildlife Federation. Here are some of the beautiful animals that I have seen since then. Enjoy!

 

 

*Thanks to Linda G. Hill for providing the #SoCS writing prompt!

Posted in Challenges

#weeklysmile 83

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

IMG_0752.JPG

I was lucky enough to witness an event that gave me a huge #weeklysmile this week! I live in a cabin in the Daniel Boone National Forest, moving here almost 19 years ago now after some trauma in my life forced me to seek peace and tranquility. I didn’t take me long to realize my house was built right in the path that white-tail deer used in this particular part of the forest. We have a huge herd of deer in my state and they have a terrible time finding enough food. I started to feed them. That was in the winter.

By the time the winter was over, I had a herd of deer at the feeding trough. By the time July came, I had a wonderful surprise and that surprise has fascinated me year after year since. It’s my #weeklysmile this week. The does brought their fawns to my feeding trough to teach them to eat.

The fawns are no bigger than large dogs and have their spots. Many does have twin fawns, with the male being slightly larger than the female. It would make anyone smile to watch them try to eat cracked corn out of the feeding trough, corn flying from either side of their mouths while they struggle with it. These beautiful, special babies are true miracles of nature.

Posted in Blog Series

#12: Adventures in RV – January 22, 2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

 

img_0468

Trip to the Everglades

Above is an alligator in the Everglades. Big guy. We were high above him – thank goodness!

Maybe I should wait until later tonight to write this blog post. We are waiting on really serious storms here tonight. Another issue when you have a RV which I addressed in my earlier blog post #11. Unfortunately, I’m getting to use my own advice tonight! We have secured everything around the RV and I think the RV park is going to encourage us to go to the Clubhouse if things get bad here. I wonder if they are encouraging everyone to bring their dogs and cats! 🙂

Now, onward! We have now been at the RV Park four full days and it has flown by! Yesterday, we went to visit the Everglades which is one of my favorite side trips when I am in South Florida. It’s a pretty long side trip from where we are, but you can do it in a day. The Everglades seemed a little different to me than it did a few years ago. One of the biggest problems the Everglades has is the pythons. Pythons are not native to the U.S. People have taken their “pet” pythons and dumped them in the Everglades where they have eaten a lot of the native species. Imagine what that means. The Everglades is one of the most important wetlands in the world. The fact that people have a “pet” they never should have had in the first place – a PYTHON SNAKE – and then they get scared of it and think they have to get rid of it and dump it in the Everglades has almost ruined this wetland environment.

Python hunters are paid a bounty to kill pythons but pythons are notoriously hard to find and kill. Bounty hunters have made very little progress, but the pythons have made an incredible amount of progress. I did not see as much wildlife this year as a few years ago. What damage man has done to this planet. End of rant.

We did see a few native species. We always see the alligators. Here is a photo I really like, though alligators are not my favorite species!

img_0467

We drove all the way from Pine Island to Everglades City, which is actually the last stop before reaching the tip of Florida. There is not much beyond Everglades City except….well….the Everglades!

img_0470

I don’t know what kind of bird this is. If anyone knows, please put it in the comments. Thanks.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I’ll share more another time. More from “Adventures” tomorrow! I’ll finish our Everglades trip!

 

Posted in Climate Change, environment, weekendcoffeeshare

#weekendcoffeeshare 7/23/2016

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

image

“Jenn,” I say, as my friend walks in my side door to join me for our #weeklycoffeeshare this Saturday morning, “you’ll never guess what happened this week.” Jenn automatically assumed something terrible. It was something sort of terrible, but also natural considering where I live. “What,” Jenn asked as we took our hot beverages out to my deck. When we got to my deck, Jenn didn’t have to wonder anymore. She could see for herself.

“Oh no, “Jenn exclaimed. “How did that happen?” Jenn was looking at the very large tree that had been the biggest and tallest tree in my backyard and was now lying, toppled over, and crushing our fence. You see, I live in the forest and my yard is filled with very tall, large trees. “It happened on Monday, “I explained. “I had Betsy outside in the early morning. We went in and I heard a huge crash. I looked out and the tree was lying on its side.” Betsy, by the way, is my dog. Some time, I want to blog about Betsy and her adventures.

The big tree had toppled over, fully uprooted. It was not knocked down by a storm. It was a bright, sunny day. It just….fell. Thankfully, it fell away from the house. For those who are not familiar with a hardwood forest in the Ohio River Valley, it is almost always a bit damp unless there is a serious drought which is not yet a common condition in this part of the U.S. We have had a lot of rain this year. The only thing we can figure out is that the ground was so wet, and it is clay soil, that the tree was literally pushed up out of the ground by a high water table. In the forest, we tend to get more rain than in other places. Forests play a key role in the water cycle process.

I love my forest surroundings though I always worry about the big trees so close to my house and the possibility of them falling. It’s healthy to live in the forest. Forests, the rustling of leaves, are soothing and peaceful to the human ear. Forests absorb more than 60% of the greenhouse gases in our environment. Not only do trees absorb carbon dioxide but they emit breathable oxygen for humans. Trees essentially fight climate change and clean the air.

Trees can cut air conditioning costs by 50% or more. They also conserve water because they protect lawns and lawn plantings. Trees even provide food…..think apple trees, pear trees. They also provide wood that can be burned for heat.

Trees provide a habitat for 70% of the world’s wildlife. Every animal serves a purpose and even dead and dying trees provide some function for these animals. Woodpeckers, for example, feed on dying trees in my yard.

I was sad to lose the big tree. It will provide firewood for a long time to come. The top, which fell into the woods, will provide shelter for wildlife. Now to get it out of our yard!  #weekendcoffeeshare #amwriting #blogging #writing #environment

#weekendcoffeeshare is brought to you by Diana at parttimemonsterblog.com