Distractions and Musings: 2011

...more hardwoods....

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Otter Creek

...this is a stream that runs through property behind my mom's previous home...the property has two ponds with each somehow connected to the stream...

...as you might imagine, there is plenty of wildlife all over the property...you can't walk or ride through the area without seeing at least two or three deer...

....last Spring I followed the stream back into the woods along a firebreak (which tends to have more dirt than leaf or grass covering so I could move rather quietly). It wasn't long that I heard light, periodic splashing over in the stream just a few feet away but somewhat out of view due to brush...I waited and finally saw three adult otters dipping in and out of the water looking for crawfish and minnows...they never saw me as they eventually passed by...it was nice to see wildlife focused and engaged in their profession with no worry of humans or other threats nearby...very relaxing moment...I wish I could have snapped a few pictures....

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Sister Goats

...these are Spanish / Kiko goats. My mother owned them last year as pets and had them all named...the white goat up front is Molly, the others are Maggie, Savannah, Emily, Sarah Jane, and Ellie Mae. Mom really loved them but had to sell them after her husband passed away. Luckily she found someone who wanted goats like these as pets so they're in good hands now....I'm assuming they were able to keep their names...mom certainly did a good job naming them...

Friday, July 29, 2011

Killer Females

....this is what you find after spraying pesticide around the base of your home...well luckily not every one's home...these two black widows were found making a sluggish run for it after they decided the poison wasn't worth sticking around for....the one on the bottom had a really large thorax and sounded like a large acorn when it hit my plastic drain guard on the ground after I brushed it off the side of my house....black widows can usually be found at the base of buildings or under rocks. They'll be very close to a small but very stiff webbing area that utilizes small sticks, leaves, or grass for cover. The web can be so stiff a tiny stick can slightly bend when pressed against it. Black widows are much more numerous than people think and it's probably because they are excellent at staying out of sight most of the time. And the name? It's because after mating with the male (which is much smaller), the female will either do two things- kill him or allow him to leave...the male never knows for sure....serious gamble just for a little attention don't you think??

Armadillos

....I grabbed this pic on the property behind my mom's previous home. Armadillos are in high numbers in Georgia and tend to dig holes in flower beds and yards looking for grubs, worms, and moles at night. They have very poor eye site but an excellent sense of smell. While in college in TN back in '98, I mentioned to a friend that I was sure I saw a dead armadillo on the roadside...he quickly informed me that TN didn't have armadillos..however, the grey armor was all too familiar to me....a few yrs ago, I see a story and pic in a middle TN town showing an armadillo walking out of a guy's garage....these pesky hole diggers are definitely in TN now and growing in numbers.....

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Distraction Tips

Hi everyone...for those of you wanting to "Follow" my blog you will need to click the "Follow" button that is supposedly located at the top left of the site or somewhere at the very bottom. I've noticed that I never see the button when I visit the site myself; not sure what that's all about...other users with their own blogs have noticed a similar problem and are told by other users that their "Follow" button is always visible....go figure.

A second way to Follow is to type in your email address in the field down on the right side of the site where you see "Follow by Email." You will be prompted to type in a confirmation code. After that is submitted, an email will be sent to you asking you to confirm by clicking on the link provided in your email. So, after that is done you will get alerts via email when I have added content to my blog.

You can also share my content on Facebook by using the Facebook button on the right side as well.

Thanks for all the visits so far...I've slowed a bit but have plenty more to put up....Thanks for following.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Hungry Robin

...my friend's mother took this pic of a baby robin back in the Spring, just outside her front door's window...the blue little eggs look like easter eggs...this hungry little bird is definately craving a big, juicy earthworm....

Monday, July 25, 2011

Percy Priest Largemouths

....snagged this large mouth bass out on Percy Priest Lake over the weekend....it seems I found a gulley at a depth of about 13-18ft deep that produced several hits....

...caught this one as well along with one other one just a bit bigger...think I lost two or three....

....the water was really calm all morning....however, I decided to head home around 11am before the heat set in...

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Cold Breakfast

...I'm thinking this was the Winter of 2010...most snow I've ever seen in my back yard....

...that same morning, I noticed my bird feeder was completely iced over..several birds were pecking at the bird feeder's window trying to get at the seeds...you'll notice my faint prints in the frozen snow after I had went out and chipped away all the ice for the birds...my deck was a popular spot that morning for the neighborhood birds...

Green worms

...came across this really big green "worm" while walking to my truck after work with a friend...the pic is kind of fuzzy but not too bad....coincidentally, the same friend I was walking with sent me a pic of her soon to be two year old son with a giant stuffed green caterpillar laying across his lap...weird but kind of funny..

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Birthday

...today is my birthday...when I was much younger I remember thinking how it would feel being "grown up,"....I guess I'd say it feels really good at times and at other times not so good...still happy to have another birthday..

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away.
- Charles Caleb Colton

Nursery update...

....my suspicions were correct, turkeys have in fact hatched close to my place....saw three female turkeys this morning with a moderate sized nursery of baby turkeys around them...about twice the size of pigeons but with necks a bit longer and slightly wider bodies...couldn't get any pics but they were cool to see early in the morning...

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

More Steelhead..

...a nice and fresh Steelhead side...

...cut into halves and placed on cedar planks with a coating of olive oil on the planks and Cajun seasoning on the fillets...

....thrown onto the grill (cedar has to be soaked in water for several hours prior to grilling to keep from burning too rapidly) for about 25 minutes...

.....the finished product....

....or at least until the onions are added...

Monday, June 27, 2011

Walter Hill Sunset

...early Spring in my backyard last year...having trouble remembering when the picture was taken but the rather green grass and my Spring bird feeder (I put a different one up in the Winter, more on that later) makes me think very early Spring. The grass always comes in really green well before the trees take on thick leaves....

....Duchess enjoyed the sunset too...although she insisted on looking in the wrong direction....

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Summering In Tennessee

...can't remember if this was a female or male hummingbird..hard to tell in this picture...I'm leaning toward female though since there's no noticeably bright colors such as red...I usually have around four or five fighting over the feeder...they will stay with me until late September or early October then make their long trip back down to South America...

Water Theives

A few summers ago, we had temperatures in the 100's for a few weeks...I think the highest was around 105...so throughout each week I noticed my bird bath was empty even though I filled it with water every day....of course water will evaporate faster in hot temperatures but I wasn't convinced that the hot weather was drying the water up that fast....one Saturday morning I was given a pretty good clue as to where the water was going...these deer must have been dropping by every day to see if I had done my job of putting water out for them...the picture (taken from my back door) isn't all that great...it was taken from an earlier model cell phone....notice the deer on the far right eating the corn meant for squirrels...

Nursery Update..

I'm thinking maybe a few turkey nests have hatched out...I saw two hens standing near each other in some moderately tall weeds this morning close to my house.. Two standing together usually means they' re watching babies....we'll see...

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Natural Clocks

January 2011, Winter

....this was a snowy morning in January at work....it's interesting to notice nature or landscapes and see how they change or look different as the seasons come and go....

April 2011, Spring

....almost like a natural clock or reminder of how quick time passes by..

East TN Pond

....my brother and I were fishing in east Tennessee when I took this pic...the rather loose looking gravel wall on the right side looked risky to walk on at first...however, he tried it out with no mini avalanches...we caught a few in this small pond then later checked out a smaller pond created by beavers....saw a beaver too if I'm remembering right...

Pre-K Turkeys

....as mentioned earlier...a turkey "nursery" (as I like to call them) less than half a mile from my place...this was from a few years ago...won't be long and they'll be more nurseries roaming the neighborhood....

....yet another nursery

Friday, June 24, 2011

Blueberries and Conversation

...dad has several of these blueberry bushes on the border of his backyard....I challenge anyone to walk up, grab a few, and try to walk away...it just won't happen....dad and I must have looked like two hungry bears last summer standing at this bush and eating as if we're preparing to hibernate....dad talked of my uncle having a few with him from the same bush not long before he passed away...would have loved to share some with my uncle on that day.....so, this bush keeps providing tempting blueberries and a "center prop" that illicits general conversation every time....

Too Many Kids in This Tub

Too Many Kids in this Tub

There's too many kids in this tub
There's too many elbows to scrub
I just washed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine
There's too many kids in this tub.

- the late Shel Silverstein

...ran across this poem during college...never forgot it for some reason....

The Walter Hill Preserve

...early morning down in Walter Hill while driving to work today...less than one mile from my place....the area around my house including all nearby roads are loaded with wildlife...during the late Spring/early Summer you'll see lots of rabbits (they have a tendency to have lots of children of course)....in a few weeks, all the turkey nests will be overflowing with babies...it's not uncommon to see two or three nurseries (as I call them) of baby turkeys and their moms roaming about...last year I spotted three of these nurseries combine into a large herd...must have been around fifty babies along with six or seven moms...wasn't able to grab that pic but did get a few pics of smaller nurseries...stay tuned for those pics...

Thursday, June 23, 2011

First Portrait

Found this trio not far from my office one morning...they were anxious to see me...or at least I'd like to think so since it was their first sibling group portrait...isn't the one toward the front trying to smile??....mommy however was not too welcoming...she made at least three impressive dives at my head as I walked away...maybe she was upset I left her out of the pic...

Steelhead Trout

...my brother introduced me to Steelhead trout a few months ago....they taste better than Salmon but the fillets look similar...I grilled these on two planks of cedar...the result was a very even cook with a nice smokey flavor...the one on the left is skin side up, the one on the right is skin side down...I wanted to experiment with skin side up since I like the skin nice and crispy :) ....these were delicious and very healthy of course.....

....and of course the veges are a nice compliment.....

Late Southern Song....

....an awesome sound late in the evening or at night...the Chuck-will’s-widow (also called a Whip-poor-will although a Whip-poor-will is a similar but different bird) is found mostly in the Southeast. They will often sit on the sides of roads or paths at night and sing for hours. The bird's song has been referred to in countless songs for decades...I recorded this one from my mom's back porch later in the evening, in fact you can hear other birds still singing as well...the Chuck-will’s-widow's song is a southern favorite and is the one of the few songs still heard on a summer night after all the daytime birds have turned in for the night....

....and here's Chuck himself...although not my pic....serious camo....uh?....

Fish daycare...

..caught this large mouth bass in the smaller of two ponds on my mom's property this past Spring...she was happy to be released back into the pond to continue raising her babies (which I spotted moving the water when I reached the bank, so I knew the big momma would be nearby)....my dad however, was pretty disturbed about my letting such a big fish go...I figured she's got a an important job to do...raise more big fish to bend my rod when I visit home in the coming years....dad wasn't buying it.....

...the larger of the two ponds...later I noticed, after zooming in on this pic, you can barely make out a brown, horizontal object in the water and in the distance. Since there are no logs or trees in the middle of this pond, it must be the resident alligator. We see him often...my brother and his wife saw several babies and had one little gator swim right by them...don't think my bro will be wading in this pond much more....

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Feline daycare...

This isn't my pic or my pets...a cool pic nonetheless, right?

Bologna...

...."yeah, bologna, a woman's love, and a good cell phone."
- Alan Jackson
.....sounds simple enough, uh?

Blaze and Shadows...

.....spotted this tree one afternoon here in Murfreesboro, TN in the fall of 2010. The property is a designated Civil War battleground (The Battle of Stones River) and usually is a good area to spot several deer. I was mostly focused on the tree but the shot later turned out to be better than expected when I noticed the fence line meandering toward the tree's base along with the shadows of the fence on the ground...got lucky I guess....

Front Porch.....

I took this pic while sitting on my mom's front porch in 2010 not far from the Flint River (which is just upstream from the Chattahoochee river in north Florida....you know, the one Alan Jackson sung about). I had been sitting there chatting on my phone and realized I was looking at the front page of some southern themed magazine. So, I decided to southern it up just a bit more by adding my cup of sweet tea...and voila!....a summer day on the porch in South Georgia....

Southern Pleasures II

This is Bridge Creek (a muddy, full Bridge Creek) close to Moultrie, GA. The tupelo tree in the middle isn't dead, it was just really late winter, I think (the base root system has been there for decades according to dad and has always produced a pretty thick tree). It's usually covered with thick layers of leaves. Anyway, this creek, and many others nearby, were fished by dad and all his brothers when they were growing up in Moultrie; food was at a premium and picking cotton didn't always cut it. So of course, my siblings and I fished these creeks every summer when growing up as well; the same banks my dad's little feet walked on when he was a boy. The tupelo tree's over hanging limbs were always somewhat of a barrier to getting our lines to where the really nice fish were, close to the base of the tree. The discussion, each time we arrived on the bank, generally included how to get bait close to the tree without getting hung in the limbs...in fact, you can see a red cork in the top left of the tree now....that little old tree has collected many corks over the years.

Old Moultrie, GA homestead....

Dad and I swung through Moultrie a few years ago and dropped by our old homestead (at least the property). We lived there when I was less than five years old.

I distinctly remember the pine trees and pine cones...I wonder if Dad compulsively kept the pine cones picked up then as he does now at my step-mom's place??

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Friday, November 11, 2011