Fracas in the Night

The scariest thing that's happened to me in a long time happened the other night about 11 PM. Out of the bedroom window, which was open, I heard some sort of animal scream. I'm not sure to this day what kind of animal it was, but it was sort of high-pitched and in extreme distress. I quickly opened the bedroom door that leads outside to the back yard and to the forest beyond. Stepping out into the dark I could hear trampling in the underbrush and trees about 20 yards away. The trampling went on and on and around and around and it was accompanied by heavy breathing. I could tell by the breathing and the footsteps that it was a large animal, probably with hooves. After a couple of minutes the screaming stopped but the trampling and hard breathing continued. I ran and got the heavy-duty flashlight, but was unable to catch a glimpse of anything through the trees. I wish now that I had dared to step off the porch and creep a little closer. But I was terrified that whatever it was could come crashing down through the trees upon me. It was all I could do to aim the flashlight with one hand while still holding on to the doorknob to the house with the other hand.

The next day, in full sunlight, I walked up to the scene of crime and looked around for a few minutes. Because of the abundance of weeds, wildflowers and pine needles, it was hard to see any kind of track, only a few flattened weeds and scrapings in the soil. One thing I did see was the remains of a long-dead baby deer and a lot of old tufts of deer hair scattered around.

I'm wondering if this little clearing in the woods might have been the scene of other crimes and fracases in the night.

No Vacancy

I put up a really nice birdhouse last year in a the big Ponderosa Pine tree in back of the house. I can look up and see the little wood house out of the window when I'm in bed, so when I wake up in the morning one of the first things I do is check the birdhouse. I waited all summer last year for a little bird family to take up residence, but it remained vacant. This spring I had new hope that I'd get a renter and had almost given up hope. Then on the morning of June 15th I was awakened by a most unusual chirp. It was more like a full sentence-chirp...it went on and on. And I noticed that a little tiny bird kept popping in and out of the round door of the birdhouse. As I watched I could see that it was trying to get twigs, (some of them quite large) into the little round door. It reminded me of a pole vaulter holding a pole horizontally and trying to enter a small round door. Time after time the twig would fall and the bird would zoom down to retrieve it. Amazingly, progress was made and more and more twigs were making it into the birdhouse. Some of them were too big to fit all the way in, so they are sticking out a little bit.

I'm so excited to finally have a bird family to watch this summer. I can't wait to see little baby birds poking their heads out of the door and perched on the limb ready to try their wings. All I have to worry about now is keeping the cats away!

A Couple of Kitty Stories

It's bird season for my kitties. Living next to the woods, there are birds everywhere chirping, flying about and nesting. And it's not unusual for the kitties to catch a bird once in a while - that is their main occupation in the summertime. I hate it when they do this, but I have to remember that they are cats. I walked out of the garage one day and there on the ground before me was a little hill of gravel...like a little kitty paw would create - scraping up the gravel in all directions to form a hill. I gave the pile of gravel a little kick with my foot and underneath was a dead bird. I was glad someone decided to bury the little bird instead of eating it.


I was planting flowers in the backyard a few days ago and observed that Teddy was alerted to something in the trees up the hill. I saw him slowly and quietly creep out of sight toward his target as I continued my work. Before long I heard a scuffling in the underbrush and looked up to see Teddy running as fast as he could to the garage with something in his mouth. I also saw a bird flying just above Teddy's head, chasing him and chirping loudly. I dropped my shovel to go see if I could rescue the poor victim. As I rounded the corner of the house on the way to the garage I found a baby bird laying in the grass. I picked it up and could feel it's heart beating furiously and the poor little creature actually threw up in my hand. I can understand that...being carried in the teeth of a large running cat must be pretty upsetting. By some miracle the little bird was unharmed. While I had it in my hand I gave it a couple drops of water to help it revive and then I took it back up the hill near to where I heard the scuffling. The little bird wasn't the only one who was traumatized...after dropping it, Teddy narrowing escaped a very mad mother bird by running into the garage where he hid for a couple of hours.

Re-inventing the Wheel

The raspberry bushes that I planted a couple of years ago are finally big enough to need support to keep them from laying on the ground. Last year I bought t-posts and wire to do the job, but I put off doing the work, week after week, month after month.

I'd never built a fence or even put in a fence post before...I had never even watched anyone do it. That's probably why the procrastination...I just didn't know the proper way to do it. I could have asked someone or looked up the procedure online, but no, I had to re-invent the wheel.

My tools were a shovel, an axe (because I didn't have a sledge hammer), and a 30 lb. pry bar. The soil was way too hard and rocky for the shovel and the pry bar to work. So I hauled the hose over and filled up the small holes I had created with water. After a few minutes the water had softened the soil in the holes a little so I picked up the pry bar again. By applying pressure and twisting and turning the bar I was able to create a little round hole about four inches deep in the mud. I then lifted the pry bar as high as my arms could reach above my head and with all my energy drove it down into the hole. I was standing in the perfect position to then receive a mouthful of mud as well as mud in my eyes, hair, face, clothing and even down my neck. Taking a moment to recover from the shock and spit out some of the mud, I resumed my work and actually had some success. Believe it or not I put in SIX fence posts that way. I figured I was a muddy mess already so why not continue?

The next day I was telling my sister, Rosalin, about my fence post setting and she happened to mention a tool that Jack has called a "post driver." She suggested that I borrow it. I did, and was able to set the next six posts in about 20 minutes...no mud involved!

Where the Deer and the Antelope Play

We were invited to dinner at my sister's house up on Saddle Mountain on Saturday. You can truly stretch your eyes and see for miles on that mountain, and after dinner we were enjoying the beauty of the evening as we gazed out of the south facing windows. There below us on a grassy slope was a doe and her three young offspring. The three little deer, triplets, must have been born last year but they were still small and a little bit frisky!

In all my observations of deer I've never seen them play or act frisky in any way before this. I usually just watch them grazing in the distance or catch them eating my flowers and bushes and then run away startled as I clap my hands and shout at them. I've seen seen them dash across the highway in front of me, nearly causing an accident, and sadly, I've seen many of them laying dead along the highways. Mostly deer have been a nuisance and a danger to me. But last Saturday I saw deer in a new light, in a way that I never imagined.

As we watched the little deer and their mother they began to run around in circles, chasing each other. Around and around they bounded like little ballerinas spreading their legs apart with each leap...and each one leaping over the same imaginary obstacles. At one point when one little deer caught up with another one I witnessed some play fighting! They reared up on their hind legs and pawed at each other with their front hoofs. It was an incredible scene! I had no idea that deer actually play.

Far too soon, play-time was over and the business of grazing was resumed as the four-some moved off into the shadows of the evening. I'm hoping to spend more evenings like that up on Saddle Mountain...up where the deer and the antelope play.

I Could Be A Gun Person

My sister Gayla and I recently went to a friends house to learn about pistols, to practice handling them and to shoot at some targets. Guns are a passion of this friend and he has a large collection of pistols as well as rifles, so we got to shoot several different types: "38 Special Revolver," "9mm Semi-automatic with laser," "Glock," "22 Semi-automatic," "Keltec 380," "357 Magnum Revolver," "45 Semi-automatic," and a couple of others.

The only gun I've ever really used is a shotgun my Dad bought for me when I was about 12 years old that I used for pheasant hunting. It's now a sawed-off shot gun due to an accidental cramming of mud up the barrel by my younger brother just before he fired. But it's still good for raccoons and coyotes, I've found.

I never really had an interest in getting another gun until now. The target practicing was more fun than I thought it would be. I'm actually a pretty good shot...a lot of my bullets hit around the center of the target - our friend even called me, "dead-eye DeAnn." Now, it seems that every day I find myself thinking about guns; mentally comparing the different pistols, how they felt in my hands and the kick or recoil as I pulled each trigger.

I never thought I'd be studying the "Cabela's" ads for firearms and ammunition. But now I am. I think I could be a gun person!

Misery Loves Company and A Sucker For a Sucker

Why is it that when kids get sick they sleep in their parents bed? I asked Roger if that was the case when he was growing up and he said that he NEVER slept in his parents bed. But that WAS the case when I grew up as you can see by this picture of Ruth and I in mom and dad's bed.

I certainly wouldn't want a sick child spending time in my bed. Think of the germs that would be spread by the coughing, sneezing, drooling and possible throwing up or whatever else a kid might do. But could there be some healing power for the kid in the surrounding, enveloping, comforting quilts and pillows of the parents bed?

When I was in my twenties, going to school and and living at home, I had my wisdom teeth out. I remember coming home and spending the afternoon and evening in mom and dad's bed. Being next to the main living area, I guess it was easier for mom to keep an eye on me and to tend to my misery and moaning requests.

Ruth was actually the sick child in this picture, although she doesn't look very sick...she was sitting up and smiling! Not wanting to spend the day alone, she bribed me with a sucker to get my pajamas on and keep her company. What a little kid won't do for a sucker!