Our season is a little short for pumpkins, but Bob likes to grow them anyways.  This year he grew mostly Cinderella pumpkins. He thought they were so beautiful that they definitely needed to be on the blog.  I thought I couldn’t get a photo that showed how lovely they were, so I waited for the dusk light when they seemed to pulse with color, and took my shot then.    The white scars on the pumpkins are from the pretty tufted-ear squirrels.  Each one of these is marked by it’s exp... Read Full Story

This spring I started my old dog on a daily dose of cod liver oil and kelp.  She was more sprightly for a while, but in spite of her ridiculously glossy coat and bright eyes (in spite of her abundant good health) this fall she is noticeably stiff legged with arthritis.  She used to have a broad range of interests–she could catch flies like you wouldn’t believe–but now the things she likes best are lying down and eating.    Best of all, for her, is to be lying down near one o... Read Full Story

These photos were taken by Tom Sears in New Hampshire.  Tom lived near a bear who had five cubs in the Spring of 2007.  It’s an unusually large number of cubs, and it took a long time for him to finally get this photograph.  They’re all lined up for a family portrait, each one in focus.  All five cubs survived until hibernation,    and here’s a shot of the same family group in April 2008.    Thanks for sending these to me, Sandy (and Snaps for Tom).  Read Full Story

I haven’t caught a glimpse of the mountain lion, but neighbors up and down the road have seen it and called to alert us.  He’s here, and he’s big. Crows were cawing out back this morning, so I went to see why.  It was a scene right out of The Godfather: some creature dropped a deer head on the lawn last night, and the crows were feasting on it.   This head could have been left by a coyote or bear, but I think it has lion written all over it (except for those eye sockets, wh... Read Full Story

I thought it’d be hard to identify this big fly, but instead it’s a poster child for the Tachinid flies, a family of over 1,300 different species that are classified by farmers as beneficial insects.  Many of the little grey or brown hairy flies you see are Tachinid flies; some are big and are loud, buzzy fliers.  This giganto-fly is almost an inch long and has a bright orange body covered with  long, thick bristly hairs.   I was scared that it was a blood-sucker, but instead the... Read Full Story

There was a big flock of robins gathered out back for their upcoming migration.  They were having a wormfest, catching and eating worms one after the other. Here’s a handsome robin, thinking about a worm.  It hears a worm,  it sees the worm, and grabs and swallows it.  Read Full Story

Growing antlers are covered with a fur that encases a network of blood vessels and nerve endings. The blood vessels provide the nutrients to grow the antlers, while the nerve endings mean that I shouldn’t be alarmed by this mule deer’s rack.  Antlers in velvet are sensitive and easily damaged, and the deer will do whatever he can to avoid hurting them. Once the antlers are grown, they harden up and deer rubs off the velvet.   According to Wikipedia, velvet antler is a “mai... Read Full Story

The hummingbirds are very active these days, preparing for their migration south.  They beat their wings in a figure eight, which allows them to hover.  Th hummingbird is a New World bird, absent from Europe and Africa.  There are many Native American legends about the hummer.    My favorite is the Aztec legend that tells of the time when the god of music and poetry took the form of a hummingbird.  He descended into the underworld to make love with a goddess, who then gave birth to the firs... Read Full Story

Three fat mule deer in velvet were eating apples on someone’s lawn, so I stopped to take some photographs.  See that lump of fat on their chest?  They’ve got a long winter to prepare for, and they’re just getting started.  By the time rutting season arrives, their mono-boob will be massive.  (That’s not a technical term.) This thin male saw everyone else eating apples, and came over to join them.  The trouble was, I was standing in the driveway on the other side of... Read Full Story

 Six of us went to the top of Perrin’s Peak, a wilderness area that is open for a short time during the summer.    I’m the baby, almost 50… so instead of Babes on the Mountaintop,this is a shot of menopausal women at high altitude. There were turkey vultures that I didn’t get a shot of, but here are my friends and their good dog Luna; my dog was too old to come. And here you have a classic coyote scat, with clearly visible hair and pointy ends to the individual turd... Read Full Story