For Older People with Sense

lassie11

Remarkable photo Lisa!

ptdreamers

Beautiful Lisa, reminds me of a Monet painting.

SoCalLisa

Thanks, I took it last year...

Leah_S

Gorgeous!

Gingerbrew

Today we found the apple tree with all the apples gone and not one on the ground. So much for not providing predators with any food source. Well indirectly anyway. The deer must have come for the apples.  The apple tree isn't all that big but it probably still had 30 or so apples on it. 

A cayote stopped by twice and we yelled at him to go, he was barely put off by our efforts. 

Ginger

chabba

Ginger, the Cayotes are quite bold around here too, even more so than the racoons.

Gingerbrew

We had a ton of raccoon trouble back in Illinois but not out here. This cayote stood and looked at me yelling and clapping my hands like I was stupid. I guess he gets that a lot though.   

All our apples were gone from the apple tree today I wonder if Cayotes eat them? We are pretty sure the deer took tghem down. We forgot about them while trying to provide no food sources here for predators or prey.  

I wanted some animals here but I wasn't thinking wild!  

Hugs Ginger

QCA

Beautiful photos, Chabba and Lisa!  Thanks.

We don't appear to have many wild animals here that I've seen, although I understand some have seen some coyotes.  I think sometimes I hear them at night--sort of a mournful howl.  Know I don't want to run into any, that's for sure. 

Kathy

Wren44

We had a coyote/dog mix once and she would eat anything. DH saw her eating cherries and spitting out the seed. I think it's more likely the deer ate the apples.

ptdreamers

both deer and crows have a feast on our apples.

barbe1958

A mournful coyote howl is a beautiful thing!!! It's when you hear the feeding frenzy of a pack attacking that your bowels turn to liquid!! Quite a sound....!! We once had to listen to a rabbit get killed right outside our bedroom window one summer!!! Rabbits scream like humans...very eerie!!

gardengumby

We used to have a couple coyotes that lived on our property.  It was enchanting to watch them crossing the fields below us.  Our dog (before he died) would go crazy on occasion, and we knew the coyotes were nearby (the dog was securely fenced in so they couldn't get at each other).  A couple years ago, a neighbor's dog went missing and he (the neighbor) thought it was the coyotes. (Very doubtful, as the dog out-weighed the coyote by a good measure).  Anyway, he complained to animal control and they removed the coyotes. 

We still have some quail, but the feral cats have killed most of them, I believe, so now we just have squirrels, raccoons, opossum and birds.  We do have both golden and bald eagles that roost somewhat nearby, though, and I love watching them.

Wren44

DH's birthday and mine are only a week apart. Our present to each other is to go out of town for the weekend. We're going to Winthrop, WA and haven't decided whether to risk the North Cascades Highway. It's a mountainous winding 2 lane highway that closes in the winter, usually some time in Nov. And they may get snow tonight, so we're waiting till tomorrow to decide. We're going to relax and read in front of the fire. The cabin has no phone, TV, or internet. We do have cell phones and Winthrop is a cute little town. Directions are to turn right at the stop sign (there's only one).

gardengumby

Wren - the pass is still open, but latest status says there is snow on the road.....  If you go, drive carefully!!!  It surely is a beautiful drive, though.  We hadn't been over that pass for a long time, (when we don't take Snoqualmie, we generally take Chinook Pass) - but we decided to visit Winthrop this summer.  Unfortunately, we didn't know the Jazz Festival was that weekend, so it was PACKED, and we ended up just continuing along our merry way.  (Neither of us like crowds).  It sounds like a really cool birthday treat, though!!

barbe1958

My DH and I have birthdays a week apart too!! We often do stuff like that. My sister is presently driving from Portland to Montana and this is what she posted on Facebook:

chabba

Barb, I've been across Snoqualmie too many times when it looked like that or much worse. I am sure that Highway gets just as bad.

Gingerbrew

We had cayotes howling last night. My DH hears better than I do and he was really complaining about it. I couldn't hear them. DH has seen some of the cayotes work and doesn't like them one bit.  

I drove out to Leavenworth in the spring and was so surprised at how high the snow was up on the sides of the pass on the way here. The snow was up 16 or 18 feet. I don't even know how they cut it away like that, surely the plows aren't that tall!   

How do you spell cayotes? I keep changing my spelling. lol

Laters Ginger

SoCalLisa

coyotes

Gingerbrew

Why thank you. I think my "a" comes from some southern twang in my background.  

Thanks Ginger

Dilly

It's a funny word Ginger - coyotes - it's intuitive to spell it with an a... 

We have some behind my neighbors and can hear them at night but I rarely see one. 

We have mountain lions in our neighborhood - a female had a pair of cubs?kits? a couple years ago and several neighbors spotted the trio - it's thought that the big cats are what killed one neighbor's goats, and several local house cats.  One friend felt "stalked" and saw the tail in the bushes while she was walking.  But, bears on the porch is too close for comfort.  Although my dog weighs in at 135# and we are "fenced", I still keep him in at night - I do think his size and bark are known to the local wildlife like deer & bear and they mostly steer clear of our place.

We had a rabbit the other day - he found a place behind some wood DH had stacked and was settling in.  When DH moved the wood and found the bunny, we put dog up in the house while we had to insist that this was not a good winter bunny home and had to shoo him away.

We are at about 3000' and expect some snow tonight.  A good night for split pea soup and hot biscuits.

Stay safe and warm everyone.

Elisimo

Ooooh, that sounds so good LC.  I think I will make some when I get back from FL next week.  I am so excited to get to go see BarbA in the morning.  

We have deer, raccoons, squirrles, beavers, foxes and an occasionally wolf. Some people think they are coyotes, but they are actually wolves. Our biggest problem is with the foxes as a number of them have been found to be rabid. We love watching the deer come get a morning and evening drink from the little pond behind our house.  We also have a very big hawk that stays in a tree on the dam side of the pond. We have watched him hunt small animals in the area.  When Daisy Dog was a puppy we would not let her outside without us being right beside her.  She was not much bigger than a rabbit and we were afraid that the hawk would get her.  She is big enough now that she is safe from him.  He could not pick her up and fly away with her now.  How long to hawk live anyway?  This one has been around for about 10 years.

Does anyone know how to get rid of all the doves that seem to have invaded our backyard?  They are destroying the feeders and eat all the food we put out for the other birds.  They have even run some of the smaller birds away from the feeders.  They are the bullies and I want them to just go away.  DH says he will get me a BB gun and I could do some target practice, but I don't really want to kill them, I just want them to go away.

Well I think I will try to go get some sleep, but I doubt that I will get much since I am so excited about getting to go see BarbA in the morning.  Hugs to all, AJ

QCA

Have a great time, AJ, and tell BarbA hello for all of us!

Kathy

SoCalLisa

Does anyone know why these are called Live Oak Trees

chabba

Joking, she says, Maybe because it is a wonder that it seems to thrive with so much moss growing on it?

Beautiful, picture!

SoCalLisa

I took that near Charleston SC I should have asked someone there

Wren44

That's just their name. It probably came from the fact that they're evergreen. I googled it and it said Old Ironsides was made of live oak.

SoCalLisa

Who knew, thanx

barbe1958

That is creepy!! I just asked my DH last week why did they call them "LIVE" oak in the book I was reading!!!! Like, you don't say LIVE pine tree. What IS the answer??????

Ginger, re: snow plowing....they don't wait until the snow stops to start plowing...they scrape it away AS it falls, so they aren't ever dealing with 10 foot drifts...hehehehehehhee One year in Barrie, we had piles of snow as high as the hydro wires!!!! At my DH's barbecue on the back deck, there was an area of melted snow around where he cooked, but the snow was even starting to make a roof!

gardengumby

Live Oak and Oak are two completely different species. 

marywh

Not to change the subject but getting back to deer, My daughter hit a deer tonight in her little car. Thank God she wasnt hurt and my grandson wasnt in the car with her, but she did about 3000 dollars worth of damage to her car, and killed the deer. Its dangerous driving around here this time of year!