The Nature Out Here

Nature...our theme for today!

So the city folk are adjusting to the country life after two weeks of living with plenty of critters.  (I am calling it country life now for sure--especially after watching a neighbor rub baby oil all over herself before sunbathing) 

Really none of this is new to us, just the abundance is overwhelming.  At our old house we had plenty of critters from bears and hawks to cockroaches and spiders.  

And that was in suburbia, imagine what we will see out here.

Of course I have collected a sampling of data for your amusement.

So my seven year old caught her first fish...the pike is hers.  Our nice neighbor caught the bass and was kind enough to take her's off the hook...this time.  Our little one has some skills to learn if she is going to be fishing everyday.  Hope to see her grandpa out here with her soon giving her some tips.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Hard to see from the sun reflection but fish are pretty friendly here and can be caught by hand or bucket.

coyote or large dog, what do you think...check out the link...it shows dog prints as having the front toes separated and coyote toes pointy

                     A couple of scat samples...

I believe the one on the left is from some kind of furry animal (it looks wet and chunky like raccoon, but was found near the foot print)...what are your thoughts?

The second one belongs to the dreaded Canadian Goose...we have plenty of young families around the lake with all different ages of little goslings.

Those of you that know us, know how afraid we are of ticks...so I built an arsenal to protect us.  Thankfully, we have had only one tick attached (that was before we moved out here, just visiting) and we have only seen three others.

some kind of wood burrowing insect

We have also seen lots of spiders (11 yesterday before noon...in the house), basic ants, flying ants, mysteries critter holes all over the yard, crawfish mounds and anything that can sting.  

And they will sting...I stepped on a bumble bee (in our lovely clover field) and that sucker stung me twice on the toe.  Next thing I knew my foot was poofing up like a balloon and I was limping for three days.  

Thank goodness it was me and not one of the kids...so unfortunately, we are going to have to keep the lawn mowed close.  I feel bad about that since our neighbors have an apiary, but I will just have to plant some flower beds for them to enjoy.

What else...lots of different kinds of mushrooms and fungi, I see them in the mornings while doing my rounds and by afternoon the rabbits have come by and nibbled them to pieces. (hope those treats will keep them out of my garden)

I knew about the blackberry bushes, but after some exploration, I found what appears to be black raspberries (thoughts?).  Every day I can find a couple of ripe ones.  The bush is lower to the ground than the blackberries (which are not at all ready to harvest) and seems more sprawled out and much harder to get to without going into tick territory.  I plan in the Winter to get that area cleared so next year we can enjoy them before the critters get to them.

I leave you with my filthy nails...while my hands are always wet they are also always dirty.