A Special Morning Treat

We rarely see Luna Moths (Activas luna) around here so it was a special treat to find one hanging from our deck railing. These amazing adults have a very short life. They do not eat during their adult lives. They simply mate and start the new generation.

A true creature of the night

green, golden,

soft, velvety,

gracing my day

because the light lured her

from the night.

Raymond Foss

Food for the Red-bellied Baby

The advantages of living in the forest are far too numerous to list. Surely one of the biggest is being able to watch the birds go about their normal activities.

We have four pairs of resident woodpeckers; Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, and Pileated. As might be expected, they pretty much fledge sequentially based on their sizes. We had seen the Downy Woodpecker fledglings and looked forward to the Hairy Woodpeckers. The Hairys came to the suet in a frenzy and suddenly stopped coming. We have no idea what might have happened but apparently their nest was destroyed and they moved elsewhere. What a shame.

Right on time came the Red-bellied fledgling. For a frustrating week we saw only glimpses of the baby since the parents were feeding it deep in the woods. Gradually they began to bring the fledgling closer to the suet feeder and we were delighted to watch.

First the parent(s) bring the fledgling to a tree near the feeder. This is used so often by the woodpeckers that we have taken to calling it the "launching tree." From this tree they are fed and from this tree they make their first attempts to fly to the suet all by themselves.

Now don't you move from there. I'll get some food and be right back.

You can count on me!

Hmm...wonder if there's anything here I might try.

Never mind. Here's comes my fast-food breakfast.

The fledgling gets a tasty morsel of suet. It seems that early in the feeding process the parent feeds from above and as the fledgling gets older the parent feeds from below. Perhaps this is in preparation to teaching the little one how to eat for himself.

Is that all? Please can I have some more?

[Note that the fledgling has only a very subtle hint of red. This makes the bird blend into the tree and is fairly well hidden even in full view.]

The food is delivered quickly to feed the impatient fledgling.

These birds do not really need our suet. There is plenty of food available to them. But when I think of the long incubation phase, I am thankful I can provide a quick and nourishing bite of food for the hard-working parents. And yeah, I admit it. I do so love to watch the activity from my deck. Somehow it gives me a little faith that all might be well in this troubled world.

Fridays are Golden

We needed a new vacuum cleaner for the doggie room, so we picked up an inexpensive one to replace the old one which wasn't well-designed for dog hair.

Ellie and Lucy love packages in spite of the fact that the contents rarely have anything to do with them. Whenever something new arrives, Lucy heads straight for it while Ellie stands back thinking it over.

Lucy dives right in to see if anything is missing.

Ellie continues to observe.

Finally she approaches the parts of the vacuum.

She looks up as if to say, What's so special about this? I don't get it.

Is that it? Is that all there is?

Disappointed, they show no further interest in watching the assembly of the new vacuum. Lucy plops in a bed.

Ellie lies on the floor.

Both dogs are doing quite well following their treatment and are perfectly normal. Well, as normal as a long-haired dog can be in hot humid weather. They still come into the kitchen every evening looking for more of those marvelous bits of bread slathered with Laughing Cow cheese. I'm sure that will continue for a while until they realize that the "special" treats are gone.

As you enjoy this weekend, remember all those in pain for whatever reason. Reach out to them in whatever way you can. One of our fellow bloggers is grieving the sudden death of her husband. Drop by "Cicero Sings" and offer some words of comfort and support.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. Live the old adage and don't postpone the joy.

Things Big and Things Little

Whenever I feel a bit down (usually because of politics or the environment) I reflect on some recent wonderful days. One such day was a visit with my daughter to the North Carolina Arboretum. The Bonsai Exhibit is my very favorite. From the beginning, one feels the magic.

Many of the exhibits represent the trees that grow in certain areas of our mountains. This one beautifully reflects the trees around Mt. Mitchell.

This tiny rhododendren was getting ready to burst into full bloom.

I stood in awe of tiny trees so wonderfully shaped, looking exactly like their giant parents.

We were fortunate enough to find a gardener trimming one of the trees. Using small scissors, he is thinning the leaves.

Not everything at the arboretum is small. One of my favorite works of art is huge! A Native American stands with his hands up to the sky. The full figure bronze, titled "Oh, Great Spirit" stands more than 12 feet tall.

The figure, opening his arms to the heavens, gives us pause to reflect on our concept of god, (or nature as god) regardless of religion. Standing beneath him, we can momentarily forget the problems we are encountering.

Little Downy Fledgling

Our Downy Woopeckers fledged last week. I watched them for several days, trying to get a good photograph. Finally I decided to show you what I was able to get. Not great pictures, but a wonderful process. This pair of Downys had two fledglings, but now only one remains. They seem especially devoted to the remaining one.


The little Downy perches on a nearby tree while his daddy goes to the suet.

He seems to be a bit impatient as Daddy feeds himself first. Still the little one sits and watches.

Finally! Daddy comes back to the tree with some food.

The move around the tree a bit.

And finally, the little one is fed.

No matter how often we see this process repeated, we gaze in awe at the care of all the fledglings. Soon we will be treated to the antics of the fledgling trying to get to the suet independently. We have already seen a Red-bellied Woodpecker fledgling, but he is fed so deep into the woods I haven't gotten more than a glance. Before long, our Pileateds will bring their huge fledglings to the feeders. What a wonderful time of year.

NOTE TO THE CEO OF BRITISH PETROLEUM:

Fire your entire PR staff, or at least the ones who thought your warm fuzzy (expensive) commercials would make me feel better. Quite the opposite. The message of your "concern" makes me as angry as the sight of an oil-soaked bird or animal. I'm thoroughly disgusted and can't stand the sight of you.

Fridays are Golden

Rarely do we take only one dog anywhere in the car. However, Lucy needed to see our veterinarian. She's been having some digestive problems which didn't resolve with medications last week.

Ellie was totally shocked to find herself left behind.
Wait! You forgot my leash.

She plopped down in the bed, still wondering why she didn't get to go for a ride.

She moved from place to place, but her expression and demeanor did not change. She was down-hearted for sure.

Periodically she went to the window to look out at the driveway.

At last she heard my husband's car and ran to the garage door.

Hi, Mom. I'm home! Lucy is delighted to be back. Ellie checks her out. Perhaps she smells like the veterinarian's office.

Well Mom, I checked her out and it is indeed Lucy. No switcheroo here. But she does smell a little funny.

Both dogs were exhausted for the remainder of the day. Ellie because she had fretted about being left behind, and Lucy because of the visit to the doctor. They slept side-by-side for most of the afternoon.

The doctor is fairly convinced that Lucy has picked up whip worms. They are notoriously difficult to detect and treat and apparently the eggs can lie dormant in the soil for years. In fact, our veterinarian said that if your dog gets whip worms, you shouldn't blame it on your neighbor's dog; you should blame it on his grandfather's dog. A specimen sent to the lab will confirm the diagnosis or give us another one. Lucy has always been the dog that picks up all sorts of things...clumps of dead leaves, moss, pine cones, acorns, and even rocks.

Both dogs are being treated. You may recall that these dogs get nothing but dry dog food and the occasional carrot or two. Imagine their total delight when they found a bit of canned dog food (with the medicine stirred in it) on top of their kibble this morning. The bowls were licked until the dishes spun around in the holders. Lucy is also taking Flagyl. We spread half a slice of bread with a small amount of Laughing Cow cheese, wrap the pills inside and they think it is the best thing since, well, sliced bread. (We have to give Ellie a small piece of bread sans medicine.) They have no idea the origin of their newfound wonderous snacks, but it is marvelous indeed. It's going to be hard for them to realize that in a week, there will be no more bread and cheese for them.

Fortunately, both girls seem to feel fine and the only real problem is that Lucy sometimes awakens us in the middle of the night to go potty. On the one hand we are getting far too old to quickly fall back to sleep. On the other hand, we are retired and seldom have an early appointment.

I think all of us remain very anxious about the Gulf oil disaster. I do not have the words to tell you how much this affects me, and I live far from the coast. It's hard to imagine the future of the wetlands involved and what this is doing to the people along the Gulf coast. Our thoughts are with them as we approach yet another weekend since this disaster.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. Hold your friends and family near and do at least one nice thing for someone else.

Summer Kickoff

Among many other things, Memorial Day signals the official start of the tourist season in Transylvania County. In addition to honoring the lives of veterans, Brevard hosts the White Squirrel Festival every Memorial Day weekend.

I have previously written about the Brevard white squirrels here. Regular readers know my feelings about squirrels, so I will not elaborate. We have official mascots for the festival. Being a person not fond of any mascot costumes, I am naturally not at all fond of the white squirrel.

The festival runs for two days and includes various vendors selling their wares.

In addition to the "main" musicians, there are groups all along the sidewalks playing for the public.

Potters and other artisans demonstrate and display their work.

The streets are packed with people of all ages.

There are two Squirrel Box Derby races. One is for the kids and one for the local merchants.

Jailhouse Hill (yep, that's what we call it) is blocked off for the running of the Squirrel Box Derby.

This year the White Squirrel Festival set a world record for the most people dancing in white squirrel costumes. People were invited to dress in costume (at minimum a tail, ears, and whiskers) and dance for five minutes. You may think this is such a silly record to break. After all, how many people actually try for this one? Truth is, it's not the record that is important. The entry fee for dancing was two cans of food. So one of the local food pantries, the Bread of Life received a very large stock of food. And, yes, the record was broken and officially belongs to Brevard NC.

NOTE: All of the above photographs came from area newspapers. Alas, I did not go downtown for the festival. There's just something too creepy about all those squirrel costumes.