Another climber

Though not as helpful as Lucas, I spotted another local resident who apparently likes to climb. On my walk from the apartment to the house one morning, as I got to the rain garden Sandy created, I noticed something unusual at the top of a three-foot-tall lobelia and stopped to check it out. Here's what I found.

This little guy was about 10 inches long and wrapped three times around the very top of the plant. Each of the next two mornings it was still there, but was gone by the afternoon of the third day.

If anyone can identify it, please post a comment and I'll update this entry.

What happened to May?

I just realized I haven't posted for over a month. A lot has happened so I'll just show some pictures taken at various times since April.

Damaged tree

We lost a bunch of trees in the tornado. The large one that hit the new house will be the most missed as it was right in the line of sight from any south-facing window. It had split in two at a vee about 30 feet high, spun 180 degrees and the south half fell north onto the house. The rest of the tree was doomed so it had to go. Here's the view soon after the damage and then after the tree was removed.

Bedroom progress

A lot of drywall has been put up. Here's a view of the master bedroom from the kitchen area.

And here is the same doorway from the inside.

The windows above the bedroom door allow light into the bedroom from the clerestory windows (which are visible in their lower left corners). The door visible through the closet is the pocket door of the bathroom. Drywall hasn't been hung yet on the wall between the closet and the bathroom and the wall on the inside of the bathroom door.

Pond planting

Sandy got a few water lilies for Mother's Day and enlisted Brandon and Matthew to help her place them in the larger pond below the house.

In the back left are a few water iris that were planted earlier from the same source.

Morning surprise

Completely unrelated to the new house, I found this luna moth on a window when I got up the other day.

Since it's not too hard to see during the daytime, it would be easy prey for birds, so I didn't disturb it until that evening. It had moved less than an inch all day.

After dark I coaxed it out the apartment window and it just glided to the ground outside. It hadn't moved for five minutes or so, so I went downstairs to see if it was alive. As I tried to pick it up, it took off and flew away.

I looked them up on the web to find out the adults only live about 8 days. They have no mouths and spend their entire adult lives trying to reproduce.

Holy Owl!

We've had a few days of fairly decent weather (compared to the last two weeks anyway) so, with help from grandson Nick and from Brian, we've gotten most of the clerestory windows framed and covered with house wrap.

Saturday, after working in the house with power saws, pneumatic brad nailers and lots of hammering, Brian happened to look up to see which panels next needed to be tacked up and said to me, "What's that?"

It was this little screech owl.

Who, me?

He or she spent the rest of the day in the house, occasionally flying between beams until finally settling in the farthest northeast corner. We kept working as if the owl weren't there. Our only concession was not working where he was in the bedroom until Sunday.

At the end of our day, when the owl's was just beginning, it flew to the east clerestory window opening and sat on the roof for a few minutes. Next time I looked that way the owl was gone. Is that cool or what?!

This morning we got down to the house soon after 9 and there it was again, sitting on the same beam it started on yesterday. In addition there was a pile of feathers from something the owl ate under a beam closer to the window.

I couldn't tell what kind of bird it had been. The feathers were too long, too dark and too many to have been one of the smaller over-wintering birds.

Soon Brian was finishing up with the brad nailer in the bedroom area, so the owl flew into the closet. Brian kept working, at one point just five feet from the owl. After that area was finished and Brian had moved away, it flew again to the far back corner where it spent most of the rest of the day.

It left silently about 5 pm. Can't wait to see if it's back tomorrow. The openings are much smaller now than they were this morning. As I was nailing the easternmost window's frame I noticed on some of the interior bracing between wall studs "proof" that the owl has been in the building more than we knew.

Here's a look up through the greenhouse area at the clerestory window opening in the 2nd bedroom. The panels still need to be caulked and have house wrap applied. After that, and the same for the other three windows, and we will start installing windows and doors.


Today the temperature got enough above freezing to allow pushing the snow off the front roof which made closing in the window openings possible.

The weather forcast includes snow and some single-digit temperatures, so we may still be days away from finishing the windows. I can't work on the roof if it's covered with snow and I can't caulk the seams from the inside or if it's below freezing.

There are plenty of other projects inside, so things will keep moving, but it will sure be nice to have the windows and doors in so we can add a little heat on these cold days.

A serious snowfall

The second week of February brought a few days of serious snow. Here are a few pictures of what we saw from the windows.

This young dear was hungry enough to come up close to the barn.






With a foot of snow, our feathered friends lined up on the vegetable fences at the feeders waiting their turns.







Air traffic was piled up, too. As each bird got its share, the next one moved up the tree and onto the suit feeder.

It's been cold

We left home on Christmas day for a trip to Delaware, North Carolina and Florida visiting family. It's nice to go away while the days are shortest. By the time we got home, the growing length of the day was noticeably different than from when we left.

It was cold for most of the trip, and especially cold for the folks in Florida who are not used to freezing temperatures. On one day it was colder in Florida than here at home.

It was clear, though, as demonstrated by the picture below, that it wasn't warmer here very much.

These tracks on our largest pond were made by deer, dogs and one rabbit.

Placing rocks

Yesterday I recruited our neighbor and his tractor to move the big rocks that were pushed down the south bank of the new pond. One was actually too large to be dragged (without leaving an enormous trench in the wet area) and was left where it had fallen.

This picture shows them scattered across the wetland area. They were not too carefully placed in the hopes it will look more natural that way when the plants grow up around them. They also are not very flat, so it will still be a challenge to hop across them. The smaller ones were placed by hand. A few more will be added to be sure everyone can get across dry if they try.

Ruts we made can be seen on the right side of the rocks so I still need to use a hoe or shovel to fill in a few of them and to cut some small slots where the ruts are running across the flow of the stream so the water won't pool up anywhere. Let's see what it looks like in the spring.

And today, while I was spreading grass seed and covering it with straw, I found this little guy who didn't seem to care that I had disrupted the wetland by dragging rocks through it.

Tracks

Since the hillside has been partially removed and a huge pile of dirt and clay is covering a lot more of it, one or more of the paths that deer have probably used for years is no longer there. This has caused at least one of the deer, and a rather large one by the looks of the tracks, to adjust his daily route to below the large pile on the hill and onto the part of the trail below the house site that has been raised with some of the dirt from above.

Here are prints laid down over two days, one track each day. They lead off into and through the middle of the larger, lower new pond. There are also tracks in the mud at the house site. I hope the deer will still pass below the house frequently after we move in.

Keep your mouth shut

For a week or so in late October and early November, the air near the apartment is filled with ladybugs. Well actually they are "multicolored Asian lady beetles," scientific name – Harmonia axyridis (Pallas). It seems they have virtually displaced our common ladybug, and these gals bite if you allow them to stay on you long enough.

Here's a picture of them on the outside wall, and then from the inside. They are often even more numerous. It is difficult to work near the barn when they are flying.




The foil and clothespin are used to keep the heat out of the barn on hot sunny days.

Here's just a brief idea of what it's like with them crawling around by the thousands looking for a place to hide for the winter.

This year's baby

Two years running the downy woodpeckers have raised a male baby, in this picture sitting in the persimmon tree by the window asking,"Where's the suet?"

Watch where you step

Almost exactly a year ago I posted some pictures of crayfish holes. I thought they were pretty big. Last week I found the granddaddy of them all almost at the highest point on the property. Here's what it looked like. I didn't leave the quarter there long for fear it would come out and take it.

Tadpole progress, snakes and eggs

Lots of little critters seem to be growing up this time of year. This little one is just growing legs in preparation for hopping away, before the first frost I hope.

There are still numerous tadpoles in the water trough. Not as many as we had last year, but they all seem to be thriving. Very few of the individuals in last year's brood were growing when I began taking them to the large pond. This year's siblings are on their own, and will probably do better. (No snapping turtles in the trough.)

Here's one of the frogs who seem quite happy that we built the pond near the new driveway. Each time I walk past it I see at least one, and up to five, frogs jump out.



The water's somewhat murky, but it seems to be algae rather than mud or clay that has washed in.

And finally, here's our big find of the week. Though these babies are at Green View Springs now, we found them and took this picture elsewhere. Since we quit the project at Raccoon Springs, and for some time before then, we have had lots of things stored there outside that we had moved from our old home in Indianapolis. This week we drove up with the trailer to remove some of them.

Inside a pile of paving bricks were a few old bricks with cylindrical holes in them, and inside those holes were snake eggs! (about 15) and baby snakes (2 of 3 shown here)!! Since we were taking the bricks away, and they would be very vulnerable just dumped out on the ground, I put all of them in a plastic cup and replaced them in the bricks after they were re-stacked at the end of our new driveway.


The three babies slithered away immediately. The eggs didn't move that fast and are still there, hopefully preparing to hatch. A property can always use more snakes.

An inquiry sent to the "Herp Center" at Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne late this afternoon (after hours) got a quick reply from the Center's Director Bruce Kingsbury which identified the babies as ring-necked snakes (Diadophis punctatus).

You lookin' at me?

Baby nibbler

Look closely. This little guy hasn't eaten much, yet, although he might be the one who loves the gazania flowers


Taken from the second floor of the barn apartment.

Remember the frogs?

In late May I wrote about tree frogs but had no evidence then that they were breeding nearby. Last week, while Kira was painting the water trough we noticed the frog eggs were back.

They're not easy to see, but there are many of them floating with some sunflower seeds and a few drowned bugs. We also noticed some large tadpoles in the water so there must have been other eggs laid some time ago.

Speaking of frogs, we've been camping out the last few nights near the large pond. The frogs have been very noisy with at least three types of frogs heard almost all night long.

Open up!

We now have at least three woodpecker families coming to our suet feeders. A few days ago I found a baby downy woodpecker hopping in the garden. It didn't seem right because of the way it was hopping and the minimum effort it seemed to be putting into announcing its location. It was easy to pick up and I put it into the thickest growth in the garden, a mix of flowers and vegetables, to provide it as much cover as possible.

Later that day the father and a baby downy appeared on one of the feeders and the dad proceeded to feed the baby, right there.

Our windows aren't really that dirty. The birds aren't real neat when they're picking at the suet.

The return of the tree frogs

The frogs have been making a racket for the past week. Yesterday Sandy was working next to our large trough which I have lined with billboard tarp and this little frog showed up. We think he or she is checking it out for a place to deposit eggs as they did last year.

There are a four "pond" choices this year up here near the barn, though only two of them are "safe" right now - the pictured trough and the plastic pond above the driveway. One of the down spouts on the barn goes into a smaller trough, but it overflows heavily during a rainfall. The fourth is the larger pond I am digging but I can't work on it when it's wet, and it's been wet for the last three weeks! Until it is finished and lined, water seeps completely out of it in less time than a tadpole can mature.

Stand by for egg and tadpole pictures if I'm home to take them.

Rainy day, but two firsts

May apples have cropped up all over the place. The first bloom appeared in a clump that came up right in the path between the pole barn and the proposed house site.


















Today has been wet and mostly cloudy, but we've had a few new birds come to visit. Here's one, a rose-breasted grosbeak, on one of our suet feeders.

Save the Frogs Day

Today is Save the Frogs Day. They don't seem to be disappearing here at Greene View Springs, but we are worried about them world wide.

The folks at Save the Frogs are working to educate people about the problem, and their site has some great background "music."

Our frogs have been active since late February this year. Each night we can hear them, sometimes even with the windows closed. I saw some at the pond yesterday while I was planting some bald cypress trees and water irises.

They include gray tree frogs but we haven't seen one yet this year, just heard them. The University of Michigan's Museum of Zoology has a page of pictures. Note how different they can be.

I'm trying to get the small pond finished before the tree frogs come looking for a site to lay their eggs like they did last June when they laid them in a 3-ft tall, tarp-lined trough.

Three more pictures

Here are few miscellaneous pictures from yesterday's walkabout.



The first is a crayfish mound. This is what they build when it rains a lot, apparently to keep the water from running down their holes. This one is about 6 inches tall.





This is just one multiflora rose bush. It is about 9 feet across. Nothing grows under it. You can see why we are trying to get rid of them.







Another invasive I've been cutting out is autumn olive. I cut this one last summer. You can see the stumps at the top of the picture. In the foreground is what used to be a very large pile of trunks and branches from it. All but the thickest branches were consumed in the accidental fire a month ago. This is another benefit of the fire that I wasn't expecting.

What does spring bring?

Turkeys!

Just as we arrived home with two of the grandkids, Brandon approached the door and cried, "I think there are raccoons!" We all looked to see three turkeys scrambling and gliding away from the east end of the barn. One took to the trees and I got this picture of him. He's smack dab in the middle.


We see lots of turkeys along the road much closer to Bloomfield. We've never seen them even within a few miles of here. Let's hope they stick around.