A few minutes out of the morning routine on a pleasant summer day. It’s not quite so much fun in the middle of the winter, but the animals are always about this amusing.
Author Archives: kitty
More from the Game Cameras
June was a bad month for game cameras. One of the Brownings died — no idea why. And the replacement Bushnells are taking some time to get set up the way we want them. Still there were a couple of interesting sightings and good pictures.
Things we see during the day:
two up on the way out
We’ve seen both the resident does — skinny neck and ragged ear. There’s also a little buckling but he’s not showing up on the cameras yet.
skinny neck
ragged ear
There are two coyotes:
We’re still learning to tell them apart. One has very distinct coloration on his face. The other is not so dramatically marked.
first there is this in the septic field — blurry as heck
30 seconds later on the pasture road (the female?)
this is the male — I think.
Things we see at night:
The deer of course.
deer in the night
and our only shots of the coyote pair together.
coyote pair going up the driveway
coyote pair coming back down the driveway
Equally flashy but not so scary.
That’s some flash gear.
not so wildlife
an evening walk in the rain
Game Cameras in the Late Winter and Early Spring
It’s been a while since I’ve posted any of the game camera pictures. Even when we are ignoring them they sit in the woods and on the driveway and quietly go about their business.
Mostly we get shots of deer. A few of which have identifiable traits. There’s Torn Ear.
Torn Ear
and one that I call Short Neck.
Short Neck
We see lots of butts.
Night Time Walk
And the Big Bike
Back of the Defender
We’ve seen a coyote a bunch of times. For a couple of days at a time about every month. Both in the woods and on the driveway. Gizmo tracks something/someone up the lower pasture road most mornings. I think the coyotes are around more often than they end up on camera.
Coyote Walks Down the Driveway
And surprise! We spotted a pair.
Two! Coyotes
We also get occasional sightings of Bob the Cat. Only in the septic field never on the driveway. I can’t figure out how he’s getting onto and off of the septic field.
Bob the Cat
Occasionally the cameras get arty.
Game Camera Art
We’ve pulled that cameras in for downloading and battery replacements. They should go back out this weekend. We’re going to move the one from the septic field to down at the other end of the pasture near the manure pile. See who’s using that lower pasture road. More pictures next month. (maybe)
Pretty Flowers are Pretty
Not too many words for this post. We returned to La Encantada Orquideario to see what new wonders there were in the rainy season. Sadly there has not been nearly as much rain as usual this summer and the orchids are suffering a bit. (And they are having to buy water.)
A stream runs through the middle of the plantation.
And a rickety bridge crosses the stream. (I am not really this much of a munchkin — Jim took the picture from far up the slope.)
Here are a selection of lovely flowers from big, about 3″ across, to tiny, less that a 1⁄4″ across.
For making it all the way to tend of this post you get a bonus:
Sunday in Oaxaca
The first day in Oaxaca is always a little slow — we have flight hangover and a bit of the altitude wibbles. So mostly we hang out and run a few errands. And It being Sunday we went to the Zocolo for the noon concert.
But first… Durango. Who’s grown into quite a nice boy.
Durango — the house dog, Wondering where the ball went.
Any Sunday trip to the Zocolo starts with coffee and a bit of breakfast.
Cappuchino!
Then you wander around for a while. Today we saw some new sculptures by Fernando Andriacci.
Bull.
Anatomically Correct Bull.
Dragon Fly
The point of Sunday in the Zocolo however is the Oaxaca State Band concert. Here’s a minute of the first piece, a bit of Schubert. Preceded by the church bells tolling noon.
On our way home I stopped to take a another picture of a little cat decal. I’ve been taking pictures of this for a number of years. It gets tattier and tattier but I still love it.
Cat Sticker on the Wall by the Local Market
New to the area is this art work on the wall on Miguel Negrete at Independencia.
About 2/3rds of the Mural
Eggs in Muffin Tins
These are a sort of quiche-like things that we make in muffin tins in order to have something quick available for breakfast. You can use any sort of cheese, meat or greens that you fancy or have hanging out at the bottom of the fridge.
It’s utterly adjustable as long as you keep the egg:milk/cream ration consistent and don’t overdo the volume of the add-ins.
In the Woods
We moved the game cameras to new locations two weekends ago.
This one we thought was a sleeping area.
1150:060515:59F:BDF ONE :5
But a couple of weeks of observation reveals nothing.
The other camera was placed at the south end of the septic field. An open area surrounded by forest and home to at least one bunny colony. Which explains the presence of this fellow.
1207:060415:54F:BDF TWO :5
He gets a close up.
1207:060415:54F:BDF TWO :5
We’ve also got the required butts. This one is especially graphic.
1905:061315:59F:BDF TWO :7
And a nice shot of the neighbor’s dogs having a bit of a romp. Given the time stamps I’d guess that they had pursued the deer from their own yard to our woods.
1911:061315:59F:BDF TWO :7
The Things You See in the Woods
For Christmas this year we got ourselves a couple of game camaras so that we could get a better look at the animals ( including neighbors) who are using the network of trails that goes through our woods. (People out here in the West usually call what we’ve got forest. But I’m old school and from the East, where the 20 acres that we’ve got would be called a Woods. So Woods it is for me.)
The cameras are a pair of Browning Strike Force (BTC-5). We got a two pack on sale. They take daylight color photos and nighttime infra-red. They can also shoot video but we haven’t experimented with that yet.
Each photo comes with a bunch of data at the bottom. Temperature, moonphase (useful at night) date and time, as well as a settable camera name. We have one that’s unnamed and one that’s named BDF TWO.
Pretty typical in the daytime photos are the deer. This was taken at the intersection of the two main paths to the immediate south of the logging road.
Typical Deer Shot
We also get other people’s dogs. Anyone know this fellow?
Running Dog
The night pictures can be pretty — shots of the deer browsing or traveling to sleeping spots. I’m thinking that the next time we move the cameras I’ll try to find a frequently used sleeping spot for one of them.
This spot is off of the path back to the garage. It’s at the junction of two deer trails that can’t easily be walked by humans.
Tiny Steps
Looking Up
A few minutes later another deer comes by.
Night Browser
Late in April we had a new night visitor.
It’s the first sighting of the bobcat that we thought might be hanging around. (Look at the lower center of the frame.)
Bobcat!
Note the short tail with the dark tip.
Cat Butt
Parting Shot
We’ve had no sign of the bear that was here last winter. Maybe he and the bobcat aren’t amenable to sharing turf?
Well, we did find this Bear.
The Papa Bear Out Riding
And here Jim is walking the dog in the morning before it’s light enough for the camera to switch to daytime. (Yeah, it says 8:45 but I think the camera missed daylight savings time — besides it stays dark in the woods.)
Are You Coming?
For some reason (camera timing?) we get lots of butts.
Lots of These Butts.
Moto Butt
The two most common butts in the woods. Me and the Big G.
Let’s Go!
Spicy Chicken Thighs
A New Space Ship!
Last year, I caught the Sport-Touring bike bug again. I have owned several over the years, and a quick ride on a friend’s ’09 BMW R1200RT really reminded me what I was missing on my long-legged ‘Turbo Giraffe’ (KTM 950 Adventure). So I began listing bikes I might want and researching them. One by one they got crossed off the list, the Triumph Trophy SE being the last non-BMW to be crossed off; nice bike, but a bit boring in the motor department.
So it was, I found myself on 8 march 2014 at South Sound BMW looking at a left-over 2013 K1600GT. I’ve always wanted to own an inline six-cylinder motorcycle and a 12-cylinder car. I’m now 1 for 2 in that area. 🙂
A quick test ride and a handshake deal was agreed to. The next day saw me take delivery of said beast and then ride it 65 miles home in a monsoon of a downpour. Yesterday, I finally got a chance to wash her off and take a few pics, so here we are.
- front view. don’t look now but something is gaining on you!
- Left side. all clean and shiny. 685 miles at this point
- 2013 K1600GT Montego Blue
- The view from the bridge. When the loud handle is twisted, you’d better be hanging on!
- right side, rear. the pipes are sorta silly looking, but they don’t sound bad, and a set of Akra’s cost big bucks.
- right side, showing off the mighty inline-6, and it’s forward cant. Is this the new Slant-6?
