Unextirpated Turkeys

Happy holiday, safe travels, and thank you to all who are keeping our family in your prayers this week.

The beast pictured here is from the museum at Pere Marquette State Park in Illinois.  The small sign next to it says, “The wild turkey was extirpated from this area in the late 1800s.  Reintroduced into the park in 1979, the turkey has again become common in the area’s open woodlands and forests.”

Extirpated, huh.  Pretty drastic.

Hard Days Night

Today after work, I finally had time to arrange some artifacts from outdoors.  Not bad.  At the same time, I parked my trusty vehicle (as you can see, it has a small carbon footprint), slipped out of my little black silk and velvet work outfit and pointy hat, and sat back to enjoy the creativity of it all.

Happy Halloween and a big *boo*!

Mowing day

Time to mow the lawn across the street.  Escaping from my watering hose, a praying mantis.

(you can see the wings and eye better in higher resolution)

Then, after breaking the Ramadan fast, some melon-flavored sheesha.

Note: To offset the sad news of Sen. Edward Kennedy’s death a few minutes ago, here are some photographs of signs in

Chinglish (be sure to click the little arrows on the side to see all the photos).

The Taming of the Toad

I think he likes me.  Well, maybe not.

My hand probably feels warm… I think they can feel heat.

I think he’s kind of bow legged.

Maybe it’s a “she”.

Slugfest

Today I mowed and watered at my old place. The grass is brown and everything barely survives, as is typical for July August. The only thing not well under cover was these two slugs, retrieved from under a flower pot:

Lake critters

Sunday I took a look walk to the lake, but didn’t get around to posting the pictures of the critters. Here they are. See if you can identify: grasshopper, cottontail, geese, water bird (sandpiper?), it’s a bird (seagull?), it’s a plane, squirrel in a tree, deer footprint, raccoons on a roof.

Slug du jour

I may have moved, but I still take care of the yard at my old place in exchange for storage. When I moved in, it was just grass,  with a maple tree in the front yard.  Slowly over time I added borders from my mother’s gifts of plant divisions.   Now the place is a blooming with everything imaginable: hosta, daylily, morning glory (the purple variety “Grandpa Ott), and the purple color “red” basil that reseed themselves every year.   While I’m over there, I usually pick enough mint to tide me over until the next time the lawn needs attention. And once, yes, I very discretely brought my laundry.

Yesterday I finished mowing the lawn just before a sudden downpour.

I had just turned on the hose to water, when the sudden driving rain forced me indoors.

A classic example of cause and effect. Yes, I caused the rain by turning on that faucet, just as surely as if I had washed my car.

After the rain I checked the flowerpots, hoping to get a picture of some exotic designer snail worthy of a handbag design.  But no, the only slimy creature I could unearth was a small slug badly in need of a suntan.

And the toad.

I thought of trying to catch him to show his size next to my hand, but he hopped away.

When I planted the yard, I didn’t stop on my side of the fence.  The north side of the building was a mass of weeds and broken bricks which I cleaned out and replaced with daylilies I found in a dumpster.

Oddly enough, the daylilies with the south (sunny) exposure (on the left side of the fence) have finished blooming, and now only have bare stalks where the flowers were, but the dayliies on the north (shady) side of the building are in full bloom.

Spider

Chicago spiders are mostly harmless. If they get indoors you can wake up with spider bites, but ordinarily they stay outside and eat mosquitoes. This spider tried to run away from me. I found it under a flowerpot after a sudden downpour.

Note waterspout in the background.

Snake appears…and disappears

Three years ago the blind guy who took care of the yard and did all the electrical moved out and I started taking care of the property. That means lots of water, grass seed, and Miracle Gro. That’s about the time the snake first appeared in the yard, curled up under a flat of freshly watered perennials.

Today when I went to mow the lawn I checked to see if the toad had returned to its spot on lawn. Instead, I saw the disappearing tail of a snake. When I returned with a camera, the snake was nowhere to be found, so I started mowing. Then the toad appeared, hopping along the sidewalk. A few moments later the snake, who had disappeared in the back of the yard, reappeared in the front. The toad hopped wildly into the hostas, as if pursued by a predator. The snake disappeared again. But where could it have gone? It didn’t cross to the hostas and it didn’t cross the sidewalk. This is one very crafty snake.