Squirrel Nest in shed

Mamma squirrel made a huge nest in one of our sheds. Al was in the shed last week and hears squeeking noises coming from nest. He looked inside and found baby squirrels.

Later that day we noticed a raccoon walking through the pasture during the mid part of the afternoon. We were concerned it might come after the squirrels. Last year the squirrel nest in the same shed was destroyed. We never knew what happened to it.

Al went outside to check the shed 2-3 times that night, once when the local cat came around and never saw anything disturbed around the shed.

The next morning he went to the shed and noticed the nest had been disturbed and there were no babies inside. He did notice there was another nest in a different part of the shed and there were babies in that one. We are choosing to believe mamma squirrel moved her babies. Cats will do that and hopefully that is what happened.

You can't save them all...but we are sure going to try!

Blue Bird fight

Last week before one of the storms, Al put the truck over by the pasture fence to keep it away from the big oak tree in case the wind caused it drop branches. It was nearby a nesting pair of Blue Birds.

I happened to notice a male Blue Bird by the truck and went over to investigate. He was seeing himself in the side mirror and was getting very upset at his reflection, not knowing he was looking at himself. It was cute to watch but I was afraid he would hurt himself. He kept attacking the mirror. After we watched him a few minutes we got some Wal Mart bags and tied them over the mirrors. That solved the problem.

Our Blue Birds are nesting in the pasture box this year and the one by the side of the house is vacant so far. Our Bluebirds are now coming to the bird feeder we have by the back door and eating sunflower seeds and other nuts. It's easier then trying to get them to eat mealworms and keep everyone else out. It works out well. However, it appears there is another pair that has discovered the house by the side of the house. Unfortunately the nesting male has spotted the new male as the feeder is pretty close to the other birdhouse.

Yesterday we discovered our nest now has 4 babies inside and one egg not hatched. We saw 2 adult males and one female hanging out by the birdhouse by the house. The one male kept sticking his head inside the house, then coming back out and fluttering around (fighting?) with other male. This went on for a while yesterday and today we noticed it again. This time one male had the other one on the ground, with one on his back and the other on top. We didn't know if it was a fight or they were mating but decided to break it up just in case it was a fight. When they flew away it turned out to be 2 males so we assumed it had been a fight. We understand this is nature but if we can stop someone from getting hurt, we are going to! They have four babies now and they need both their mom and dad!

So we decided that likely what is going on is the old male Blue Bird has spotted the new one who is in the area checking out the real estate. We decided the best thing to do is move the nesting box far enough away so that they couldn't be seen while they were at the feeder. So that is what we did today. Hopefully we will have another nesting pair. We have 11 acres but as territorial as they are you have to keep the nest boxes a good distance from the others.

One Blue Bird nest box in the pasture has a Titmouse or a Chickadee. Al made the mistake of opening it and finding a mother sitting on her nest. He closed it up quickly so as not to frighten her any more. He thinks it was a Titmouse.

All of our houses are on poles with baffles to keep the predators out. We made a mistake last year and a snake got 5 BlueBird eggs. It had the baffle but there was a small hole which had to be large enough for a small snake. We remedied it this year with silicone glue. The thought of a little bird sitting there with no way out while a snake comes in to get her and her babies makes me determined to help however we can. These manmade boxes are much more visible and predators easily can learn what to look for. It is up to us to make them as safe as possible.

Tornadoes, Severe Thunderstorms and Flooding

We have come to the conclusion that south Georgia has crummy weather in the spring. We have been having tornado and severe storms hitting very frequently throughout February, March and now into April. We have been using the tornado shelter (hidey hole) frequently. It's not so much that tornadoes have been touching down here but there have been severe weather warnings with the possibility of tornadoes. In order to be safe and to keep the cats safe, we have loaded them up in cages and taken them to the hidey hole. We have been there 4-5 times in the last 10 days.

So far all we have really had is a LOT of rain. On Wednesday & Thursday we had over 7 inches. The entire yard was squishy, the streams in the front woods have overflowed and washed rocks off the driveway. The Ochlocknee River overflowed at Barnett's Creek, as usual. When we were driving over the river on Hwy 84 the river was almost as high as the road. We've never seen it so high

We have been thankful we purchased the tornado shelter last year. It was expensive but does give us some peace of mind. There are pictures of it in earlier blogs.

Tornadoes hit Cairo and Thomasville

Al was back in Tampa (of course). The weather was supposed to be ok while he was gone but at the last minute we had a warm front moving north from the gulf which collided with a cold front from the west.

I worked on Wednesday, February 19th. The forecast showed us in a tornado watch area. We got a little rain but nothing seemed too serious. We got a good storm but no tornadoes yet. I fell asleep after 11pm or so and awoke to the sound of the weather radio. I quickly checked out the TV and the forecasters were stating there was a tornado in Grady county. I sleepily watched the TV for a few minutes and then decided it was time to get into the tornado shelter. I didn't want some to come find my dead body and wonder why I never got into the shelter. I didn't take the cats with me. I felt I needed to get there right away. I grabbed the weather radio, cell phone and a flashlight. It wasn't raining hard and our power was still on, even the satellite TV. I stayed down there about 20 minutes and was hearing there was a tornado on the ground near a few towns I had never heard of. I finally left the shelter and watched the news again. It appeared it had come through Cairo and into Thomasville and was now heading for Valdosta and away from us. The radar showed another heavy line of showers heading our way with possible hail and heavy lightning. They didn't think tornadoes were likely in this system but I decided with the lightning and rain, I didn't want to have to run down to the shelter in that in case they were wrong. I took my cat Squeaky and we headed for the shelter. She was not happy but settled down once I let her out of the carrier. I brought my heavy robe this time because I found it was a little cold the last time. I had some magazines and pillows and was relatively comfortable. I guess I stayed there about an hour this time. We got more rain this time but nothing heavy thank goodness.

Went to work the next day at State Farm. We got quite a few claims from our customers who mostly had trees down hitting the houses. It hit an area in south Thomasville which was not too densely populated but full of large pine trees, as is most of Thomasville. One customer had a large tree hit his 2nd story and fall down into the first story. Southwestern hospital was also hit particularly hard as well as Bay Tree trailer park. I guess it was hit pretty hard and several houses were demolished.

Al came back the next day (Friday). We took a tour through town and saw some of the destruction. It appears the tornado hit mostly 20-50 feet above ground. It split many pine trees 50 feet up and broke them into like match sticks. It was quite a site. The damage mostly occurred from trees hitting the houses. I don't know about the trailer park. It may have touched down there. From what I could see the tornado didn't touch the ground much, but hovered above.

There were no major injuries or fatalities here but we did hear of a fatality in Hancock County Georgia.

I was very glad to have had the tornado shelter. It is not fun sitting inside it, but with a lights, phone and weather radio, I was able to feel and be safe. The only problem is that it's too hard to grab all the cats at the last minute when one is imminent and they would freak out if we put them inside it when we were just having watches. It's also easier if Al is in town.

Spring is coming

We had a very cold winter. So much for global warming. Our first fall frost is supposed to be mid November. We had our first frost mid October. It was cold a few weeks then warmed up nicely for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Come January we got COLD. The coldest we got here was 18 but per the local weather Tallahassee got down to 15.

Planted a lot of Daffodils last year but I think the 26inch rain from Tropical Storm Faye may have damaged them. They have not come up yet. We planted 200 more this year so hopefully they will multiply and come back next year.

We also lost 4 Dogwoods and we think the rain caused the trunk to split and the tree to die.

It is bird season at the Lueck plantation. We have literally hundreds of birds. Mostly Chipping Sparrows and Gold Finches. We have a feeded outside the sliding door and we have attracted our Blue Birds using seeds. That is a treat to sit inside and watch them from the window.