The Circle of Life in My Own Backyard

We had a difficult winter here and the struggle for survival openly played out in the park by our lake - a pack of coyotes caught a goose, an eagle caught another goose, and something grabbed and ate a large turtle.

It was hard. It made me sad. And yet, I know that that's the circle of life.

Sometimes that struggle spills into our yard, and last night we had a heartbreaking incident. Around midnight, there was a large thump against the outside wall of our bedroom and some animal noises. Immediately Craig grabbed a flashlight and went outside to see what had happened.

Only some clumps of rabbit fur were on the ground as witness to the rabbit who'd just lost its life.

Later that morning, I checked the spot when the sun had risen. In addition to the rabbit fur remnants, I found this feather. 

We have a lot of predatory birds that fish and hunt in the lake, yards, and woods: bald eagles, osprey, great horned owls, red shouldered hawks, red tailed hawks, cooper's hawks, and more. 

My guess is that the predator was a great horned owl. Nocturnal birds, they frequent our yard and have been known to perch on our chimney as they hunt. (Their hoots travel down the chimney and into our living room; it's neat to hear.) 

I sent a photo of the feather to Sarah, hoping that she could identify it for me (yep, great horned owl), and then put the feather back outside in the grass where I found it.

With all the bunnies we have bouncing around our yard this spring, this will likely happen again. But for this little bunny, there's no more pain or fight for survival. 

Rest in peace, little one. 

Worn Out but Home

What a weekend! The Great Lakes Congress show was so much fun and I have a lot to share with you. Having said that, it absolutely wore me out - Sunday I got up and went to church, then came home, put my jammies back on, and went back to bed for more snoozing.

I have not unpacked the car yet, but I will do that today and write some blog posts about the show to post tomorrow. In the meantime, here are a couple of things I want to share.

Tiffany Purdy gave me this ribbon during the show, but it wasn't because I won anything. Any guesses as to why she thought I should have it? (I'll explain when I write about the GLC show.)

During the show, Nancy Falzone and I had the opportunity for a long chat and that was just the best! 

Sunday morning when I got up to get ready for church, I let Pepper out to do her business and noticed that she was quite interested in the rolling planter on the patio.

A closer look showed that there was a baby bunny or two under the planter!

After church I checked on those bunnies - there were seven of them hopping around the patio! They disappeared for the afternoon but then came back to sleep for the night under the planter again.

Friday Kris Gallagher sent me a photo of a set up she did of mutton busting- she made the dolls and the sheep! Isn't that cool?!

I passed it on to Mountain Mama Jessica so she could show it to her mutton busting kids. They all got a kick out of seeing their sport done with model horses.

Finally, I don't think I've shared this yet, but there's a new dog in the family.

Meet Gus, the Standard Poodle. He belongs to Local Son Curt and Vanessa and he is a great family dog. (Although he does tend to jump OVER the couch instead of trotting around it.)

Gussie is 16 months old and very, very good with the kids. 

Curt told me that he especially likes that Gussie is the same color as his own childhood dog, Duffy, our English Springer Spaniel. 

That's it for today - I'm still tired but I'm going to get started unpacking the show tubs and taking inventory on the Mercantile merchandise. More to come tomorrow!

Stay 'tooned!

Pony Pal Fashion (Show Among Other Things)

The COVID-19 pandemic has shut most of the world down. Thankfully, there are ways of staying in touch during the pandemic. Pony Pals Julie and Kate, along with Cowpoke Susie, have been using social media to talk with me. Recently we had a little impromptu fashion show. 

It began with Pony Pal Kate sending me a text with a photo of herself in a cute horsey tee shirt.

And then a Marco Polo where she described the horse on her shirt and told me about the "lines" on it. (I think she meant the reins.)

Cowpoke Susie chimed in, just to say she loved me.

I decided that I would send a Marco Polo back and show Pony Pal Kate my own tee shirt.  She loves rabbits and bunnies even more than unicorns and horses, so I grabbed the only article of clothing that I own that is even remotely connected to bunnies.

My Jackalope tee shirt, a tongue in cheek gift from Nancy Kelly. (Nancy knows I really dislike unicorns, and the tee shirt says "Jackalope - Not everyone can be a unicorn.")

 Well, that opened the door to three more Marco Polos.

Next I got to see Kate's color changing sequin unicorn shirt. "It goes easily back from gold to silver," she explained as she ran her hands up and down the sequins.

Julie got on, only she didn't want to show me her clothes, she wanted to discuss her passion, birds. (Including the fact that some cultures make soup out of birds' nests.) She also told me about the juvenile robin that had spent some time on their patio but then "Its mom and dad found it" so everything was okay.

I slipped over to the bush in our yard where a robin is making a nest and sent back another Marco Polo showing Julie that nest, a hummingbird nest from last year that we'd found when we'd trimmed our clematis a few days ago, and the barn swallows' nest in the arch over our porch. (And where two bluebirds roosted at night last winter.)

As I stay home during the pandemic, I sometimes feel isolated, even with Craig and Pepper around to keep me company. I am very grateful for social media that allows me to stay in touch with family and friends. Talking about everyday, normal-life things like tee shirts and birds' nests brings some normalcy into the craziness of the world right now.

Okay, So I Caved

Tis the season to see lots of holiday items in the stores, no matter where you shop. Monday I was in JoAnns getting some notions for a project I am sewing and I spied a big bin of wrapping paper that was on sale.

Yep, those are unicorns pulling Santa's sleigh. I stood there and thought of my Pony Pals who love everything unicornish, and since I knew this would be the perfect wrapping paper for them, I caved and put it in my cart.

Pony Pal Kate actually loves bunnies more than unicorns, so I also bought two rolls of bunny paper for her gifts.

I will have use up all that unicorn paper up quickly - if I don't, no doubt someone in my family will wrap MY gifts with it. And that would make me say "No! No! No!" instead of "Ho! Ho! Ho!"