Discovering the world around me.
I fell in love with the sound of the native American flute some years ago, so I bought one carved from a branch of red cedar and learned to play it. It has a lovely voice. The type of wood, I discovered, makes a big difference in the sound of the flute with cedar being […]
Continue reading Music in the Woods: Eastern Red Cedar
Dave moved in last February. He doesn’t know this, but he is a dog. A big very light-colored yellow lab with long floppy ears, a nose that brings him the world, and a heart as big as Texas. He thinks he is a little puppy and likes nothing better than to climb into my lap, […]
Continue reading Introducing Dave
The other day while we were tramping about near the creek, we came upon a colony of cantaloupe-sized giant puffballs growing in the grass. They were past eating, but reminded us of an episode a few years ago while we were living in a big apartment building. One autumn day, Bryan found a puffball as […]
Continue reading Fungus and Fairies
There’s an amazing, sophisticated, and unwelcome creature who has made its way into the house. It’s not very big—only about half an inch long. It’s sitting on the kitchen counter. It’s looking around with its astonishing set of optical tools, contemplating its universe. Without warning, a giant dome comes from nowhere and traps the creature. […]
Continue reading Audacious Hunter
Throughout the year, I’ve heard a distinctive bird call that sounds like a loud, nasal “yank” repeated several times in a row. This tells me that at least one pair of white-breasted nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis) live on Owl Acres year-round. They have mated for life, and have established a territory in the woods. We’ll hear […]
Continue reading A Tidy Housekeeper
One day while we were driving along a county road, a wild turkey shot out of the ditch just in time to collide with the mirror on the car. Needless to say, that was the turkey’s last flight. Instantly, it seemed, a buzzard dropped out of the sky to claim his thanksgiving dinner. Nature’s efficiency […]
Continue reading Turkey Day
They’re creepy-looking, really. They have a narrow, whiskery, tapering snout filled with fifty large, pointed teeth, and they drool. They also have a long, naked, scaly tail. People see that pointy face and naked tail and think rat. They’re not rats, though. They are opossums (Didelphis virginiana). Sometimes called “living fossils,” their history traces directly […]
Continue reading Living Fossils
Mice. Did I mention that they are not my favorite inhabitants of Owl Acres? Along with the field mice, we have that ubiquitous invader from Europe; those little gray mice with naked tails—the house mouse (Mus musculus). They’re not living in the house, but they have been in the shed where they literally destroyed the […]
Continue reading Mighty Mouse, or Bryan’s Walnuts
Mice! Not my favorite inhabitants of Owl Acres. They have been scampering about all summer, avoiding the owls, raising their broods. And now they’re looking for a warm place to move into for the winter. They can get in just about everywhere, and can chew through wires when they want to. Several times I have […]
Continue reading Little Troublemakers
On a bright Indian summer day, we took our tandem bicycle to a nearby rail trail for a 20-mile bike ride. The trees had begun to turn, and the combines were out in the fields harvesting the corn. Along the trail we saw squirrels on personal business, a snake basking in the sun, a confused […]
Continue reading The Weather Forecast