Mailboxes Part II

Not much going on here other than regretting my haste in 1) assuming it was angry teenage punks, and 2) not considering that they are perhaps, rather, disenfranchised youth, or 3) perhaps not youths at all, or 4) full of deep-seated early-age trauma involving mailboxes somehow. Who knows? I do end up thinking that it's someone of whatever age with either too much anger, angst, and/or time on their hands.

Our Mailbox is Vandalized!!!

Ours and the other 10 or so that share the roadside. At first I thought a car had run into them, but Hugh pointed out that the damage must have been done by someone whacking them individually with something heavy—crowbar, sledgehammer, what have you. One was pushed over; it probably got less damage than most, as did ours, in fact. At least the door of ours is still attached, though you can't actually close it anymore.

It happened Thanksgiving night; we found them like this when we walked down for the mail Friday morning.

I saw one around the corner, down the next road, that had also been tipped over.

Punks!

F***ed up and/or angry teens!

The Winter Sky

It's rained a lot this holiday weekend and it's been down in the 30s and 40s; very nice fire weather!

The Birds of Winter

One of our cardinal pairs. They are both very shy, but she is especially so.


These birds show up each year around this time; I am pretty sure that they are chipping sparrows.


This bird, too, appears around this time. I think it's a goldfinch in its winter outfit.

It's very gray around here lately. But I guess part of the dullness of these photos is that they're taken through our not very clean bathroom window.

Woodie and Woodina at the Feeder

Woodie and Woodina both came to the feeder today. Not at exactly the same moment, but I would say together. It's interesting that some, but not all, of the woodpeckers figure out the feeders; it's the same with the hummingbird feeders. This year there were no woodpeckers hanging precariously from the teeny hummingbird feeder rungs, but in years past, there have been many.


Now, an examination of the head spots. My goal is to begin identifying each bird by its unique markings so we can figure out if we have the same birds coming back each year or not.


Crappy shot through dirty glass, this one is, but it shows the irregularity of his red cap.


I will be back later after I have looked through older photos to find some other head shots.

A Bit of Color at the End of the Day

At the Woodpile

THE FLY!

Fungi

The left-hand fungus close up

Insect tracks in wood

Pretty white fuzzy fungi

A Praying Mantis Egg Case

I am fairly certain this is a praying mantis egg case, though it is larger and sort of rounder than the few I have seen before (which number perhaps 2). Once again, that is my little finger there for scale (where is my penny??).

Very Gray Indeed, and Webby

Last night we had a fire, even though some people thought it a wee bit warm for one, but I felt miserably ill and the fire was very comforting. It was rainy and chilly enough for me, anyway. This morning the chill has gone and it's just muggy and still. I hope that is a sign of more rain to come.

I came across this web on the hillside while raven-tracking. This year there were dozens of these; they were everywhere on our land and by the roadsides on the way into town. When you're driving by and the sun hits them, you think at first that there is trash until you realize what they really are. There are fewer of them now that fall is (supposedly) here.

No Ravens. One Buzzard.

I was lured out into this gray morning when Hugh heard the ravens calling. I went out back and up the hill, hearing but not seeing them, and then they went away. This solitary buzzard was circling the hill.

Horse Acorns, Part II

I have identified the horse acorns as bur (also sometimes spelled burr) oak acorns. The bur oak is a member of the white oak family. I have also learned acorns are edible but you must leach out the tannin from them first. I am tempted...

More Things on Leaves

That is the fingernail of my left-hand little finger, which is about 5/16" wide (I don't know that offhand; I measured it just now).

Horse Acorns

Or, Everything's Bigger In Texas


I have never before seen the like of these giant acorns. I found them under what is clearly an oak tree in the parking lot of what used to be Westgate Mall, whatever they call it now, in front of the south Hyde Park Bar & Grill. What are they?

Fifteen It Is (2007 Scorpion Count)

I believe that the "I Don't Know the Meaning of Aaaaghhhh" scorpion was the last sighting before the November Scorpion, so that makes the latter #15. I also forgot to add that it was found in the wee hours of Sunday 11/11—say, around 4 a.m.—in the bedroom. Loretta the cat was sitting beside the bed staring over at the door. This is not the first time I've found a scorpion because a cat led me to it.

Things on Leaves

I know these appear to be all the same, but really, if you zoom in on each, a different Thing is (or Things are) in focus in each photo.

November Scorpion

It's been so long since the last scorpion sighting that I'll have to look up what number this one is. I don't know what is on his backside—you might think that it's glare from the camera, but it's not. It looks like paint.

I like this photo which shows its little left pincer open. What do scorpions pinch with their pincers, anyway? Toes?

The House is Crawling with Spiders

Ha! Literally.

Since the brown recluse on Saturday, I've seen seven or eight of these wolf spiders (another link here) in the house. Two in the kitchen sink, one in the bathroom, one in the bathroom annex (W.C.) and several more (three? four?) running across the bedroom floor and under the bed. They sometimes evoke a slight surprised yelp even from a devoted spider fan (ahem).

The Brown Recluse: Part II

No more photos; I just forgot to comment earlier on the fact that the brown recluse has only six legs. Also in the tub were two daddy longlegs (frequent tub habitues); they were hanging around one of the spa jets on the other side of the tub from the little recluse. Those daddy longlegs prey on many insects. Was it they? Did they do this to him??

The Brown Recluse

Or, Terror in the Tub!

Spiders are always getting trapped in our giant bathtub and I repeatedly step in and scoop them out with a newspaper or magazine or whatever else might be handy. Saturday morning I did that with this guy and only after I'd deposited him on the stones of the tub surround did it occur to me to wonder if it was a BROWN RECLUSE. I hurriedly grabbed a candle holder and trapped him beneath it.

It was hours later (because of the cat Hamilton and the baby mouse he'd brought into the bedroom that required saving, which required a trip to Wildlife Rescue, though other details shall not be gone into now) that I remembered the spider and went back to get him, with a secure container with lid at hand. He was still under the candle holder and in no time I had him. Now that I could see him more clearly, I looked him up and sure enough, he was the Recluse that I had suspected him to be.

It was the long, thin, somewhat pale legs that clued me in. It is only now that I've seen one live that I understand what is meant by the violin-shaped marking on the back, though I learned that that mark is sometimes faded or nonexistent. On this fellow it is very clear. I also learned a better identifier: unlike most U.S. spiders which have eight eyes, recluses have six, and they are set in three pairs. This website was the one I found most helpful identification: http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol5num2/special/recluse.html.

After we'd looked at him a while and had the photo shoot, then Hugh took him far, far down the hill to beyond the campsite and set him free.