Coon tale...

This is one of the little fellows I was talking about the other day...from out at club's strip pits. The first time we went out there to the west entrance, on the way out we saw them. I don't recall how many we saw, but I think we saw all three. I did not get out and try to take their photo that day...well, I didn't get out of the car. I did have my camera in hand, but just thought they had ran to far away.

As we were leaving the area, I had to get out and open the gate....in the process I lost my lens cap. I almost always stick it in one spot, except sometimes if I get excited I will stick it in my pocket, or just where I can reach.

I got home and went to get the cap out of my bag and it was no where to be found...we checked the car...I checked my pockets. The next morn I ask Roger if he wanted to run back out there till I could look for it. On the way in, there were the little coons again! This time I was out with camera in hand...but it was under the trees, dark and not much available light.

They scurried up a tree there...and would go on the side away from me. Roger got out to go on one side, hoping to scare them towards me. Well, this little fellow was up about 10 0r 12 ft off the ground going out on a limb and he fell and landed just within feet of me. He was a bit stunned, and I did get these photos. But he survived and walked away.

If you enlarge the picture and look at the coon's pupils...one looks slightly larger than the other. I have not had a chance to be out there since then, but hoping to make it out there in the next few days.

Edited to add: George ask me if I found my lens cap...yes, I found it right where I thought I lost it.

Record breaking foxtail

I was telling one of my blog buddies that I had grown the biggest foxtail grass I had ever seen in our garden this year, but was embarrassed to post a picture. I was out taking pictures of some of the gourds from the garden and I just could not resist taking a picture of this foxtail. I just wish I had had Roger come outside and stand beside it. You need to enlarge it for a better view.

I have seen foxtail all my life, but I have never seen it grow this tall. I am 5'3" tall, and it is more than a foot taller than I am. I wonder if I should save some of the seed???? Just kidding. I do need to break off a stem of it and see what the cats think about it....when I was a kid, I was always using it to play with cats.
And below are some of the gourds from my vines...I pulled them from the vines today. One or two are almost all the way dry. Roger counted and there are thirty of them. I just hope they all dry. I am not sure where I will store them once they are dry...if they dry.
This site seems to have a lot of good information about gourds. I want to make some birdhouses, and I honestly just like to look at them.

What is this?

Roger and I recently joined a local sportsman's club....there are strip pits to fish....a shooting range and deer hunting is allowed. We have been out there a couple of times checking out the place. Two or three previous photos are from there. The strip pits are really old, and around them is grown over with bushes and trees, etc.

Up on top of this little knoll, is a grassy area. it would be perfect for a house. But that's beside the point. I saw this bush up there and have no idea what it is and was hoping someone on here would know. I hope we can go back sometime this week to see if it has changed any.

And there are other things to keep a watch for. There is a family of young coons...I will post a picture of one of them in a day or two. And tell about how I got it. We have also seen turkeys, and I seen a kingfisher one day. But I was not close enough to take its picture. Roger seen mallards...so we are hoping to see more.

I really feel like our fall is not going to be pretty or last long...today is really windy and one needs long sleeves on to be outside. I still love it, but was really hoping for another pretty fall like the past couple of years have been.

Lorelei is coming after while...I need to get some things done around here before she gets here. I should not have taken off for that drive Saturday but it was just too tempting to resist. Yesterday had obligations elsewhere so nothing in my house got done. So, I am off to clean the bathroom good, and do a few other things before Bright Eyes gets here.