Early one morning Aunt Mel was feeding the horses. Just as she finished putting grain in the last feed tub, the trees began to shake and there was a loud prehistoric “BRAWK!”
The horses spooked nearly running over Aunt Mel. We spun toward the tree to see if Godzilla was stomping toward us and instead caught a brief glimpse of the big blue heron and his girlfriend flying from the treetops. Phew! Everyone was relieved to see the cranes and not a huge monster!
Annoying, loud and obnoxious. This summer there is an abundance of squirrels causing a raucous at Aunt Mel’s farm. From sun up to sun down, dozens of squirrels chase one another through the treetops, they bark at Aunt Mel and Lucky and raid the bird feeder. They aggravate Lyndon, they run along the pasture fence and frighten the horses. They’re so bold, they even nap on Aunt Mel’s picnic table under the shade tree. Aunt Mel’s farm has been over run by stupid squirrels!
Beatrice, or B-Kitty, was one of Ed’s kittens. B was born in Aunt Mel’s bathroom closet. From birth she was the leader, the boss, the keeper of the peace. Aunt Mel called her Officer B. If someone misbeheaved, B would run over and pop them to get them back in line. She was fearless and didn’t hesitate to reprimand the other cats or dogs. She would run up to anyone misbehaving and stare into their eyes, her tail straight in the air, whipping back and forth angrily until they backed down. Cause she was not going to back down – ever.
B was beautiful. A silver tabby with green eyes. She followed Aunt Mel overseeing any yard work. When Aunt Mel called, she came immediately. B was a great hunter. She seldom caught birds but focused on lizards and frogs. She liked to pull off the lizard tails and eat the frog legs, then leave the bodies for Aunt Mel to clean up.
Sometimes her fearlessness worked against her. Aunt Mel came home from work one day. When she opened the front door, B ran past her and bolted under the bed yowling. Aunt Mel had to pull her from under the bed with both hands. Her tail was broken in two. A quick trip to the emergency clinic and the vet had only one question. Do you want a long tail or a short tail? B’s tail had to be amputated. We opted for as long as possible. So B ended up with a tail about 4 inches long. But she still whipped it around and when she stared at the other cats with her tail whipping back and forth, they backed down immediately. There is no way of knowing how B’s tall was broken, but Aunt Mel suspects that one of the horses stepped on it.
When B got older, she had an eye injury. Overnight her eye turned white and she couldn’t see. It didn’t seem to hurt her, she simply couldn’t see. Aunt Mel’s vet suggested removing the eye but surgery didn’t seem necessary. So Aunt Mel declined. A few months later, the eye began to clear and just before B died, her eye had completely recovered.
It was difficult to watch B grown old. She was still bold and fearless but she also became a little senile. She loved to sit on the roof of the house, but once up there, she couldn’t remember how to climb back down the tree. She meowed a lot, calling out to the other cats if she couldn’t see them.
B was a very special cat. Brave and beautiful like her mother.
Writer Spiders are frightening. They are big, shiny bugs that resemble colorful robots. The first time Aunt Mel saw a Writer Spider, she screamed. But she soon learned they are helpful spiders in the garden. And fear changed to respect.
Big spiders build big webs, sometimes a foot or two across. The webs are strategically placed to catch as many bugs as possible. They are pulled taught by single threads tethered to nearby flowers and grass. In the center of the web, the spider spins a dense, thicker thread. Sometimes it looks like a cloud or cotton ball. Most of the time it is a zigzag that looks like printed letters. Hence the name, Writer Spider.
The spider hangs upside down behind the dense center, hiding, and waiting to pounce on intruders. Every night the spider eats the center of her web and builds a new one. So every morning there are new “letters” to read.
If the Writer Spider writes your name in her web, you’ll have bad luck. Aunt Mel checks the web daily – so far, so good.
This year’s Writer Spider was especially large. She built her nest above the outside water spicket. Aunt Mel had to be careful not to stick her hand in the web. As fall approached, the spider spun a soft web filled with yellow goo. She filled the sack with her eggs. It hangs beneath the windowsill. After she lays her eggs, she stops eating and will die before the first frost. But next spring, on a warm day, the eggs will hatch and hundreds of little spider will throw out lines of webbing in the air. The wind will pick them up and blow them across the yard. Where they land, they will stay and build their own web.
When Lucky moved in with Aunt Mel and he was quite a handful. He simply didn’t want to listen to any rules or commands. He just wanted to play and eat and bark at the horses. But dogs that live on a farm with large animals have to learn commands and rules to avoid being hurt. Aunt Mel decided Lucky needed an education. She enrolled him into an obedience class.
The first class didn’t start well. Lucky snapped and barked at all the other puppies. No one wanted to be near him. He leaned at the end of his leash and pulled to get away from Aunt Mel. Once class started, the teacher showed us how to teach our puppies to sit. Lucky didn’t get it. Happy Lucky Getting a little concerned a big dog is approaching Confidence gone so I’ll growl and look fierce
During the second class, Aunt Mel and Lucky made little progress while the other puppies learned to lie down, stay and come. During the third class, Aunt Mel told Lucky to sit and he finally sat but only for a few seconds. This, however, was their crowning achievement because the fourth class focused on walking on a leash without pulling. Lucky did not oblige. Obedience class ended without a diploma for Lucky.
Aunt Mel wasn’t sure if she could manage this little puppy with a mind of his own. But she decided to give it a little more time. Eventually Lucky and Aunt Mel learned to talk to one another in their own way that works. Lucky knows about 10 words – “leave it, here, water, supper, where’s your Frisbee and car ride” The only command retained from obedience class now yields an immediate result. Sit Lucky Sit! Good Boy!
How in the world did a big rock end up in the middle of the yard? Lucky spotted it and bolted toward it barking ferociously. As Aunt Mel neared, she realized it wasn’t a rock. It was a huge snapping turtle.
It was late spring, it had rained for several days and the ground was soft and mushy. Apparently the turtle decided it was the perfect time to lay her eggs and the front yard was the best location.
She never looked at Lucky who bounced around her still barking. She was digging a hole in which to deposit dozens of small white-ish eggs. She braced the ground with her front legs and swept her back legs side to side pushing the dirt aside. Aunt Mel didn’t want to upset the busy turtle. She grabbed Lucky and they went back in the house.
About thirty minutes later, Aunt Mel ventured outside to check the turtle’s progress. The turtle was gone and the nest covered with a fresh mound of dirt.
Aunt Mel watched for baby turtles, but never spotted them. They probably hatched and safely made it down the hill to the creek.
Hummingbirds zig and zag around the feeder on Aunt Mel's front porch
Every spring the hummingbirds start flying around Aunt Mel’s front porch. They make it known that they’ve returned for the season and expect their feeder to be ready and full at all times.
Aunt Mel always obliges. Its fun to watch the tiny birds feed throughout the day. Their wings flap so quickly you can’t clearly see them. And if you sit quietly on the porch, they’ll zoom overhead and you can hear them peep at one another.
But this past summer, things got out of hand. By summer’s end there were at least 20 hummingbirds trying to use the feeder. As time neared for them to migrate hundreds of miles south, they became very aggressive trying to fuel up foe the long trip.
Some of the hummingbirds would simply loiter around the feeder and when another approached, they were chased off. Others stood on the rim and drank and drank until Aunt Mel was certain they’d pop.
Many times Aunt Mel covered her head and ducked past the feeder so she wasn’t hit in the head by the bossy hummingbirds. How could something so tiny and cute get so darn bossy?
By October, it was time for the last of the lingering hummingbirds to fly south. Aunt Mel brought the feeder inside, cleaned it well and stored it for the winter. Finally the fighting hummingbirds left for their winter home.
Hopefully next summer the trouble makers will find another feeder to patrol!
Mother wren frantically follows her wayward babyFor the past four or five years a brown wren has nested in Aunt Mel’s garage. Her nest is located inside a silver metal bucket hanging on a hook near the garage door. The wren flies in and out of the garage with twigs and hay building the perfect nest for her babies.
Once the chicks hatch, mother wren stays busy delivering bugs to the hungry bunch. She chirps once as she enters the garage to announcing her return. The babies get so excited the bucket sways from side to side.
This goes on until the babies are able to survive on their own. One morning, Aunt Mel raised the garage door and the babies were gone. She seldom sees them but often hears them singing in the trees.
But this year was a little different. Aunt Mel watched one intrepid baby as it left the bucket-nest for the first time. The baby wren flew from the nest, brushed past Aunt Mel and landed on the hammock stand. He didn’t fly well and he probably didn’t mean to land on the hammock. But he was chirping and looking around and obviously pleased with his flight to freedom. Mother wren, however, was a nervous wreck.
As he flitted across the yard on brief spurts of flight, she frantically followed behind, a big bug in her beak like a bribe for him to come back. But he didn’t give her a second look and continued exploring his new world. Mom was right behind him. Aunt Mel wondered how long mother wren followed her independent minded baby. It must be hard when the last one leaves the nest. But next spring, she’ll be back to raise a new flock of little brown wrens.
The driveway to Aunt Mel’s farm is very long. Two overgrown fence lines and large unkept pastures flank it. Leaving the woods, the deer often walk along the drive on their way to feast in the neighbor’s apple trees. Usually they move at dawn or dusk but sometimes they’re out in the middle of the afternoon.
Returning from errands, one hot summer afternoon, Aunt Mel had to slam on her breaks to avoid hitting deer in her driveway. Five large bucks were headed toward the apple trees. They stopped for a minute to make certain Aunt Mel was not a threat. Once assured, they hopped the fence in front of the truck and continued on their way.
The leader was a very large buck with a rack of at least six or eight points. The bucks that followed were progressively younger, with smaller and smaller racks. The last deer barely had a stub with two points. Their antlers still growing, soft, thick and fuzzy. In the summer, the male deer will bond and form a temporary herd, as there is safety in numbers. They live together until mating season late in the fall. The older bucks teaching the younger ones how to survive.
They five bucks were magnificent and Aunt Mel hopes to see them again.
Bubba is Aunt Mel’s newest horse. He is a Thoroughbred, a racehorse, who had a successful career as a sprinter. Before he was 2, he went to school to learn to race. He was broke for riding, learned to leave the starting gate and how to move around the track. Within a few months, he went to the track and started racing. Thoroughbred’s start working when they are very young. They have hardly begun growing when they start the hard routine of track life.
Bubba raced well, but soon a piece of bone broke off inside his leg. It was very painful. The bone chip floated inside his leg making it tender to step. With several months off, it was likely the bone chip would simply re-attach along his leg bone and heal. Bubba was sent home to spend the winter in a pasture.
As the weather warmed, the vet came out to the farm to x-ray Bubba’s leg. The chip had reattached and Bubba was cleared to return to the track to race.
He was still a baby, barely 3, when he started to race again. He ran short races that focused on speed – Bubba was a sprinter. He raced a lot, 36 times in less than 2 years. But he loved his job and he was good at it. In almost every race, Bubba placed first, second or third and made a lot of money for his owner and trainer.
Sadly, one day, Bubba’s owner died. It was very unexpected. The family had no interest in Bubba and told the trainer to sell him. Aunt Mel saw his photo and fell in love. She bought Bubba without ever meeting him.
Bubba had one last race. He was the favorite and came out of the starting gate in the lead. He led the entire race and near the finish line another horse ran up alongside. It was a photo finish.
Bubba came in second by a nose!
The next day our friends loaded Bubba on the trailer and he came to Georgia. The following day, Aunt Mel and Bubba enjoyed their first ride together.
Annoying, loud and obnoxious. This summer there is an abundance of squirrels causing a raucous at Aunt Mel’s farm. From sun up to sun down, dozens of squirrels chase one another through the treetops, they bark at Aunt Mel and Lucky and raid the bird feeder. They aggravate Lyndon, they run along the pasture fence and frighten the horses. They’re so bold, they even nap on Aunt Mel’s picnic table under the shade tree. Aunt Mel’s farm has been over run by stupid squirrels!
Beatrice, or B-Kitty, was one of Ed’s kittens. B was born in Aunt Mel’s bathroom closet. From birth she was the leader, the boss, the keeper of the peace. Aunt Mel called her Officer B. If someone misbeheaved, B would run over and pop them to get them back in line. She was fearless and didn’t hesitate to reprimand the other cats or dogs. She would run up to anyone misbehaving and stare into their eyes, her tail straight in the air, whipping back and forth angrily until they backed down. Cause she was not going to back down – ever.
Writer Spiders are frightening. They are big, shiny bugs that resemble colorful robots. The first time Aunt Mel saw a Writer Spider, she screamed. But she soon learned they are helpful spiders in the garden. And fear changed to respect.
Bubba is Aunt Mel’s newest horse. He is a Thoroughbred, a racehorse, who had a successful career as a sprinter. Before he was 2, he went to school to learn to race. He was broke for riding, learned to leave the starting gate and how to move around the track. Within a few months, he went to the track and started racing. Thoroughbred’s start working when they are very young. They have hardly begun growing when they start the hard routine of track life.
