Fridays are Golden

We recently bought a new piece of art for the yard. Because the dogs are usually so inquisitive, they notice every little new thing be it a plant, furniture, or artwork. We find it better to show them the new thing rather than having them stumble upon it. We anchored the piece and brought the girls out to see it.

They have a little business to attend to first. Lucy starts a little wrestling match. These occur several times a day and the dogs are not fighting. No one is ever bitten or injured, although they do look a bit vicious.

The bouts end as abruptly as they begin. This one ends with Ellie pinning Lucy to the driveway. She puts her down flat on the surface. You can almost hear Lucy saying, "Uncle."

Here is the bird we purchased. We have few requirements for our art and our collection is eclectic at best. We purchase things we like, that blend more-or-less into the yard, and are not offensive to anyone. Something about this bird caught our fancy, so we brought it home.

The scuffle over, the girls are steered over toward the bird. They approach cautiously, sniffing as they go.

Lucy checks out the front end and Ellie the back. The doggie sniff test is an important part of checking out anything.

Lucy becomes bored quickly, but Ellie remains to continue to check out the new sculpture.

Following this burst of activity, the girls come back inside. Yes, another photograph of Ellie serving as Lucy's pillow. I do wish they were able to relax.

It's almost mid-June. School is out and for our area that means summer campers and tourists. We rarely leave home on weekends, but we have plenty to keep us entertained. Our Golden Girls provide plenty of amusement. We have the community trails to ourselves. We are treated to fledglings and watching the birds prepare for another nesting. Life is good.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend. Enjoy yourself and be kind to others.

The Ugly Truth about those Squirrels

Brevard, NC is known as the "Home of the White Squirrel." Before this became my own little town, I was amazed at how many things carried "White Squirrel" as part of the name. In the shoppes I saw photographs and drawings of white squirrels along with children's books and cuddly stuffed animals. If there was a way, tasteful or tacky, to market the white squirrel, it was in the shoppes.

Our real estate agent took us on a tour of the college campus and pointed out several white sqirrels playing in the trees. Amazing! Regular readers will know that I am not fond of squirrels of any color, but it really was something to see these white ones running around. We learned that the second largest gathering in the town was the annual "White Squirrel Festival." A town ordinance passed in 1986 declared Brevard to be a sanctuary for all squirrels and "particularly for the Brevard White Squirrel." So the squirrel had been given the name "Brevard White Squirrel." I thought it exciting that the squirrel had mutated right in the town where we planned to live.

Curious person that I am, I did some research on the white squirrel. Much to my chagrin I discovered the white squirrel was actually brought to Brevard in 1949. What a downer! It seems a circus truck in Florida overturned and two captive white squirrels escaped. They took up residence in a yard and the owner caught them and brought them to a friend in Brevard. The friend gave the two white squirrels to his niece, Barbara Mull. In 1951 the niece married and left home. Shortly thereafter one of the squirrels escaped. Barbara's father felt that the only thing to do was to release the remaining squirrel into the wild. Soon, more and more white squirrels were sighted in our fair little town.

Yes, dear reader...the truth of the Brevard White Squirrel is the awful truth of an exotic "pet" released into the wild. Since their release in 1951, the white squirrels have bred with the native Eastern Grey Squirrels to the extent that now more than a fourth of the squirrels within the town limits are white.

The all-white squirrels do not belong to a separate species...they are Eastern Grey Squirrels that happen to be white. The "Brevard" white squirrels have grey markings on the top of their heads. Otherwise they are white with dark beady little black eyes just like every other squirrel.

Most of the white squirrels in our county are found within the town limits of Brevard. We live nine miles up the mountain and we had never seen one in our community although we heard there were a few here. Imagine our surprise when we spotted a white squirrel right in our back yard. He seemed quite unafraid of us as he flitted around the trees. Yes, I will admit that he is cute. He looks rather pink because you can see his skin. But his beady little black eyes indicate that he does indeed have pigment and is not an albino. The dots of grey on his head are a dead giveaway...he is a Brevard White Squirrel.

So if you happen to visit our fair little mountain town, you will be bombarded with all things white squirrel, including cookies and candy. If you see a squirrel in the town, there is a 25% chance it will be a white one. I love seeing the look on the faces of tourists when they see their first white squirrel. They grab their cameras hoping for a good picture.

----------And I truly wish I could be excited about them. Having learned the true story of their introduction, I can view them only as invasive. OK, they do not appear to have done any harm, and they do draw people to the area. It's just the idea that "wild" pets were released to the outdoors that really bothers me.

----------Perhaps I should actually appreciate the wit and skills of the two white squirrels released in 1951. They left a protected environment and managed to survive and thrive in the wild. (Although it doesn't hurt that so many people put out peanuts and other food hoping to attract them.)

A Walk Through the Laurel

The mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) just happens to be one of my favorite native perennials. An evergreen, it provides deep green foliage all winter. And in the spring, it blooms in abundance in the Blue Ridge Mountains. While technically a shrub, some laurels grow as big as 40 feet. It is a wonder to behold, growing along the hills and rocks along the roads.

One of our favorite sites for viewing Mountain Laurel is a short trail near Caesar's Head State Park in South Carolina. While the trail is not an energy-consuming hike, it is a very peaceful and lovely place to wander slowly observing nature.

We actually don't need to go away from our house to view the lovely Mountain Laurel. Our property is loaded with them. Here is one near our house.

Whenever I walk through the laurel thickets, a song my gramma taught me always runs through my mind. I didn't bother to look it up, but the words I remember are these:

Like the Mountain Laurel in the grove dear,

My love is, it's evergreen.

Like the Mountain Laurel finds the grove dear,

I'll find you again.

Where the mountain breezes blow

There's a place I long to go,

You'll be waiting there I know

In the pines, and we'll climb

Into the hills we knew in days gone by,

When your heart was gay and so was I,

And we'll find the love we left behind

Long ago...long ago.

Today, the Mountain Laurel is valued for its twisting vine-like branches. They are used to make bannisters on porches and decks, even inside the houses.

Community Art in the Park

Our little community is home to some very talented people. A surprising number of our neighbors paint, throw pots, quilt, or do other beautiful art projects. Annually we have "Art in the Park," a chance for the artists to display and sell their artwork to the community.

I should mention that artists are limited to our gated community, not the town. Having little artistic talent myself, I have such great admiration for painters and potters. I always look forward to "Art in the Park."

[You may want to click on the pictures to enlarge them for detail.]





Gourd art is very popular around here. Perhaps it is because the climate is perfect for growing these large gourds.

One of the artists displays on easels in the grass. She wisely selected a shaded spot.

Some of the paintings are oil and many are watercolor.

Most depict local scenery and points of interest.

More gourd art. The giraffe is made from two gourds...the crooked-neck for the body and a smaller one for the head.

Some artwork is framed, but most are matted without frames.

This artist prefers a clothesline display.

It was such a nice morning and we really enjoyed seeing the artists and meeting our neighbors. How nice it is to live among so many talented people.

Fridays are Golden

We had another four inches of rain this week, taking us out of any drought category (not even abnormally dry) for the first time in more than two years. It is wonderful!

Our dogs are very active and will run on the trails until we make them stop to rest. However, they hate rain and become a couple of slugs in rainy weather. It amazes me that they are content to simply lie around on rainy days. One would think they would become restless. Instead they do not seem at all bothered by the lack of activity. Too bad they don't know how to read...I'm sure they would love a good book on a rainy day. They do occasionally play actively with tug toys or wrestling.

Ellie picks up a toy and it appears they are finally going to see some action.




But Ellie declines, leaving Lucy to play with the toy by herself.

She carries it across the room while Ellie simply watches. "Go ahead, Lucy. Enjoy yourself. I'll just sit here and watch."

We are fortunate enough to have a large screened porch. They love sitting there watching the birds and animals or just listening to the rain while we read. So I thought a visit on the porch might ease their boredom.

Lucy takes a look into the woods. Usually, she goes to each side of the porch looking for action.

They are not at all interested in being on the porch. Both of them go and stand at the door, clearly wanting to go back inside.

I try to explain that they have this entire porch to themselves. As you can see, they are still begging at the door.

I glance at my watch and I immediately understand what is going on. It is within an hour of dinner time! While the girls cannot tell time, they instinctively know when the dinner hour is approaching. And since it is my husband who provides the feast (if you call dry dog food a feast), they do not leave his side when dinner is an hour away. No matter where he might go, there are two Goldens who appear tethered to him.

----------So I let the girls back inside. They immediately lie directly in front of the chef to make certain he doesn't forget to feed them. We learned the hard way the Goldens have no satiety center. When Ellie was small, we simply left food in her dish like we had done with our Springer Spaniels. Very quickly she porked up and we learned that timed and measured feedings are the way to go. The girls consume their meals in less than two minutes and it's all over.

We are expecting even more rain this weekend so I will spend it reading, knitting, or visiting neighbors. The Golden Girls? They will lie around and reluctantly go for a couple of walks in between showers.

Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the time you have to spend with family, including the canine and feline members. Our time with each other is finite...so enjoy every single minute you can.

Mystery Bird is Pileated Woodpecker

It's certainly no mystery that we have Pileated Woodpeckers living in our woods. We love watching them look for insects. They come to our suet several times every day.

During all that time we have never once observed a pileated at the sunflower hearts. The feeder is definitely not designed for a Pileated Woodpecker. We've seen Red-bellied Woodpeckers there on occasion and even they look quite strange.

However, this female decided she wanted some of those seeds, no matter how awkward she might look in getting them.

She balanced herself fairly well I thought, and seemed to enjoy the new-found feast.

Much to her surprise (and to mine as well), a female Eastern Towhee decided to try the seeds for herself. She totally ignored the Pileated who couldn't believe her eyes. My first thought was that she would fly away. But she didn't.

The towhee looked at her as if to say, "You don't have a problem with my being here, do you?"

Apparently the Pileated reassured the towhee and they both turned their interest to the food at hand.

After the towhee left, the pileated continued to eat at the feeder. She slid around to all sides. I was so afraid the seed tray would fall off under her weight, but it didn't.

Finally, having eaten her fill, she rolled off the feeder and glided into the forest.

Don't you just love seeing birds do things you don't expect them to do? I'm not sure if this is a juvenile or not. The Pileateds have fledged, but Big Mama and Big Daddy have chosen to feed them deeper in the forest so I have not had a good look at the little one. Hence, no name yet. We have not observed the Pileated coming back to this feeder.

----------We have plenty of woodpeckers in queue at the suet. The Pileated, the Red-bellied, the Hairy, and the Downy all have fledglings. Unfortunately, they are all feeding them behind branches with heavy leaves, or on the other side of the trees. It's as if they are determined that I will not get a photograph of them this year. That frustration notwithstanding, I do love watching all the fledglings. I think it's even better than migration!

Little Crossbill and a Mystery Bird

Sometimes the fledglings have a difficult time understanding that it's time to grow up a little and get your own food. Our little Red Crossbill is getting a lesson in growing up. He sits on the railing waiting for Mom or Dad to come feed him (I have no idea whether the bird is male or female, so for the sake of convenience, I'll consider the bird a male.)

No one comes to the deck railing, so the little bird flies to the tree nearest the bird feeder. Surely someone will see him there and come to his aid.

In a final attempt to get his parent's attention, the little crossbill flies to the feeder. To his surprise, the parents continue eating and ignore him completely.

His parents leave and he gives the feeder a try. It works! Two goldfinches come to share the feeder with him.

Quickly gaining confidence, the little crossbill decides that two goldfinches are enough. He threatens a third one who flies away.

We still have two pairs of Red Crossbills in our woods. We're hoping for another set of fledglings.


And now, for the mystery bird. We often see this large bird in our trees and at our feeders. However, this is the first time we have ever seen her at the sunflower heart feeder. She really doesn't fit very well. I'll post the identifying photographs on Wednesday.