I've been away for two weeks but it looks like there has been rain while I was gone.
There have also been mice. They enjoyed some of the rice that we were planning for dinner.
In the last post, I showed the unpacking of these mounts from our WY hunt last fall. They made it to the wall.
Everyone seems concerned about where the next mount will go. We do have an elk hunt coming up in September. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
The coyote activity continues - here's a cute family group. In early June I had a photo of a coyote with something in its mouth. It was blurry but my neighbor Ron thought it was a fawn head. I wasn't sure. You can always click a photo to make it bigger.
This week, another coyote showed up with something in its mouth. The photo is a little better.
Yep, that's a fawn's head. June 25. Could it be that same head as from early in the month? Or did they get another one?
Same coyote and head in front of a different camera? Probably - only 8 minutes apart.
Here' another one with something in it's mouth - I think that this one is a squirrel. They are predators.
Speaking of predators, how cool is this shot of an owl hunting. Rabbits often seen here.
Just a blurry shadow here but I think it is the bobcat.
Meanwhile in the pumpkin patch, things are going pretty well. The rows planted first are getting ready for the vines to run and the late plantings have mostly all germinated,
Ian, my helper, was going to till the rows while I was gone. The tiller had some problems and he didn't get it finished.
The sunflowers are off to a good start and, so far, the deer are respecting the tape.
We had some more rain and I was busy with other chores but I did manage to use this little tiller to get up close to some of the rows.
My big chore this weekend was clearing the brush and trees that had taken over the pond dam. Roots are potential pond leaks so you really aren't supposed to let them get established.
And they were obstructing the view from the porch.
I brush-hogged where I could and then did battle by hand with a chainsaw. I tried to push and pull the brush into a pile with the bucket on the Kubota.
Of course I hit a stump and tore the bucket off - bent the bracket where the attachment pin seats.
Here was my other calamity. I have no idea when or where I lost the gas cap to the Ranger. Not to worry...
...I fixed it with duct tape.
I forgot to mention that there were a few blooms in the pumpkin patch already.
Wineberries (like red raspberries) aren't ready yet.
Blackberries also not ready.
The warm season is here so the prairie plot is filling in.
I was concerned whether the roundup that I used on the roundup ready soybeans would be effective. The jug spent the winter in the barn - freezing etc.
It worked great but I'm a little disappointed in the germination rate on the soybeans. Maybe they'll fill in.
There was supposed to be a Saharan dust cloud in the area that would cause great sunsets. Joan and I ate our dinner in the barn door to watch the sunset. This guy showed up to look at us. We saw 5 other bucks and 4 does too.
The sunset was nice but not too different than usual. I'm not sure that we had much dust influence.
On the left is our regular red bellied woodpecker (which incidentally has some red on its head). On the right is another woodpecker that looks just like it but with no red - juvenile?
So this was the sunrise - I'm still having trouble attributing it to Saharan dust. Joan got up to check it out (amazing).
And another buck wandered thru the field.
Turkeys
She's dancing.
Look at the ticks on her ears.
A surviving fawn (so far).
Lots of good looking bucks - many that we saw in person.
