Lookin out my back door

Well I saw the post and thought it was about John Fogerty LOL! First thing I thought of was CCR but I was wrong.

I really envy you guys living in such beautiful huge and serene surroundings. Where we live in Central Florida is a community of about 81 homes with average sized lots (way under 1/2 acre). We are surrounded by fields and wooded protected areas. We do have amadillos, gators, lots of snakes, bobcats, boar, deer and even black bear. Once in a while a Bald Eagle swings by since they nest by the St. John's River not far away. Rather big Florida Sand Cranes sometimes walk right into to my garage and hang out with me for a short spell. It's funny how they come up to you and just stand there looking at you. I've had them within a couple of feet away for over 20 minutes at a time just chilling by me as I sat having coffee.

We also have a pair of good sized Brown Hawks nesting in the nearby tree line.

mississippivol

That is peaceful looking! Any worries with snakes?

 

No poisonous water snakes in Kansas despite popular belief. A few species of rattlesnakes in Kansas but rare in the SE. Copperheads are common in hilly/rocky areas but where humans live most have been removed. Many species of snakes are on the property but in the fifty years I've owned the place and turning over every rock on the place more than once. lol, I've never encountered a venomous snake. The rest of the snakes can just live here as part of the deal of restored wildlife habitat along with all the other things. We don't bother each other, lol! 

Max

Hodakamax

Well, I'm between projects and have no models to discuss. Morning coffee on the deck and I thought of this post. It seems I've spent most of my life mowing things and several years ago I changed the plan. About 25 years ago I built a house in the middle of 40 acres with an enviromental approach. Here's the front yard this morning. I just had to show everyone.  

Max

 

Beautiful!  I'll have to share my view once I get pics taken. 

Well, I'm between projects and have no models to discuss. Morning coffee on the deck and I thought of this post. It seems I've spent most of my life mowing things and several years ago I changed the plan. About 25 years ago I built a house in the middle of 40 acres with an enviromental approach. Here's the front yard this morning. I just had to show everyone.  

Max

I thought they were mooning me, Mississippivol!

John

It looks like you have a couple of shy ones, John 

Love the nature scenes.  I live in a newly built subdivision, and our biggest trees are maybe 10 ft tall, except for a few pines which are bigger.  Nothing providing any shade though.  We do have a couple of lakes and a wetlands area, which does have a few animals living in it.  Mostly what I see are birds.  The duck pictures reminded me of a couple I caught last year, and thought I would share. 

Enjoy

John

Cool .

In live inside the DC Beltway in Northern VA and once had a pair of deer camp out in my small backyard for a few hours

Pat

Wow! Check this out. Looking out the back door, actually the back window a few minutes ago and noticed a duck fly out of one of many wood duck houses placed around the pond and wetlands. This one appeared to be another tree cavity nester, a Hooded Merganser, an unusual and secretive duck of SE Kansas. Suddenly baby mergansers began to jump and I ran for the big lensed Nikon. In about two minutes it was over and I got about six shots before they swam into the cover. Two more jumped after these shots for a total of eleven. I've never seen this happen let alone get to photograph it. A really good start for the day!

Max

That sure muddied up things, Max. Don, I feel for ya, but at least it'll keep the skeeters away, they about carried me off last night...

Looking out my windows today, it is snowing :-(

Wow! Looking out the backdoor 10 days later is quite the change! A Kansas "toad strangler" occurred last night giving us another 4.25 inches of rain which adds up to over 10 inches since the last picture was taken. Full pool on all wetlands and ponds on this place. I have been trapped inside building models which is not all bad but I am ready for some sunshine!

Reporting! 

Max

Hmm, looks to be a slow load on a big file picture. Be patient, I'll try again!

Tanker - Builder

I like the scene ;

   Now to make sure we all know . What's an Armadillo where I live ? A Texas speed bump ! ...

 

Sadly yes . 

Pat

PS.  Though, as an interesting bit of trivia, the Russian word used for a Pre-Dreadnought Battleship - Bronenosets - actually gets translated in Google Translate as Armadillo, which I guess is kind of apt.

Being a photographer I'm always recording things through the years on the forty acres. I have several mounts around the farm that I mount the camera on at different seasons. Spring has sprung and rather quickly and I thought I'd share a couple of shots that seem timely for this post. The transition is from March 5, 2017 to April 20, 2017. This is the start of a new series that will run one year hopefully demonstrating the seasons. These are usually somewhat startling with ever changing skies, vegetation growth, colors of fall and the white of Winter. Approaching storms and even starry nights are included. Fun projects!

Max

Tech: Nikon D3x with Nikkor 16mm Fisheye, About 170 degrees wide.

I like the scene ;

   Now to make sure we all know . What's an Armadillo where I live ? A Texas speed bump ! Seriously , when I built houses in the seventies ( custom builds only ) no Old growth trees were cut down , and few of the Mid growth were either .There was a minimum of 60 feet between houses and all had a service alley and driveways in the back .32' from the house to the sidewalks . 6 ' wide sidewalks .

 I sold every house before they were finished and am proud to say only nine of the original 115 have been sold outside the original buyer's family. We have a new sub - division going up next to us . It's supposed to be " phase 2 " of ours .Twenty feet apart with 18 foot from the back of the house to the fence . No old trees  and the lots are smaller than ours .

 The first time we got a gully washer the darn place flooded , and we had to be careful that water didn't come in our house .This never happened Before " Phase 2 " ! T.B.

patrick206

 

 

mississippivol

Yeah, there is a fine line with that . We used to have some rabbits, but I haven't seen them in years. Lots of squirrels, a fox, opossum, raccoons (one who tred to squat in my attic), and some deer that never left. I know there are some armadillos around, but they are usually sighted in an inverted position on the road.

 

 

 

 

Hey, Mizz'sip -

Same here in Western oregon, trees are getting leafed out and most everything is getting mighty green. Sure beats the dormant winter months. 

Do you know why the possum crossed the road??? To show the armadillos it could be done.

Nice back yard, looks peaceful.

Patrick

 

Bigfoot? Oh no, that's just Bubba. I told him to put a shirt on under his overalls.

Sorry to hear about the temperature drop. Even if you know it won't last, it still stinks.

mississippivol

Spent most of my day working in the yard...sure am glad the trees are coming out!

Hi,

Is that Bigfoot that I see frolicing off in the distance?  According to "Futurama" I hear that "They typically dwell just behind rocks but are also sometimes playful, bounding into thick fogs and out-of-focus areas."

Regards

Pat

PS. "Remember, it's up to us. Bigfoot is a crucial part of the ecosystem, if he exists. So let's all help keep Bigfoot possibly alive for future generations to enjoy unless he doesn't exist."

https://theinfosphere.org/Transcript:Spanish_Fry

mississippivol

Jim, no worries, man; I get what you're saying. The road I take to work is undergoing the same lunacy, only they are just leaving everything that the log trucks didn't want. It's an absolute mess and disgrace.

Patrick, I'm glad you're seeing green. I looked in on Keyda's F-15 build and she's looking at snow, brrrrr.

 

mississippivol

Jim, no worries, man; I get what you're saying. The road I take to work is undergoing the same lunacy, only they are just leaving everything that the log trucks didn't want. It's an absolute mess and disgrace.

Patrick, I'm glad you're seeing green. I looked in on Keyda's F-15 build and she's looking at snow, brrrrr.

 

Mizz'sip, I celebrated too soon. About 90 minutes after my post the temp dropped by nearly 30 degrees, we had three hail storms come through in rapid order, depositing over an inch on the ground.

To make it even worse we had a hard freeze last night, major frost everywhere this AM. Dang it.

Patrick

Yesterday morning I woke up to 3 inches of snow on the ground. Tomorrow is going to be in the 70s....you got to love Ohio weather. Or not!

Jim, no worries, man; I get what you're saying. The road I take to work is undergoing the same lunacy, only they are just leaving everything that the log trucks didn't want. It's an absolute mess and disgrace.

Patrick, I'm glad you're seeing green. I looked in on Keyda's F-15 build and she's looking at snow, brrrrr.

mississippivol

Yeah, there is a fine line with that . We used to have some rabbits, but I haven't seen them in years. Lots of squirrels, a fox, opossum, raccoons (one who tred to squat in my attic), and some deer that never left. I know there are some armadillos around, but they are usually sighted in an inverted position on the road.

 

Hey, Mizz'sip -

Same here in Western oregon, trees are getting leafed out and most everything is getting mighty green. Sure beats the dormant winter months. 

Do you know why the possum crossed the road??? To show the armadillos it could be done.

Nice back yard, looks peaceful.

Patrick

Used to have that across the road with all kinds of wildlife until some ***hole bought up the land, bulldozed the trees, flattened the land, and is now putting in 134 houses there. Picture this, $500,000 to $750,000 houses on 1/4 acre plots with a 10 foot lawn and 5 feet between houses. A little further down the road, there used to be Embreyville State Hospital. It's been shut down for years and now they are planning to put over 1000, Yes I said over 1000, new houses like those above plus a shopping center there. I moved here to be "in the country". 

While they were bulldozing the land, we saw a doe come out looking into the piles of trees and crying. Her fawn was probably under the pile. The deer don't come across the road to our back yard anymore. All the fox dens are burried. The red tail Hawks aren't around any more. 

Very sorry for the rant. Didn't mean to hijack the post. Sorry guys.

Jim  

Yeah, there is a fine line with that . We used to have some rabbits, but I haven't seen them in years. Lots of squirrels, a fox, opossum, raccoons (one who tred to squat in my attic), and some deer that never left. I know there are some armadillos around, but they are usually sighted in an inverted position on the road.

In my opinion, "decent crappie fishing" is an oxymoron.  My opinion of the fish is contained in an alternate pronunciation of the spelling, maybe ending with a Y   Cool back yard though.  Do you get any wildlidfe back there?

John