Mammal Sightings – The Hermits' Rest

There’s Always Time for a Story or Two

I broke my blogging streak yesterday, but I just didn’t have the brain power to do it. My brain was too feeble to put together even my usual simple sentences. I’m still dealing with this virus today, but I have more energy, so I’m gonna say I’m on the mend. (Yes, I know there’s a new COVID strain, and yes, I will get the booster because I’m at risk due to my advanced age.)

This is my picture from yesterday when I felt sickly.

It’s story time, nature observation time, life update time, or whatever. First, I’m cheered every time I go outside these days, because some of my favorite sounds are back, Barn Swallows and White-eyed Vireos. I’ll be tired of them eventually, but right now, those songs convince me it’s spring.

White eyes! Photo by Brad Imhoff. These guys hide in trees, so I rarely see them.

I’m looking forward to seeing hummingbirds soon, because our red yucca are starting to bloom. These are good signs when all the grass is brown and crunchy.

This stuff is nice and green, but the Bermuda grass beside it should be green, too.

Second is another tale of rural living. Yesterday I didn’t feed the horses their supplements, and neither did Kathleen due to recovering from her recent issue. Today I felt up to it, and marched into the tack room (which smells good because it’s the WOMEN’S room and we can turn on the Scentsy diffuser. I digress.

It came time to give Dusty his two scoops of bran powder, and when I reached into the bin, the bran moved. I guess the lid on this bin needs to be very securely attached. Yep. A mouse. One of the little ones. I tried to scoop it out and that’s when the whole dang bin began to move. More than one mouse. They started to try to fling themselves out, as they do. I did not want them in the tack room!

I did NOT take pictures today, so here’s the henhouse mouse.

So I bravely dragged the bin outside, grateful that the bran stuff isn’t very heavy. I did my best to encourage exiting by angling the bin downward, but of course the rodents tried to climb up or bury themselves in the bran. My goal was for zero mice to crawl up my arms. I succeeded! In the end, SIX mice scampered away. I hope something eats them.

Maybe they went over to chicken world where there is corn.

How did six of them get in the bin? There’s not any mouse poop around since Kathleen cleaned the room. Maybe they were in there when the bran was put in? Mystery. Even AI can’t solve that one. I do assure you, though, that I put the lid back on very tightly.

Lids must stay secure or critters will get in. Stock photo.

Later, Kathleen helpfully offered up the theory that if they’d kept eating the bran they’d have gotten all swollen and died. Eww. Now that’s in my head.

Boom! Note mouse has 3 tails. Quality AI.

So, to change the subject, I want to share how happy I am with a work development. Today I was meeting with a colleague on my new project and we got to talking about our previous lives. And talking. And laughing. And blathering away in geeky grad student language about our original fields of study, linguistics and folklore. At some point we were practically giddy about how much we have in common. And some of it is pretty niche far left cultural stuff that you usually don’t get to talk to random coworkers about.

I didn’t mention crafts to her, but hey, five rows of my blanket!

Then she told me the other woman running the project I’ve been brought in on is secretly a cultural anthropologist. I’d never have guessed.

I’m quite thrilled to have gotten to know someone just as weird as me who speaks the same quasi-intellectual language I used to speak. Sometimes I do miss aspects of my earlier years, and learning is one of them. My new friend and I both admitted we could stay in grad school the rest of our lives. I’d just keep getting Master’s degrees to go with all my interests!

I guess today was not all bad. It was quite interesting and satisfying. Hope yours was, too.

Book Report: The Age of Deer

It seems that I’m fascinated by the animals that surround me. I wonder I snapped this book, The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with Our Wild Neighbors, by Erika Howsare (2024), the minute I saw it in the bookstore.

I’ve always enjoyed sharing space with deer, from childhood. There were deer in Florida when I was young, only fewer than there are today. Illinois had them roaming to cornfield borders, too. They’re everywhere in North America. And in Texas, whoa, the suburbs I lived in were full of them, too full in some places.

I learned a lot more about deer when I took my Master Naturalist classes and did more reading on North American and world history. I realized deer have been around humans pretty much throughout our histories. Deer have nourished us (and other animals) all this time, yet still survived. And they’ve inspired humans with their beauty and courage, as well.

Howsare began the book not really knowing why she wrote it and ended up feeling a complicated kinship with the white-tails. Truth be told, complex is one of the best words to describe the human/deer relationship. We both love them and kill them. We create habitat for them just so they can look better when they lose their lives to us. They can kill us, too, by making a poor choice of when to cross the road. Complicated.

Like the beavers, deer were extirpated in many parts of North America when their skins became popular for clothing in Europe. When it was just Native Americans using their hides, horns, and sinews, there were enough to go around. But those dang Europeans never realized when they were taking too much until it was too late.

I also learned a lot about the US hunting culture, much more than I knew before, even though I’m surrounded by hunters and benefit from meat they share. I didn’t realize that the trophy antler hunters of farmed deer are looked down on by the wild deer hunters who hunt for sport and food , nor that the culture of crowd hunting is another separate group who hunt to eat.

By the time you finish this book (if you can…it’s not for the squeamish in some parts), you’ll have a much greater understanding of issues surrounding dear, the resilience of the species, and how interdependent we are. If you didn’t already admire deer, you will. You’ll also gain respect for many people who care about them.

(All photos by me)

Blam blam blam

I had exactly ONE important meeting today where I had to pay attention. That is when some folks off somewhere adjacent to the people across the road decided it was time to break out the rifles and start with the pew, pew, pew. Only it was much louder.

I should have run outside and blinded them with my nails. This stuff is incredibly reflective outdoors.

Of course, while I had my camera on, Penney had to try to insert herself into my arms, Carlton started shaking under my desk, and Alfred stuck his giant head under my free arm. My headphones disconnected, things fell off the desk, and I kept trying to act professional. At least I wasn’t leading the meeting.

Why couldn’t those woods be all peaceful, like yesterday, when it was just me and the orange cat?

Let’s hope they don’t start up again tomorrow when I’m leading a meeting with bosses in it. Apparently, yesterday the blamming was during my lunch with friends.

I’d have been trying to hide like this raccoon was during today’s noise.

The good news is that there was no massacre. Once the meeting ended and I walked past the bridge, I could hear them yelling, “pull,” before shots rang out, so I figured out they were skeet shooting. That’s a new one.

There are the shooters. They also mowed an entire field of bluebonnets.

The shots sounded really close from our house, and my neighbor said it sounded like it was in her back yard. Her dogs were also terrified. The shooters were very close to her property line. Well, I hope they got lots of skeet.

I also enjoyed banter about skeet and what they could be hunting in response to my Facebook post about the noise. That made a weird day a bit better.

Getting to enjoy the bridge turtles on their new sunning log also cheered me up.

In the end, I enjoyed writing for most of the day, and had a nice rest on the porch with all the flowers after work.

Then all but one horse got some vigorous currying, because it’s shedding time. Mabel, as usual, also has mud clods that I’m gradually scraping off. She can really collect mud. I’m in charge of the horses for a while, since my helper has had a setback, but I’m on it! I just want no nearby shooting during horse time.

Survived! I’m an Hour Away from Home!

Note to self: stop blogging when you’re exhausted and have a headache. These stories would be a lot funnier if I were able to think straight.

Short version of my day: complex work events starting early, afternoon break photographing little birds, heading out in motor home, engine issues, successful trip to state park, manageable challenges. And we are here!

I’ll explain the work stuff later. I need to make some decisions. But I will say that “having” to go sit in the birding hut and watch the sparrows feeding made everything much better. All those studies saying nature is good for you aren’t wrong.

It was warm and sunny, so I sat in front of the hut (I will get blinds soon) very quietly. The White-crowned Sparrows weren’t at all bothered by my presence and hopped pretty close to me as they pounced on whatever they were eating. I was able to test out the capabilities of the iPhone 17 Pro camera, and I was not disappointed. At last, no more bird-shaped blobs.

Mostly I took pictures of a few females.

I also got the Great Blue Heron sunning and a House Sparrow thinking about nesting in a hollow fence post, plus an orange sulphur butterfly and a tiny spider .

Eventually we left to go camping for the first time in quite a while. It’s nice to have the family home to watch all those animals. Too bad we spewed oil all over the road. It seemed as if the dipstick wasn’t replaced right. Or we have a worse problem, but Lee got us going and we got to meet the nice man who owns the new Valero in Milano.

What’s she blathering about? I don’t know. Let’s go eat.

Yep. Now we’re back at Lake Somerville State Park in the equestrian camping area, in our favorite site. Being surrounded by trees and birds makes all the trouble worth it. This place is so quiet. I’m looking forward to hiking familiar trails and maybe seeing flowers. I just walked around the camping loop and enjoyed plenty of birds and wildlife.

I also enjoyed the scenery in the late afternoon. There are so many big trees out here in the post oak savanna.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I enjoyed walking around and taking them!

This apparently once held a beautiful moth.

A New Farm Worker?

Busy times and many surprises at the Hermits’ Rest today. I had 5 hours of meetings through early afternoon, so I took a break to relax and enjoy the animals. I didn’t relax, though.

Darryl certainly doesn’t seem relaxed, either.

First I took a big hunk of chickweed over to the poultry pals. They had a little plant party and tossed it all around. That was cute. Not so cute was seeing little moving shapes in the supposedly sealed storage bin for the chicken feed…again.

There’s no denying it. House mice are cute.

I went ahead and fed the birds, dreading having to remove more mice. I left the lid of the bin open to encourage a voluntary exit.

I went back to the bin and removed the four bags of feed. I was happy to see that there was now only one mouse left. The other had flung itself out. They literally flung themselves at the sides of the bin hoping to get high enough to escape. I tried to get the remaining mouse out with a feed scoop, then almost got it to run into a more cup-like scoop. Instead, as I leaned over to encourage it to enter the cup, it jumped on my shirt and ran up my arm! Cute as that was, I admit to flinging it off me. Last I saw it was climbing the screened enclosure to get away.

Soon as we’re finished eating we will look for mice.

I hope it didn’t go near the turkeys and chickens, because they are doing a great job keeping rodents out of their area.

Next, I thought I could go enjoy more peaceful time with the horses. I saw that either Terry had left the tack room door open yesterday or the wind had got it (it no longer latches). That made me a little more cautious as I entered. Good thing I was ready, because I apparently have a new helper in the tack room. Tipper, the black-and-white cat who’s been hanging around for over a month, was lounging in my pink chair.

I thought about it and decided the kitty is welcome there. It certainly will have enough to eat. Maybe at least one of my mouse/rat problems will be lessened. Thanks, new farm worker!

I did get my horse relaxation in, finally. Apache wanted me to rub between his ears and got so relaxed that he started yawning away. He kept it up for five minutes!

Then I looked over where Drew and Spice were hanging out and realized Spice was yawning, too. I guess it’s contagious in horses as well as humans!

We did a Year of the Horse tarot reading in my group tonight, and I got three cards with horses on them!

It’s My Favorite Week of the Year

What week is that? The week the Mexican plum and redbuds start to bloom in this part of Texas! This means a whole bunch of pretty flowers will be here any day now!

I saw many wild redbuds on the drive from Cameron to Milano.

I’d been afraid I’d miss those trees this year, since I no longer drive there three times a month. But, hooray, today was the day to go out to my friend Carolyn’s to make plans for a field trip to her place to look at the unique wildflowers they have.

Our fellow Master Naturalist, Terri, joined us. She’s been working on a map of the property and its trails and wanted to refine it. She’s also going to make signs to help navigate the trails. She’s so talented!

We had lots of fun looking at the plants that are coming up and finding places of interest to share with visitors, like where the puffball mushrooms are.

I always have so much fun with Carolyn. I promised I’d visit more this year.

We found more than plants! The resident armadillos were wandering around, we saw a deer, and we got to watch AD feed the big catfish in the ponds. Plus, the cattle followed us around hoping for treats for quite a while. They’re very friendly.

Note the petting going on in the background.

It was fun to find a wetland that’s developed between the fancy pond and the well. It should be beautiful in a few weeks, too.

I think the people who go on the picnic will have a great time exploring the property, and I know it will mean a lot to Carolyn to have us visit. Before that, we still have work to do to get ready! Here are some more photos.

What a great way to treat the first official week of wildflower season.

In other news, our much-needed new washer and dryer came and were successfully installed. That impressed me, because I didn’t think we had all the parts, but we did! Our menfolk can work miracles.

Sorry about yesterday’s downer post. I think I’m just rundown. My “glands” hurt and ears are sore. I’ll have to take it easy tomorrow!

I’m Truly Glad I Read That Beaver Book

What an adventure I had today with my fellow Master Naturalist! We escaped to the wilderness known as her property outside of Cameron and searched for a rumored beaver dam on the spring-fed creek that runs through the land. It was a beautiful warm day for exploring.

At first we looked in the wrong place and got attacked by much greenbrier and dewberry vines that tried very hard to trip us. I did determine that the water was not out of its banks and was very clean.

My friend called the folks who’d been on the property monitoring their deer lease or something, and they redirected us upstream. There we found what appeared to be weird flat areas with brown vegetation.

That was actually duckweed on a big ole beaver pond! To say I was excited would be an understatement. The dog was also excited and immediately went swimming.

I enjoyed investigating the dam construction and listening to the water trickling through the spillways. It’s hard to believe animals can do this, even though I read that book all about beavers recently.

Also they dig big tunnels. Here’s an entrance.

We found trees that had been gnawed by beavers (some from the previous dam a few years back). There were also trees whose bark had been gnawed.

We moved upstream some more and found a second dam, which has created a magical pond full of fish, butterflies, and plants. It was hard to pull myself away from the tranquility.

But, I wanted to see if there was a third dam below the first one we found. Sure enough, following the cool beaver trails led to another one that my friend thinks is a reconstruction of the original dam.

Here I located the tunnels they dig for entrances and exits, which is fascinating. I even found some beaver tracks in ant beds, but my pictures weren’t great. That’s okay, just seeing evidence that the amazing mammalian construction workers was a bucket list item for me.

Since we had time and a truck, we went off exploring other parts of the property, which are mostly hay fields. We stopped and got to see a spectacular Northern Harrier fly right in front of us when we both had our binoculars. They’re beautiful hawks with a white patch just above their tail.

We then explored a ravine that lead to the big creek and observed how it is slowly moving northward. I did not fall down when I clambered down the embankment. I held onto trees.

We ended our exciting afternoon doing some more birding back by my friend’s house and enjoying each other’s photos. I’m so pleased to cross another mammal off my list of Milam County sightings, even if I didn’t see an actual beaver. All my beaver knowledge really helped me see the signs of them. I’m sure they’re glad the prowling humans and dogs are gone!

Rambling Along

Yep, we fired up good ole Seneca, hooked the Jeep up, and left on a journey —during the work week! Well, the company I am contracted to takes two weeks off at the end of the year, so the contractors do, too. Other than not being paid, it’s nice to have a break. So, no complaints over what I can’t control, and I’m ready for fun.

I now have a rock as a birding station sign. My idea of fun.

Before we left, I got all the plants and animals cared for. They have my son to watch over them, so all is well for them. I just miss them. I enjoyed the birds, as usual, and got 52 species before we left! The variety of sparrows, warblers, woodpeckers, hawks, and waterfowl astounds me.

On the other hand, the sheer number of grackles by the restaurant where we ate dinner also astounded me.

But wait, before we left I got pictures of what Lee and I thought was a broken tree limb. That’s what it looked like from a distance, but when I got closer it was clear that it was a sapling with just one branch, covered with yellow leaves. I will try to get closer when we get back, to figure out what kind of tree it is. Many species have yellow autumn leaves here.

We were happy to get that figured out, and were able to make the familiar trek through the Eagle Ford Shale region, which is full of oil wells and wind turbines. Texas is big on wind and solar as well as oil! Eventually we got to Lake Corpus Christi State Park, which I chose because I figured it would be quiet at Christmas. It’s not a “destination” park like some of them.

We managed to arrive before dark, which made setup easier. It’s a pull-through site, which is also convenient.

I got a little walk in and got to see some butterflies, plants, and a nice group of young deer at dusk. I can’t wait to try other trails.

We went to dinner at our favorite barbecue place, Smolick’s Smokehouse, where we ate last time we were here. The staff was still overly friendly and the history of Mathis, Texas all over the walls is fascinating. I enjoyed pulled pork with braised cabbage. Yum.

Lee told me to quit remarking about the grackles, but they always crack me up in big groups. Note the ghostly grackle in the upper middle. Spooky.

I’m looking forward to a few days of rest and exploration. Getting to explore is the best gift Lee could give me. I bid you good night as I listen to coyotes in the distance.

A Lovely Solstice

It was a fine day, full of pleasant sightings, fun happenings, food, and friendship. I finally got to take some bird photos, and I feel like I’m getting to know the camera better. I even managed to use manual focus to get these cottontail photos. I’m very proud of myself.

Looks like this bunny has had some adventures.

The sparrows were so cute today. And all of them were fun to search out. I told Tarrin’s husband that I think I get what is so fun about hunting. It’s so fun trying to spot them and then get them to stop hiding behind brush. These guys tried really hard to hide.

After getting my fill of birding, we took Apache for a lesson. We got to see two roadrunners on the road to the lesson! Apache got to show off his Christmas gift, which is a new leather látigo and off-billet. They are very brown, but lots easier to use than the cute green webbing one. My little arthritic hands are already grateful.

My saddle may not be pretty, but it is light and comfortable.

While today was the winter solstice in our hemisphere, all the animals seemed to think it’s the lusty month of May. No photos for this, but Tarrin’s bull was trying to get it on, and when I got home I saw that Darryl has seen to it that Connie will have fertilized eggs. That’s impressive, considering that Broad-breasted Turkeys have trouble with mating. And Clint gave the gens done fun. Hmm. Solstice fertility rituals I was not aware of.

My wattle turned all red and blue. Too bad Suna didn’t have her camera.

Our friends Martha and Mike came for dinner, which was good. She made lentil soup and I made very good beef stew. We topped it off with Mike’s family-recipe fudge. We enjoyed all our candles and welcomed the growing light.

Not a bad day, at all! Hoping yours was also good.

Solstice Weekend Day of Peace

The days are very short, and the windy, cloudy morning made it feel even darker today. I got to celebrate this day by having no agenda whatsoever. I took advantage of it with a mix of resting and enjoyable activities.

I took a lot of photos, including Apache and Spice blending into one mythical creature.

It was challenging listening to birds because the wind made it feel cold, though it was the warmest day of a warm December. It was also a challenge to photograph birds, because they were all elsewhere this morning (yesterday, when I was busy, they were standing in front of me, taunting.

I enjoyed this pretty doe, who made up for the hidden birds.

And of course I had to take more photos of Darryl, Connie, and friends. Everyone is getting along just fine. I did a lot of reading about turkeys today. I found out they do recognize humans, so we weren’t imagining that Connie recognized Heather yesterday. I also discovered their “beards” are modified feathers, not hairs, and only 10% of hen turkeys have them. Connie is special.

After a nice nap and some football (it put me to sleep), I went on a walk with the camera, looking for birds to photograph. I ended up taking a few horse and donkey pictures instead. Mabel was being especially regal.

I did have a bit of bird fun, as I tracked a little Kestrel as he hunted around our field. Of course, I mostly got photos of his butt. My luck.

It’s so rare to have an agenda-free day. It allowed me to reflect on this extended dark season, and to allow myself a little hope that the light starting to trickle in during this Yule season will be more than just the wheel of the year turning. I’m setting that intention!