Foxes

I see more foxes than coyotes, but I see very few foxes.    They stay away from humans and most things human.    The occasional sighting still excites me.

About nine o'clock  on a bright and hot summer morning my dogs and I were winding to the end of a ten mile walk.   With about 2 miles to go I looked ahead and on the gravel about 1/2 a mile down the road I saw movement.    It was hard to define what I was seeing.    As as we got closer my guesses changed from birds to squirrels to ground hogs.   

We were less than 100 yards away when I discovered there were three baby foxes playing in the sun in the middle of the gravel road.    I quickly scanned the boarder of the road for the adults in charge and never saw mom.  A couple things happened that set up the perfect observation...my dogs didn't bark and the wind was blowing in our face.

I was able to see these playful animals for quite a long time.   At fifty feet I stopped and watched.   When we continued walking we got within 30 feet before they sensed danger took off into the trees.  

Once folks get a chance to witness an event like this they are much less likely to litter.

Day Crawlers

My dogs have been spending an inordinate amount of time sniffing the ground.   I had no idea what they were picking up.   Yesterday (second day of spring) it became clear what they were working on.   The night crawlers had made it to the surface.   Actually, all the worms did including the little guys.   I didn't see them at night.   I only saw them during the day.

My best guess is that this means the frost is out of the ground.   I yearn to be one of those old codgers that know and expound on such things.   However, I don't know...but I expound anyway.   I'm pretty sure that's how the old codgers got started.

I know we are growing tired of all the hubbub about mild winter and how early things are happening.   But earthworms crawling around on March 21 in Iowa is indeed rare.

I hope Patience and Violet will soon return to rooting out groundhogs.

Good Bye Pappy

I've heard him called Chuck and Dad.   I'm sure someone called him Charles and there may even been a few Charleys.     I often heard him called Pappy and that suited him best.

I knew very little about him.   He didn't seem like the kind of person to talk much about himself.    Most everything I know about him I learned from his obituary and from two of his sons.    We all played poker.

At a poker table, Pappy had a keen sense of humor and when he teasingly gave a person grief, it sometimes took that person a minute or two to catch on.    And when that person decided to give Pappy some grief, he took it with a smile and a chuckle.

At a poker table a person might make think old Pappy wasn't paying close attention or maybe was a step behind.    Whenever a person thought that, it usually cost them money.  

We played a weird game called 3-13-33.   Somehow, a very disproportional amount of times, he sat on the red 3 and and took his share of the pot.    It always made me laugh.   I'm sure he is now sitting on the red 3 that finds eternal peace.

John and Chuck are lucky men to have such a father.

Best Winter Description

Possibly the mildest winter in history is nearly behind us.   Everyone is scrambling to find the best way to describe this weird weather event.   I'm a pretty good wordsmith and have taken some decent attempts at colorful description.

My friend Tri-Limb is the current winner in the "Best Winter Description" contest.   Tri-Limb lists his occupation as retired farmer, which may give him some credibility in this weather thing, though goat rancher is a bit more accurate.

 His description of how mild our winter has been:

"I think my barn hose only froze once and my Carharts are are clean, too."   That's a pretty nice winter!


He went on to share that he remembers a 4 foot  April snow fall in Des Moines.   I've never trusted his memory.   He and I lost a hotel one night.

Where's the Winter ?

Another warm March morning.   We may have had ten days of Winter in Dallas County, Iowa.  All other days were Fall or Spring.    I would like to tell you the importance of having full seasons.   How there is a certain rhythm to the snow and the cold giving way to the thaw.     Why it is so important to have two warm days in the middle of frigid January to call the "January thaw".

Indeed I believe in the importance of all those things, but I would be lying.   I will take this year's winter ever winter for life.   I loved the comfort that these days provided.     I'm not dumb enough to think it's all over.    It has snowed more than once at the end of April during Iowa's beloved Drake Relays.

I have loved that I have moved so little snow.   Most of it just melted away from the lane.   I loved the calm that these mild days have brought.   But I'm not dumb enough to think it's all over.   During a warm April 30th a few years ago I planted 100 peppers plants and 100 Tomato plants.    Early the next morning we had a frost and I lost all 200 plants.

I don't care how mild this winter has been.   I'm not planting my salsa garden till after May 2nd.

Blind Man Walking

Folks are careful when they see walkers, joggers and bikers.    For the most part, except for a few crimson collars, folks respect the right for all to share the road. 

Of course over the years I have been hit by cars, swerved at close enough to make me dive to the road border, and had partially full beer cans thrown at me, but for the most part folks like me.   Actually, I've had worse than that on the job.   None of these happen anymore, though occasionally a vehicle sees me at the last minute.

Walking life is calm except for one habit I wish I could convince motorists to break...switching to high beams when they see the three of us walking down the road.   I think some are signaling me to let me know they see us.   I think some are making sure they see us.    I think some even believe they are lighting the way for us.

In reality they are blinding me.   I see nothing but a white glow as they approach me and a big red spot for 60 seconds after they pass.   I have not figured out the correct way to signal them.   I have no headlights to flash and I don't have the energy to start a local safety campaign.

If you see me, keep them on low.

I'm hoping The Commissioner understands "crimson collar".

Warm Mornings

It has been many months since I sensed a warm morning.   We have had many great warm days this winter, but no warm mornings.   Today was a warm spring morning even though the calendar says winter.

I know it's a warm morning when the wind blows but it doesn't bite.   The wind carries warm air that can't chill.   Warm mornings smell different.   I can't explain how but they definitely smell different than a cold, crisp morning or a hot. muggy morning. 

Warm mornings have a different feel.   On cold winter days I bust down the road in survival mode.    This morning my gate was slower and I was in entertainment mode.   I entertained myself thinking of the days soon to come when my senses will be alive with summer.

A few days ago I saw three inches of Day Lilly or Daffodil sprouting up by the garage.    I really don't know the difference, even when they are in full bloom.   I just know it means spring is close and so is baseball.

Ground Hogs

A family of ground hogs has gradually, year by year, moved closer to our house.   They are now close enough that they should pay rent.   They basically live on my front porch.   When anyone leaves or enters the house from March through October they will likely confront the entire furry family.

That's not too much of a hardship .   I might be able to live with it except  that's how I take my dogs outside.   Sneaking the dogs past the ground hogs is not possible.   The dogs and the hogs can not co-exist.   The ground hogs must go.

Honestly, I should shoot them or trap them.    However, there's Caring Kim.   She actually cares about the ground hogs.   So I spent $50 on a live trap.   I'm trying to catch them live and then carry them 10 miles from the house to release them.    I have tried a variety of bait to lure them.   No ground hog has ever entered the trap in two years.

I'm not sure which is harder...walking the dogs past the ground hogs or keeping them away from the trap. 

Sometimes business takes Caring Kim out of town.

Raccoons

I live close to the Raccoon River.   The creek that goes through my land eventually reaches the Raccoon.    I assume that this part of Dallas County has a lot of Raccoons and that is where the name came from.    My friend Larry the Communicator would trap these varmints.    I would trap them too if their pelt would jump off their bodies.  I have trouble cutting into an animal without getting sick.

 My youngest saw me cut the head off a pheasant and lost his appetite.   My  oldest saw me dock the tails off sheep and got queasy.   It's a family thing.   I prefer to look and listen to Raccoons.  

When my dogs and I surprise a family of racoons they zip into the hollow of a tree.   Often there is not room for the last one and the frightened, scolding chatter of the 'last coon out' drives my dogs crazy.

My favorite is when I quietly walk outside and look down the lane and a family of raccoons is wrestling.   They play for quite a long time till they decide to race up a tree.

This is a gift that only the country life can give.