Here are a couple of pomanders that we made for the holidays. I have one hanging by the heat register in the "man cave". They really make the house smell seasonal. Below are ornaments hanging on the holiday tree on the deck. The top one is a fortune-nut which my daughter thought was really neat and took some to her coworkers. The Bottom one is a pinecone birdfeeder that has peanut butter and birdseeds. The birds think these are neat.
Because of allergies in the family, we are not allowed to have a live tree in the house. I am not very fond of artificial trees even though some are quite pretty. So I decided this year I was going to have a live tree out on the deck. The cedar tree that I had my eye on turned out to be double trunked and wouldn't work, so I took this one in lieu. While I'm pleased with holiday appearance of the tree, the side benefit is that the birds love it (see bluebird below). I have added some pine cones with peanut butter and birdseed as ornaments. Now I can look out my patio door and not only see my "live" holiday tree, but also watch the birds fly in and out. Only two weeks until the Winter Solstice.
One of the things that I always make for the winter solstice ceremony is a wreath from things that grew in my little corner of the world over the past seasons. The base is made from grapevine prunings which are garnished with cedar, spruce, holly, honeysuckle,and berries. Also, at the bottom are a couple of bird nests that I found after the windstorm in August. The wreath is burned on the solstice fire as an offering for all that the earth gave us this year. It should dry out and burn pretty good in a couple of weeks.
This is not a great picture, but this guy landed on fence of the dogpen right outside the family room window. Since I hurriedly took the photo through doublepane glass at dusk, I am surprised it turned out as good as it did. The trouble with these beautiful birds is that they kill other beautiful birds (Songbirds). We have so many bluebirds, cardinals, finches, etc that I have seen this guy lurking around all summer. He almost landed on my shoulder the other morning when I was out walking in camo coveralls.
I did a video (below) of brother skunk on the 19th of September and thought the worst thing I had to worry about was dancing around him when I went to get the paper. About a week ago I was going to plant some trees and blackberry bushes that I had purchased. When I went to get a bag of topsoil out of the shed behind the garage, I noticed something had burrowed underneath the garage. I reached for the bag of topsoil, and brother skunk crawled out. The time for dancing was over and a quick sprint was in order. Thankfully, I was not sprayed.
I set a trap out for several nights and this morning when I checked, this is what I saw. My dilemma changed from dancing around brother skunk to what to do with a caged brother skunk.
I called the dog warden and he said he didn't dispose of skunks. He said that I could call a professional firm, but it would probably cost $150-$200. He advised me to dispose of him myself. He gave the following instructions. First get an old blanket and throw it over the cage. Allow some time for the skunk to get use to it. Then, gently lift the cage into the back of a truck and take the skunk out to a remote area and release it. I asked what was the possibility of being sprayed. He said that if I was gentle and lucky, that I should be alright. I successfully followed his instructions and brother skunk now has a new very remote home. I hope he has a long happy life - at his new home.
Posts
