stubborn 'possum, larvae & lubbers

for months we knew something was living under the trailer.

every night around 10:00 we could hear movement down there.

sometimes it sounded like something was trying to come up through the in-floor A/C vents.

we figured it must be a 'possum.

i hoped it was a 'possum...and not a monster boa constrictor...

or some other creature with beady eyes, long talons and big sharp teeth!

we finally decided to set up the (have-a-heart) live trap.

it took a few nights...but finally mr. 'possum's nose led him to some yummy smelling cat food!

poor opossum.

we hated to have to relocate him...

but we gave him plenty of time to move out on his own.

time to take action, before he tears into all the duct work down there.

bye-bye 'possum

(one of the most misunderstood & unappreciated critters)

sam took him up the road to a nice woodsy area...

where he moseyed away to find a new home.

*   *   *

i spotted some larvae this week. cool looking larvae.

finally ID'ing  them...i thought i'd share them here in case you happen to see the same.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail larva  (POOP goes the larva!)

the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail with 2 false eyespots to scare away predators

Eastern Tiger Swallotail

NEXT...

Pipevine Swallowtail larva

Pipevine Swallowtail

AND...

Red-spotted Purple larva

Red-spotted Purple butterfly

*   *   *

with all the rain we've been having lately...

the smart little Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers

are staying high & dry!!

young Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers

*   *   *

well, that was a look into a few little things from this past week.

anole with a bit of shedding stuck to his head

have a good one.

be safe.

laura

blooms. feathers. carcass. bird. squirrel - - - and milo.

the Azaleas are budding.

they like the cold.   so do i.

this past week we've had a few hard freezes.

no snow here in north florida...but the water in the bird bath froze!!

here's a close up of the water...which i thought looked pretty cool...

with the leaves beneath and the reflection of the trees.

just before the freeze...i noticed the camelia was about to bloom.

luckily it did.  for one day. then it froze, turned brown and shriveled up!

oOo

remember the three little bananas growing in our yard??

this was the first year we had bananas on this plant!

well...they never had a chance to mature.

maybe this year they'll sprout bananas a little earlier.

this is what they look like now.

:(

i found TWO more (Barred) owl pellets, but haven't had the chance to dissect them yet!

THIS is the BIGGEST i have ever found!

2 ¼ inches long and 1 ½ inches wide!!

it's hard to imagine a pellet this size making it up & out of the owl without choking him!

i find myself wanting to gag just imagining that.

feathers on the ground...in piles...in one area...

hmmmm...i think someone...something... has been munching on a Red-shouldered Hawk.

AND that's NOT ALL that has been munched on.

fur spotted on the ground. clumps of it.  appeared to be Opossum fur.

i followed the trail. to the far back of the yard...just beyond the tree line into the woods.

sam spotted it first.

there, on the ground.  

a fairly clean carcass.  still much fur clinging.

definitely a 'possum.  poor little guy.

(you know i'm keeping the bones!)

look at the little skinny ribs in the picture below.

we're thinking maybe a bird. hawk or owl...ate him.

if it was a fox or coyote...or a dog...it would have been dragged off.

but a BIG bird (no, not the yellow one!) would have caught it & pulled it apart right there...

on the ground.

-

too much information?

-

ok...smile...here's a Pileated Woodpecker in the front yard.

and a squirrel...

trying to decide if she wants to get a drink while i'm standing there on the porch.

too close for comfort.

but thirst won.

oOo

a quick note...i mentioned last time about my son travis coming to stay with us.

well...we THOUGHT he had a job. travis thought so too.

he worked LAST saturday, sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday...

then the boss had to go down to south florida to pick up some palm trees from his palm farm.

travis hasn't heard from him since...and he doesn't answer his cell.

we drove by his business here in town, but the gate has been shut & locked ever since last week!

???

hmmmmm.  so travis is waiting (im)patiently to get paid for his time.

then it might be back to employment app's if this doesn't work out.  

will keep you updated.

oOo

SO,

i leave you with a milo snooze.

ummmmm...is she dreaming of gymnastics? the cat olympics?

it looks like she's getting ready to do a head stand.

In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this. 

~Terry Pratchett

stay cool & have a safe journey.

laura

moon~hawk~'shrooms~bugs~lizard~and my art.

"Dawn seemed to follow midnight with indecent haste."  

~J.K. Rowling, "Magic is Might," 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, 2007 

dec 6, 2011.  6:49am

it's been cold, cloudy, foggy & rainy.

(i wasn't able to get an eclipse or full moon pic due to the heavy cloud cover)

here are some pictures i've taken over the past week or so.

let's start with the Red-shouldered Hawk...who was sitting in a tree in the yard last weekend

when we pulled in after camping.

oOo

~these next two pictures...the strangest mushroom i've ever seen~

 CORAL mushroom

i've never seen it in the yard before...but now, there's a big patch of it!

oOo

i heard something out back. by the porch. at night. 

grabbed my camera, turned it on, lifted the flash...
aimed and hoped i captured whatever was sneaking around.

I DID.  ms. opossum.  probably hanging out hoping milo would come out to play.

oOo

remember the Orb Weaver on the front porch?

she still comes out at night (when it's not too cold)...weaves her web...

and waits for a meal...or a mate...or both.

one night i noticed a lizard (Green Anole) sitting on the same wind chime 

the Orb sleeps in during the day...and hangs her web from.

oOo

"Nature is the great nurse for tired minds. Let her have her way with you, and all will be well."  

~Herbert Pryke 

oOo

here's a grasshopper, out back in the woods. hiding in all the dried up vines.

oOo

here's an unusual looking mushroom.

kind of purplish...curled up & holding rain water.

we have such a variety of  mushrooms around here...as you well know!

they have inspired me to make little clay mushroom holders...

for the little glass vials i put tiny bones in.

i've never worked with clay before...but have wanted to give it a try for some time.

so i bought a small amount of self hardening clay.

and played. it's pretty messy. 

very messy. i like it!

after shaping the clay into a mushroom...i let it dry for a few days...

then coat with 'mod-podge'...then paint...then coat with acrylic sealer.

i added a small piece of felt to the bottom.

the mushroom on the left...i embedded small smooth river stones to the base while the clay was still soft.

the one on the right holds the frog skeleton.

it SOLD at my shop on etsy!  yay!

(CLICK here to visit - ForestOfBones)

sam has dubbed these..."MUSHROOM CRADLES". 

i like that!!

***

i also sold a decorated Deer Skull!!   another YAY!

well...that's all for now.

i'm trying to avoid all the hustle & bustle as best i can.

i wouldn't mind just leaving town. heading to parts unknown.

sitting on a mountain top. staring at the moon and stars.

this time of year gets me a little down. stressed. pressured.

i tend to think too much...dwelling on my past, my mistakes, deaths.

AND i hate shopping...it's all gotten way too commercial anyway.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, 

stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?  

It came without ribbons.  

It came without tags.  

It came without packages, boxes or bags.  

And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.  

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.  

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.  

What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.  

~Dr Seuss 

have a safe journey!   

laura

 be merry. 

PS: if you liked my halloween...skeleton...macabre...graphics i'd collected over the years...

then check out my page...tab at the top, click here...
MORE creepy pictures have been added...BUT with a christmas-y feel!!   

:)

the mole is dead. bones. scattered scat. and more!

yesterday (sunday),

the sky at 11:20 am...

oOo

if you're not new here...and you've wandered the woods with me before...

then you know i collect bones, feathers,  insect wings, rocks & stones.

you also know that months ago we found a dead Opossum and i buried him out back...

with plans to dig up the bones.

and i did. 

but i was surprised to find that the skeleton was not in one piece.

the bones are scattered.  

little by little i've unearthed some bones...

my latest find is one scapula...

views of the Opossum's left scapula

i've learned from a 'bone expert' that it's not unusual for the bones to be scattered. 

the shifting ground & insects tend to move them around.

raccoon prints all over the area i've been digging

hmmmmm...it never occurred to me. i just assumed...bury the carcass...

and when i dig it up...VOILA! a opossum, minus the tissue, muscle, skin of course.

small red Azalea bush in bloom!

this expert told me i have a better chance of keeping the bones together 

if i bury the animal in a cardboard box with the top open.

so that's what i did with the little Mole i found.

while wandering....the trails out back...

i spotted snake skin...shedding.

then...i saw something fuzzy on the ground...not a foot away.

upon closer examination...i saw it was a little Mole!

dead. no bite marks. no obvious or visible cause of death.

it's unusual to see one. they live underground, making burrows & tunnels.

they're small...only about 4-6 inches in length.

they have no external eyes or ears.

underside of dead mole. mouth & nose to the left

LOOK AT THOSE CLAWS!!

perfect for digging

(read more about this Eastern Mole here!)

so, needless to say, i buried him in an open top cardboard box...

and marked my calender on December 18th,

UNearth the MOLE!

what would a walk in the forest be without fungi!

a mushroom colony!

and SCAT!

i always notice it.  and if i happen to miss a pile...sam will bring it to my attention. ha!

just yesterday, while he was outside working on his truck...he made a special trip

into the house to tell me he saw a pile of shit poop. droppings. feces. scat.

aaaaaaah. now THAT's love.  :)

first i  snap a picture, then i look it up in one of my handy scat books...

i wonder if this was left as gift to milo? (her new friend, introduced in previous post.)

raccoon scat. blunt ends. brown to black. large seeds present.

either Fox or Coyote. tapered ends. fur & seeds present.

i tend to think Fox, only because we see the foxes more often.

flies feasting on (LOOSE!) scat of unknown origin.

UGH!

Pileated Woodpecker

i also came across ANOTHER Owl Pellet. left by our frequent night time visitor, the Barred Owl.

this pellet is the BIGGEST one i've seen yet!

bones. fur. claws. teeth. the undigested parts.

and finally...back out of the woods...

lizard on the house

i did my first  page in my "Art Journal"...over two days. nov 16th & 17th.

at the time i was feeling a little down, as it was nearing my brother's birthday (19 nov).

he passed away 3 years ago.

watercolor. real leaves.some glitter.

(i'm aiming for once a month with my art journal entries.)

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.  

~Henry Ward Beecher 

i leave you now, with a picture of the morning moon on the 19th of november.

19 november 2011    at  6:55am

have a good week. and if you celebrate, a happy thanksgiving!

gobble-gobble

be safe & stay cool.

laura