Driving Around the County

I showed you this picture of flooded fields from Stranger Creek the other day. 

Here it is today: 

Hmmmm kind of a hazy picture.... 

but... you get the picture.  The water has receded. 

I actually drove out there after Jax's game tonight... and went all the way to the bridge. 

There is still a LOT of water in the creek, but we are not expecting rain for a week or so now. 

I know a lot of farmers who are happy about that. 

I took this the other day. 

Actually, there were three. 

I am trying to remember to check my settings before snapping that first picture! 

This absolutely GORGEOUS bird is a green heron, my first ever! 

I ran over to the Ag Hall on Monday to check on the chickens, and 

saw him.  I could not believe my eyes. 

The straw bales are doing... okay.  I am going to work on them tomorrow. 

I think I am not watering enough, and was depending on the rain. 

Tomorrow they get water and fertilizer. 

(The grass growing is okay) 

I have only lost two plants, a cucumber and a watermelon.  

Actually...

Even though it was bitten off.... it is regenerating.  See that hole????  Hmmmm. 

My faithful Jester is on mouse patrol.  Since I took this picture on Monday, 

I have removed more of these things from the patio.  We are trying to follow the 

mouse man's guidelines, and I am cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.  

I am VERY close to stopping feeding for a few days while I am 

gone to the Blogville Awesome Retreat in Indiana from the 8th thru 

the 12th. 

I had to run to the store on Monday afternoon, and I took the camera. 

I stopped at Angel Falls Trail and walked down to see how the creek 

was flowing since the rains. 

I could hear it before I saw it. 

(Holy cow, I have NEVER Had a video load on Blogger as fast as that one! 

Turn it up if you can, so you can hear it. 

So... we have hired a company to get the mouse situation under control here. 

I can't bear killing ANYTHING, let alone a mouse.  I told the young man we could not do sticky traps, I can't torture.  He is snap trapping and coming daily to empty them. 

We are not winning at the moment.  We ARE down about 20 mice in the last week. 

I took it outside.  I'm sure it's back in here somewhere tonight. 

Thank heavens I am plugging the drain and the garbage disposal at night, and 

now you see why. 

After the Floods

I always tuck the camera in the car when I go to church, because I drive across country 

and come back the same way. 

I see lots of interesting things. 

Last week, we had a lot of rain, and I showed you a closed road, there were several. 

Here are our Stranger Creek bluffs on 3/20. 

Yesterday.  As our County Emergency Manager says, you would not want to be caught in one of the 

caves under the bluff. 

The creek was actually out of its' banks on the other side of the bridge. 

I am bothered by vertigo, and it's hard for me to stand at the edge of the bridge to take pictures. 

I went up the road... to see this. 

After the floods, the fields are strewn with dead animals and fish. 

There were more birds coming down here... 

And on the other side of the road, farther out in the field... 

They were very clearly feasting on animals drowned by the flooding. 

There were more coming down there, too, as I left. 

However, it wasn't all gloom and doom... 

Because some of my favorite flowers are starting to line the roadways. 

I have five new ones planted here last fall, and
I am eager to see them open!  They have come up 

very well this spring, so it won't be long! 

Look Who's Back

Saturday, I showed you a terrible picture of the hawk on the nest. 

Here is a better one. 

I meant to take the long lens, hopefully, tomorrow, I'll 

have a chance to run over there in the afternoon when the light is good. 

There are two birds in the nest.  I am guessing that's the male on the right. 

I pulled forward a little. 

See them now? 

I am taking the long lens tomorrow... they are far away across a field. 

Even as far away as I was, the male took off. 

Leaving mama guarding the eggs.  

I'll remember that, and park farther down the road. 

Spring is coming to the Stranger Creek bluffs! 

Out and About

I stopped to take a picture at the bluffs on Saturday on my way to church... and didn't see what was in the creek until I got home. 

There it is lightened up a little. 

See the geese just to the left of the protruding bluff? 

First time I have seen geese on Stranger Creek. 

I have not seen this guy for a while. 

His friend. 

They had a horse friend, I did not see him. 

It was REALLY foggy this morning.  I stopped at the little pond on my way to Lenten adoration to take a few pictures. 

This is what the roads looked like.  I went pretty slowly. 

The day was alive with birdsong... alive! 

We also have hundreds of frogs in our little pond in the rear of our yard. 

I tried to get pictures of them, but of course, the chorus stopped as soon as I got out there. 

I saw this meadowlark on the line near our deck. 

It's song was beautiful. 

Our Bartlett pears are blooming in the front yard.  Last year, we had so much 

rain that only one tree bloomed partially... now, all four are putting on a show! 

Spring is almost here! 

The Turkeys are Back

Yesterday morning, I had to take some things to the Good Shepherd Thrift Store in 

Tonganoxie. 

I went the back way. 

Stranger Creek has fallen enough that you can see the exposed root balls of the trees that 

the water knocked down.  Even in winter, it's beautiful. 

And look what I saw just as I passed the creek!  I have not seen 

any turkeys since Christmas Day! 

And a few miles away, a group of ten! 

I thought these were all jakes, but I think there are two hens in there. 

Here they are a little closer.  They stayed in that spot... I looked to see if anything besides me was scaring them, but didn't see anything.  Usually they would melt away into the woods. 

The little pasture pond is thawed again (for the time being) and had a gaggle of geese on it. 

I noticed they were all looking to the north. 

And this is why! 

The funny thing is, he was distracted and staring to the east! 

We are going to have a few more days of decent weather until 

we descend into true winter temps again.  Ugh! 

Christmas Eve, 2015

Here are Jax and Jester last night, made with Superphoto, which is showing up 

all over Facebook these days.  I read the reviews... the paid version 

freezes up a lot, so, until the bumps are smoothed, I'll stick 

with the free version. 

I love this picture, it captures all that's mystical about a little boy and his dog. 

Here's another one, Jax's favorite! 

Keith and I ran to the commissary yesterday morning, and, just as we rounded the corner 

from our house, the sun hit this old barn.  I would LOVE to see the inside.  It's still in pretty good shape. 

I went by the Stranger Creek Bluffs.... the creek is still high there, and we 

are to get rain over the weekend. 

This little guy was in a tree by the big ditch.  He was holding very still. 

This guy was sitting two feet to his left! 

The day went from cumulous clouds and 58 temperatures to 

rain and 41, dropping to the low thirties at night. 

Keith and I also went by the Hund School, where I had not been in several years.  I was dismayed to see it in such bad repair, it has never looked this badly.  

We have made it to Christmas Eve, at last.  The kids will be at 

their other grandma's tonight, enjoying a family dinner and evening. 

They watched the Christmas tree in the spare bedroom last night... 

and we talked about Christmas. 

Tomorrow will be church and a good breakfast out as a treat for 

Keith and me.  I'm looking forward to a day of peace and quiet and

a good read with Keith here at home. 

Merry Christmas, Everyone! 

Three Days of Rain

This is how the dogs feel. 

Yes, it really is that gloomy. 

The dogs have not been for a walk since Wednesday, and 

you know we walk a mile a day, normally. 

I think Lil and I could have made it, but we

would have had to leave Jester home alone today. 

On my way to church, I saw some mighty frozen weeds. 

There has been freezing, thawing, freezing, thawing, and accidents are everywhere. 

This poor cold hawk was on a pole at a farm where no one lives now (but it is still farmed). 

I felt so sorry for it. 

This past week, Izzie's Pond, a  rescue I follow on FB, attempted their 

first rehab of a red tailed hawk, under the tutelage of a wildlife rescue. 

One of the things Izzie's posted was that the number of hawks coming 

into rescue triples at this time of year.  Many juveniles or injured, cannot feed themselves, especially in the bad weather.  They grow emaciated, and then die.  

Sadly, the hawk in their care was injured too badly to live... but now I can't look 

at a hawk on a pole without worrying. 

Izzie's Pond has a wonderful story, and they have just purchased a larger property 

so they can expand their operation.  

Our skies have been so very leaden. 

Rain is predicted through Monday. 

I stopped at the bluffs... look at Stranger Creek!  

It is predicted to come out of it's banks upstream, at 

Easton. 

Here is the other side of the bridge, you can see that the water is roiling on it's way. 

We were supposed to have Jax over to stay the night tonight, but when I got home 

after church, Jim texted to say they were taking him along to dinner and a movie with 

Mom and Dad, while Paiton had a sleepover at her cousin's.  

As you can see, we are taking it EASY. 

I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow, if the driving is better. 

Geese are beginning to fill the skies here.