Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Gorgeous Sunshine



Redbush has been outdoors enjoying the beautiful sun lately, so has been ignoring the computer, and hasn't been doing a lot of blogging. (hasn't been watching any Olympics at all -curling, hockey, curling. downhill, curling, biathalon, curling) Ha! She hopes the sun will last as they have been experiencing a lot of sunshine, and Bonzi has been enjoying his outings on the trails out back. It's feeling more and more like spring although Redbush knows there's a lot of winter that can happen yet. She hopes that spring will come early, and the days will keep staying balmy! Redbush will leave you with a spring photo and painting she did of a spot from the lease. She hopes everyone is having a great week!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Cool Cattails






Redbush and family headed out back with Bonzi to get a bit of exercise to this frozen beaver dam. She took a few snapshots of some wildlife tracks and cattails growing there. She has tried to collect some cattails in the past to dry them for decorations, but, hasn't been successful. She likes to collect them in the fall before they start to break apart. She hopes everyone had a great Valentines Day, and a great weekend!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Moose Muisance Musings!




Redbush and neighbours in her subdivision have been experiencing moose visitations as of late. Quite some time ago the moose were using Redbush's pickup for a salt lick and were hanging around until Redbush washed her truck. She thought they had disappeared until they showed up later to do the same thing when her pickup got salt on it again. This winter, the neighbours have been having loads of problems with the moose inviting their friends to join them using all the favourite fruit trees as their brunch food. Dogs, and bear-bangers don't seem to faze them when they're in the yards. This morning when Redush talked to some of her neighbours, she had reports of a moose bedding down close to their back deck. Apparently this is an ongoing occasion . When the neighbour tried to scare it away using articles like pots and pans , or blocks of wood , banging them together, it just got up only to chew on the trees again, and amble on its way again when it was full. The one neighbour tells of a cow moose and her calves in her back yard chewing on their trees and plants. Behind this family was her supposed moose calf from a few years back who decided that it was still not time to leave mama's apron strings. Mama taught him a lesson by beating him with her front hoofs. This same neighbour thought it was her husband putting hand prints on her windows when he was shovelling snow. She later found out that they were moose nose prints! When Redbush and Mr. Redbush came back the other evening from quadding out back on their snowy trails, a moose had just left their yard only to stand off watching as they went by. It was lucky they had Bonzi on the quad, and not running. It worries Redbush when she takes Bonze for a walk on the dog trails, especially when it's dark because one of the moose has seemingly stomped a dog to death about a month ago on the road into the subdivision. She knows that a flashlight won't fend him off in this case! The neighbours have phoned the "Fish and Wildlife Department" to complain and to see if they could get any help to rid them from the neighbourhood, but, the department has been ignoring their calls. Redbush's neighbour took these pictures of the moose outside her window eating her clematis plants. She had to yell at it to get away for some time before it left. Here are the pictures that she sent me to reveal to all of you to see. If you look closely at the last picture, you can see the holes above the mooses's eyes showing you where he has just lost his antlers. Redbush hopes everyone has a safe but eventful week!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Fat Birds


Redbush feeds her birds striped sunflower seeds, and bird fat balls. The chickadees, nuthatches, blue jays, grosbeaks, and woodpeckers just love the fat balls. Her problem is that she has ravens, and magpies that come in and steal the fat balls when she or Mr. Redbush aren't around. Bonzi gives chase to the "Dirty Birdies," as they are known to him, when he sees them trying to steal them. When Rebush tried to put up a protective covering like a meshed onion sack, she found a chickadee caught up in it that perished, so she doesn't want to do that anymore. She wonders what kind of a cage she can devise so that her smaller birds can enjoy the balls, and that the large ones won't steal. She would like some suggestions from her intelligent, inventive, creative bloggers. She hopes everyone has a great week!