Turkey Trot

The neighbors turkey and roosters have been making regular visits lately.  We have enjoyed watching them scratching around in the dirt looking for insects, but they make a terrible mess though. But at least they're cute.

The other day after being gone all day, we came home to quite a mess.  Al had recently put a lot of pretty red mulch down and evidently they had been working those areas, and mulch was spread everywhere!

The next morning, I was sitting on the couch, watching tv and reading blogs.  One rooster and the turkey were digging around in the mulch under the Mimosa tree.  All of a sudden, the turkey started running back up the hill towards home, with the rooster following behind.  I couldn't figure it out. I thought maybe he heard his owner call him for dinner or something.  It was kind of strange.

Later in the day, Al went outside with a rake in order to put all the mulch and dried grass back where it belonged.  He found a nasty surprise in the ground under the Mimosa tree.  He found a huge yellow jacket nest.  He figured easily a couple hundred of them were flying around.  Luckily he got away without being stung, and put them on his "to do" list for later in the day.  Remember, he is an exterminator :)

We think the turkey and possibly the rooster got stung by the yellow jackets and that was why they ran off.  We haven't seen anyone in our yard since!

Of course, now being the animal lovers that we are, we started to worry about them.

We've taken a few golf cart rides up to where they live and have not seen the turkey.  Al thought he may have heard him this morning though.  Hope so.  Poor guy, probably got stung pretty bad and enough stings could easily have killed him.

We have some other critter news.  Al has been seeing a fox in our pasture area again.  We used to see 2-3 of them very frequently but hadn't seen one for a while.  We assumed someone had shot them for raiding chicken coops or something.  But this morning Al saw one sunning himself in the pasture, just like old times!

We're enjoying the beautiful fall weather with night time temps in the lower 50's and even upper 40's.  It's in the 70's or low 80's in the daytime.  Perfect weather, with clear blue skies!

Fried Chicken, or Roasted Turkey?

The weather has been lovely the past few days with low's in the upper 50's and mid 80's in the daytime.  We’ve been staying outside as much as we can.  Al spent some time yesterday cleaning out the weeds  and previous garden items from the chicken coop.  He planted some snow peas.  We like to plant things in there because it’s enclosed and nothing can eat our veggies.  Like our friend,  Bunny Rabbit. 

We got up this morning and opened up the doors to enjoy the sounds of the birds and enjoy the cool weather.  I kept hearing a noise in the back yard but didn't know what it was.

Al's friend "Cowboy" was on the back porch, seemingly asking if Al could come out to play :)  I don't have a picture of him, but he's a little black and white dog that lives nearby, and he’s become Al’s new best friend.  I thought the noise I was hearing was him, but it wasn't. 

Here's what I found.

and more

and more

I think there were 4 Roosters and one Turkey.  The turkey was kicking up and digging just like the roosters.  I don’t know if that’s a turkey thing too, or if he learned it from the roosters?

They were having quite a time digging and kicking up mulch looking for insects.  They made quite a nice mess too!  We didn’t mind them around the Mimosa tree because it’s just grass clippings, but then they headed toward the pool area where Al has been putting nice pretty mulch in there.  It was time to chase them out of there :)    They weren’t a bit afraid of us, and we actually thought they were kind of cute.

However….all of a sudden, Al remembered, that he had just planted a bunch of Snow Peas in the chicken coop and the gate was open!  Oh, no….we didn’t want any chickens there …in the chicken coop!  He ran out and closed it before any damage was done.  We’ve never had any chickens since we’ve been here.  We thought about it for a while since there was already a chicken coop here, but we decided that would be just another “pet” to worry about and we sure wouldn’t have eaten them!  I’d have worried about them in the rain or cold too.  So anyway, it’s nice to have the neighbors stop by to visit.

Here are a few pictures of south Georgia in the fall.

This is from a Confederate Rose.  The bloom is larger than a mans hand and the tree is at least 30 feet tall with tons of flowers getting ready to bloom.  Unfortunately, it blooms late in the year and the frost kills it.

Gas Explosion

We were at the bank this morning before my dentist appointment and noticed an ambulance speeding by with alarms going.

I got to my dentist office and was told that a 34 year old man in town was killed in a gas line explosion.  The local tv station said he was on a back hoe and hit a buried gas line.  It appears it caused a flash fire.  While still at the dentist a man came asking if this guy was a patient, as they needed his dental records.  This poor guy went to work just like he did every day and I'm sure never expected anything like this.  There was another gas line accident last week in a nearby town and it was reported the gas line was only 3-4 inches underground.  That doesn't seem too safe to me.  They were saying something about erosion bringing them close to the surface.  I don't know, but it's a tragedy.

We are enjoying the cool weather today.  We have the air-conditioner turned off for the first time in months and it's lovely!  What a difference a day makes. It was 59 degrees when we got up this morning.  We haven't seen the 50's for a long time and it sure felt nice.

Al is out mowing around the motor home.  It's really too nice to stay inside....but unfortunately, I have house work to do.

Busy Week

Today is rest day.

We've had an extremely busy week with two home showings, and a garage sale, and all that goes with it.

We are finally getting some very much needed rain.  Our grass is getting very brown.  The good thing about a drought is the grass grows slower, but the bad thing is the ugly brown color.  Since we're trying to sell the house, we want green.

We currently have the entire 11+ acres mowed!  All at one time!  That's a rarity for us, and something usually only reserved for company!  I finally finished up the pasture yesterday.

We have a bunch of hummingbirds and they are chasing each other all over the place.  Al was in the golf cart the other day and one flew between his chest and the steering wheel.  That's a little close!

No sign of our foxes so we fear the worst.  We have still been seeing one raccoon though and when he's cute enough, he gets fed.  He's pretty cute!

Al found an interesting item in his shed yesterday, in a old squirrel nest he was tearing down.  I haven't had a chance to get a picture yet, but will do so soon.  We couldn't believe it.

I am still planning on keeping up this blog until we sell the house and become full time rv'ers, but unfortunately nothing much has been happening around here lately.  We have no garden planted and my summer flowers have about had it.  It'll be a while before we start getting any real fall color.

Right now we are monitoring the hurricanes/tropical storms in the Gulf.  When they get into the Gulf, we have to start to worry.  So far, so good.

Al is watching the Buccaneer's  play (and already doing a lot of yelling) and I'm planning to stay away and watch a movie in the bedroom!  It's the safest place to be during a football game :)

Snakes and Armadillo's

Al got home from Tampa Friday night, tired and glad to be home.  I made him help me with the garage sale Saturday morning but his heart wasn't in it, so we closed up shop early, did some shopping, then came home for a nice long nap!  Hey, he was tired and I needed to keep him company!

About 7pm last night, I finally decided to get outside and start mowing.  I had to wait until then for the temperature to fall below 90!  Once I got started, it was nice with the breeze hitting me.  I ended up getting the entire main front yard done.  Of course there is still the "front front", the "Bluebirdy meadow" front, the in the woods front, and the side front, but the "main" front was done!  I felt like I had accomplished something.  I didn't do any mowing while Al was gone, so I'm behind!

While mowing, I kept thinking about what we were told about the Rattle Snakes being on the move, as I sit on the rider with flip flops on!  I am waiting for one to jump up at me!  It was getting pretty dark by the time I was finishing up and I actually came across a snake.  It was a small one, and I don't know what kind it was.  I almost ran over him, twice.  I think it may have been the same one (or a sibling of) the one Al saw earlier in the day.  The one I saw ended up going towards the woods, so that is okay. The one Al saw was close to the house, so that's not okay!

We have also been seeing evidence of an Armadillo that is tearing up the yard.

 

This was a borrowed picture, but this is what we're dealing with.  They dig holes in the ground, looking for insects.  We think one has been burrowing a hole under one of our sheds.  I guess he's looking for a place to spend the winter.  I sure found a lot of freshly dug holes in the yard though.

Today is football day (for Al) this afternoon, more mowing and then we're going to start watching season 3 of Dexter.  We just got season 4 as well, so we have a lot to catch up on.  If you haven't watched the Dexter series its really a terrific show.  The story line is about a guy who is a serial killer, but he only kills the really bad people, but there is a twist!