My sons new blog:)

My beautiful, talented, crazy smart, awesome son is starting  his own blog...if your kid like gaming they might like to read his reviews... http://bangamereviews.blogspot.com/

Upstate NY Snow...

Tears on my keyboard for the next 6 - 7 months...that's all I have to say today:(

The Fox won't leave!

I have really had enough of this fox! The gray fox that was here the other night hasn't been seen since. However, this red fox has been here every day! The movie I took of her (I say her because I also now have a picture of her going to the bathroom across the street) was at about 11 AM. The pictures I just took today were at 1 P.M.. This fox is running for the whole day it seems. I wonder if it's too late in the year to be feeding babies? I do know that she isn't shy and she has NO fear of me. She will just stand and look at me. Yes, it kind of freaks me out.....

Move on Mrs. Fox... my chickens are not for dinner!!

Fox in the window

Wow, I just had a stare down with a red fox and even with calling my family so they could see him he didn't move. I heard my Easter Egger "Jumper's" sounding the alarm and I know to listen to her by now. She is amazing! All those hens owe her their lives on more than one occasion. I ran out to the run and couldn't see why she didn't want to go into the coop. It was about dusk and they are usually like clock work. She was standing in the run on the Lilac tree limb I put in there and just squawked and squawked with her head up like a newly crowned beauty contest winner.  I knew there was danger close by. She's the only one who will sound the alarm like that. Perhaps it's because she has spent time in the mouth of a coyote??

When I ran out of the basement door I must have run right past our visitor without knowing. I ushered Jumpers in once I saw the coop was safe and counted to 6. 6 lovely hens sitting on the perch. They just make me happy to watch:) I can't imagine why anyone with a yard wouldn't want a couple of hens in it. I love my girls and no one can convince me that they don't love me....except for one of them, but she's coming along.

Once everyone was in and calmed down I started walking back into the house.  There is a very small cement patio with a retaining wall at the basement entrance about 12'x12'. Right in front of the window standing on the retaining wall between me and the door was a rather large (the biggest I've seen around here) red fox with a black tip on it's fluffy tail and a dark black mask on his eyes. Just gorgeous! He stood there and starred at me and acted like he wasn't planning on getting out of my way. I started screaming for my family to come out to the deck and look down at him. My sons came out and watched him as he jumped off the 18" wall and ran a bit into the yard and stopped again to look at me.

We had direct eye contact for what seemed like 10 minutes. It was a good bit of time and when you look an animal like that in the eye it makes you feel like you are special. I would have liked it more if I didn't know that he would make a main dish out my beloved hens if he had the chance. I have a tomato plant sitting in the garden that I didn't clean up yet with a few extra ripe tomatoes that the bugs got before I did. I figured that I would allow some to just sit there and see what happens. This is one of the only gardens I'm keeping for next year since we are having grading down. I had tons of tomatoes this year that volunteered from neglected plants last year. I think my plan didn't take into account that other animals besides my girls would like to nibble on the ripe fruit left there. I did realize that my compost pile had fox visitors last year. I put a stop to that and am looking for a tumbling compositor on sale.The welcome mat is gone.

It was nice to meet you Mr. Fox, but you are not welcome in my yard.

Time to slow down

We have had the best week I can imagine up here. It's been 75* and sunny.....perfect! I still have some garden clean up to do but since the carrots and beets stay in the ground longer I'll have to wait to clean out one of my gardens. The rest are still a mess, but done. Now is the time to prepare them. We are having some grading down around the house to prevent more flooding at Hurricane Lee ruined everything in the basement. So, the gardens that I have been using will all have to be moved and I'll start over next year. So far right now I'm taking a break until I can start planning for next year..... maybe I'll start that next week:)