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A neighbor has four wolves and he uses them for educational presentations. His goal is for his audiences to understand the nature of a wolf and to dispel many of the myths that exist. We have had the pleasure of meeting the wolves several times and thought we would share some pictures of a presentation he made this past Sunday night. Hope you enjoy.
A couple of weeks ago, we showed you some black bear tracks near our house. We talked to a neighbor who said they saw a mama bear and 4 cubs. Four! We really found that a little hard to believe, but then another neighbor posted these pictures on Facebook. Yep, four cubs. Wow!
We have not seen them yet ourselves and this is not as exciting as a bear and four cubs, but we did have some other wildlife in our yard yesterday.
You should have seen it. It was huge!
It smelled funny and kept getting the "woooo" all wrong.
We normally see these on the ranch next door, but she was right in our yard.
Look, she is even wearing an ID tag just like we do.
She is headed back home. Thanks for visiting.
We may have done a post about Squirrels for Peace once, but the reality is that we rarely get squirrels up near our house. For whatever reason – altitude, predators, whatever – they simply do not venture much around us. So when the dogs alert on a walk, we are looking for a lot of creatures – but not this:
Kiska - Whoa! What is that creature in front of us?
Look at that beady eyed creature!
Hey – for us, that is strange wildlife!
After our post yesterday, we received a number of comments worried about how the cat and The Herd reacted to each other. We probably should have been clear. This is NOT what happened.
Yes, the hu-dad actually can edit our pictures in Photoshop if he is not too lazy.
Nope, the pictures of the cat were made while the hu-dad was off in town WITHOUT US at some festival (click here if you actually want to see what he was doing that did not involve us. It’s ok, we didn’t really think you would click it since we are the only important ones on this blog). Apparently, this cat decided to actually talk to our hu-dad and – gasp – allow the hu-dad to give it belly rubs. We are the only ones who get belly rubs from the hu-dad, so we think this is a violation of our contract.
Anyway, the cat is fine and we did not get to meet it.
We are having some work done at the house, and someone left some prints walking through a patch of concrete.
That would be a black bear in case you don't recognize the tracks (wow - we feel a little like KB over at Romping and Rolling in the Rockies)
We also have baby wild turkeys everywhere.
Though mom apparently sent out the warning signal for everyone to move on.
We are guessing this was a baby wild turkey field trip there are so many youngsters.
But we saved the wildest of all creatures for the last picture.
Check out that scowl. Some wild animals are best just left alone.
One of the advantages of the hu-dad not mowing our field often - a haven for turkeys.
Here are a couple of more wandering.
If you click on this picture and enlarge it, look carefully in the grass to see all the young turkeys being carefully supervised by the adults.
And in a little clearing, you can see one of the youngsters more clearly.
Nothing like a few lessons from a wise adult.
One of our visitors hanging out for an afternoon snack.
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What just got locked into Kiska's Radar?
He just thinks he is hiding in the tall grasses.
But he sure was fast, so Kiska was left only with snootering his smells.
Sure, these birds look innocent enough.
Every year, a family of birds builds a nest right above the flood lights at the peak of the carport. If the hu-dad is not careful to back the Jeep in quite far enough, the nose of the Jeep can be, errrr, “decorated” by said birds. And, those baby birds learning to fly can sometimes be a quick snack if the hu-dad is not paying attention as we walk past (because we ALWAYS notice if one of them is on the ground testing his wings). Once the birds have left the nest, the hu-dad is careful to take it down and try to prevent the birds from coming back the next spring. All of his efforts have failed and, once again, we have birds in the nest.
Tonight, the hu-dad looked up and saw the birds in their nest. He was surprised they were here this late in the year, but he wanted to get a close up picture. He pulled the Jeep out of the car port, carefully climbed on the hood, balanced himself a few feet away and began taking pictures. And, then, . . . the birds all flew away at the same moment.
For some reason, a group of birds all taking flight at the same time can be surprising. When the hu-dad is zoomed in on them, it is even more surprising as viewed through the camera. When he assumed they were too young to fly, it is enough to throw one off balance. Especially if said human is balanced on the hood of the Jeep and is startled backwards because of the sudden flight.
We are just sorry he did not have the camera on video, because that video would have been something to post on this blog. Sort of like the Road Runner winning again and Wile E. Coyote falling into the canyon – from Wile’s perspective. Instead, we just have pictures of birds that the hu-dad swears tried to attack him.
Don't they look vicious?
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We continue to be amazed at the pictures we are seeing out of the tornado ravaged parts of the country. Our hearts continue to go out to all of the people – and animals – affected by the horrendous storms.
We are also seeing the effects from all of the rain on the lake level here at Norris Lake in Eastern Tennessee. Now the park we are staying in is open and things are moving normally, but you can certainly see the effects of the high lake level along the shore line. We thought we would share a few more pictures today.
Kiska. What are you seeing?
Remember this bench from yesterday's blog post?
Here is that same bench today. Notice how the water has risen?
And yesterday's picture of the fence lining the road - all under water.
Same area today and the fence is almost completely submerged.
Rusty says he wants to share a few other scenes.
This no swimming sign would seem to preclude using this bench.
And this bridge over troubled waters is, well, IN troubled waters.
Every where you look, you can see the effect of the lake over its banks.
Not that everyone is complaining (though they were loud).
This guy enjoyed the extra swimming areas.
And this guy was enjoying the extra fishing areas.
Despite the high water, still a beautiful day at Norris Lake.
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Natasha
Rusty
Kiska
Kodiak
Qannik
Cheoah
