Young Turkeys

I was driving the ATV around the cabin property this morning when I had to stop and let these young turkeys cross in front of me. I was able to get within 25 feet of the turkeys as they were looking for a meal of grasshoppers.

Walnuts

The autumnal equinox marks the start of the Fall season and as the leaves start falling from the trees, so do the black walnuts (Juglans nigra). With an abundance of walnuts at our barn this year, the clean-up/removal of the walnuts from the lawn was complicated by a lack of squirrel volunteers. After removing more than a dozen 5-gallon buckets of the chartreuse spheres in the past week, it was time to bring in the front-end loader.

Grouse

I found at least one grouse in the neighborhood. It's hard to find/see ruffed grouse in this area and even harder to get a photograph of one.

Turkeys

Over the last couple of weeks I've encountered this family of turkeys several times during my wildlife drives on our properties. The turkeys will now allow me to get much closer for photographs and sometimes they will approach me while I'm in the ATV.

I got within 30 feet of the turkeys for this photograph.

The turkeys walked across a field and in front of the ATV for this photograph.

Bear Activity

A couple of days ago I caught a glimpse of a bear on our cabin property. Today I pulled the memory cards from the game cameras in that area. It appears that at least 3 bears have been in this area for the last couple of weeks.

Sweet Potatoes

Doing some final cleanup of this year's garden and it's time to dig the sweet potatoes. I planted 12 hills of sweet potatoes and got just over three 5-gallon buckets of sweet potatoes.

Wildlife Food Plot

On my evening wildlife drive I checked on my new wildlife food plot. The deer have found it.

Turkey Poults

I found this hen turkey and poults while I was mowing along our cabin road.

Raccoons

My neighbor gave me some fish scraps from his recent fishing trip to Lake Ontario and I used the fish scraps as bait at my game cameras. These 5 young raccoons approved of the meal.

Myra's 9th Birthday

Time to celebrate granddaughter Myra's 9th birthday. The celebration started with a party at the river property. Myra prepares the piñata.

Cotton candy!

A long line at the cotton candy machine kept Nikki busy.

Time to break the piñata.

The kids collecting the piñata candy.

Time to blow out the birthday candles.

What is a birthday party without fireworks?

Myra's second party was back home the next day. At this party Myra opened the gifts from family members.

Myra received an electronic keyboard piano.

Another birthday candle and cake, cheesecake.

Butterfly Relocation

A butterfly became trapped in our solarium and grandson Reed soon had a new friend. Reed was able to pick up this Red-spotted purple (Basilarchia Astyanax) butterfly and then given the task of releasing it outdoors. The butterfly remained on Reed's hand as he transported it outdoors and walked around the lawn showing it potential release sites. The butterfly was reluctant to leave Reed, but did settle on a nearby wall.

Reed's Equation

Grandson Reed found a tree on our property that had a heart and initials carved on it. Each time we went by it Reed would ask about the carvings and I would tell him that his dad carved it in May of 2015. The "M" in "M + A" was for his dad and the "A" was for his mother.

Reed showed me an equation he formulated a couple of weeks ago. The equation was "M + A = R" where the "R" is for Reed. Reed wanted to add this as a carving on the tree. Reed drew the heart and equation on the tree and with some help from grandpa he carved it on the tree.

Wild Mushrooms

It has been a warm/wet summer, perfect conditions for wild mushrooms.

The Chanterelle mushrooms are popping up on our properties.

Grandson Reed enjoys picking mushrooms.

Reed cleaning the base of a Chanterelle mushroom.

Reed's Chanterelle mushrooms.

After collecting some Chanterelles we were able to find some Indigo milk cap mushrooms. These edible mushrooms are easy to identify due to their blue gills and the blue "milk" they ooze when cut.

Indigo milk cap mushrooms.

Chanterelles and Indigo milk cap mushrooms ready to cook.

Reed's Bicycle

Grandson Reed reached another milestone today. He is now riding his bicycle.

Battle of the Bees

It was another hot summer day with the heat index into the 100's. As the temperature cooled in the late afternoon, grandson Reed challenged the grandparents to a Nerf gun battle. The battle started with Reed heading for a high ground advantage on the deck when he was met with a surprise attack by Yellowjackets. All of the Nerf fighters then retreated the battlefield.

Reed's sudden advance up the stairs to the deck had triggered the Yellowjacket's defense warning system to DEFCON level 1. The Yellowjackets were in full attack mode.

As the Nerf fighters regrouped in the rec room, about 50 of the Yellowjackets tried to break down the protection of the sliding glass door. A continuous "thud" of Yellowjackets hitting the window could be heard for the next half hour.

An hour later the Yellowjacket's had lowered their defense warning system to DEFCON level 2. Under the cover of darkness the Nerf fighters launched a retaliation attack with chemical weapons and demolished the Yellowjacket's home base.