squirrel

We have a three-year-old schnauser-poodle [schnoodle] doggie named Mollie and Mollie is an avid squirrel chaser. She never catches one but she certainly tries very hard. I had a dream about Mollie last night. I opened the door just like always and Mollie darted out into the yard. To my surprise and Molli’s the squirrel didn’t run as they always do. Instead this little squirrel confronted Molli and bite her on the nose. Just a little snip. It didn’t even break the skin but Molli was embarrassed that she had been snipped. She lay down with her head on her front paws and looked up at me with those big black eyes as if she was asking “what went wrong?” I sat down in the grass to comfort her and all this time the little squirrel is flitting around Molli, taunting her, threatening to pop her on the nose again. I whispered to Molli, “don’t worry sweetie, I’ll get that mean ole squirrel.” I turned around just as the little squirrel rose up on it’s hind legs, front paws raised in the air, and let out a terrifying vampire-squirrel squeal and lunged toward me. That’s when I woke up.

I’m keeping a close eye on Molli’s backyard adventures from now on!

visit to happy days tree farm

Isn't this an awesome looking stand of pine trees? I had the privilege of visiting the Happy Days Tree Farm recently and this is a typical scene from the property. How often do you think about where the paper you use comes from? It comes from trees just like these. Did you know that trees are our only renewable natural resource? When you use paper, you help grow more trees. For every tree that is harvested from sustainable forests in the United States three are planted. There are more trees in the United States today than there were 50 years ago. Growing trees is just like growing any other crop, except it takes a little bit longer to grow trees than it does to grow corn.

What you shouldn't be using is plastic. Plastic is full of chemicals. It comes from petroleum, which is not renewable. Plastic does not degrade easily when thrown away. Paper, on the other hand, can be recycled into more paper, comes from a renewable resource, degrades easily when thrown away or composted. Think responsibly. Use more paper, not more plastic.

snake stories

I often stop by the wetlands of the William B. Clark Nature Preserve on my way home from work, as I did this past Friday. At the moment there is a lot of construction going on at the entrance to the wetlands. A new bridge is being constructed and as a result there has been a lot of damage to the trail along the river bluff [uprooted and downed trees along and over the trail]. I began my Friday trek into the wetlands as I always do, stepping over trees to find the trail. Only a hundred yards or so away from the parking lot I spotted a huge water moccasin lying across the trail. I waited for a few minutes and then gently persuaded him to move on by tossing a couple of sticks in his direction. Slowly he took the hint and slithered away. Only a few yards from that encounter I saw the tail of another water moccasin sticking about a foot out of snake hole right beside the trail. Once again I waited and after a while the tail disappeared totally beneath the trail. I walked on for another fifty yards or so and encountered the third water moccasin beside the trail. I have only seen one other moccasin on or near the trail in the three years I have been walking this trail. My theory is that the recent flooding in May and the current construction have shifted and loosened the ground in this area, making it easier to navigate and more desirable to inhabit for these wetland creatures. I have decided that I will give the wetlands a break for a while [perhaps until winter]. There are many other hiking trails for me to enjoy until these active moccasins go underground for the winter. It's not like a bite from one of these snakes will kill you [although it's not out of the question], but it would definitely make life uncomfortable for a few days. Why risk it.

My encounters on Friday reminded me of a childhood event. Back in the 1950s when I was about 7 years old, growing up in the mountains of North Carolina, my Aunt Jo came to visit us one summer day. My mother and I were standing near the backdoor when we caught sight of Aunt Jo running down the hill past our house as fast her legs would carry her. Not far behind her came a snake [a black racer], hot in pursuit. Every few yards the snake would raise up out of the grass, as if he were looking to see where she was, then he would drop back to the ground an keep going. Aunt Jo didn't stop until she reached the bottom of the hill, jumped a stream [we called it 'the creek'] and started up the next hill towards the woods. Only after she looked back and saw that the snake had stopped at the creek did she stop running. That has got to be one of the funniest memories from my childhood. Every time I see a black racer or a king snake I think of Aunt Jo.

Here's another story from my childhood. My brother is six years older than me. He has always been an explorer. He loved taking off into the woods in search of a new adventure. One day, when I was about ten years old my brother came home from one of his adventures with a beehive he had found attached to an old, rotten tree limb lying on the ground. He showed it to all of us and then stored it away in a back room. The hive stayed in that room for several weeks until one day he retrieved it and brought it into the living room to show my dad. Just about the time he said "look what I found", snakes started pouring out of the beehive. Dozens of little bitty black snakes were racing all over the living room floor. My dad was yelling, my mom was screaming and I was standing on the couch as my brother ran to the front door and tossed the beehive into the yard. For hours he was crawling around on the floor looking for, collecting, and dropping these little snakes into a big bucket. It's funny now, but I didn't sleep really well for a long time after that.

playful cubs

Admission to the Memphis Zoo is free on Tuesday afternoons, so I paid the zoo another visit to take a few more pictures. The day was a little cooler than normal so all the animals were very active. These grizzly cubs were having a great time playing tag and splashing in the water beneath the waterfall. I stood by watching them play for a long time.

2595

who's watching whom

During a recent visit to the Memphis Zoo [which just happens to be the best zoo in America right now], my family and I stopped by to see the gorillas. Much to our amusement, this gorilla came right up to the thick, plexiglass barrier and sat in the cool shadows watching us watch him. We made eye contact several times and I wondered what was going on inside his brain. What was he thinking about? Was he thinking "I'd like to chat with you and get to know you a little bit"... or was he thinking "if I could get out of this place, I'd scare the fool out of all you humans." Or was he sending out a plea for help, for compassion, for freedom? Or was he staring blankly into space, and we just happened to be in his line of vision? I'll never know.

the blue trail bridge

The light was just perfect for this shot. Crossing this bridge is the last bit of trail before returning to the parking lot after a nice, three and a half mile hike on the blue and yellow trails of the Lucius Burch Natural Area.

the wooden people

While hiking on the boardwalk through the wetlands of the William B. Clark Nature Preserve recently, I came across these wooden people. They appeared to be heavily involved in conversation and paid no attention to me at all as I stopped to take their picture.

I wonder what it's like to be a wooden person? I wonder if they were talking about the bench they were standing on, or the boardwalk that got them to the bench they were standing on. After all, trees are people too.

huh.