Smarties Bar & Grill #76

Home with a fever. I think I would rather have a broken bone than be running a fever.

 

What do ya’ll think of my new bull in my profile pic?


WTF?!

 

I know farmers around here sometimes have deer take up with their herd, particularly during the lean days of summer when food and water are harder to find. I guess they wait for human to bring it to them

 

There are a few elk in Nebraska but we haven’t had them here in central NE since the place was homesteaded in the late 1800’s. It’s fun to watch things change. When I moved here in 1997 there were no bobcats, lions, ground hogs, red fox, or elk. There were very few turkeys and very few mule deer and porcupine.

As eastern red cedar has moved in to more and more pasture acres the turkey population exploded leading to bobcat and lion expansion. The mule deer have increased and porcupine is now common. We have red fox and ground hogs galore. I guess elk and then bear or wolf. Hopefully not wolf. I don’t need that headache.

Biodiversity in forests and particularly forest edge habitat is amazing. I’m enthralled watching biodiversity explode just by adding some forest and forest edge to the environment.

Took these pictures this evening. Most cattlemen hate them but we just don’t have much problem with them. I enjoy having them around.

 

looks like a troublemaker, same with V Varmit in your last post

 

He thinks my cows are his cows. He won’t leave them. It appears he’s not driving the bulls off so my cows don’t get bred so I guess it’s ok.

I’ve pulled quills out of cows/calves a handful of times in the last two decades. Porcupines aren’t a big deal. I’ve lost more money on cattle to skunks than any other varmint excepting rattle snakes. Cows hate skunks during calving season and I’ve had a few young calves trampled when cows stomp the skunk.

I’ve lost a few high priced bulls and some cows to rattlers. Rattle snakes are the only critter I kill every time I encounter one.

Apologies to @FatBack.

 

I live on the urban divide so we get a lot of critters too. I have never seen a skunk but have been told there are several in the woods on the hill about a half mile away. Coyotes are the only things that get thinned by the state from time to time. I have three fox who are regulars, possums, coons, groundhogs, lots of deer, buzzards/vultures. We occasionally get a hawk but the crows and other birds are pretty quick to drive it away. I built one of those small black liner ponds right at the edge of the woods that has been good as a watering hole but also hosting tree frog tadpoles. I am a big fan of biodiversity so if there is something I can do to add to it, I will.

 

Ahhh. Tree frogs. I’m jealous. Maybe someday we will have enough precipitation and season length to support tree frogs. Not yet.

Skunks are fun. We’ve raised a couple orphaned babies. Not as pets, but to be wild skunks released where we don’t calve cows. They have such sweet personalities it’s hard NOT to make pets of them. You would enjoy watching them. Hopefully they come to your pond someday.

 

We used to have green tree frogs all around my house. I'd catch one for my sister in a strawberry container and we'd keep it as a "pet" for a day and let it go, then when we'd have frogs on our bedroom windows at night, we'd pretend it they were the ones we'd had as "pets" coming back to see us. My sister lives in the same house we grew up in and, unfortunately, we just don't see green tree frogs there anymore. Not sure what happened. Skunks are cute as hell. My mom had one as a pet growing up and we have them all over our neighborhood now . . . which is part of the reason I no longer walk my dogs at night.

We have a small group of beavers in the retention pond near our house and a few coyotes in the nearby park. We *had* a lot of rabbits . . . until a mated pair of great horned owls moved in.

 

Wonder why the tree frogs disappeared? It would be odd living there now without the night sounds of the frogs. Especially having grown up with it.

Do you see the owls much? Those are amazing birds.

 

Went back to work for first time since Monday last week. Still full of gunk but no point laying about any longer. The antibiotics will work eventually I guess. Effing pneumonia...

 

I rarely see the owls, but that's kind of their MO; some of the stealthiest mofos on the planet. I do hear them calling really late at night, though. As for the frogs, I *think* it was because they had too much competition. Geckos started showing up right when the frogs started disappearing. I'm thinking the geckos, which I'm sure compete for the same food, forced them out. Just a hunch. I never saw a gecko as a kid. But right when the frogs started disappearing, we had geckos showing up so often that they were actually tripping up our breaker box. Fire ants were also becoming more and more common, and they will attack anything that touches the ground.

 

It sounds stupid, but taking a few Advil has helped me with pneumonia (along with the prescribed medication . . . don't skip that, obviously). It takes down some of the inflammation. Hang in there regardless, though.

 

That makes sense. We don’t have fire ants or geckos (yet LOL) so I never considered that. Bet you are right.

We don’t have any great horned owls this year. Sometimes when we have a pair they will sit on the top of a grain bin not far from the house and hoot.

This is a screech owl I got to watch grow up in another grain bin.

 

According to the weather forecast, today is the last day of triple digit heat. We have been moved back into the remodel for two weeks now. It is wonderful! We spent all of our money before inflation took it.

 

I had an unusual morning. A friend of mine has started hospice at his own home and although he's down to probably 90 pounds he's still too heavy for his wife to help him move. At 7 this morning I got a urgent call from her and kind of assumed that he'd gone downhill since I saw him yesterday (he doesn't have much farther downhill to go). I told him I'd be right over and that's when she told me he needed help peeing. Now I'm not squeamish about too much stuff but THAT wasn't anything I expected to be on my "to do" list. Anyway, I headed over so that I could at least help move him and when I got there she had been trying to get him to pee into a large plastic container like a some pretzels or nuts come in. The didn't have a bottle urinal and the drug store wasn't open yet so I sent her to the kitchen to see if she had something that would be easier to use and she came back with some tupperware thing and handed it to ME! I informed her that any additional help would be her responsibility, not mine and she got the idea. At that point I noticed a pack of incontinence briefs on the floor and asked why they weren't using those. Ultimately I was able to lift him enough that she could get the diaper on him and the problem was solved.

Through this whole process the only thing I could think of was the joke about the Lone Ranger and Tonto.

Anyway, to all the nurses and caregivers out there, blessings to you!

 

They have washable pads. It may be easier for her to start using them than pull on diapers. They are quilted on one side and water proof on the other. You're just not supposed to use the dryer on them as it breaks down the waterproofing. Here is a link to an example but you can probably find them at local stores like home healthcare places. https://www.amazon.com/Vive-Washabl...pcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A164XQT7IPAAIU

 

Being called on to help someone in need is always a blessing for the person being asked. You were blessed to have gone.

 

He imust be checking out places to hide when the fall shooting starts. Who would shoot in a herd of cattle?

 

I'm familiar with them through prior experience with family and friends that have grown older and needier (glad I'm not one of them!) and she has disposable "chucks" on the bed already. The incontinence brief just makes clean up easier.

 

When we rounded up that pasture to wean calves a few days ago we didn’t see the elk. But he could have been hiding in the trees.

Through the last couple decades we’ve probably lost a half dozen cows to hunters. About 2/3 of them I’m pretty sure shot by my wife’s shirttail cousins. They are the kind of folks that could shoot a cow by accident or out of spite. They hunt pastures next to ours and resent the fact we won’t let them hunt on us. Before we leased our pastures to a responsible hunter who keeps trespassers out I had to spend at least opening day of rifle deer season and sometimes the second weekend as well patrolling pastures to keep the fools out.

 

Well, no more need for depends and "chucks" for my buddy. Just got a call that he passed away a little over an hour ago.

For those that are so inclined, his name was Larry and his wife is Brenda. If you care to say a prayer for her comfort and his eternal peace it would certainly be appreciated.

 

Sure.

 

Lord, take Larry into your fold and comfort Linda for her temporary loss. I pray she sees Larry again. In the name of Jesus amen

 

Half way through planting 250 daffodils. Don't ask me why. I just bought them on a whim and am now hating planting them. I guess I will forget this miserable day when they start blooming in the spring. I am always jelly of those houses that have them everywhere in the spring I guess.