Critters

Yup, my yard is still overrun with critters.  From my old friends the turkeys, to geese, chipmunks and squirrels, here is a view of one day and what I may see looking out of the windows of my old house.

This Turkey Lady decided it was time for her beauty bath.  Uh, she kind of needs it.

Meanwhile, I have, again this year, been visited by the Canada Geese.  This year, there are eight of them, and they are a real nuisance.  My yard is full of poop, and I have come to the conclusion that I am going to have to quit putting food on the ground for a while, until they give up and go away.  It's a pity that they are such a messy bird, though, because they are really beautiful.

But small mammals are equally well represented.  This chipmunk was cracking me up.  I've seen squirrels on the sunflower seed feeders before, but, never chipmunks on the niger seed feeders.  It must only take 90 gazillion of them to fill those little cheeks.

Rachael was very interested in this little guy, right outside of the window, too.

Squirrels, oh yeh, there were squirrels, too.  Very determined, as always, and very successful, too.

Oh yes, I love my old house, and the critters that visit.  Minus the Geese.

Never Say Never

My Promise Mare died three years ago.  At that time, I decided that I would not get another horse.  Horses these days can easily live to be 30 years old, or even more.  I keep my horses for life, in great part because I am afraid of what might happen to them, out there in the wide world.  Since I'm not young any more, I didn't want to chance having a horse outlive me.

While I was volunteering at the track, I saw lots of lovely horses.  But, it was easy to resist them because track Thoroughbreds are all so young.  I no longer volunteer there, so that temptation is behind me.

But, I made many friends in rescue while I was actively involved, and, every once in a while, I still get emails about horses that urgently need homes.  In February, I got such an email.  It was about a mare who was no longer wanted by the family that owned her, because the daughter had lost all interest in horses.  Understandably, they found the expense of keeping a horse that nobody loved to be too much.  This mare was 25 years old.  With the economy today, it's hard to place even young horses, much less old gals like this, who really can do much of anything except a light trail ride now and then.

I pictured some old, decrepit horse, not good for much of anything.  I decided that, since no one else was likely to want her, she stood a good chance of ending up in a bad place.  And, as she was very aged, I thought that there was little probability that she would outlive me.  So, I went to look at her.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised.  This is no decrepit old girl.  She's an Appendix Quarterhorse (that's a cross between a Thoroughbred and a Quarterhorse, for those of you who aren't really horse oriented),  a 16.1 chestnut beauty, in fine physical shape, for her age.  I have to admit, I fell in love.  And, I said I would take her.  The people were very good in that they gave her to me.  So, buying her was an expense that I didn't have to face.

I've only had her a couple of months, but I am enjoying her so much.  She's a very smart girl, wise in the ways of the world.  You can almost see her thinking, sometimes.  She tries little disobedient tricks every now and then, just to test me.  But, all you have to do is tell her no and she quits, often with an "Oh heck, can't get away with a thing." expression on her face.  She's calm and steady and strong enough so that I may actually be able to ride her some day, when I lose enough weight (I have lost 40 pounds, but that's another post.)

I've been lucky enough to learn her history.  She came to this area from Virginia when she was six years old.  She's had one foal, a gelding who still is showing at 17 years old.  She has been an event horse, has foxhunted and shown in the hunter/jumpers.  She was a lot of horse when she was young, keen and always ready to go.  I actually have a good friend who, it turns out, knew her in those days.  It always amazes me, what a small world the horse community is.

And now, I'd like to introduce you to Lexy, my new love.  These pictures were taken shortly after I got her, and she still has her Winter coat.  She's shedding out to a beautiful gleaming chestnut color now.  I'm waiting until she's completely shed out, then I'll take some more pictures.  The purple halter, by the way, is gone, replaced by a nice leather one.

Flowers for Leontien

Best wishes from a not so constant blogger.  No flowers in my yard yet, so I send you lots of pictures of Summer flowers in the hopes that the sun may always shine on you.

Hello, Hello! Anybody still got me on their list?

I'm back, at least for this one post right now.  I hope to be a little more regular, but I'll probably be a lot more erratic than I was in the past.  I just can't seem to find things to post about.

I guess I have two pieces of news, though.  The first is that I'm on day 17 of a diet.  I decided that it was time to lose all this extra weight that is keeping me from doing the things that I want to do.  I could stand to lose 100 pounds, but I'll be happy with less, as long as I keep it off.  So far, only weighing myself once a week, I've lost 5.5 pounds.  But, I won't bore you with constant updates on how the diet is going.

The second thing that I wanted to share with you is the wonderful sight that I saw out of my rear window this morning.  I was puttering around when I noticed that Becky Cat, who loves to sit and watch the birds out of that window, started making that chattering noise that cats make when they are excited.  I went over to the window and this is what I saw.

Yes, that's a Snowy Owl, sitting there in my back yard!  I knew that they were around.  There have been reports of sightings in my area.  But, I never expected to see one right here at home.  I have heard that the irruption has occurred this year because the Arctic Summer last year was very mild.  That lead to an explosion in the population of lemmings.  In the chain of events that nature often provides, this meant that adult birds had plenty of food to feed to their nestlings, leading to a larger than normal survival rate.

When the birds fledged, the young birds had to roam farther afield, to find new Winter hunting territories.  That's why we, here in New York State, are now being treated with the sight of so many of them.  This looks to me like a first year bird, probably a male, which would be in line with the theory.

Just a short while later, I got an email from my neighbor.  He had seen the bird also, and sent me this picture.

They are so beautiful, and so large.  When I first saw it, I thought it was a dog.  Hey, it was early, and I hadn't even had a cup of coffee yet.

So, there we have it, a brief update on my so very unexciting life.  I promise, I'll try to get a blog up now and again, and I also promise that I will try my best to get caught up on your blogs in the next few days.

I have a confession to make

I am not one of those people who just loves the holiday season.  Between that, and the short days, I become a grumpy, unpleasant person, who has absolutely no get up and go. 

You probably have noticed my lack of posts lately.  Primarily, it's because I just can't get my rear in gear to post anything.  In fact, I can't even think of things to post.  Heck, I can't even get up the energy to visit my blogging friends. 

So, I think I'm going to take a formal break.  I'll undoubtedly be back after the New Year.  I hope that at least some of you will still want to share experiences with me, but, I wouldn't blame you if you just kicked my butt out of the door.

Out of My Rear Window 11-6-11

It's a beautiful Fall day here.  The temperature started out in the 30's, but got up into the 60's.  Saturday was gorgeous, too.  Nice weather for walking campaign literature, which I have been doing both days.  I'm done for this election season, and it's a good thing because my feet fell a little like raw meat.

There is a new gentleman showing up at the feeder lately.  This guy is a very handsome six-pointer.  He's very skittish, thank goodness.

The turkey ladies were gone all week, but, today they were back in force.  They do this every once in a while, and I always worry until I see them again.  Tucker, the feral cat, does the same thing, and I worry just as much about him.

And, just to prove that I'm not the only one who likes to look out of my rear window, here's a short video of Becky doing the same.  Guess what she's looking at so intently?  I'll post the answer tomorrow morning.

Added Monday morning:  Becky is watching leaves fall.  They are coming down like rain right now and she is absolutely fascinated with them.  She spends hours on that chair, just watching.  

And, finally, I wanted to pay tribute to the great Jumper, Hickstead, who died today in Verona, Italy, right after completing his round.  He collapsed on the course.  Cause of death isn't known, but speculation is high that it was a heart attack.  Competition was canceled after his death.

Hickstead was one of the great names in show jumping.  His partnership with his rider, Eric Lamaze, was one of the most successful in recent history.  My heart goes out to Eric, and all of the connections of this wonderful horse.  It will be a long time before we see his like again.

What's the Matter Little Squirrels?

Trick or Treating didn't go so well last night?  Sorry for the poor quality of the picture.  The sun is at a position in the sky right now where I get these miserable reflections on my rear window.

Off to spend the day delivering campaign literature.  I'll catch up on your blogs tonight.

Out of My Rear Window 10-30-11

The Box Elder tree has now lost almost all of its leaves, and the other trees won't be far behind.  Next will be the Linden, and then the Maples.  Soon snow will cover the ground.  But, not yet, because we missed the great NorEaster that pounded the East Coast yesterday, thank goodness.

There's not much activity at the feeders today.  Only the squirrels are out and feeding.

But, last night, the Gentlemen's Club was present and accounted for.

Today is cold and bright.  I've a lot of inside chores to catch up on but, if the cats are any indication, it's going to end up being a lazy kind of Sunday.

That is, of course, if I can manage to get any heat in the living room.  As you can see, the fancy new cat bed works, but the wrong cat has taken it over as her own, leaving Becky the Register Hog in her usual position, smack on the register.  This, in spite of the fact that I have those nice warm heated cat pads all over the house.

Sigh.

Here's hoping that every one of you have a very happy and peaceful Sunday.

VOTE!!!!

 

I put my money where my mouth was.  A while back I said that we all needed to get more involved in the politics of this country,  and try to convince the politicians of this country that we were tired of the "Political party  and me first"  attitude of most of the politicians out there.  

So, I went out and found a candidate who believed the same thing, and I have been supporting him this year in our local elections.  It's been quite an education.  And, today, I got one of the most discouraging lessons that I could have imagined.  I'm checking to make sure, but this is what happened.

We did a literature drop in my candidate's district this morning.  We had a list of all of the registered voters, Democrat, Republican, Independent and Blank, in the district and we each took a specific area, and were supposed to hit all of the homes of these voters.  What absolutely destroyed me was that, while doing this drop, I found that I was only hitting about 20% of the houses on my assigned streets.  What the heck?  I really hope that these county rolls are wrong, because I find it so very hard to believe that only 20% of the voters in my area are even bothering to register to vote.

I happen to believe that we should work for change within the system, but, how can we, when there are so few of us who even care enough to participate?  It's too late for this year, but, please, register to vote for next year's election, and work hard to convince everyone you know to register, also.  I don't care how you vote, but, we, the 99%, have to express our opinion, and voting is the very best way to do that.

Update - I emailed my candidate and asked if this was, indeed, all of the registered voters and the answer I got back was somewhat heartening.  The houses that we were dropping literature off at represented those who "sometimes" voted in off-year elections.  Those who voted every year were not included, because they vote anyways.  Still, he also told me that in off-year elections, only about 30% of the registered voters show up at the polls.  

It's at the grass roots level that we can have the most effect.  So, remember to look at your candidates and be sure to get out and vote this year for the candidate who best represents your beliefs. 

Do I Really Need Words?

You have to see the incomparable beauty of the Great Smokies to really appreciate it, but I hope that my pictures give you some idea.

Lovely Trails

Almost impossibly clean mountain streams.

A lovely lake surrounded by mountains that take your breath away.

We're so lucky, here in the US, that generations before us have made the effort to preserve the natural wonders that exist in this vast and varied country of ours.  I hope that we, and the generations that follow us, remember that this pristine beauty is part of us, and who we are.

Fontana Dam

The Great Smoky Mountains aren't only the site of great natural beauty, but, also, the site of the tallest dam east of the Rocky Mountains, the Fontana Dam.  The dam was built in the early 1940's, in response to the need of the United States for increased electrical power to run all of the manufacturing plants producing war material.  Today, it's run by the TVA, the Tennessee Valley Authority.  Here is a site where you can learn more about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontana_Dam

We visited it on a bright, sunny day.  It is magnificent, and beautiful in its grandeur.

Below the dam, the Little Tennessee River meanders.  There is a lovely trail that winds beside it.  Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to walk that trail, because that hike was scheduled on the one day during our stay that it poured rain.

Above the dam, the calm waters of Fontana Lake spread for miles.

I wanted to do the Fontana Dam segment first because it explains why, in so many of my pictures, you will see that there is a band of bare earth between the water and the forest.  This band is there because the water behind the dam is, at this time, being "drawn down."  This means that water is being released into the river faster than the lake is filling, generating electricity as it is released.  This is done every Fall.  It serves a dual purpose.  It serves to help insure an even flow of electricity, when the rivers further downstream are low in the late Summer and Fall.  And, it empties the lake, so that in the late Winter and early Spring, when this area gets much of what is the highest amount of rain anywhere in the United States except for the Northwest Pacific Coast, the lake has room to fill and help prevent the horrible flooding that occurred in this region before the dam was built.

When we were there, the water still had to go down at least as much as it has already been drawn down.

We stayed in the Fontana Village Resort.  Why I didn't take any pictures of the resort is beyond me.  Maybe because we were hardly ever there.  But, it was a lovely place, with wonderful cabins complete with a fully equipped kitchen, all spotlessly clean.  Here is a slide show of the cabins.  I have no idea how I got this show to happen, but these aren't my pictures, and were taken from the Fontana Village Resort web site. http://www.fontanavillage.com/

You can see, we weren't exactly roughing it.

Fontana Village Resort has an interesting history.  It was originally the site of a much more primative village, where many of the workers who built Fontana Dam lived.  If you look at this link, on the building of Fontana Dam, you'll see a couple of shots of what the original Fontana Village looked like.
http://www.currentsofchange.net/lessons/lesson_photo.php?cat_id=33&section_id=1&lesson_id=2

So, that is Fontana Dam and the place where we stayed.  I'll do another blog posting on the natural beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains.