What Happens While the People Are Sleeping

I have been told by more than one person that it's important to be patient when trying to capture photos of wildlife with a game camera.  Just like I promised to do in my last post, I left my camera in place and didn't mess with it at all ... for four whole days!  (This wasn't too difficult to do, since I was out of town during that time ... from Saturday morning until Tuesday night.) 

This morning, I anxiously went to the barn to retrieve the memory card from the camera ... hoping that there had been some action for it to photograph.  I was not disappointed.

Here is a big fat groundhog.  (My camera takes color photos during the day, and infrared B&W photos at night.)

 

 

I got lots of photos of deer over the course of my absence.  Night #1 yielded these ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Night #2 was very fruitful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The camera only captured one photo on Night #3.  (Peek-a-boo!)

 

 

 

No deer on Night #4 ... but I got a pretty decent photo of a fox!

 

 

 

As I was walking to and from the camera, I noticed that some of the roses in one particular section of the Rose Field have been nibbled on by what I assume was deer.  I have the camera trained on that spot and the path that leads to it, so I hope to have evidence of the nibblers by the end of the week.  (Believe me, it's going to be really hard for me to leave the camera alone till then.)

 

Sunday Snapshot: Groundhog Photobomb

I have been finding deer tracks in the back part of my garden.   I grabbed my trusty game camera, and set it up to see if I could catch some photos of them.  After three days of patiently waiting, I checked the memory card to see what I had.  There was one photo ... this one:

I laughed out loud when I saw it, and I hope you do, too.

Happy Sunday, Everyone!

(I moved the camera to catch a slightly different angle of that part of our property, and I will patiently wait a little bit longer this time to check to see what I get.)

The First Rose of the Year

It's always fun every year to see which will be the first rose in the greenhouse to bloom.  This year, I am particularly excited to see the first flower on a rose that is new to me, that I have never seen flower in person.

I am pleased to introduce to you, 'Rosa acicularis'

I wish you could smell this ... it's Heavenly!

 

 

This flower was a bud two days ago, while I was releasing the ladybugs that I harvested from the inside the house.

 

 

 

My plant is tiny right now ... only about 6" tall.  I brought it home with me as a sucker, pinched from a flowerbed at the B&B where we stayed in Denali, Alaska, last summer.  At that time, I didn't know what rose it was ... I just knew that it was interesting and healthy and would make the perfect souvenir for my garden.

 

Photo of the rose at the B&B in Denali.

 

 

Thorny stems and lovely leaves.

 

 

I remember being amazed that this little rose could withstand the subzero temperatures of an Alaskan winter.  It's a fairly short grower, not quite two feet tall, and it had suckered quite profusely.

 

Thorny, thorny, thorny.

 

 

Beautiful red hips.

 

 

Using my foot for perspective.

 

 

It will be interesting to see if this plant behaves the same way here in Virginia.  I will have to be careful where I put it when I plant it in the garden ... placing it in a spot where it can sucker and spread without getting out of bounds.

Ladybugs

This old house of ours has cracks and crevices that are sufficient entry points in the fall for ladybugs seeking places for their winter hibernation.  Most of them end up dead on the floor or a windowsill, and the ones that survive are endlessly entertaining for the cats.

Some actually successfully hibernate.  They emerge from their hiding places when warm weather arrives (like it did on Wednesday) and we find them trying to figure out a way to get outside, usually crawling on or around the windows. 

 

 

 

The other day, I went around the house with a jar and gathered up all the ladybugs I saw ... and I took them out to the greenhouse to help rid the roses of their spring crop of aphids.  As I was putting each ladybug into the jar, I was promising them that I was taking them to a place where their children would always have enough to eat.

 

 

 

 

When I got to the greenhouse and opened the jar, the ladybugs quickly crawled to the rim and set off to find suitable places to set up housekeeping.

 

 

 

Caught an action shot of a ladybug taking flight in this photo!

 

 

There are plenty of aphids on the roses in the greenhouse to go around.  It's not the ladybugs themselves that are going to do the bulk of the eating, though.  The adult ladybugs mate and lay their eggs in locations with an ample food supply, and it's the larvae who are voracious little aphid eating machines.  (See what the larvae look like in THIS post from last year.)

 

 

 

I've done my part.  It's all up to the ladybugs now.

 

 

Silly Dorothy

I thought I would share a little micro-glimpse of my morning with you.  I have been sitting here with my laptop at the kitchen counter, thinking that I should sort and put away all of the things that have piled up on the other end of the counter.  Dorothy has now decided that this would be a great spot to hang out and chill.

 

 

Most of us have spots like this in our homes ... the places where items are put down (instead of put AWAY) and piles gradually accumulate. 

 

In this view, the most obvious thing (besides Dorothy, of course) is Daniel's stuffed chicken dog toy that I took away from Ruby.  The paper that Dorothy is laying on is my calendar.  Underneath that is the top of a pair of old jeans that I cut up for a project.  There's also the tape dispenser, two remote controls for the TV in the corner cupboard, a red gift bag with a tax receipt letter on top of it, and my DSLR camera (which is sitting on a pile of TWO of my genealogy notebooks).  To the left, and out of your view, is a pile that contains Miss Mustard Seed's book, a Christmas tour brochure, a small pile of more tax receipts, business cards, and a pad of graph paper.

 

I admit it, I make piles ... at least the rest of the room is tidy.

 

Dorothy has settled in even more now, so I will not be working on that pile this morning.  Sweet dreams, Dorothy.

I Am a Dandelion

"The official flower of the military child is the Dandelion.

"Why?  The plant puts down roots almost anywhere, and it's almost impossible to destroy. It's an unpretentious plant, yet good looking. It's a survivor in a broad range of climates.

"Military children bloom everywhere the winds carry them. They are hardy and upright. Their roots are strong, cultivated deeply in the culture of the military, planted swiftly and surely. They're ready to fly in the breezes that take them to new adventures, new lands, and new friends.

"Experts say that military children are well-rounded, culturally aware, tolerant, and extremely resilient. Military children have learned from an early age that home is where their hearts are, that a good friend can be found in every corner of the world and in every color, and that education doesn't only come from school. They live history. They learn that to survive means to adapt, that the door that closes one chapter of their life opens up to a new and exciting adventure full of new friends and new experiences."  (Author unknown)

April is the Month of the Military Child.  I am proud say that I am a child of a military family.  My father's Army career took us all over the world, and my brother and sister and I lived places and saw things that other children only read about.  These experiences shaped our personalities and helped me become the person that I am today.  I am 53 years old, definitely not a child anymore, and I am proud to say that I am an Army Brat ... I think the 'brat' part is particularly appropriate.

Sick Day

I'm not feeling well.  There's a stomach bug going around, and I have it.  All day yesterday, I was camped on the family room sofa like a lump, without the energy or inclination to do much of anything.  Today, I feel better than I did yesterday, so perhaps I've turned the corner and am on my way to recovery and normal activity ... we can hope. I don't get sick very often, thank goodness.

Ruby is taking advantage of the fact that I'm sitting in a chair right now, and am not in my nest on the sofa.

 

 

Dorothy is in my lap, making it very hard to type.

 

Here you get a glimpse of my favorite fleece cupcake PJs.

 

 

I can't just sit around and be sick today, though, because I have things to take care of.  My brother's mother-in-law passed away two days ago, and we are traveling to southwest Virginia for her funeral.  My husband is out of town till tomorrow on business, my car is WAY past due for oil change and rotating its tires, Ruby and Daniel need a place to stay while we are gone ....

 

I'd better get cracking, because I have a LOT to do ... I'll just try the best I can to not overdo.