Indian Summer


It was in the high 80s today! Whew. It was quite warm. We worked this morning and in the afternoon I got a delivery of square bales of hay and a couple round bales. After the hay got delivered we were planning on splitting some wood and then going out to hike in the forest... hopefully spotting a couple partridge along the way.

Instead we skipped the firewood splitting, it was just way too warm. We went out and walked a bit... we went on one deer trail and when we came back to our ATV we had so many ticks on us, I don't even want to tell you how many.

OK, I'll tell you.... EIGHT! That's eight too many.

It was beautiful out though. The colors were shining bright in the sunlight, the air was warm... You couldn't ask for a better afternoon.
at the house

The beavers were out working


By our big maples


This field is always beautiful this time of year... apparently this doe wanted to be in the picture!

We saw this doe on one of our trails

The big creek

The smaller creek

We never saw a single partridge. We've noticed there are hardly any around this year, last year they seemed to be recovering a little. They go in cycles, like rabbits, but if they are only down because of their cycle, I don't know when it's going to be over because we are going on 7, 8 years of hardly a bird in the forest. One of the best things about spring is hearing the partridge drumming.

We think we might have a clue as to why the population is so low however... In the past week we've seen two feral cats here. Where they come from way out in the bush, I have no idea. Often people use our township road for dumping animals. We are over a mile away from that road but they do wander in here. These are not dumped unwanted cats though, these are through and through feral cats, probably not even first generation. We spotted one by my chicken coop - not a good place to be.

We've been setting the live trap ever since so we can see it from the house and we are able to monitor it through the night. Last night, we caught something other than a cat:


We let her go of course. Just not at the house.


Once the sun began to set we went down to the lake to share a drink and the sunset.


Baby (AKA Buttermilk) was in heat today. As soon as she came out of the barn she ran to Buckwheat and started throwing herself at him shamelessly. He wasn't interested. He's just starting rut, but he's also never shown any interest in Baby, he ignored her completely last year. I'm not sure why. Poor girl, she tries. She showered me with some of her affection which is nice, it's the only time of year she's this sweet.


I had an ice pop today and someone was pretty excited about it. He loves frozen things, including ice cubes. This was better because it tasted like bananas... and after, he really, really, wanted the stick. 



But then, much to his horror, Norman took it. 


So Douglas did the only thing he could do in this situation. He threw a fit.  He does this when he doesn't get his way. Runs around and yips and yelps and makes horrible faces. You know, your typical hissy fit.


He waited until Norman wasn't looking and then he made his move....


Do I really have this? Did I really get it?


Basically he's saying now "you are not getting it back Norman!" Look at his face.... 


In the end, I won and got the stick before it was eaten whole because it tasted remotely like frozen bananas. 

This evening a hot cup of earl grey tea, and an old Cary Grant movie are in order (in between checking the baseball score, I can't beat the system). Tomorrow we are supposed to enjoy more warm weather. Monday is Thanksgiving here in Canada. Since Kevin is American and his son is usually here in November, we celebrate it twice. It will just be the two of us on Monday, but everyone here (parrots, dogs, etc) looks forward to turkey. Even the Prairie dogs, not because they have turkey, but they get sweet potatoes which are some of their favorite treats.

I've already got our menu pretty much planned. This year I'm going to brine my turkey for the first time. Tomorrow I'll have to spend about 2 hours trying to find a big enough space in the fridge to leave it over night. Wish me luck!

Comments

Unknown said…
What a lovely Indian summer you are havin. The maple trees sure are pretty. Glad you got the popsicle stick, too:)

Mocha Barney, Ashley Pumpernickel and winniechurchill
Dreaming said…
I enjoyed your post. Your fall colors are glorious!
I'm amazed that you caught a raccoon... we tried to trap some that were after our chickens (years ago) and those wily critters would always get the bait and not get caught!
The JR said…
Happy thanksgiving!

Everyone is cute. Luv the pics.

My hubby would have thrown a fit about the beaver....

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