The Great Outdoors

See...here's our angry snake...ewwww

These deer were technically in the FRONT yard...at about midnight one night...way cool...there were actually 3 of them!

Here's our coyote (I feed) in his winter coat! I have since stopped feeding him since I saw When Animals Strike. YIKES!

Here are two of our cousins...Steven and Jennifer whom Connor just adore. When they come we spend ALOT of time fishin, huh Uncle Scott? It's way fun! Uncle Scott...you should see how much that grass has filled in...

This snake was actually just at our driveway and Brian and Connor brought it up to show it was almost Connor's size!

A sweet little doe. Man, you can't make a peep when trying to take pictures of them!

Our mean little hummingbirds! These things really have an attitude. One in particular will sit on the post (for a minute...because they are very busy little critters!) and just dare others to come around!

So, my bloggy friend, Kat, (I hope I can call you my friend!) from Sunshine and Lemonade wants to know what kind of critters we have in our backyard! Her's by the way is gorgeous...just gorgeous I tell ya...you must check it out! Since we live on 30 acres...we do see a lot of wild life. Last Summer, we were playing outside and we heard a "gobble, gobble, gobble!" Yes, you are right...a turkey, but the thing was she sounded like she was in trouble. And she was. There was a good-sized bobcat trying to get her little ones. So she was gobbling up a storm and making all kinds of rukus (sp?) to get his attention. What a mom! The little ones were able to fly (I honestly didn't know turkeys flew!) high enough into a tree and so did she. I guess the bobcat gave up because I didn't see him after he went off into the woods. About ten minutes later...everyone came down from the tree and appeared to all be okay.

We see deer all the time...we even have a deer feeder...but we do not hunt them...no siree! Of course squirrels and opposums and rabbits and tons of birds. On a visit to our pond this past Summer...we saw something slither across the grass and up into the tree. Of course...Brian wanted a picture...so we threw some limbs at it (please don't call the humane society...we were very careful not to actually HIT it...we just wanted to make it a little angry so it would stick out from the branch for a good picture!) I'm glad we did...because now I get to post it! The other little pesky creature we haD was an armadillo. I'm sorry to report that Brian did have to shoot it..and it was maimed...so then he had to kill it with an axe I know...sad. It was doing some incredible damage to our flower beds though. I do feel really bad for it...and so did Brian. He is an animal lover ...we all are, but...the flowerbeds were a ton of work...and money! I hope he was an old armadillo and a wife and babies weren't waiting for him back home :( We learn much about the circle of life out here! We do love it and to the best of our ability we respect it! (We even take the mice down the road...I know they probably come right back...but hey, we try!)

Oh yea, our turkey was back this year and she had NINE little babies. What are they called? Hens or just baby turkies? Anyway, she was nesting a while in the back yard but moved some place where I guess she thought to be safer? We are building a new house further into the acres so I'm sure she doesn't feel as safe anymore. We only saw them one time but it sure was cute! I hope they are all okay :) Circle of life and all, right? Here are some pictures over the past couple of years. I gotta run...today was Connor's first day of FIRST grade! Yippee! I made him a little angel food cake to celebrate...yum! Thanks again Kat for such a great post!

********UPDATE********

I just picked Connor up from his first day and I asked him..."So, how was your day buddy?" Connor replies, "It wasn't just great mommy...it was FANTASTIC!" I very happy Mommy and a very happy Connor today :) Hope your children are all enjoying their schools too!