Winter Has Come

Ah to have cold days, it mean less bugs next summer, peaches will be blooming and hopefully fruitful as a result. The down side, baby it's cold outside.

The days are getting longer. We have survived the blizzard of 2018. I've discovered the bird that is so panicked during bad weather is a Killdeer which lives surprisingly close to my house. I suspect several locations could be it's shelter. One fortunately will not be disturbed when I commence work outdoors. It is a huge unwieldy rosemary bush.

We had some snow the next day in the shady areas.

Rosemary Bush blooms

I bought my brother a rosemary bush when they were reduced to a dollar after Christmas about ten years ago. He put his on a wagon and brought it in at night. Mine is maybe a 9 feet in circumference nightmare. Nightmare in that I would not reach deep into it. It could have a rattle snake in it's midst. I suspect the Killdeer can sniff him or her out. My brother's carefully potted plant has long met it's maker. You know the cold will kill them. Thank goodness no one has told mine.

During the snow, the Killdeer was quite vocal with me. I take enough orders from the resident animals. I also have a pet spider. It is a wolf spider. I was glad to see it's kin return. Last year, one of the physical therapist who visited my sister stepped on that spider for me. I hate it when someone kills one of my pets.

Killdeer photo found on Wikimedia Commons by Thomas Reidel.

We also have resident bobcats. Some barn cats from next door work my yard. A few cats from across the way have worked the front field. Then, we saw this cat who was still a kitten but was unusually over reactive to the car. It was a bobcat. I had seen a scraggly one years ago. I have seen a large one bounding across the road to leap into a dense overgrowth. Last Sunday, we saw a healthy bobcat about 100 feet from the house.

Bobcat, photo credit to Shenandoah National Park
in Virginia, USA, Wikimedia Commons

I used to see bunnies along the driveway. I thought it was unusual until it dawned on me those were half grown babies waiting on the mother rabbit to come home. There are three fences in close proximity for about 300 feet and they make a great nursery for rabbits and fawns. Bobcats mostly feed on rabbits. So I have not only a great rabbit nursery, I have a great habitat for Bobcats.

Bobcats are better than coyotes. Coyotes and rattlesnakes are not that great close to the house. I keep my grass mowed. I was putting a garden in my front yard; but, thinking of coyotes and snakes. Poor old Killdeer will have to move. Where a Killdeer nests is, rattlesnake will visit. The mower is being cranked. It will be 70 degrees today.

Well 70 degrees the day this post was written.

Like a bad habit, I have returned to the blogosphere.

I'm going to the Southeastern Writers Workshop from June 8-12, 2018. It will be at Epworth by the Sea on Saint Simons Island Georgia. If interested, check out the website  www.southeasternwriters.org.  It is a small conference. My favorite parts are listening to all the writers tell their stories during meals and the open mic nights.  I'm bringing my camera, lights and screen to take candid or posed portraits of participants to use in their promotional materials.

View from Epworth by the Sea on Saint Simons Island, Georgia USA