Forensics Needed

Dead deer.

Front half in the creek and the back half out of the creek.  And does it smell.  I've been over there to check on it but it's still too stinky to get close.

Blech!

My buddy thing that the deer broke through the ice of the creek, fractured it's legs and died there slowly  freezing to death.

My hypothesis is that it was struck by a car and struggled for a bit only to drop dead in the position it was found.

The only way to know fur sure is to examine it up close and personal.

But I'm not grabbing that thing...

Aliens

I have evidence that the aliens are back.

They've actually visited here.

That's because the ever vigilant trail camera captured their coming or going.

Here it is - the arrival of the Mothership...

click on creepy image to enlarge

Meet the Cranes

We have a couple of resident cranes that arrived before the snows left.  We figured they've set-up household near the fringes of the big pond some distance from the house.

The best evidence of the housekeeping part is the day following the taking of this photo The Frau went for a walk across the burned-over area of grassland and as she got closer to the pond the cranes starting giving her the what-for.  Like get out of here before we peck-out your eyes. 

Last weekend we saw both parents out for a stroll with a couple of fuzzy hatchlings toddling along.  A Redwing blackbird was worrying them as well.  Sure sign that the Redwing had a nest nearby.  I guess what goes around comes around.

In the meantime we're grandparents again.

What's For Lunch

Ever find an owl pellet?  Check this out...

Most of the owl pellets I've found are in the 1.5 to 2 inch range.  The pellet above is longer than 4 inches.  It has got to be the Mother Of All Owl Pellets.

Owls are not able to chew their prey and unlike most other birds they do not have a crop for storing food.  Therefore, what an owl kills is passed directly to their digestive system.  The first chamber of the bird's stomach is called the proventriculus.  The acids and enzymes here begin the process of digestion.  From there the prey passes to the gizzard or ventriculus.  This functions as a way point for the holding of indigestible matter - namely fur, feathers, bones, etc.  Everything else passes through the small and large intestine to the cloaca and is ultimately expelled through the vent.  With the exception of the ostrich birds do not have a bladder so whatever is excreted from the vent is largely acid - the white substance that makes up bird poop.

Back to the ventriculus.  All of the undigested stuff now blocks the bird's digestive system so the bird cannot feed again until it is expelled.  Muscular contractions in the gizzard compress the contents into a pellet.and send back to the proventriculus from which it is regurgitated.  This may have come from a different bird of prey but either way I would have given anything to see the raptor that hacked this up.  Big pellet - big bird!

When I have some extra time I'm going to dissect this curiosity and see if I can learn more about the raptor's dietary choices.  I'll report back with my findings.

I hope this post got you thinking about what you're having for lunch...

Morels

I got a bag of morels from a buddy a week and a half ago.

To prep I sliced them lengthwise and soaked them over night in some salted water.  The next morning I drained them and patted them dry and sautéed them in some better.  They were excellent in an omelet.

He suggest I train the dogs to become mushroom hunters.  Not a bad idea at all.

Turkey Hunting

Today brings the end of the 2014 turkey hunt - at least for me.  One of my buddies and I spent some time out in the woods this last weekend trying to lure a bird within range.  In the interests of full disclosure he spent much more time at it than I did - and he even took his girlfriend out yesterday to give her a taste of the chase.

In the interest of full disclosure there is no chase.  Just a great deal of sitting.  But I digress.

Here are some shots of the guys that were captured on the trail cameras...

The Garden

I'm actually feeling rather relaxed.  Got an icy-cold OV and my dogs on the porch.  And it isn't just first beer, or the second beer, or the dogs.  I got a great deal accomplished in the garden today.

Planted 26 tomato plants, 16 pepper plants (mostly sweet but a few banana and pepperonchini), 16 cabbages, and eight each of broccoli and Brussels sprouts.  Cukes and pumpkins will follow tomorrow.

The onions are up!

Talking Turkey

Ever since the worst of this year's worst winter in recent memory abated the turkeys have been showing-up regularly on the trail cameras.  

For local turkey hunters are much encouraged by the turkey numbers.

Road Kill

In January of this year I posted a picture of a deer hoof sticking out of the deep snow alongside the road.   

I figured a deer was struck by either a car or the county plow and ended-up dead in the ditch and buried by the snow.  I was even tempted to walk over there and give that foot a tug to see if I could pull it free of its wintery embrace.  Upon further reflection I figured all would be revealed when the spring thaw arrived.

Like so many other things that are out of sight and then out of mind it was the same for this dead deer.  I forgot about it.  Until I noticed some skeletal remains that a critter had dragged out of the ditch.

While out the other day installing new nest boxes I gave the carcass a closer look.

From the size of it - probably a fawn born a year ago.  It's been picked-clean.  Nature can be pretty efficient about cleaning things-up.

Talking Turkey

This picture was taken by a trail camera a bit distant from my set-up the morning I killed my bird - a nice bird by the way - a 20 pound gobbler with a 10 1/2 inch beard and 3/4 inch spurs.

  
These birds were putting quite a show on for the ladies.

The bird I shot was traveling with a couple of other Toms.  I wonder if it was one of these?

Raggedly Lab

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

The blonde Lab was snoozing with The Frau and came-up for air underneath an afghan.

Raggedy Lab...

 click on the dog to enlarge

Mangy Deer

This has got to be one of the mangiest deer I have seen in awhile.

No self-respecting whitetail should be see in this condition much less posing for a picture by the trail camera.

Selfie

Another selfie taken by the trail camera.

Me returning back to the house a half hour after killing my turkey.

Date and time-stamped.  And you can see how cold it was...

Scones

Yummy scones for breakfast today.

Ingredients:

2 coups of all-purpose flour
1/3 cup of sugar
1t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1 stick of frozen unsalted butter
1 egg
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of dried tart Door County cherries
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix together the egg and sour cream until smooth.  in a different bowl mix together the flour, sugar baking powder, salt, soda, cherries and walnuts.  Shave the butter into the bowl of  dry ingredients using the coarse holes of your grater. Mix with a fork. 

Stir the egg and sour cream mixture into the mix.  It's going to be sticky so use your hands to mold everything into a stiff ball of dough. 

Roll-out your dough ball on a slightly floured surface.  Sprinkle sugar over the top and cut into eight triangular pieces.

Bake on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes - give or take.  

Top with ice cream for a great dessert or serve with a hot cuppa joe for breakfast. 

Talking Turkey

Fetched the SD cards from the four trail cameras this morning and downloaded the contents.

Captured this video of a gobbler strutting his stuff today at 9:15 AM.  

This is so cool as to be unbelievable.  It's like this dude is putting on a show for the camera.

What are the odds....

 

Bungalow

I've seen a lot of strange things during my travels but I've never encountered a Boobie Bungalow.

Located somewhere in Tennessee...