WHATCHA DOING TODAY?

[snapshotmiki]

Woohoo! VA pension came through so soon we will start looking more seriously in FL. Today was mostly paperwork and garden. We have teeny weeny strawberries! They are so cute! Have to work tomorrow. Are you warming up out there, Mt. Rider?

[Mt_Rider]

Gooood News, Miki!

 

 

 

Warmed up to 40 today....as the sun came out...then went down to 30 under the clouds. Tonite....20 degrees.....snowing....

 

MtRider

[Jeepers]

Miki!

[The WE2's]

[The WE2's]

Kitchen window was open all day with window fan bringing in some fresh outside air! Baked a loaf of bread and some oatmeal cookies to take camping with us this weekend. While the oven was still hot I baked a chicken/green bean/noodle casserole for supper. Why heat up the top burners for 1 or 2 pots/pans when a warm oven is ready for a casserole! LOL Took some paper plates, saucers, bowls and plastic ware over to the travel trailer and swept and mopped the floor. We'll take our clothes etc. over perhaps tomorrow and plug in the trailer and turn on the frig. Then Friday we'll take our food over. Even though we'll only be out for 3 days we always take a few extra days food & clothes "just in case". Wrote up our menu (I always create a menu when we travel) and marked off our "camp list" of things that we'll need to "re-load" for this year. When we winterize the trailer we strip it of anything that will freeze. So far there are three other couples and a single joining us. Should be fun.

[Annarchy]

Congrats, Miki!!!

 

I'm back in TX. Safe & sound. A lot of snowbirds going home, but for the most part smooth sailing.

 

Gotta hook up MIL's new/replacement TV receivers tomorrow after we get her a new TV for her bedroom. Big whoop. And my ToDo list includes planting flowers and trimming her hedges. (So far)

[Annarchy]

Mmmmmmm...... Fresh baked bread. I can imagine the smell from here.

[Mt_Rider]

Rested. Washed hair. Never made it past the porch.

 

MtRider Neeeeeded that!

[Annarchy]

Replaced MIL's receivers and TV's.

[Mt_Rider]

Visit folks.....first time OUT since before the blizzard.

 

MtRider

[Daelith]

Been a bit since I reported in. Last weekend I got half a row of Strike green beans (bush) and a whole row of lima beans planted. Both are already sprouting. Put some pepper plants in too.

 

Tomorrow I have to run to the John Deere dealership and pick up a part I ordered. Since Charlie Girl has to go to the vet for her annuals, I figured I would just take her along too so I don't have to make two trips into town. Have to keep our fingers crossed that Jack doesn't destroy the house while we're gone. Once back I plan on getting the other half row of green beans (Blue Lake Bush) and our cucumbers( Straight Eights and Lemon) planted.

 

Not sure if I'm ready to put out the tomato plants I started indoors. Though the are certainly getting big enough. I usually wait until May on tomatoes.

Strawberries, lettuce and carrots are doing well.

[Annarchy]

 

Home again! It is so nice to be home and have my computer back. This was the first time I left it home and did all my internet on my phone. The keyboard on my phone is not conducive to my fumbling fingers.

 

The garden is looking much better than I expected. Most everything is spouting and growing.

 

 

I have a list of ToDo's and need to get to it.

[Jeepers]

Beautiful day in N.E. Ohio today. It's 78 degrees with a beautiful blue sky. Spring done sprang 'cause the motorcycle police have popped up.

 

I propped it #$%^ fence panel up...again EARLY this morning and this afternoon I got the grass mowed. Always a relief to get the grass cut for another week because I had such a rough time getting it mowed last summer. I love my Deere.

[snapshotmiki]

Garden going great here! Lots of tomato blooms, lots of strawberry blooms, 5 potato plants up and a couple of --what the heck is that-- coming up from last year.

 

DH dropped from SSI already. Sent off paperwork today for VA medical since Medicaid stops soon. Applied for pay from last year (more paperwork). Will see how that goes. And my last day at work will be May 21. It is getting slower for summer and boss has family to help. Perfect timing! Will have time for more ebay!

 

And summer is about here! A/c on soon!

[Jeepers]

I spent most of the day online. Searching this and that. You know how it is, you look up one thing and that diverts your attention to something else just as interesting and the next thing you know half of the day is gone.

 

I think I came across one useful thing though. If you call a catalogs 800 number you can request to be removed from their mailing list. It's getting ridiculous here. I know I get well over 30 catalogs a months and some of them send out twice a month. Plus all of the junk mail that comes here. I get 3-4 hearing aid ads every month...addressed to my D-ex. And all of the cable companies sending out junk mail. I know who they are. I can get in touch with them...online. I even get mail from AT&T wanting me. I've been their customer for 36 years. 36 years. I also started getting mail again addressed to the woman who lived here 36 years ago! We have the first name so they are probably assuming I/she remarried. Not sure but 36 years.

 

Now I just have to wait until the catalogs start arriving so I can know who to give the ax to. I can't even remember them all. Charging up the phone now.

[Mt_Rider]

 

 

We have the first name so they are probably assuming I/she remarried.

 

 

The woman who lived there before you was named 'Jeepers' toooooo?

 

 

 

[Jeepers]

[The WE2's]

Got home from camping trip with several of our camping buds...ended up being about 10 of us. Got laundry caught up from the trip. MrWE2 took care of one of his customers today...had a leaky toilet. Stormed big time here but no damages to here or the Homestead, but we did have to go over this morning early and dig out the whistle so the storm water would drain. We're going to check and see if we can dig a deeper cut and just put a cattle guard over it to avoid the clogging up. Then, if we wanted to shut the entry off, we could just pull the cattle guard inside the property line or flip it backward. Sunk more T-post and strung some fence to shut son's dogs off from the garden area and also another part towards the front for Abby-girl. It will still leave us a pretty good sized area for gardening this year and then when he moves and we move there, we'll remove the back part of the fencing and leave the front for Abby-girl. Drug some of the tree limbs we cut off last week to the compost pile. Bet the neighbors think it's pretty funny to see son walking around "watching" us work :-(

[The WE2's]

Been watching our Abby-girl pretty close. MrWE2 took her out to P before bedtime when we were camping, and all of a sudden she jumped and started twirling, trying to get her tail. She wasn't in a squatting position so it's hard to imagine that anything could have bitten her or stung her so late at night. We called the vet but they were swamped with weekend emergencies and said we could leave her and they'd fit her in...NOT. She's never been left with anybody and never been locked up in a crate with a bunch of strangers and strange howling dogs :-( NOT She's eating, drinking and taking care of her biz okay, but we'll probably call tomorrow and see if they've got time for her...since she's also due for all her shots and blood tests etc.

[The WE2's]

Just thinking...when we were camping I applied my little roller-ball bottle of my thieves blend on my wrists, behind my knees and a dab under each ear...twice a day. Everybody picked off ticks but me...??? Wouldn't that be something?

[Mt_Rider]

Good Grief! Felines and coyotes and cat puke, oh MY! What a day. I've been having blessedly boring ones lately.. Started with my elderly kitty eating some greens and ....yeah, nice spot on my blanket. Washed that corner and hung to dry on porch. Got it back in a while later when the snow started.

 

At least the snow all melted. Just wet.

 

The "Feline" I spotted when I went down to feed. Not a kitty cat. Same critter we've been having trouble identifying. Looks too big to be a bob cat. Looked to orange-ish...initially thot it was a fox. [our foxes are not NEARLY the bright orange/red color of the midwest foxes, btw. Brownish-Rusty. But this critter moved like feline and was obviously too big for fox. My eyes not good enough to see a tail....drat! Cuz that would I.D. it. Couldn't get binoculars focused fast enough. Too small for a cougar.... unless it's a small one. Sheeeeeeeeesh, I HOPE NOT! Cougar would scare me to death!

 

It was obviously interested in my lil' flock of ducks playing in the flooded pasture [instead of in the deep pond where they're safe]. And Mallard and his missus. And "Fred and Wilma" [our pseudonym for a pair of Canadian Geese]. Everyone was having a party in the flood waters tonite.

 

OK...so I'll try to catch any tracks Feline might have left in the small patches of snow. First get MY ducks inside! Did the horses [Princess is wet again so had to put on her coat. Also keeping the wandering goat close. Just getting done when Koa GOES OFFFFF! That bark means she's got something definitely defined as "BAAAD ONES" in her sight! I'm running, hoping she's not gonna jump out of the back of truck. Slammed it shut and went to top of pond berm. There! Coyote! {sheesh, what a night!} So I give that BAAAD one something to discourage hanging around here and he runs off....zigging and zagging thru the potentilla bushes.

 

Then I PINCH my finger badly...bleeding....OW! Stop bleeding with snow [dug into a small patch of old snow] and slapped a Bandaid on it. This is why 2 Bandaids are always in my back pocket.

 

Finally put myself back together so dog and I could walk across the pasture to see if there might be any identifying tracks in the few old snowdrifts. Shoot! Nada! I NEED to know what's stalking my ducks...goat...?? Koa had her nose in the air so high that her front feet came literally off the ground. To her great disappointment, I decided EXIT-STAGE LEFT was a good idea. Loosing daylight fast.

 

Windshield of truck had accumulated a coating of moisture on it. And...it was now very cold. That layer was now ICE. Augh...had to run defrost to get a piece to see out of. Mostly I rolled down the window and hung my head out! {what a night I'm having! Oye!}

 

Finally got up in cabin...safe and warm.

 

MtRider ....I'd like to go back to boring now....

[Annarchy]

Bob cats get big. We see them and mountain lions occasionally.

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat

[Ambergris]

Feeling awful and feeling sulky about it. :/

[Mt_Rider]

:sSig_thankyou: ANNARCHY!!!

 

 

I've only seen pics like the top picture. That's the kind of bobcat I've seen, here and other places. But.....

 

The SECOND PICTURE.... THAT'S IT!

 

1 ) DH saw the curled tail [as opposed to just a short stub 3" long.. like a bobbed dog's tail they do with some breeds] That REALLY confused us.... "curled tail?"

 

 

2) Then last nite, as I said, I saw reddish/orange-ish. My first thot was our dull orange-ish foxes. What I was looking at was obviously way too large for fox and motion is feline.

 

3) But seemed too big for my perception of bobcat. Those I've seen have been a larger version of our grey/brown striped Maine Coon cat. ....this information tells me they can get WAY bigger than I've seen before....which matches this kitty we have lurking now.

 

 

PERFECT MATCH! :sSig_thankyou:

 

 

 

I am SOOOOO VERY RELIEVED it's not a young mountain lion hunting our area. With multiple sightings and Koa/neighbor dogs going OFF all the time....this thing has moved in. Did NOT want young mt lion to grow up calling this home. :grinning-smiley-044:

 

 

 

Okay, NOW we've got a better basis for how to deal with it and our animals. Koa really should not encounter it. Bobcats are more shy than people-aggressive, thankfully. Prone to run rather than hunt people.

 

They CERTAINLY will hunt our ducks, goat but not horses or us. Ducks can never be left inside their pen....aka: sitting duck! Goat needs to be.....oh. Goat will have to be inside goathouse if I'm not home. She can be free-ranging if we're outside but in her pen if we're in the house.

 

This was interesting in the Wikipedia article....since I had the bobcat on one side of the property and the coyote on the other within an hour of each other. We always have coyotes....which I prefer cuz they can't climb fences [duck/goat yards] :

 

 

 

Research in Maine has shown little evidence of competitive relationships between the bobcat and coyote or red fox; separation distances and territory overlap appeared random among simultaneously monitored animals.^[44] However, other studies have found bobcat populations may decrease in areas with high coyote populations, with the more social inclination of the canid giving them a possible competitive advantage.

 

 

MtRider ...Whew! I feel so much better now. Information is empowering! Confusion is not.

[Ambergris]

Coyotes can climb fences here. So can alligators.