Active Little Ruffians

I spent some time today watching the birdfeeder. The camera was mounted on a tripod and I was ready. The Red-Breasted Nuthatches (Sitta canadensis) were quite busy grabbing food and defending THEIR feeder.

Red-Breasted Nuthatch

Whenever other birds approached the feeder the nuthatches were quite diligent in chasing them away. They especially had a thing about the chicadees and chased them back into the nearby forest. I also had a nuthatch leave the feeder and circle my head a couple of times when I walked too close. While at the feeder, the nuthatches sent seed flying while searching for a special morsel.

Nuthatch sending seed flying

It usually did not take long for the nuthatches to find the particular seed they sought. This particular fellow chose a sunflower seed. He flew off with it to a nearby hickory where he broke into the seed – yummm!

Nuthatch with a sunflower seed

The birds that seemed to be most successful with the nuthatches were the Chipping Sparrows (Spizella passerina). The sparrows would move in quickly while the nuthatches flew off with their seeds, quickly grabbed a seed, and took off before attack ensued. The sparrows also discovered the treasure trove of seed on the ground. The Dark-Eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) seemed willing to share the grounded seeds as long as the sparrows kept their distance.

Uh Oh! The Pope has Pissed Off My Favorite Evolutionist (after Darwin)

Happy Trees

While Susan and I were driving to the cabin today we took a sidetrip to Gaudineer Knob. The contrast exhibited by these trees made me feel as if I was driving into a Bob Ross painting. Happy Trees – Happy Me!

Lunchtime

It is a lazy, rainy day at the cabin. A barred owl visited around noon. It sat in the shagbark hickory next to Backyard Run and overlooking the bird feeder. We are wondering if it is the reason we have been observing fewer birds and squirrels at the feeder lately. The owl left before we could get a picture. Luckily, it returned to the hemlock overlooking the pool in Backyard Run (the creek behind our cabin has no names associated with it on any of the maps we have seen so I named it Backyard Run). I managed a few pictures from the back door with the camera lens fully extended. After a few minutes and pictures, it flew down into Backyard Run where we could not see it. Following a 10 to 20 second wait the owl came out of the creek with some critter hanging from its talons and it flew off into the forest. The picture of it and its catch did not focus.

Don’t Worry – Just an Orb Weaver

I found this Mottled Orb Weaver (Araneus marmoreus) in the shed eaves at the cabin. Not knowing what kind of spider it was, I bravely approached with camera in hand. I had little worry since my U. S. Government Health Care Plan provides me with top-notch medical care (the same one enjoyed by conservative congressmen and Senators while denying the same to those without – seriously!). I have since found out that it’s venom is of little concern to humans.

I think all would agree it is a colorful, cute creature. It eats bugs too!

 

Restoring One’s Toughness

Apparently, the best place to hide from lightning is behind a chair.

 

And the best way to then restore one’s appearance of toughness is by barking at a trailing motorcyclist from the closed back window of a moving vehicle

Down Goes the Chimney

We decided to put our cabin on a heat pump and get rid of the inefficient baseboards and the fire hazard oil stove. Christopher helped me get the oil tank down and oil stove out last weekend. This weekend Susan and I were alone to take down the chimney. That job turned out to be a sooty mess and physically demanding. But, I think Susan had the tougher job – cleaning up the soot that managed to get on everything, while I was demolishing. In this first picture I am contemplating the start of the job, which occurred on the roof.

 This is where the job wound up at floor level. At this point I had one more chimey block to remove along with a huge pile of soot.

 

A couple of old posted signs worked nicely for scooping the soot.

 

Susan’s cousin David helped me load the oil heater and oil tank into the truck for delivery to the landfill dumping station.

 

The gentleman working the dump station decided he could use the oil tank at his farm to hold diesel fuel for his tractor. Susan was sitting in the truck and took his picture in the rearview mirror while he was directing me where to dump the tank.

 

Tractor Driving Wife

I discovered that Susan could manage the lawn tractor at the cabin. I took this picture while she was mowing and I was nursing a Yuengling while relaxing in a lawn chair. The Good Wife (er, Life)!

Let Me Out of Here

We were outside doing yard work and Etcetera decided that watching from behind the screen door was not good enough. I could hear her meowing from the other side of the house. Poor Kitty!!

Tranquility

The small creek flowing behind our cabin has a really neat waterfall, albeit small. We enjoy it and its soothing sound. I experimented a little with the camera this past weekend and produced the moderately successful picture shown below. I think this might be a popular photo subject for many cabin visits.