It is Turkey Hunting season. This one found sanctuary in our yard.
Far Guy saw him out the window and I grabbed my camera...so I shot him with my camera.
We are not seeing as many turkeys as in previous years.
Far Guy is about the same...a bit better no worse.
Far Side
Yesterday a whole bunch of Wild Turkeys visited our feeders. I counted 14 of them…all females or young males cause they had no beards.
Several of them came real close to the window. The old Border Collie was sleeping so he didn’t even notice.
A very brave or hungry squirrel tried chasing them away…they ignored the interruption.
One thing we noticed the little Redpolls would not visit the feeders while the turkeys were here. The turkeys scratched around in the snow. I rapped on the window and scared all but one away…Far Guy finally hollered out the window…but that Turkey must have been deaf or mildly confused….he/she took its time wandering away.
Our days are quiet, every afternoon we all settle down for a nap…good thing too as we were up very late watching the USA vs Canada Women’s Olympic Hockey Wednesday Night/early Thursday morning…what an exciting game! If you saw the awards ceremony you couldn’t helped but be moved the way the whole team locked arms and swayed back and forth while singing The National Anthem. Impressive.
We finally had the chance to get in the trail cam and download the photos.
We had some weird tracks in the yard one day…never found out what it was.
I did notice some larger than Chance tracks and some turkey tracks.
Odda came to visit one day while Far Guy was in the hospital.
The turkeys must have thought it was easy pickins when Chance was away.
We had a busy week. Three health care appointments, some house cleaning and shopping for groceries was accomplished. We are staying to ourselves for a few more weeks. Far Guy walked outside yesterday for the first time in almost a month.
I am feeling much better, I am still a little tired but my cough is completely gone…knock on wood. It took just about a month to get rid of it…I first got sick January 18…so figure a month. That was one long lasting siege. Far Guy still has nine days to go before his month is up. I hope his cough is completely gone by then.
Ack! When we drove by Far Guy said “Are those feathers?” I replied “I am not sure weren’t they leaves? Let’s go back and see for sure.”
They were feathers. Right there on the scene of the crime…only feathers and lots of them. Neither of us have ever seen anything like it.
Some feathers were still whole and others were broken off at the shaft of the feather.
Possibly someone hit a turkey with a vehicle and the carcass was carried off..or a wolf got a turkey and they had a wild fight in the road. Either way something got a turkey dinner.
I guess when you are a turkey you never know exactly when Thanksgiving is…and your time is up. Winner winner turkey dinner….or maybe there is a bald turkey out there running around in the woods….yes that might be it.
Only in Minnesota.
The Wild Turkeys take so long to cross the road that they stop traffic.
We were at the crossroads watching them cross a ways down the road. Far Guy was hollering run..turkeys ..run! They were just poking along taking their sweet time..there were many turkeys in that flock rafter. Yes, a group of turkeys is called a rafter.
Luckily it was Edie and she brakes for turkeys. There were turkeys flying and running every which way. I did not realize that they could fly so high when they want to.
They are still coming into our yard to feed..how they can tell when Chance is indoors is beyond me.
That is the tom in charge on the right. He leads his group of hens into the feeders. He has a tuft of modified feathers called a beard in the center of his chest. You can also see the spur on his leg. He is also larger than all the hens. He has 7 lady friends and sometimes 8. They usually stay about 20 minutes and then they wander off..unless Chance barks. He watches them from the landing.
I usually watch them out the window and take a few photos..looking for that perfect shot:)
Yes..dinner walked in and walked right back out again when you know who barked. All turkey photos taken out of the kitchen window.
I guess instead of them being the dinner they were looking for it. They were greedily pecking at the areas under the black sunflower feeders.
Then you know who barked and scared them away.
Just incase you have never seen a turkey track in the snow.
They have been here two days..yesterday Chance scared them so they flew into the trees. I am not sure that they made it to the bird feeder area when the Border Collie was on duty:)
The sweet smell of fresh cut hay assaults my senses in the mornings. We have had enough rain so the hay and grass are having a good year.
The other evening we saw a family of Turkeys..technically a rafter of Turkeys. There were little ones, but they are not tall enough to be seen in the photo.
It is usually turkeys in the straw..except for my photo it is turkeys in the hay.
Some of my favorite flowers are blooming.
These are Rudbeckia or Black Eyed Susan’s. They self sow themselves all over the wildflower area. Far Guy is trying to get wildflowers to grow out by the sauna. They are a little sparse this year, next year they will be better:)
Sunday morning we took off early to pick raspberries. I am starting to get into the hunting/gathering mode. Raspberries are high on my list. I put them on cookie sheets inside the freezer, when they are frozen I put two servings in a Ziploc freezer bag and then I put six of those bags into another larger freezer bag and next winter we will enjoy raspberries!
I had an appointment to pick berries at my cousins over by Frazee. Jen and Andy went along, they were good sports getting up early and entering the sauna that met us all outdoors. It was really warm and humid, the Deer flies were biting something fierce, the hum of bugs serenaded us as we picked. My cousin got a new pup..he eats raspberries right off the bushes. We almost filled our quota..we picked 23 pints. I wanted 30. It will do. It was miserable, sweat was dripping off my nose..and we about picked the entire patch. Lots more berries are coming on. We can go back again some other day.
On the way home we saw Wild Turkeys in the field..Jen wanted to see them up close and personal.
They were down in a ravine..hiding.. Her Father said “She better look out..Turkeys can be vicious.” So Jens Hero took off after her..
Here is one turkey..headed for the fence line. There were little turkeys too..and the little ones could fly!
Here is a big turkey:)
We had afternoon coffee at the neighbors the other day. I tried out a new muffin recipe on them..they were the guinea pigs. I asked them to please tell me the truth..if the new recipe sucked we could just pitch them out for the turkeys .
Dave feeds the turkeys and the deer year round. While we had coffee and goodies, the turkeys and the deer did a dance..the deer came out of the woods one by one..then a few minutes later here came the turkeys. The deer chased the turkeys off, but as soon as the deer left the turkeys came back..until the deer showed up again.
I do not approve of feeding deer..it bunches them up and they can spread disease in feeding areas through their saliva. We do not feed the deer at our house..unless you count the bird feeders that are sometimes emptied during the night. Many silver hairs in this area feed the deer..I have heard “Oh we just like watching them” it must be one of those rites of the ageing.
Oh ya the muffins were a hit. It was just a regular bran muffin recipe that I added tart unsweetened dried cherries to. It seems I ordered 10 pounds of tart unsweetened dried cherries when I should have ordered sweetened ones. Next I am going to try them in brownies. We like dried cherries..the bing cherries I dried in the dehydrator are ok..and the small packages I purchased in town are fantastic..but these unsweetened dried ones will really pucker you up. Lesson learned ..or it will be by the time I get ten pounds of them baked into something.
Just so you know, I won some kind of lottery..I am not sure how many Euros make a million dollars..but I think I have several million, at least that is what the email said.
We have been chosen once again to be a Nielson TV Rating household. This is the third time we have been chosen..they must have my number..either that or they don’t really believe that someone can have the TV turned to the weather channel and watch it off and on all day long.
Now for a delicate subject. Word verification..you know those pesky little words that make no sense what so ever? Blogger has a new spam filter..a good one..the word verification is obsolete…it is just a pain in the butt. Furthermore there are people that insist on using it plus they also moderate comments..what is up with that? Why would you use both? ( I do moderate comments on posts that are more than three days old.) I am trying to understand..I find it really irritating to type and sometimes retype a word to leave a comment. So sometimes I do not leave you a comment. GO ahead be daring..try going naked..without the word verification..and see what happens ..if you are inundated by spam then you can always turn the word verification back on:)
****** My daughter the English Professor just pointed out that I should have told you how to go about turning off your word verification. OK.. Go to your Dashboard> Find the blog that you want to change the settings on>click on Settings>then Comments>scroll down to Comment Moderation and make your choice>scroll down to Word Verification and chose no> SAVE YOUR SETTINGS! Then you are done:)
