That is nutty!

   If acorns were pennies, I am sure that I would be a millionaire by now.  They are not so, instead, I am just the owner of billions of the nuts.  It appears that every oak tree on the hill decided to bear nuts this year and bear LOTS of them. They are everywhere!  

  Back about a month ago, nighttime was perhaps the noisiest it has ever been.  Several oak trees near the house have huge limbs that hang over the rooftop.  As soon as darkness fell, the coons made their way to the oak trees and started munching the acorns.  It seems that they dropped more than they ate.  Acorns pelted the roof all night long.  It sounded as if we were in the midst of nightly hailstorms.  The clatter would last until sunrise then suddenly stop.  Sleeping was not easy, to say the least.

  Now, acorns are strewn about the entire yard and the squirrels are having a heyday.  Dozens of the critters can be seen fattening themselves for the coming winter months.  I have no problem with the squirrels for a couple of reasons.  First, they are out during the daytime hours and are not pelting the rooftop with nuts.  Second, they are cleaning up a mess that makes it difficult to walk anywhere in the yard.  There are so many acorns that I have to be careful not to slip and slide down the hillside.  Try to imagine walking on a floor covered with marbles and you will understand my predicament.  Thanks to the squirrels, things should be better in a few weeks...hopefully...hopefully, they will not get bellyaches and quit eating the nuts!

Ham Is Not To Their Liking

   The conundrum of the starving, displaced critters is saddening but I can only do so much to help.  Thankfully, I have had to "clean out" one of the freezers as it is starting to go bad.  The freezer is old so this is just what I have been needing to get myself in gear and do a purge.  Instead of just tossing everything at one time, I have been doling the foodstuffs out over a series of days.  This is probably a bad idea as it draws critters like a magnet.  Still, since they are starving and the food is beyond its prime, it is helpful on both ends.  Last night saw me tossing some ham that had been in the freezer for some years.  It had gotten down under other things and was forgotten.  As I chopped the sliced ham in small portions, I figured that the coons would, at least, enjoy the meal.  I was wrong.

  Just before dark, I peeked out the door and found that four young raccoons (last year's litter) were nibbling birdseed.  Their round, little mama had obviously brought them to introduce them to a free meal.  She will soon abandon them while she has her next litter.  The youngsters will then be on their own...ready or not.  The coons, however, were not one bit interested in the ham.  It sat in the old pan untouched.  Wow!  That sure makes you wonder about the edibility of ham!  If coons won't eat it, something is amiss!  Coons eat just about anything!  (I am glad I do not eat meat.)  Nary a coon tasted the ham.  They kept  nibbling birdseed.

  A bit later, I peeked again and found that there was one critter that had no qualms about munching down the preservative laden ham.  A box turtle had made its way to the buffet and was right up in the pan enjoying the ham slices.  Go figure.  

  The coons are going to be in for a big surprise soon as the foodstuffs from the freezer are dwindling and soon the handouts will be scarce.  Hopefully, the youngsters will have enough sense to find their own meals from this point.  There are plenty of fiddler crabs and bull minnows just waiting to be caught so they had better learn to hunt real soon.  At least, my handouts will have given them something to munch in the meantime.  Sorry, my critter friends, the free ride is about to end.  Now go be a coon and not a wannabe pet.  The turtle, on the other hand, is welcome to stay in the gardens.

The Signature!

   Lately, we have been noticing a lot of holes being dug in the yard.  These usually appear overnight.  They are not large being only a few inches in diameter.  They are deep in comparison to that diameter as they are approximately ten inches deep.  We pondered what could be digging and why.  First thought was the armadillos digging after grubworms.   I had seen several armadillos and actually knew a pair had a den under an old boat near the marsh.  I figured those critters were helping keep our yard free of pesky grubs.  Mark had often said we need to put out the night-camera so we could catch them in action. I should have but never did.

  Today as we were on our late afternoon hike, we stumbled upon yet more holes.  These were freshly dug (as in last night fresh).  It surprised me to see that several of the holes had been dug in the gravel pathway.  Well...I guess grubworms are there, too, but that sure seemed to be some hard digging.   We continued back toward the canebrake following the holes.  The critters had been busy!  

  Suddenly, I realized that I was blaming the wrong critter!  These were not dug by armadillos, at all!  The critter left its signature by one hole!  A telltale footprint was all it took for me to know that the raccoons were digging the holes.   They were after much the same things as the armadillos would have been.  Coons will eat just about anything and are not above digging for grubs, earthworms, insects or even roots.  I figured that we fed the coons enough from what we put in the compost pile to keep them from digging but I suppose I was wrong.  That footprint gave it all away!

Klepto-Rats!

   I am still battling the rats and raccoons that have invaded the greenhouse.  It appears that they have taken a liking to the place and are not going to give it up easily.  Of course, I am slow as I do not wish to stick my hands where one might take a snap at me.  Plus, given the easy access to an entire colony of rats, it would not be unreasonable to come across a lovely snake under some of this mess.  I am not sure which took up residence first but the raccoons are most likely the ones to have rummaged through everything and made perfect hiding spots for rats.  Whatever the case, they seem to be coexisting right well.   So, in the meantime, I am emptying the entire greenhouse...of EVERYTHING...rats and raccoons included. It is amazing how the critters took over the place in the three months that I was incapacitated.

  I will say this about those rats.  They are not stupid.  They have created many exits by gnawing through window casings and have tunneled from nest to nest.  Each nest (I have found 6 so far) has a stockpile of food, toys (?) and bedding.  Spanish moss is the lining, unopened seed packets are the food and, well, the toys are the odd part.  I am calling them toys because I have no clue what else the critters could be doing with their "collectibles".  Also, it is quite evident that these are true "Bayou Rats"!  The toys are mainly seashells that I had stored in large baskets. These were ones that were used in craft projects but were too bulky to keep inside the house.  Each nest had an assortment of the shells (and one toy bird!). 

  Also stored in the greenhouse was the leftover clue hunt props.  Most were leftovers still in place from when the place was reinvented as a Swamp Witch hut for the pirate themed hunt last year.  Any good Swamp Witch has to have an odd assemblage of concoctions.  Jars and jars of things like swamp water, lizard toes and jellied wasp nests lined the shelves. Mostly, these were not tampered with by the rats.  In fact, only one jar has been found in a nest.  A jar labeled "Sea Nettle Tentacles" and containing hot glue drippings in water was found uncapped in the nest.  The "sea nettle tentacle" glue strings were neatly packed in with the Spanish moss.  Why?  How?  I have "Klepto-Rats"!

  So, tomorrow will find me back in the greenhouse again.  Since the place is now completely void of contents, it is time to do some repair work and figure out how to keep this from happening again.  Then, only important stuff will be returned to its place.  Flower pots, gardening tools and fertilizers seem ok.  Seeds?  NO SEEDS!  Nope, not happening!  All seeds will be placed in the old metal toolbox that can be locked!  Sorry, Critters, the buffet is closed.  

  

Monsters In The Greenhouse!

   I am NOT my happiest right now!  I made a discovery that has upset my whole set of plans for this week.  Backtracking, I had good intentions of having the house fully decorated for Halloween plus taking advantage of our cool weather to do some yard work.  Well, a big kink has been thrown in that well-laid plan. There is another major chore that demands attention.  This one will have to be left up to me since Son is still repairing the water damage around the fireplace in the dining room. I may as well push up the shirt sleeves and get to work come morning light.

  This morning, I was going to make space in the greenhouse for two of the porch rockers.  Stuff has been shoved in there while Son is (was before the water damage) remodeling the shed.  Everything from the shed was jammed in my greenhouse.  There is not a lot of space in there for anything but I really need to store the two chairs for a couple of months.  While there, I noticed that my seed packets were on the floor.  Well now!  I imagined that the squirrels had somehow made their way into the greenhouse and decided to steal a few seeds.  No problem.  I went to pick up the packets and saw it....IT!!! There was a huge rat nest in the corner behind the gardening tools.  My couple of months of recuperating from illness left the greenhouse up for grabs obviously!  "Well, I guess I would get rid of a rat nest before clearing a spot for the chairs." Then...another nest!  Oh, geez!  It seemed as if a whole colony of critters was in the greenhouse!  

  While battling rats, I noticed that the weather packing around the eaves was sagging.  I gave it a gentle poke with an old flounder gig thinking perhaps this roof had also developed a leak.  Oof!  THAT was heavy!  I poked harder and heard a squeak and some rustling. Geez!  Those rats are huge!!!  I poked harder!  The critter rummaged around to the north side of the eaves and then half fell through!  A fluffy, striped tail and one dark foot dangled precariously through the vent.  Raccoon!  Yep, I now had to battle raccoons!  So...poke again!  Squeal, rummage and into the greenhouse, went the coon.  I raced around the side and into the door only to find several coons up in the rafters.  They were frightened and a bit confused as to why their daytime snooze had been interrupted.  Suddenly, one coon fell (or dove) from the rafter and started scurrying around the greenhouse floor in search of a new hiding place.  Well, with that much stuff packed in the small space, hiding was relatively easy.  Then, plop! Another coon and another.  Three, madly-racing, juvenile raccoons , a crazy, old lady with a flounder gig and a mountain of junk suddenly became like a huge pinball machine.  It was crazy!

  Needless to say, I gave up.  I was exhausted from this fracas!  I will attempt again in the morning.  Hopefully by then, the coons and the rats will have had enough of the gig-wielding monster and will have vacated my greenhouse!  Otherwise, the battle will continue!  I sure need to find me a big, ole rat snake to inhabit the space.  By now, it would resemble an anaconda in size with the ample supply of prey hiding in the greenhouse.  So much for decorating the house.  It is already Halloween in the greenhouse!  Monsters!

Now, They've Done It!

  Well, I normally claim that animals are far smarter than humans.  Critters have a natural survival instinct that does not leave them time to meddle in other's affairs.  They do their thing and let others do theirs.  That is the way things should be but humans always have to be nosy....and bossy....and greedy.  Critters have got it down pat...at least, some do.

  Along about mid-morning, I thought it wise to bring Son a cooling drink as he had been working on the pier again.  It is hot work and I can no longer help him.  He was appreciative and as I was waiting to fetch his glass back up the hillside, I noticed something amiss.  Thousands of hickory nuts were strewn across the lower section of the yard.  Odd! Hickory nuts should not be falling for a few months yet and we had no storms to knock them from the trees.  This was a mystery that required investigating.  I assured Son that I would not venture too far and set off on my mystery-solving party.

  As near as I can tell, the nuts were knocked down by hungry critters whether raccoons or squirrels (or both)!  It appeared that some of the nuts had the green outer shell gnawed a bit before being discarded. Obviously, the green nuts were not as tasty as the critters had thought but they were determined to find a "good" one so they kept trying and discarding.  Now, they have done it!  With the nuts knocked to the ground, they will not be fully matured.  The meat inside will wither and dry.  The critters' winter supply is going to be short.   In fact, even the nuts on the ground will be gone by then.  Tomorrow, I shall gather them and store these fine things for winter.  They will not be used as food but as fuel for the old cast iron stove.  Once hot, the hickory nuts last a long time and put out good heat.  Sorry, critters...your loss is my gain!

The World Beneath the Underbrush

  Earlier today, there came an eerily familiar fracas from deep in the creek bed.  It grew in intensity until I had to quit painting, grab the camera and slip unseen through the underbrush.  The cacophony reminded me of a saddening situation a few years back.  I witnessed a large male raccoon literally slaughtering the young of a small female.  It was breeding season but she already had kits. Since the massacre took place high in the top of a dead pine tree, there was nothing I could do to help the sweet little mama.  I watched and cringed as I saw the male pull the tiny babies from the nest, bite them and fling them to the ground.  Little Mama tried valiantly to protect her litter but it was to no avail.  She finally gave up and flung herself from the treetop.  She would rather plunge some sixty feet to the ground than watch her babies be so brutally killed.  This horrifying massacre lingered in my mind for years to come and, today, it surfaced with each scream.

  As I edged my way through the underbrush and down past the palmetto clumps, I was thankful for the cool air.  Hopefully, all cottonmouths had crawled back in their warm spots for the day and I would not tread on any.  The screaming continued for the full ten minutes it took me to reach the spot where I could see what was happening.  Thankfully, it was too early for kits yet but this was equally brutal.  Sweet and gentle love is not a common thing in the critter world.  Four large males were competing over a small female but she was caught in the middle of the brawl.  No matter how she tried, there was no escape.  She was bleeding and screaming as the males battled over her.  Since no kits were involved (yet), I turned to leave.  There was no reason for me to be there and, in fact, it would have been dangerous (and foolish) for me to intervene with nothing but a camera to use as a weapon to protect myself.

  As I clamored up the hillside out of the creek, I was suddenly sidetracked.  Without realizing it when I was racing down, I had plowed through a virtual fairyland of beauty!  Dropping to my knees, I admired the beauty of mosses, ferns and tiny flowers!  The overhead canopy of trees and bamboo had protected the area from the elements and allowed this natural wonderland to flourish!  Oblivious to the melee going on about fifty feet from me, I started photographing the captivating beauty of the forest floor.  Key word here is "started".  After only two photographs, the camera went dead and, in my rush to be a "savior of baby raccoons", I forgot to pick up extra batteries.  Yep, my wonderland would have to wait until I have another opportunity to weasel my way beneath the thickets.  Since it is to be cold tomorrow, it should be a perfect time if the opportunity presents itself.  Then, I SHALL remember to grab a pocketful of extra batteries! 

A Sad Situation For All

  With our potential new neighbors clear-cutting the property to our west, we are being inundated with critters.  The poor things have no place to go other than here.  They are confused, agitated and hungry so...they raid the gardens.  I fully understand that this is merely an act to survive and has nothing to do with meanness but I really was in hopes of eating a few peaches or plums from the trees.  The critters do so much damage that it is heartbreaking.

  A week ago, the coons raided the peach trees and took a nip out of about half of the unripe peaches.  They broke limbs and knocked hundreds of peaches to the ground.  If they had taken one or two peaches each, I would not have complained.  I figure there was plenty to share but to ruin almost a hundred pieces of fruit and not eat it was so disheartening.  I was so upset that I headed out with a basket and picked every remaining peach from the trees.  Yep.  These were unripe but I figured that I could let them ripen indoors a few days then make jam and jelly.  During the day, I put the covered trays outside so the sun can hasten the process.  The first batch of jam turned out well so I have high hopes.  Five boxes of peaches have yet to ripen but appear to be on the verge of doing so!  After that episode, the rascals raided the tomato patch and ruined dozens of tomatoes.  Again, I was saddened and have been watching the plot like a hawk since then!  Two nights ago, the raccoons found the plum trees.  Thousands of unripe plums were dangling from the tree limbs and I was so in hopes that I could restock the pantry shelves with plum jam.  After the night of rambunctiousness by the coons, two hundred plums were on the ground again with one bite taken.  I was sickened at the sight.  Needless to say, all of the remaining plums that were starting to ripen were picked and the same process as with the peaches was started.  Hopefully, I will be successful in ripening these, too.  

  I am not sure what can be done with so many "homeless" or misplaced critters.  Somehow, we will have to learn to live harmoniously but I am not seeing it.  It makes me sad since this situation was by no fault of the critters. They are trying to survive the best way they know how.  It is sad.

Not My Tomatoes!

  Ok, so I have done the "live and let live" thing just about long enough with the coons that roam the Bayou. I am trying to hold to that mantra but they are TRYING my patience!  They raided the pear trees and ate every single tiny pear before it had a chance to mature.  They literally tore up the peach trees to only nibble a bite out of each of hundreds of peaches.  They have ripped out flowers seemingly just out of mischief.  Now, however, they have crossed the line.  These varmints have found the tomato patch and pulled half ripe tomatoes from the branches.  The same method as the peaches...one nibble and go to the next one.  Their clumsiness broke branches and knocked off dozens of small, green tomatoes.  Ugh!  The garden is a mess!

  My problem arises from the fact that I do stick with the "live and let live" mantra as much as possible.  It just does not seem fair to kill critters just because they are trying to survive.  The folks who bought the property just west of us have clear cut the twenty plus acres.  This left animals no place to go except to our neck of the woods.  The Bayou is getting to be one of the only places around for animals to go and it is getting mighty crowded.  Too many critters on such a small place does nothing but cause problems for all.  Now that the animals have found my gardens, there will be nightly raids but I am hesitant to harm them in any way, shape or form.  Relocating seems to be the only option.  I guess I had better round up a live trap before I lose all of my garden goodies (and my mind!) 

 
 

You Have To Start Somewhere

  Back behind the canebrake, we have a small peach orchard. Well, we DID have a small peach orchard.  Oh, the trees are still there but, for the past few years, we harvested nary a peach.  For a few years, the trees gave us tons of the plumpest peaches imaginable.  Yes, we lost a few to the squirrels and raccoons but the rest were harvested!  Then, the deer found the trees and that was that.  They even went so far as to knock down a six foot tall fence to get to the fruit.  Now, the deer get to the fruit before it ripens. One bite out of each peach and then drop the remains.  We do not get a single peach.

  Well, all is not lost.  Those peach halves that were dropped contained the seed.  Now, hundreds of tiny peach trees are popping up in the lawn beneath the trees.  I am elated even though these tiny trees will most likely not bear the large juicy peaches that we desire.  They ARE peach trees, however, and you have to start somewhere.  A new orchard closer to the house is in the making!  Tomorrow will find me out back with a shovel and flower pots.  The tiny trees will be dug, planted and babied until they grow to about four feet tall.  Then...the work.  Those dozens upon dozens of peach trees will be grafted with limbs from our one remaining "good" peach tree.  We have one tree that I grew from a seed about five years ago.  We had been on a trip to Georgia to visit our new grandbaby when we purchased some peaches to bring home.  On a whim, I planted a seed and the rest is history!  The tree is amazing!  Small cuttings will be taken from that tree and grafted on the seedling peaches from the back orchard.  

  I am sure glad that Pop taught me all of the farm tricks that he knew.  Sometimes I have trouble remembering just how things were done but if I ponder a bit, the information usually comes back to me.  He always had the best fruit trees and the prettiest garden.  One bit of encouragement still rings in my head.  When I would question how to get a nice orchard or a perfect row of beans, he would  always say in his old easy-going farmer's drawl "Well....you have to start somewhere."  Makes sense...just start.  So the new orchard will start tomorrow with a bunch of seedling peach trees!

They Are At It Again!

  Those silly raccoons are at it again.  I have to give it to them...they are resourceful rascals.  Eating out of the compost, bird feeders and cat's bowl is not enough.  Obviously, the coons are still hungry after filling their bellies with handouts so they have to raid the fruit trees.  Nary a pear hangs on the four trees now.  For two nights in a row, the varmints climbed the trees and gnawed on pears.  Now, I have none.  Perhaps I need to get better at defending my trees against these marauders but I am just not sure how to go about it.  Perhaps the rascals need to stop being so cute then I would not hesitate to set traps.  Nah...probably would not even then.  At least, they have no more pears to eat this year!

  This morning, however, I found that the raiding rascals found another food source.  The wild persimmon trees took a massive hit last night.  I have seen two baby raccoons running around the yard lately but this looks more like the work of the entire family!  Persimmons littered the ground and most were already covered in ants.  Only a few remain in the trees and those are far too green for me to eat.  I guess the raccoons will feast upon those as well.

  Of those on the ground, I did manage to rescue three persimmons to use in my winter weather forecasting.  Once these ripen to golden mushiness, I will savor the fruit and slice the seeds.  So far, the seeds have done a rather good job at predicting our winters and it would be great to know what is in store with the forthcoming season.  Thanks to the coons clumsiness, I have three....three chances at seeing how much firewood will be needed to heat the Little Bayou House.  Thanks for being so generous, Silly Coons!

Noisy Eaters

  Guests, here on the Bayou, generally show a great deal of respect.  I suppose I just do not tolerate it any other way.  Even back when the kids were younger, there were set rules.  I did not actually "state the rules", they were more or less "understood".  There was one particular incident that occurred with Son's friends.   A newcomer to the bunch was met with each of the standard bunch relating a "rule" to be welcome at the Little Bayou House.  "No drugs or alcohol allowed!" said one young man.  "No cursing!" stated another.  "Share and share alike!" could be heard from one.  "Be respectful!" was next. This went on through each member of the regular crew until it came to the last kid.  There were just no rules left for him to instruct the newcomer so he made one!  "Hug Mom whenever you come and again when you leave!"  Well, now!  That was a pretty good rule!  (And, yep, most of these teenagers at the time called me "Mom".)

  But now there are a few "guests" that have left all respect behind when they visit!  They are loud, squabble constantly, eat all the snacks and do not clean up after themselves!"  For the past few nights, I have listened to four young raccoons that have been raiding the oak trees on the west side of the house.  These oaks have large limbs that reach out over our rooftop so nightly, the critters can be heard squabbling over which limb is the best.  Once they settle down to eat, the racket changes to acorns pelting the rooftop.  A steady rapping that sounds a lot like large hail often wakes me from deep sleep.  This goes on all night until the sun starts to rise in the east.  Rap, rap, rap!  Acorns can be loud on this roof!

  This morning, I checked the ground on the west side of the house and found that not only are the raccoons loud, they are quite wasteful! Thousands upon thousands of plump acorns litter the ground.  I am assuming that once the trees are pilfered of all the nuts, the raccoons will start squabbling under the windows as they fight over the best acorns on the ground.  At least they will be fat for the winter!  They just need to learn a bit of respect!

Band of Thieves

  While I love the critters that inhabit the Bayou, Creek and wooded area around here, I have to admit that occasionally I get a tad irritated at some of them.  Just last week, I observed the squirrels munching the peaches. Three of them would slip into the garden, each grab a peach and scoot up the nearby Black Gum Tree.  There, they would gnaw the peach and toss down the pit.  Five nights ago, it was different critters in the same tree.  The coons riddled the peach crop.  It would not be so bad if they helped themselves to a few and then were so kind as to leave a few for us, but...NOOOO....they have to taste-test each and every peach on the tree.  What they do not eat, they simply bit and dropped.  One night and about half of the peaches were lost.  Son and I went out the next day and picked the remaining fruit even though they were not quite ripe.  Better to get what we could before those were ruined.  Peach jam can be very forgiving when it come to ripeness.  

  Three nights later, the same thing happened to the plums.  Two trees of fruit were eliminated by the same process.  Bite and drop seems to be the norm for coons.  We got six plums.  Those were thrown in the pot with some of those green peaches.  Jam is good.

  Now I have had it with raccoons!  I am so over their thieving ways.  Between those and the birds stealing the Boysenberries, it is amazing that we have any fruit whatsoever.  Then...yesterday morning....while I sat drinking my coffee. I noticed a wiggle outside the window in the tomato patch. A Redheaded Woodpecker was hammering away at my nice red tomato!  Geez!  I grabbed a bucket, picked every tomato that was remotely changing color and brought them inside.  There, bird! Take that!  I made gallons of tomato sauce today.  Tomorrow will be the same as I shall pick more in the morning.  It is hard to believe that this pretty bird would stoop so low as to be a tomato thief!  Then again....he does have sneaky eyes....just look at him!  Thief!!!

  It seems as if the critters are thinking my gardens are there for their pleasure.  I would not mind so much if they lent a helping hand...errr...paw, talon, claw or whatever...but for them just to take is totally uncalled for.  Pops always used to say that we just had to plant more the next year to make up for what the critters (and unscrupulous people) stole from his fields.  I never remember him becoming upset over the thefts.  Maybe I just need a bigger garden.....or high fences.....or a pack of large watchdogs...or maybe I should just count my blessings and forget about it.

What to do? What to do?

  Those rascally raccoons decided to pay a visit to the orchards again two nights ago.  The peach trees took the brunt of their onslaught but the plum trees were high on their list of tasty treats.  I was a tad aggravated to say the least.  What to do?  What to do?  Mark had bought some of that nice netting from the home and garden place but that did not stop those coons!  The netting was a minor obstacle in getting to those plump peaches.  Needless to say, the netting is not much good any more.  I doubt that it would keep anything from munching the fruit now as it is torn to shreds.  Not that there are any more peaches to worry about but only a few of the plums were touched.  My son, Michael, and I picked one tree of the lovely fruits even though they were a tad green yet.  I could make jam out of them regardless and I was not about to let the varmints feast again tonight.

  The other plums were far too green to pick yet so a bit of ingenuity was needed.  The netting was redone and a bit of chicken wire was wrapped about the lower portion of the tree.  We did not have enough on hand to cover the top and that worried me a bit. Again...what to do?  What to do? It was then that Michael noticed that the Boysenberries had not been touched by the critters.  The birds pick a few each day but the coons had not touched the fat berries at all!  Aha!  He had a plan!  Since the vines had some tall shoots that were berryless, he took the snips to them!  Those tall, prickly shoots were to become our new barricade for the plum trees.  He and I carefully crisscrossed the tops of the plum trees with a thick layer of vines.  The trees now looked as if they had a thorny thatched roof!  Then, last night, NO COONS!  The plum trees with their new-found thorns were left untouched.  The raccoons ate the leftover scraps of peaches from the night before but did not go near the plum trees!  I think we might have hit on something here!  Michael informed me that we needed to plant a hedgerow of Boysenberry vines around the entire orchard!  The six foot wall of briers might just do the trick of keeping critters at bay.  We are mulling over the possibility.  Of course, that means we would have about ten times as many Boysenberries to pick but if it means we will have peaches, I will not complain.

  Today saw us in the kitchen chopping plums. I was reading the other day where home-canning is fast becoming a dying art. It seems that only those worried about unhealthy additives in our food supply are interested in taking on this chore.  It is far easier to pull something off a shelf in the grocery store that to spend several hours preserving foods at home.  Michael can make jam and jelly with the best of home canners so it was a delight to have him share the workload. He knows the ins and outs of all home-canning from hot water baths to pressure canners! As matter of fact, all my kids have learned this feat.  My eldest and his wife had a bountiful crop of plums as well and made lovely jam for their pantry!   Darling Daughter informed me last night that she cannot wait to get back to the Bayou to start up where she left off to go to college. She and her husband will fill their pantry, too!  Home-canning..the "dying art" lives on here on the Bayou (and in Georgia with my son and daughter-in-law!) Personally, I find that more young people are suddenly trying this "old school" method of preparing food for their families.  The new interest in "organic" foods has renewed the interest in home-canning. Perhaps there is hope yet for this dying art and hope yet for my peach and plum trees!

Three Fat Coons and a Little Red Fox!

I am loving that GameCam thing that Michael and I bought for Mark!  I always knew that critters creepy-crawled around the Bayou at night but never had the patience to sit out in the mosquitoes all night to try and catch a photograph.  Once that sun goes down, the biting bugs come out in droves and make a tasty meal from my blood.  I sort of want to keep my blood so I stick with the daytime pictures and leave the nighttime critters to their own happy little times.  Now that we have the night camera, I can see what prowls around once I have gone to bed. Most of the time we have been catching the usual rabbits, coons and 'possums in the photographs.  Other than one "mystery" critter, there has not been anything too exciting.  Until last night..or should I say early this morning.

Obviously, just about the time I was making my first pot of coffee, we had a visitor!  Michael has the nightcam set up to face the canebrake which sits at the end of our kitchen drain.  (Yep, we still can allow our kitchen sink to drain under the cane.  This waters the cane delightfully but, also, fertilizes it with whatever comes off of the plates into the dishwater.  Tiny scraps of food wash down the drain and under the cane.)  Critters seem to love the drain just as much as the bamboo does!  During the night, three large coons visited the plot of ground and picked through some old pecan shells that we tossed out earlier in the day.  The coons were busy for quite some time but eventually left and then a few hours later the camera caught a new motion!  A fox had wandered into the path of the camera!  From the looks of it, this is actually a fox kit.  A young thing that has not perfected its hunting skills as of yet and is relying on scavenging to find a meal.  The young fox was quite thin and was not beyond digging in the drain to find any tidbit of food.  The fox stayed near the area and the camera clicked picture after picture!  The final shot is one where the fox kit actually noticed the camera and decided to investigate!  The camera had not adjusted to the morning light as of yet so the picture is quite bright but I am actually very thrilled with the fact that we still have our fox!  I have not heard any of them for quite some time and was afraid that they had moved out of the area.  Perhaps if this little tot learns to hunt well, our rabbit population will be thinned a bit!

I wish that I had taken the pictures of the fox but, alas, I will have to depend on the GameCam to do this for me.  If and when this little fox decides to pay me a visit when I am out and about, I will surely snap its picture!  I am just very happy to know that fox can still be found around the Bayou!

The "Not so Nice" Bayou

I was sorting through some of my pictures today, when I came across a series of them that made me sad. These were taken a while back, at a time when I was in the right place at the right time to observe something that seemed horribly cruel. As much as I love my Bayou, at times I must admit things are not to my liking. This was one of those times.

It was early afternoon when I heard a couple of raccoons fussing up a storm! My initial thought was that the Red-tailed Hawk was harassing a small raccoon and that the little fellow was squalling for his mama! I hurried to the back of the Bayou. Here, there was a dense covering of underbrush, a good stand of live tree and a few tall, dead pine trees. As I eased my way through the brambles, I realized that the bickering was coming from one of the dead trees. I had no inkling of what I was about to witness. At first glance, I thought that Mama Coon was just trying to wean her kits and was just putting them in their place.

After watching for a few minutes, I came to realize that this was not the case. Mama Coon was the one doing the fussing but it was not directed at her babies. All of this squalling was at an intruder! Mama Coon obviously was trying to protect her nestlings against a large male raccoon. She had nested in the top of a hollowed out dead pine tree and he was sitting just above her head. Poor Mama Coon..every time she tried to do anything, he would scratch and bite her. Oh, my goodness! This was horrible! After a few minutes of watching, he moved in on her..he bit and scratched her relentlessly. She was in pain but stood her ground until being the smaller of the two..she lost the battle. I watched as she dove from the top of the pine tree.

I felt bad for Mama Coon as she was driven from her home..but then, I thought..."That is nature." I knew she would be ok..that she would find a new tree hole and make a new nest. I was not prepared for what happened next, though, and still have a hard time thinking of what I saw. The large male coon entered the nesting hole and started ripping it apart. At first, I wondered what he was doing..then the sad realization. He was not throwing out large chunks of the nest..he was killing the new born baby raccoons. Some he just tossed out of the top of the tree so they could fall to their death..others met a much crueler fate. A few were devoured by the male.

The Bayou, like any other place, can be a harsh place. Not all is beauty and sweetness ...there are things that are just simply difficult to accept. Would I have stayed, observed and photographed the series of events that took place that afternoon if I realized beforehand what was happening? Probably..it was one of those events that occur whether we like it or not and just because something does not appeal to us, does not mean that we can change it. There was absolutely nothing that I could have done to change the course of events..even if I had managed to chase the male raccoon away at the time, he would have returned. He knew where the nest was and that the mother was at a huge disadvantage. She had a nest full of little ones to try to protect..he was larger, stronger and was bent on destroying some unrelated little ones. Survival of the fittest came into play. Yes...the Bayou can be cruel..it can be harsh but that is life..that is nature. That, also, is difficult to understand at times.

The series of events was a sad thing to view...but it does help to know that Mama Coon went on to nest again and this time with no interruption. She reared her full brood of four little ones the following Spring.

Those eyes!

Weeks ago, I sprained a ligament in my right knee. Some days, I think it is healing as it does not hurt as much but then there are days like today that the pain is almost intolerable. I try to stay off of the leg as much as possible and when I do walk...I hobble! The pain shoots through the knee like a hot knife..not much fun for someone that gets cabin fever after just a few hours of being cooped inside the house. After one painful trek to the pier to bait the crab traps, I decided there would be no long hikes today. I headed to the house so I could rest the leg but not until after I managed to get a few pictures of a cute raccoon that was on the mudflats! This little fellow busied himself hunting supper. He was quite adept at grabbing shrimp and Fiddler Crabs! I watched as he ambled down the same path that the Snow Egret had for the past few days. Food is aplenty along the Bayou and my friends do not want for a full belly before bedtime. This little raccoon reminded me of a trio of the masked bandits that visited the yard a few years ago.

It was actually during one of the many tropical storms that had swung in off the Gulf that summer that I first saw the three raccoons. They were young..not babies..but young enough to still not be frightened of humans. I was outside securing a few last minutes items when they wandered into the front yard. They were hungry and were raiding the seeds that I had poured onto the ground for the birds. The feeders had already been taken down in preparation for the storm. Seeing a photo opportunity, I grabbed the camera and started taking picture after picture. My focus was on one sweet little raccoon that seemed to pose for me. I was so intent on getting that perfect picture that I sort of lost track of the other two for a while. The one I was watching had climbed up on the hook that held the birdfeeder and was at eye level with me. With it being only a few feet away, I was able to get some remarkable shots of the friendly coon.

Then! Then I felt something on my leg! Looking from behind the camera, I see two paws reaching for the lens! One of the wayward coons had returned and climbed up my leg..it was curious about that camera! To say that I was a tad nervous is an understatement! I was so afraid that when the coon realized just where he was and just what I was, he would panic and bite me! At one point it was far too close to even get a shot of its face! I did not want to startle the poor little fellow so I merely let him climb! Eventually, he decided that I was either boring or presented more of a threat than he realized and he made a dash down my leg and across the yard! When the one started running, the other two became skittish and climbed the nearest tree they could find! My photo-ops was over!

Everything is Peachy Keen!

Peaches! Tons and tons of peaches..well..maybe not tons but a lot of peaches! Son and I chopped what seemed like an endless amount of the fruit today. I had to use the canner pot to cook the chopped peaches. It was filled to capacity even though it is almost a twenty-two quart pot! Oh my! The house smelled delicious while this was cooking! It took us several hours, two cut thumbs and a pot of coffee to make our way through this mass of peaches but we finally have it all in the jars! What was twenty pounds of peaches has now been turned into four gallons of peach jam! I am tired to say the least! And to think..we have to pick more peaches in the morning..the process will start all over again!

After spending all day inside the kitchen, I needed to escape to the garden. I slipped on my shoes and headed out the back door just in time to hear Ezzy barking at something near the marsh edge. After killing one snake at the back door yesterday, I was concerned that she might have found another. So..to the Bayou I headed. I was thoroughly armed with my camera and nothing else but I was more interested in pulling the dog back from the marsh than killing a snake that was where it should be. As I made my way through the tomato garden, I realized that Ezzy was barking up a tree and not at the ground. Now there have been instances where I have seen snakes in the trees but something just struck me as being a bit odd with this situation. Ezzy does have a habit of treeing animals so I was assuming that a squirrel was sitting on a low limb just aggravating her. She was excited to see that I was investigating her dilemma. I peered into the bushes and finally located what she had treed. There about eight feet from the ground in a small bush was a raccoon. A nice, fat raccoon..she had treed what I assume was a very pregnant critter. I called her back and let the animal clamber out of the bush and hurry on its way. No use in disturbing a lady that was "in the family way". Ezzy was extremely proud of her treeing abilities and immediately raced to a nearby hickory tree as if to say.."I might have something up this one, too!" Sadly to say, there was nary a critter in that tree..but she was just as excited to sit and stare at the tree for the next hour anyway! Silly dog!

Speaking of the tomato garden, I noticed when I hurried through earlier, that the bushes are loaded with tiny fruit. I can only hope that this year, we actually get a few tomatoes that are of a larger size. Last year, every plant in the garden turned out to be of the cherry size. That made for a lot of picking. Still, I managed to put up quite a few jars of sauce, salsa and ketchup! It pleases me to know that the plants are still doing as well as they are considering the extreme drought that we are enduring here on the Bayou. I try to water the plants but sometimes I wonder if I am just prolonging the inevitable. Hopefully..the plants will hold on a bit longer and the rains will come again.