Its been a mild winter for which I am grateful as it makes it so much easier to haul water to my horses. It's also easier on the wildlife - especially the birds, which I no longer feed.
                  I used to go through dozens of sunflower sacks every winter feeding chickadees, sparrows, nuthatches and other birds, even chipmunks and squirrels.  But then a couple of things happened which changed my mind about feeding wild birds --- hearing a bird scream I ran to see what was happening - discovered a magpie trying to stab a purple finch to death with its beak.  I scooped up the finch which appeared to be blind and put the little bird in a cage with seeds, orange slices and water and stuck it next to the bird feeder outside so it could have visitors -
                A few days later I took the finch to a wildlife rehabilitator and was told that when birds congregate at feeders they sometimes catch an infection that can spread to other birds. I think thats what happened to the finch - couldn't blame the magpie who seeing an injured bird was trying to get his own dinner.
              Here I thought I was doing a wonderful thing by helping birds survive winter when instead my feeder had had become toxic.
             The bird feeder also attracted pack rats who decided to move into the garage where I keep horse feed in trash cans. I started noticing poop everywhere in the garage plus elaborate nests made of hay, leaves and branches decorated with silver spoons, Christmas bows, scissors, anything shiny the pack rats could find in the garage. I have to give them credit for being so resourceful and industrious but I didn't want them living in my garage where they were chewing holes into the trash cans full of horse feed.
            My acreage is a sanctuary for all animals - so I wasn't about to kill the packrats - instead I live trapped one, which was fairly easy to do using peanut butter as bait. I relocated the packrat several miles away and thought the problem was solved-- but no, a new nest appeared -- I ended up live trapping and relocating 4 pack rats and finally making it impossible for them to get back into the garage.
           Since I stopped feeding wild birds, there are fewer squirrels and chipmunks - and no packrats. Yea -
I do have lots of ground squirrels but I don't mind as long as they don't dig their holes in the horse arena.  Quite by accident, I discovered a non toxic way to make ground squirrels move - dump used cat litter into their holes - they will move away and never return.   Every few weeks, a badger comes through my place and nearly wipes the ground squirrel population out -- but a week goes by and a new batch moves in.
          That's mother nature's way - seems like kind of a nasty bitch if you ask me. 

A Scarred deer doesn't know its ugly

A beautiful coyote sat on a rise above the arena and watched me feed the horses this morning. At the same time, ten deer below the arena were watching the coyote. I was watching both deer and coyote.

At least two distinct deer families pass through my place almost daily. They are easy to recognize because at one time in their lives the local game department put tags in their ears. One doe wears red, another green and still another black. The red and green does with their fawns are always together, watch each others fawns and peacefully graze together but they don't get along with the black tagged doe and her family, which includes does, fawns and a couple of bucks. Sometimes the does strike at each other with their front legs and chase non family fawns away.

Another family group is led by a doe easy to recognize because of the scars on her face.  It occured to me that she doesn't even know that she's ugly - bucks mate with her, she raises fawns every year and enjoys as good a quality of life as any of the beautiful does -  I wonder if it would be a better world if humans couldn't tell if they were ugly or beautiful. At least life would be more equal.

Of course with their antlers, bucks rule - but usually benevolently.  The largest buck with 9-point antlers shares grazing space with fawns and tenderly licks them - which reminds me of Bambi, an orphaned fawn I took care of when I operated a wildlife rehabilitation sanctuary in Oregon many years ago.  After he was turned free on 150 acres Bambi, who grew into a beautiful 6-point buck continued to visit and when we had other orphaned fawns, it was Bambi who took them under his wing - teaching them to be wild deer.

Once after being gone for two weeks, when Bambi came to visit he had a broken hind leg. A veternarian put a cast on the leg and we kept Bambi confined for a few weeks - - by the time the cast was removed from Bambi's leg, he had bonded with orphaned fawns, Prince and Baron.

The wild deer who regularly visit my yard bring back memories of Bambi, Prince, Baron and all the other wildlife, including foxes, raccoons, hawks, owls, and even a bear cub I helped care for.  At this point in my life I'm relieved to only have two cats, two dogs and two horses to take care of but my former wildlife patients live on in my heart.

Hello Deer!

The wind has been howling 3 days and nights in a row - 72 hours straight. It comes through cracks in the walls and around windows of my 60-year old house - like a banshee, it howls down my chimney piercing the peace and quiet of my living room and my mind.

Fourteen deer are in my yard - ten of them laying down, chewing their cuds as if the wind isn't blowing the snow to New Mexico. Three distinct groups of does with fawns plus three bucks. For the last month one of the bucks has been limping on a front foot -but he looks healthy so hopefully he will make it through the winter.

Nearly 100 elk passed by on the hill behind my house this morning when the sun was still pink in the sky.  One good thing about the wind is that it blows the snow off the ground keeping areas open for elk and deer to browse so I'll try not to hate it so much.  (Ok, that's a lie - I HATE continual wind)

It's time to carry water up to the horses so I have to bundle up and do my chores. Wish I could be as enthusiastic as my German shepherd, Cheyenne who is dancing with glee about going out in the snow and cold to visit the horses. But then, she isn't carrying six gallons of water up an icy slope.

My Blues have flown away with the old year

A new year brings new expectations and dreams - to self publish my children's picture book about my poodle mix Kody's friendship with "his" horse who he rides every day. I'm working with an illustrator and as soon as she completes the illustrations, I plan to go forward.

I've started meeting with a group of women writers in Boulder - though several are young enough to be my daughter, I'm enjoying the cross generational friendships and it is pushing me to write more.

Mustang, my 27-year old horse has good and bad days - Ever since last May when he suffered a stroke there are days he stands in the middle of the arena unable to remember the way to the hay tub in the barn.
Even after I halter and lead him to it he doesn't start eating until I put his nose in the tub.  I hope he has at least one more summer.

We got four inches of snow last night which isn't so bad but now the wind is whipping it into drifts so that I may not be able to get out my driveway - makes it tough hauling water to the horses and keeping a 60-year old house warm with all the cracks around doors and windows. Oh, did I mention, the temperature is minus ten degrees??  Last week when it got that cold the electricity went out for 4 hours -- so I got a fire roaring in the fireplace, put candles everywhere, listened to a battery radio and was able to keep warm enough. ..keeping my fingers crossed that the electricity doesn't go out tonight when it is supposed to be the coldest night of the winter - so far.

Lots of deer hanging around drinking out of the horse's heated water buckets - one buck has been limping on one of his front legs - hope he makes it.  I watched 3 does chase a coyote - the deer are afraid of coyotes when snow freezes into hard drifts but when weather isn't worrying them, they chase the coyotes. What a spectacle.  Sixty elk came through my place yesterday -  I like the elk but favor the deer.