WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY

The GRRreat Groundhog Debacle.

Posted on October 22, 2023 by Linda Schaub

It is good to have a sense of humor as we go through life, though I admit as I get older, (or perhaps it is just the state of the world these days), I do find at least one instance daily that makes it difficult to remain unflappable.

This September 13th discovery would haunt me.

After a hot, humid, often rainy Summer, I was ready to welcome Fall, my favorite season, with open arms. But there was one cloud on the horizon as to those highly anticipated long walks, cool days and fabulous colors – Fall was tainted by my September 13th discovery of a huge hole and burrow at the back of the house against the foundation.

I was in the backyard, which still looks like a disaster area, first ravaged by last December’s fire, plus the aftermath of the removal of two medium-sized trees and a slew of burned bushes in late July. The tree cutters stacked up assorted trellises and flower pots onto the back patio having been pulled from that corner of the yard/garden. Since it was too late to plan or plant a garden, disinterested and disgusted, I left it all sitting there, while I instead would dwell on backyard possibilities for 2024.

And then I saw it … a humongous hole in the ground at the foundation. Red lava rock was scattered and dirt and white marble from years ago was pushed aside, obviously by a pair of paws digging fast and furiously …

… to get to their destination, wherever that might be? I bent down close, but not too close, lest some furry critter scurry out and I’d likely keel over with a heart attack. Momentarily I mused that on weekends I travel many miles to walk in the woods at larger parks and get back to nature, see furry or feathered critters, hone my photography skills and bulk up my miles. Well, who knew I needed only to walk mere steps where some big, bold critter decided to take up residence at MY residence?

I looked over at my neighbor’s house, but, since Jeff wasn’t outside I called and reported my “find” and asked if he had seen a large critter ambling about in my backyard; after all, the night of the fire as we stood outside until 2:00 a.m. waiting for the “all clear” to go inside, he pulled out his phone to show me a photo of Mama Raccoon and her offspring rooting around in his garbage can.

Well, Jeff’s answer left me gob smacked: “oh ya, I haven’t seen you, but meant to tell you that I had two burrows at the back of my house, plus a burrow under my A/C unit slab, so I went into your yard to see if you had any burrows and saw yours – I’m sure it’s a groundhog, maybe a skunk.” I know I audibly gasped at this news. Jeff aimed to deter the critter from digging additional burrows, so he bought and buried copious amounts of mothballs in each hole and sprinkled more on top – yep, I had detected a funky smell of late, but didn’t look over at his house or I’d have seen those mothballs.

Jeff offered sympathy and some of his mothballs, but I decided to do more than put a Band-Aid on the problem .

So, I e-mailed my now-retired handyman to whine a bit about my plight and ask for advice. Jim offered to loan me a trap and have his son-in-law Brett bait it for me, but after sleeping on that idea, I decided to hire a pest control service – with colder nights, I didn’t want this beast settling in for the Winter. I wanted it gone NOW!

I was ground off with this groundhog, but there was more to come.

Chad, the pest control guy, arrived bright and early Monday, September 18th and explained how this capture would work. I had already been advised of the fee schedule, i.e. $185.00 for the consult, setting and baiting the trap and $75.00 for each critter trapped, then released humanely within 24 hours into a wooded area five miles from the house. After listening to Chad’s spiel I quipped “well I sure hope there is not a family of groundhogs in the burrow at $75.00 a pop!” Chad just smiled. Later, as I reflected on our initial meeting, I am sure Chad said to himself “wait ‘til she finds out that groundhogs may not be the only critters captured in the trap.”

As to luring the critter into the trap, Chad sprinkled out a special treat suited for groundhogs and chuckled, as he showed me the bait, which looked like pumpkin seeds. He said the pest control guys jokingly refer to the bait as “groundhog cocaine” as it lures them into the trap quickly. You can see the “treat” here in this picture and also if you look closely in the picture of the entire trap.

Here’s a close-up of the trap.

Chad also explained that once the groundhog was captured, I needed to fill the hole right away, layering dirt on the bottom, then lots of pea gravel because “groundhogs don’t like the feel of pea gravel on their paws.” (Hmm – how did you know that – have you asked them or witnessed them shaking their head and muttering to themselves: “nope, pea gravel, not going there” and ambling off?) Nonetheless, I took Chad’s word as gospel. He gave me his card and said “call me on my cell anytime, even on weekends and I’ll come pick up the critter.” I nodded meekly.

At 7:00 a.m. the following day, I decided I was not lugging 48-pound bags of pea gravel around from the nursery/car/backyard, so I ordered two bags of pea gravel, a 40-pound bag of potting soil and lava rock to fill the hole once the critter was caught. I had high expectations, so I just wanted the landscape materials here. With the delivery charge, it was $60.00 – sigh. They would deliver the order sometime that day and in special instructions, I put “pile it on the back porch.”

That chore done, grumbling I got my peanuts and sunflower seeds ready for the “acceptable critters” and headed out the door to the Park. I remembered to check out back and poked my head around the corner.

There was a live one in the trap!!

Good going! But one minor detail – it wasn’t a groundhog, just an opossum that looked at me down that long snout, snarled and bared its teeth. By the way, did you know that opossums have 50 teeth? I believe I saw all of them, including four fangs. As I stood there ruminating over the critter capture, I did the math with the concept of $75.00 for each critter removal/relocation sinking in. Yep, I swore softly, just as the Lowe’s delivery person saw the gate was open and startled me when he said “Ma’am – where did you want your landscape materials?” I pointed where to place the bags, then pointed at the opossum, which I dubbed “Oscar” (after calling it a few choice names which I won’t mention in this forum.)

I returned from walking and decided to photograph the opossum as a post was already bubbling around in my brain. He/she wasn’t keen on posing, but I got this profile shot, this time minus the toothy snarl.

I left Chad a voicemail. He arrived later that day, having alerted me to his ETA, so I met him in the yard, holding the check and I watched as he spoke to the critter. Was Chad an opossum whisperer? After all, the critter didn’t snarl at him like it did me. He told me it was just a baby. “And it’s that big? Surely it’s not still dependent on its mother for food, right?” After my rapid-fire questions, Chad said “nope, it’s fine to be on its own – no worries, opossums grow up quickly – it’ll be fine.”

So off my little friend went to the big red truck bearing the logo “All Seasons Pest Control” to the forest five miles away. However, Chad was out of traps so had to return the following day. I figured the groundhog would feast on the groundhog cocaine, then slip into its burrow, blissfully sated at my expense.

Chad returned the next day with a new trap and some cantaloupe chunks which he placed in the burrow …

… and in the trap.

As you can see, Chad placed the trap close to the burrow and used two, tipped-over, broken flower pots as a barricade. There was no way this groundhog was hopping out of the burrow without ending up in the trap or tripping over the pots.

Even the groundhog’s cousin “did me wrong” …

It was a bad week … I came home from walking and errands the following day and the garage door wouldn’t close due to an errant cable, so I had to have a service call and emergency repair. My former good intentions for doing errands, decluttering and much-needed yard work that weekend went up in flames as Sunday I rewarded myself with a trip to Lake Erie Metropark where I met up with a groundhog.

That beast greeted me with a sneer, then saw the camera and closed its eyes …

… before turning its back on me.

Nothing like being disrespected by a groundhog!

Elvis has left the building.

Two weeks went by with no visitors – the cantaloupe shriveled up and the groundhog cocaine went untouched in the trap and in the burrow. I faithfully checked the trap three times a day and my neighbor Jeff checked at least once a day. One day he noticed the trap was tripped, but the critter was small enough to back out and escape and didn’t disturb the flower pots, so he reset the trap and cut up an apple to entice the groundhog into the trap.

Another week went by – nothing. I figured “Elvis has left the building” as the saying goes, or who knows … maybe he left before we even started on this costly and ridiculous venture?

A groundhog and an opossum walked into a …

… bar, er … yard.

Obviously the groundhog, if it was still lurking about, was savvy and, though a glutton for goodies, was not about to tread into the trap, so he/she kept on waddling.

But the morning of October 12th, I rounded the corner to check the trap before going on my walk. A big furry bum was all I saw. I knew it wasn’t a groundhog, but another *&^% opossum! I watched its measured breathing – it was dead to the world.

I took a picture of Sleeping Beauty …

… then left on my walk. It was a gorgeous morning, so I would call Chad when I returned from walking.

Ninety minutes later I checked on the critter, which I nicknamed “Ollie” and it was still sleeping. I took another picture…

… then I woke it up. It was still sleepy and did not bare its teeth at me, despite the fact that I was looming large but I spoke softly.

Ollie looked at me, a tad bleary-eyed, a woeful expression on its white furry face.

I told Ollie that I’d call Chad as you see/hear by clicking here.

But I got Chad’s voicemail and I reported that to Ollie (click here).

Neither of us were happy. Ollie went back to sleep and I went into the house and wrote another check for $75.00 for Chad’s arrival.

Chad picked up Ollie later that day and said he’d feed him before he was released into the woods. We decided together it was time to close up the hole/burrow. The groundhog had likely moved on.

The photo in the header image is from this groundhog encounter I had at Elizabeth Park on the Boardwalk back in 2020.

After crunching the numbers, this groundhog fiasco cost me almost $400.00.

I am not amused and all I got out of the ordeal was this post and a chance to participate in Terri Webster Schrandt’s “Sunday Stills Photo Challenge: PHOTOS FROM THE FUNNY PAGES”.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Groundhog, nature, opossum, Sunday Stills, wildlife woes | 66 Comments

When you’re an early bird and the fam likes to sleep in. #Wordless Wednesday

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Linda Schaub

Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story

Posted in #WildlifeWednesday, #Wordless Wednesday, nature | Tagged #WildlifeWednesday, #Wordless Wednesday, birds, Mallard Ducks, nature | 50 Comments

(R)egrets, I’ve had a few …

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Linda Schaub

But then again, too few to mention.

I did what I had to do …

… and that was winnow down the 50+ shots I took of Great Egrets after a late Summer outing at Lake Erie Metropark. For every Egret shot taken, I was sure the next one would be better than the prior shot, so I kept on clicking. (Thank goodness for digital photography because I nearly went broke in the 80s taking photos with my 35mm camera and using film when you paid for each print, even the boo boos.)

While I rarely look through my photos the same day of the trek, I was excited about those Egrets I saw while on my morning marsh meander, oh yes I was. On the screen, however, some of that magic was lost as I clicked through endless Egret shots … hmm, they all looked the same, except for a few lucky shots of my feathered friends tiring of the paparazzi encroaching on their Sunday morning bliss, so they lifted off and settled into the opposite side of the marsh. Okay, I could take a hint.

**In fine form gliding to his/her favorite tree.**

**This Egret looked both ways before crossing the marsh.**

**An impressive wingspan with those long legs dangling down.**

You may recall I wrote about a trip to Lake Erie Metropark in the Fall of 2022 and was enthralled with a group of Great Egrets I saw in one of the marshes. There were dozens of them, way too many to count and the sun, not particularly bright due to the gray sky from the western wildfires, caused some stunning reflections on the water. I got several shots before a motorcyclist whizzed by and spooked those Egrets. Most of them took flight, seeking refuge in the tall trees. A few lingered, “fishing” contently alongside their lanky feathered cousins, the Great Blue Herons. Here is that post if you missed it.

I later stumbled upon a website featuring the often-humorous names for groups of birds and/or their offspring and shared the word gulp with you as a term to describe Osprey chicks. So, Egrets similarly have a collection of names to describe a group of these snowy-white birds, including a skewer, siege, sedge, wedge and congregation. So, there’s a little factoid guaranteed to make you look smarter when you see a bunch of Egrets hanging out together. 🙂

Focus on Feathers.

As I compiled today’s post on the heels of my “It was a ducky day!” post, I decided I might just have to classify myself as a “birder” – hmm, when did that happen? I mean, I thought of myself more as a “squirrel girl” (ahem as to the “girl” part). Please don’t let my furry friend Parker know I said that. But it seems the last few years I have been lucky enough to see and photograph more birds than ever before.

Here’s a few more of those beautiful Egrets. Enjoy!

**The Egrets in this picture looked regal – they hadn’t seen me yet.**

**A moment after I took this shot, the Egret caught a fish**.

**Pickin’s were slim – he/she was patiently pursuing a fish.**

**A shot showing off that graceful neck while wading in the marsh.**

**Egret on high alert after hearing the camera clicking. He/she was on to me!**

**Some days he’s an Egret and other days …**

Posted in birds, nature, walk, walking | Tagged birds, Egrets, nature, walk, walking | 48 Comments

Trilling me softly with his song. #Wordless Wednesday #Red-winged Blackbird

Posted on October 11, 2023 by Linda Schaub

Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.

Posted in #WildlifeWednesday, #Wordless Wednesday, birds, nature | Tagged #WildlifeWednesday, #Wordless Wednesday, birds, nature | 38 Comments

It was a ducky day!

Posted on October 9, 2023 by Linda Schaub

On Saturday, August 19th I returned to the Environmental Interpretive Center at University of Michigan’s Dearborn campus. I wondered what wildlife and/or wildflowers I might see in the Summertime. That will be an upcoming post. At the end of my excursion at that venue, I returned to Ford Field Park where I had parked my car. I heard kids squealing and assumed it was coming from the playscape, but when I glanced over, no one was there … ahh, it must be kids feeding the ducks at the duck pond. So I wandered over, thinking it would be a peaceful end to my morning meander and it would evoke a fond memory or two of my own childhood.

It is not the first time I’ve been to this tiny cove where water from a small pond near the Rouge River gently encroaches onto the sandy shoreline. I once chatted amicably as I sat next to an elderly gentleman on a park bench there. He had a huge bag of potato chips and had one chip for him, then a handful of chips doled out to the ducks who eagerly departed the duck pond and clustered around our feet.

Well, just as I predicted, it was kids giggling in delight as ducks gobbled up their offerings. Three young children were throwing pieces of pita bread to the ducks. I quickly surmised this had not been an outing specifically to feed those feathered friends, but instead they were breaking bread with them from the family’s picnic lunch. Pieces of pita bread were broken apart by a woman, whom I surmised was Mom. The children cupped their hands as she hastily broke up the bread. However, the ratio of bread bits to ducks was not so great. The ducks stood, poised at the water’s edge, at the ready for any piece of pita bread thrown their way.

I did take photos of the kids as they were excitedly interacting with the ducks and those pics were taken on the sly, but while compiling this post, at the last minute I decided to remove those images. There are enough darling ducks to gawk at here instead.

I’ve often mentioned in my blog that a fond memory of mine as a youngster was going with my parents to Toronto’s High Park and/or Oakville’s Coronation Park to feed the ducks. Unfortunately I have no photos memorializing those multiple excursions to use in this post. My parents often spoke of bundling me up in my stroller or a wooden sled my father made for me, but I really just remember running toward the water and throwing out stale bread and ducks waddling toward me in anticipation of more yeasty tidbits.

In those days, I don’t believe it was common knowledge that waterfowl can end up with a condition known as “angel wing” when ducks or geese dine on bread or sweet and salty, carb-laden snacks instead of nutritious food. I confess that when I began walking at Council Point Park ten years ago, I was not aware of “angel wing” and tossed out many a crust of bread or stale bagel bits to my feathered friends.

You will notice in these photos that, with the exception of a few larger Rouen ducks, all the Mallards are brown. This is because they were in “eclipse phase” which is part of the annual Summer molt. All Mallards lose their wing feathers and cannot fly for about a month. During this time period, the male Mallards (drakes) lack their colorful plumage, the distinctive iridescent green head, the brown bib of chest feathers and bright blue speculum wing coloring and look like female Mallards (hens).

Maybe they are all blah-looking, but not boring to watch.

Here are some of my favorite photos from that day.

We’ll start with the Rouen ducks which look like mammoth Mallards. The Rouens are domesticated ducks and sadly it looks like the few bobbing around in the pond were likely someone’s pets at some time. Their molting process is different than the Mallards – they molt several times a years.

Then we have a few Mallards – whether Mr. or Mrs. Mallard, I think they all enjoyed posing.

The bread enticed them to come ashore and to sneak a piece to enjoy in solitude.

All too soon the bread and the benefactors had departed … a few Mallard hangers-on lingered and looked my way.

I shrugged my shoulders and told them “sorry, I have nothing for you guys and gals.” They all waddled back to the pond and paddled away.

Never turn away from a ducky day at your local duck pond!

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian fellow bloggers and Happy Columbus Day to the American bloggers.

Posted in nature, walk, walking | Tagged ducks, nature, walk, walking | 65 Comments

Summer-like temps here today for “Augtober” (83F/28C)! #Wordless Wednesday #Pearl Crescent Butterfly

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Linda Schaub

Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.

Posted in #WildlifeWednesday, #Wordless Wednesday, Butterflies, nature | Tagged #WildlifeWednesday, #Wordless Wednesday, Butterflies, nature | 39 Comments

All that is gold does not glitter …

Posted on October 2, 2023 by Linda Schaub

… not all who wander are lost, or so says October’s calendar page. There have been many variations of this witty gem (if you’ll pardon MY pun here), dating as far back as the 12th to 13th century, but the quote is likely attributed to William Shakespeare who wrote “all that glistens is not gold” in the 16th century. The locale for this photograph is right here in Michigan at Tahquamenon Falls State Park, which encompasses nearly 50,000 acres and stretches 13-plus miles in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

As I have done for most of my 2023 posts marking a new month and turning over to a new page of my nature calendar, I am once again writing about a trek to Lake Erie Metropark, my favorite weekend venue for walking and taking photos. I have certainly gotten a lot of mileage out of my Metropark pass this year. You may recall my recent posts at that venue were filled with the excitement of seeing and capturing images of a sweet doe, the Osprey family, a Mute Swan family, a Wood duck and ducklings and my joy in getting up close and personal with a pair of Sandhill Cranes. These were all good times for sure and that “glitter” drew me back again and again.

But then one day, Saturday, July 22nd to be exact, I set out from the parking lot at the Shore Fishing area and, while the first hour of my trek was indeed a “walk on the wild side” it was not really what I had planned.

Walking on the wild side – it’s not what you’d think.

Really, if you go to this 1,607-acre venue with its three miles of shoreline and can’t scare up a few feathered friends, (besides Luc, the injured resident eagle who has no choice but to be there), you need new glasses or you need to find a new venue.

So, after several glittered-filled trips in a row, I hustled out there to see if I could continue my streak. Seeing wildlife at Lake Erie Metropark is not always a sure bet … but after three successful treks in a row, I had great expectations.

But, while some critters are great to see up close, there are others, like several wasps that insisted on buzzing around my face and the camera lens, which I could have done without. Although I had heard Tony Bennett’s signature song “I left my heart in San Francisco” umpteen times the day before on the day of his passing, I felt sure I should be crooning “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” instead. Why were these wasps buzzing around my face? I wasn’t wearing perfume, not did I have flowers in my hair. I finally gave up and left the Shore Fishing Bridge and would look for my Sandhill Cranes later.

So, the wasps were up close, but most of the critters were far away.

In the distance, I saw movement and there were several deer wading around the Water Lotuses.

One stopped munching long enough and looked at me as if to say “don’t be judgy – there are plenty of Lotuses to go around.”

I thought of the one deer I saw up close last year, knee deep in a Lotus bed, munching on those blooms and leaves, wherein we humans will pay a hefty fine for removing a single Lotus from the bed.

A shadow from a large bird passing overhead made me swivel my head up. Taking the photo in sun glare, I wasn’t sure what I saw and reasoned it might be an Osprey from the fire station Osprey family or most likely a Turkey Vulture.

I was happy to discover when going thru my photos weeks later that I had seen an adult Bald Eagle, albeit the shot is a bit fuzzy.

And, speaking of Bald Eagles, I stopped at Luc’s cage as I always do to say “hey” and chitchat a bit. When I arrived, Luc was in a sour mood, glaring down at a small dog that was barking at him.

The dog finally cowered behind its owner’s knees and peered out at me when I gave it a look for disturbing the peace.

I was lucky to get a few photos at the marsh near the boathouse dock …

At the beginning of the Trapper’s Run Trail I stopped to take this photo of a park bench with its sweet sentiment.

I have a collection of equally sweet park bench sentiments from Bishop Park to share in a later post.

There was a scrawl professing love on the wooden overlook …

There were zero Barn Swallows on this day – they must’ve been sleeping in.

Lots of cattails filled the marshy areas.

The American Lotus beds were just “getting there” – no blooms and the leaves weren’t that large yet.

But there were WILDflowers to take note of … here are a few of them.

On what had been a hum drum jaunt, I decided it was time to leave as I was feeling a little wilted from the sun and photo pickings had been scarce. Enroute to the car, I stopped again at the Shore Fishing bridge, hoping the wasps were picking on someone else. They were – whew!

Here I saw a Great Blue Heron doing its best “Where’s Waldo” impression, as it was embedded in one of many Water Lotus beds.

And there were my Sandhill Crane friends, similarly wading through the marsh.

I stopped at the Fire Station and only one Osprey was lurking about that morning.

So I guess my “walk on the wild side” was tame, but hopefully you won’t find it lame.

While driving home, I decided to bop over to Memorial Park, a fortuitous stop and what became a bonus post for me after I encountered the cellist and violist, a tattered butterfly and many tattered trees.

So maybe my greed for glitter was rewarded in the end after all.

Posted in nature, walk, walking | Tagged nature, walk, walking | 42 Comments

Ooh, that Fall feeling! #Wordless Wednesday #Even foxes love Fall.

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Linda Schaub

Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.

Posted in #WildlifeWednesday, #Wordless Wednesday, nature | Tagged #WildlifeWednesday, #Wordless Wednesday, Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon, nature, Red Fox | 40 Comments

T.G.I.F.!!!!

Posted on September 25, 2023 by Linda Schaub

Wait a minute … it’s Monday?!

Oh, I get it … “THANK GOODNESS IT’S FALL!!!!”

Well that has me smiling bigtime!

And, Fall could not come soon enough as this Summer’s erratic weather has left me totally undone.

Many of my blogging pals and followers in North America and beyond have been sizzling like steaks or burgers on the grill and Southeast Michigan has had its share of wonky weather too. After a three-week drought in June, Mother Nature turned on the showers, with more rain than usual, giving us one of the wettest Summers in recent history and resulting in lush lawns, the likes of what you’d see in the Springtime. The Robins were happy for that rain which brought lots of worms and everywhere birds splashed happily in shallow makeshift birdbaths the result of potholes and uneven roadways.

Here in Michigan we similarly sweltered with humidity and heat spikes that brought erratic weather as Mother Nature continued on her mission to wreak havoc with multiple types of weather misery here, there and everywhere. The topics of hurricanes, tornadoes, torrential rain, earthquakes and wildfires have filled our respective news feeds for months in what climatologists tell us was the hottest Summer recorded in the Northern Hemisphere, maybe even on Earth – yikes!

And, as we processed that info, there was the usual round of jokes about the endless hot weather, with suggestions on how to bake cookies on your vehicle’s dashboard, or cook lasagna in your metal mailbox. Fellow blogger Shelley reported their driveway was 128F/53C and a snake never finished slithering across that concrete, as it cooked itself first – ugh!

The temperatures were red-hot for the 4th of July and Labor Day weekends.

Then, on those occasions when the hot weather cooled down radically for one day, we laughed at memes like “the temperature went from 90 to 70 like it saw a state trooper” (even though you don’t need me to tell you that a weather switcheroo like that really isn’t all that funny at all).

Southeast Michigan was impacted by seven tornadoes in the month of August. We had torrential rain and severe flooding on August 23rd racking up a month’s worth of rain (3.5 inches/8.9 centimeters) in six hours. The following day, the humidity and dew point levels were equal and extraordinarily high helping to fuel six tornadoes on the evening of August 24th. Those tornadoes touched down and did damage, all within 15-40 miles from my home. I won’t lie to you about how scared I was that night as I anxiously watched while severe weather approached. I did some virtual hand-holding with a friend, prayers were said more than once, then, at 10:40 p.m., with my emergency radio in hand, I donned a bicycle helmet and headed to the basement to await the all-clear that the closest tornado had passed by.

While thankfully that particular tornado never reached my City that night, just 15 miles away, an EF-1 tornado raced through Lake Erie Metropark’s golf course and its 105 mph wind and 5.4-mile (8.6 kilometer) rampage ended at the Detroit River. Other tornado damage in the nearby Gibralter area was still visible nine days later as I drove down West Jefferson Avenue to Lake Erie Metropark on September 2nd. Even though the bulk of the damage had been cleared from the main road, the sight of a huge fir tree snapped in half like a toothpick, massive tree branches littering front yards everywhere and even Phragmites reeds bent over sideways from the fierce 90 mph wind reported that night in Gibralter were worrisome.

Multiple high wind events this Summer worried me …

… as I imagined the same dead tree that dropped branches and caused a downed power line and fire in my backyard on December 2nd might have another episode. A few nights I stayed up to the wee hours of the morning, ready to head out the door if another downed wire/fire occurred.

We did have some wildfire smoke to contend with this year, but I really didn’t grumble as that weather woe seemed mild compared to how the rest of the world was suffering with each catastrophic weather event.

So I embrace the arrival of Fall … glorious Fall, even though the long-term weather prognosticators tell us this strong El Niño will bring a warmer-than-average Fall. I am still going to pack away the shorts and tee-shirts and don flannel shirts and jeans for those nippy mornings.

On a positive note, we are slated for a mild Winter – woo hoo, now that is something to crow about!

What does my little furry friend say about the Winter of 2023-24?

No, not Parker, or any of my other furry friends at the Park, where their peanut-stashing ratio in late Summer has been “eat one, bury one” but, as the chillier air settles in, often more peanuts go into the ground than the mouth. Begging increases, running over to sit on haunches and look extra cute as each walker passes on the perimeter path, even those that have never tossed them a peanut. (“Oops, so sorry to have bothered you, you don’t feed me, but you have a friendly face.”) So, I compensate and help them out even more in the Fall and Winter months as you know if you’ve been following this blog for a while.

I was actually mentioning my little friend below, a Woolly Bear Caterpillar, that I saw at Council Point Park a few weeks ago. The Woolly Bear Caterpillar is specially adapted to survive in freezing temperatures and will spend its Winter hunkered down somewhere and cocooning, much like some of us will do. That caterpillar will emerge as an Isabella Tiger Moth next Spring. If folklore is to be believed, the legend of the Woolly Bear Caterpillar is that the upcoming Winter can be predicted by the size of the segments in its brown and black “bands” i.e. the wider the rust-colored bands are on the back of the Woolly Bear Caterpillar, the more severe the Winter weather will be; narrower rust bands means a good and mild Winter. Hmm.

So let’s apply that reasoning to my furry friend below:

These scarecrow and harvest pics were taken on a recent stroll around the ‘hood. I honed in on the houses that always decorate, often with the same décor from year to year. I enjoy seeing scarecrows and the jeweled colors that signify Autumn’s arrival.