While we were in Florida we got to cruise along the St. John’s River on a pontoon boat.  It was AWESOME!

Before we even got away from the dock, there were things to see, like other boats heading out.

There was also a little blue heron feeding in the grasses by the dock.

We traveled towards Blue Spring State Park, a designated manatee refuge. It’s a favorite winter hang-out (mid-November through March) of these West Indian Manatees, since the waters stay nice and warm at 73 degrees.

It’s also the largest spring on the St. Johns River.  Although we got a glimpse or two of manatees in the river, we never got a clear enough look to make a worthwhile picture. Maybe next time!

There were lots of birds in the trees though.

And every once in a while we saw a bright splash of color from flowers growing among the trees and grasses.

We got really excited when we saw our first alligator.

Cruising along we saw great reflections in the water from the trees and sky.

Then we got even more excited when we saw another alligator, bigger than the first one we saw!

There were herons and other birds almost everywhere we looked.

But the BIGGEST thrill of the day was seeing this HUMONGOUS GATOR!

No way we could top that!  All in all, it was a great day of cruising! And a great part of our relatives world to visit!

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We went down to central Florida to visit family for Thanksgiving. We were staying in housing close to Lake Monroe in Sanford. In the morning we enjoyed walking along the lake. Not surprisingly, there were lots of boats in the lake though there is only one in this particular picture.

 There were lots of other people walking along the lake, many with their canine companion (s).

We don’t see many palm trees in our part of the world, so it was neat to see the ones lining the side of the walk closest to the lake.  Many of them were full of berries.

 The birds were munching up on the berries, and there was another familiar critter in the trees…

Squirrel in Palm Tree.

Yes, these furry little beasties seem to be everywhere!  We have lots running around in our walnut, hickory, and oak trees back home, but they look to be equally at home in the palm trees in Florida.

However, this little squirrel didn’t limit itself to berries from the palm trees.  It also looked for bread crumbs on the sidewalk, and when it saw one, it went flying across the walk to pounce on it.

Yep, things are squirrely in Sanford!

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Almost every morning when I’m out to do the morning chores, my canine companion, Toby, and I go for a walk. We go down through the bottom pasture and into the woods.

We have about 4 acres of woods on our little farm, so although not real big, it’s enough to get in there and not see any civilization.

We had some rain a few days ago, causing a lot more leaves to fall off the trees and carpet the path.

Going into the woods and under the bigger trees makes me feel a little like I’m a hobbit or elf or something, treading along through Middle Earth in the Lord of The Rings.  It’s so tranquil, and a great way to start the morning.

Our usual path through the woods takes us by a big hackberry tree (Celtis occidentalis). The morning sun and a low limb makes an interesting pattern of shade on the big tree’s trunk.

This is the same tree that had all the slugs crawling up and down the trunk earlier this year.  It’s too cold now for such critters to be sliming their way up and down the tree, so we didn’t see any today.

We passed by an old fallen log with a covering of moss, plus an added decoration of a bright red leaf.

Eventually we meander along the creek. With the sun shining so brightly today, it made some nice reflections of the trees in the water.

In the deeper areas of the creek, we can usually see some minnows swimming along. They zip by pretty quickly, so it’s hard to get a picture.

The reflection off the water also makes getting a decent picture difficult, but at least you can see there’s little fish in there!

It doesn’t matter how cold it is, Toby has to splash around in the creek.  He loves playing in water!

Many of the fallen leaves have caught on some rocks in the creek and made a little dam, slowing the flow of the water.

They’ll eventually float away, especially if we get more rain and it raises the water levels for a while. 

Further down the creek there is a fallen log.  It’s been there a long time, and has created another bit of a dam in the creek.

The water and floating leaves rush over one or two little sections.

Listening to the water flowing along is quite soothing.  Maybe a walk in the woods would be better than medicine for high blood pressure or depression!

Here’s another little video taken from the bank hanging over top of the end of the log.  I kind of like this one because at the end a walnut goes floating over and bobs in the water.

On the loop back through the woods, there are ferns here and there. It may be fall, but some things are still green.

Sometimes we wander around the paths in the pasture at the end of our walk, but that’s more fun in the spring and summer when there are butterflies and other bugs livening up the place.

For today, That’s My World is a walk in the woods.

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One of the places we visited while in West Virginia last week was the State Wildlife Center.  It’s located in Upshur County in north-central West Virginia, 12 miles south of Buckhannon, near French Creek. I don’t recall ever visiting it before, and The Farmer had never been in that part of West Virginia, so we decided it would be a great trip, and off we went, with Dad in tow.

The center is a zoological facility operated by the Wildlife Resources Section of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, and displaying native and introduced state wildlife.

The first thing to see are the elk and Canadian geese. They’re off in a different direction than the rest of the wildlife. We drove up to the parking lot and walked down to their pen. I would guess from the noise the bull elk was making that it’s rutting season.  He was bugling often while we were there, as you can hear in this short little video:

Elk (Cervus elaphus), also known as wapiti (from the Shawnee word waapiti, meaning white rump), are one of the largest species of deer in the world and one of the largest mammals in North America.  The particular male was quite cranky and protective, taking great exception to me getting close to the fence to try taking a picture through the holes in the chain links:

From the elk area we drove to the main parking lot. The rest of the wildlife can be seen along a 1.25 mile trail through a mature hardwood forest. We picked a good time to go, as the leaves were fall colors, and since it was a cool week day, we were the only people there.

There is a big enclosure for otters, but they were hiding out of sight when we went by. That was kind of disappointing, as I love watching otters play. They also had a few bison, but they were so far off we couldn’t see them very well even though they are some of the largest animals in North America, and can weigh well over a ton each.

There used to be an estimated 300 million buffalo roaming the land in 1865, but they were hunted and killed in such huge numbers that by 1889 only 541 remained. Their numbers have increased now, but they are still found only in zoos, on private ranches or on public lands.

The mountain lion (Felis concolor) wasn’t even that lucky. They were totally exterminated in West Virginia by 1900. This big cat is known locally as the cougar, panther, painter or puma. Weighing 80-200 pounds, with the males a third again as large as the females, they can get up to 8 feet long.

The mountain lion is known as one of the most elusive of all the world’s cats, so this is probably the only way we’ll ever see one!

Next door to the mountain lion was a pen with white-tailed deer.  That seems a little mean, putting an unreachable dinner right next to their pen.  On the other side of the deer lived several gray wolves (Canis lupis).  It’s a wonder the deer don’t have a nervous breakdown, being placed between two breeds of carnivores like that!

Gray wolves were originally found throughout North America, but now can only be seen in wilderness areas of forest and tundra. They actually help improve populations of the wildlife they prey on by culling the sick and weaker animals.

We also saw a bald eagle, a couple of red foxes, and a couple of gray foxes, along with a wild turkey, and ring-necked pheasants.  There was a bobcat with those neat tufted ears, but it wouldn’t cooperate and turn around for a picture.  The bobcat lives throughout West Virginia, and although not often seen, is often living surprisingly close to people.  It’s considered a valuable wildlife species because it hunts destructive rodents and eats carrion.

On down the trail we saw red-tailed hawks, a golden eagle, kestrels, barred owls, and a bunch of raccoons. There was a pen for a striped skunk, but I think it was in the den sleeping. At any rate, we never saw it.  What we did see was a lovely great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), and because of the “hoo, hoo, hoo” call, commonly known as a “hoot owl”.

Once again, they placed a predator by a forever out of reach dinner. It seems that great horned owls are the skunks only serious predator. I’d like to know how the owl captures the skunk without getting sprayed with that noxious odor of theirs!  Maybe it’s because great horned owls are also capable of totally silent flight, so their prey doesn’t know the owl is coming until it’s too late too run.  They’re an impressive bird in many ways.

Oh yes, and The WV Wildlife Center is also home of French Creek Freddie, a cousin of groundhog Punxsutawney Phil.  We didn’t see him either, but then, it wasn’t Groundhog Day!

They also had fishers (Martes pennanti), a shy animal that used to live in the Appalachian forests, but due to trapping and loss of habitat, no longer lives wild in West Virginia.

The black bear (Ursus americanus) was near the end of the trail.  They were pacing along the fence and quite active.  However, this picture is of a still-life sort of black bear:

He “lives” in the gift shop at the end of the trail.  His name is Jack, and he was a lifelong resident of the wildlife center.  He is believed to be the largest black bear to have lived in West Virginia, weighing about 700 pounds at prime weight.

Beside the bears on the trail was a wild boar, an animal that was introduced into West Virginia in the late 1960s. They can weigh up to 400 pounds. Huge!

And at the very end of the trail was a pen with several coyotes (Canis latrans).  Coyotes are a member of the dog family, and certainly look the part.

They prefer to munch up on rodents or other small animals, but are great opportunists and will eat anything, animal or vegetable, it doesn’t matter.  They have a hefty 50% mortality rate, but still manage to thrive, adapting and surviving in all kinds of environments.

Besides all the penned animals, there were also squirrels, chipmunks, birds and other wildlife in the forest.  All in all, the West Virginia State Wildlife Center a pretty neat place to visit.

And while I no longer live in West Virginia, I still think of it as part of MY World.

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It’s been another busy week, and I’ve had to concentrate on work stuff almost 24/7 (except for a few hours sleep here and there). Because of that, I haven’t had much time to post on most of my more “personal” blogs.

So to catch up, here’s a few pictures from the past week. This first one is from last Saturday, when The Farmer was busy working on the peafowl pen. The chicken wire on top was getting old, and something tore big holes in it. I think that “something” was probably raccoons. They like to eat the dog food. In fact, I pretty much know to start looking for holes when I go to check the peafowl’s bowl of dogfood and every morning it’s totally empty. They don’t eat that much on their own!

You can see some of the big holes.  Obviously, The Farmer is standing in one. :-)  He decided instead of putting more wire there, he’d make a wood roof.  That will give the peafowl a little more shelter in that area, then they have the aviary to go into for lots of sunlight and fresh air.

Some of the peafowl like to search for even more sunshine, and run through the grass with nothing but their feathers on.  Then they tantalize their mother by standing just outside the aviary.

This, of course, puts the mother peahen in a fowl temper, since she can’t reach them to peck them into good behavior.  She clucks at them, and paces up and down on the other side, and they just continue to merrily run all around on the outside.  Some day they will get a rude shock when they can no longer fit through those 4-inch holes in the bottom wire panels of the aviary.

Toby and I continue to take a morning walk in the bottom pasture. Most of the time it’s a fairly short time, just walking once around all the trails. But there’s usually something interesting to see.

I’m not sure what kind of bug this is, but it was enjoying getting a drink from the dew on the weed.

Yesterday morning while walking in the pasture, I was thinking about writing on this blog and that I’d mention all the hummingbirds seem to have left, when I almost ran smack dab into one!  The little hummer was enjoying some nectar from jewel weeds (Impatiens capensis).  I don’t know which one of us was more surprised, but it didn’t stick around long enough for me to take a picture. (They rarely do!)

Then this morning when I was coming up on the front porch, there was another hummer checking out some of the wire bugs I have hanging along the top edge.  That one didn’t stay around long enough for a picture either.  I don’t think these are the regulars, but hummers on their way to points further south.

We’ve been enjoying some excellent weather this week with cool nights (down in the 50’s), and warmer days (up in the 80’s).  I love this kind of weather!  In the mornings, the llamas and Neffie (our Maremma LGD) like to stretch out in sun on the shorter grass in the main pasture. The Farmer keeps it mowed down so I don’t have to wade through wet weeds to get to the well house in the mornings (Thank You Farmer!). 

Keira was stretched out too, but every time I’d try to get close enough to take a picture, she’d sit up. I guess it must feel good to soak up the sunshine on a cool morning. 

While they’re soaking up the sunshine, the guineas are foraging for seeds and bugs. I think as they get older they get stupider. I say this because as you can see here….

… the half-grown keets still have enough sense to just fly up and go over a fence. The adults, however, run up and down the fence looking for a way through. It’s only about 4-foot tall, mind you, and these birds can fly to the tops of some very tall trees around here! They just seem to forget what phenomenal fliers they are when confronted with fences.

The chickens seem to use their brains a little more, and they like to do things with a little more flair. We still have one chicken sitting on eggs in her bright purple bucket. We knew there was also one of the hens sitting on a nest under The Farmer’s work shed.  She came out this week with four little chicks.

She’s taking them out to forage around today, so it won’t be long until they’re running around all over the place too!

I’ve always got a bunch of pictures and it’s hard to choose just a few, but I reckon that’s pretty much the highlights for this week.

Like I said, it’s been another busy week on the farm!

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Here we are, another week come and gone.  And since, as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said,  ”Art is long, and time is fleeting,” I guess it’s time to display some pictures (as close as I can come to art) from this past week of time down on the farm! 

Actually, it’s rather fowl around here these days.  There are two groups of guineas running around with keets.  The older group that started out with a couple dozen are now down to 9 half-grown keets.

The second group fared even worse.  They started out with 18 keets and now have 4.  Of course, the first group has 7 adults watching over their 9 keets, whereas the second group only has 2 adults looking after their 4 little ones.

Our Mama Peahen seems to be doing okay with her little peachicks.  Although I believe they think their mission in life is to give their mother a nervous breakdown.  (Hmmmm, sounds a lot like human kids, huh?)  They’re small enough to get through the fencing at the bottom of the aviary, and run around outside in the grass while the mother paces back and forth inside calling to them.  They ignore her until they’re good and ready to hop back over the bottom board and follow Mom around.  Like I said. reminds me of human kids!

Notice the cardinal in there with them?  I throw sunflower seeds on the ground for the peafowl, and the cardinals often come and help themselves.  We do seem to have a tendency to feed the wildlife around here, intentional or not!

We have the 4 surviving peachicks from the 10 that hatched in the incubators outside in their own pen for now.  I think one of them is going to be a peacock, which is good.  I only have one male peafowl right now, and he’s getting old.

This youngster fans those feathers and displays every time I give them fresh food and water.  He also has a propensity for pecking at me.  I hope that goes away!

Not all the hummingbirds have departed for points further south yet.  There’s at least 3 of them out there still fussing at each other.  They’re so territorial!

I like this picture because you can see her little tongue sticking out!  Ummm, that was good stuff!

The butterflies are enjoying the last days of summer also.  We still have several flitting around the butterfly bushes, enjoying the nectar.

It’s hard to get pictures of them sometimes, because like the hummingbirds, they don’t stay still very long!

Before you know it, they’re in flight again, and it’s hard to focus in and get a good shot!

Close by one of the butterfly bushes there’s another garden spider on the hunt.  This one has had HUGE success, having caught a cicada in her web.

Wow!  If you take into account her long legs, her prey is actually bigger than she is!  That ought to keep her pantry full for some time!

Thanks for visiting, and hope you enjoyed this weeks photos!

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We have a cat called Spot Fencewalker.

Every morning I feed him. His cat food dispenser sits on the front porch right by the door. I used to just fill it up so he could eat however much he wanted whenever he wanted. But then the neighbor’s dog started coming over and eating the cat food.  If one of our dogs got out in the front yard, they snacked on it too. So do a multitude of stray cats!

And then the raccoons started showing up at night, helping themselves to the cat’s food.

While a nuisance, at least the raccoons were kind of cute.

But then last night when I opened the door, I realized things are getting way out of hand and the cat food buffet is feeding more wildlife than I imagined!

Sorry, but I find absolutely nothing cute about slugs, although  I guess while the slugs are munching up on cat food, they aren’t eating my hostas. But I really don’t want to feed them. And I don’t want to feed the cave crickets. And I don’t want to feed the little pillbugs or whatever you want to call them either (look at the back left of cat food container).

And what’s not in the picture is the horde of little black crickets that jumped away the minute I opened the door.  And who knows what else when I’m not looking!

I’ve got to come up with an innovative way to feed the cat that keeps other critters from helping themselves.

This cat food buffet has gotten totally out of hand.

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