June 15, 2009

From the looks of the two empty bird feeders, it seems we had some busy visitors during the night. the two metal feeders look to be in tack so maybe the birds can get something to eat today! Carlo put some corn out at the easement and I'm hoping to see the deer there, unless the raccoons cleaned it out during the night! The sun is shining, the sky is clear and soft blue in color and the air is cool - the birds are chirping, the cranes (in the distance) are chiming in and a woodpecker seems to be helping with keeping time for the feathered symphony I am enjoying this otherwise peaceful morning...ahhhh - euphoria!

While listening to the sounds of nature, I spotted something walking in the back - it's a new visitor to O'Wich...it's a red fox - no hound, just a fox!

After breakfast, Carlo ran the tractor. I cut roots from the ground, cleaned up twigs and branches...lots of twigs and branches - where do these come from - yeah, I know the trees, but there are so many! I pruned and watered our willows. A belt broke on the tractor so Carlo finished with the gas mower. It looks so nice when it's all cleaned up. I snapped some photos of a leaf frog, some birds and a fuzzy caterpillar.

Carlo went up on the roof to fix a piece of rotted siding. Hopefully this repair will limit the number of bugs that sneak in!

While he ran to the store for a piece of flashing, I watched the 'dreaded red squirrel' prance around on the front porch and knock an empty bucket of seed down from the bench. He must have thought we weren't home since the truck was gone! He ran away before I could snap a photo of him on the porch, but I did get one of him as he ran away!

Carlo got back with the flashing and a few other items and other than trimming the piece and handing tools up to him on the roof, I didn't do much - but stay out of the way! He layered the flashing and finished with one complete piece.

After he caulked and while on the roof, he redirected the antenna in an effort to get more channels on the TV. Let's see, the wind is coming from the south and Madison is that way and if I tighten this screw....how many channels will we get? Hmmm, 5, 9, 11 - his moving the antenna may have been successful after all....but why is he still watching the same TV shows that he watched before, when we only got three channels!!!!????
We cleaned everything up, put all the tools away and had a quick lunch.

Since the tractor broke, we flagged our neighbor Steve down as he passed by on his way home from work. He has fixed the tractor in the past and said he could take care of this problem. We loaded the tractor on to the trailer and delivered it down at his house.

I got dinner ready and took a shower while Carlo ran to town for gas and (another) cooler. Maybe when we're done with dinner, the raccoon show will start.

The feeders have seed and I put leftover breakfast sausage, potato skins and a hot dog bun out by the stump and we adjusted the light to catch more action.

Again, happy the raccoons are not near the cabin, but another disappointing show. There was one lone visitor for quite a while. We thought he was just the scout. Two others showed up and ran the first one away and they never climbed the trees (that we noticed) and they didn't stay long. A bit later, Carlo shined a spot light down toward the easement where he had thrown about 70 pounds of corn and other feed - he noticed four sets of eyes shining back! The raccoons found the new buffet that was set out for the deer...Sure! That explains it! Why futz with the vending apparatus (the bird feeders) when you can indulge in a spread that's been laid out?