Baby Jack Rabbit with an Attitude

         I received an email this morning which included a couple of pictures of a new born jack rabbit.

        

     My neighbors Mavis and Duane, happened to find this little critter toddling about on their lawn beside the shrubbery. Their first reaction was to get a picture and their second plan was to shoo the little guy back into the shrubbery for his own protection. When they attempted to guide the baby back to the protection of the shrubbery it hissed at them. More than that, it put a paw out as if to shoo them away. So they gave up trying to help and left him to his own design. They did the right thing to leave him alone. Many people pick these little fellows up thinking that they have been abandoned . Not so.

       The doe leaves the new born rabbits about an hour after their birth. The babies leave their birth place almost immediately and go in different directions. Even though they are tiny and young they are very mobile and can move easily. The doe comes back from time to time and finds them and nurses them. They do live a precarious life and a high percentage of them are preyed on by predators. The jack rabbit has come to know that there are fewer predators in an urban setting and the food is plentiful. Therefore we have an ever increasing population of jack rabbits in the city.

      So thanks Mavis and Duane for being alert and getting a picture and telling a story. This little creature displayed a very independent attitude for his age. It's rather amazing that this birth happened on Sept. 5 which is rather late in the season.

What's the Best Part of Barbecue?

       Now there are many opinions as to what the best part of barbecuing may be. For some it's the social occasion. Others it's the meat. And for still others it's what can be done with spices to obtain a specific flavor. For me the best part of barbecuing is the veggies!

      When I barbecue I insist on barbecuing some vegetables with what ever meat I happen to chose. I cut potatoes and onions into quarter inch slices. I also slice up some carrots. I lightly oil tinfoil with margarine and layer the veggies on the tin foil. A little bit of salt and pepper and then I fold up the tin foil to make a fairly tight seal. Cook over a direct low heat. In about 20 minutes they are done. I turn them slightly every 5 minutes or so so that they don't burn.  You end up with slightly caramelized veggies and do they have taste!

      I guess the combination of vegetable flavors gives the whole serving real zing. For me it's the best part of a barbecue. Try it sometime and let me know what you think.

Labor Day

HAVE A GREAT LABOR DAY 

WEEKEND!

Alf Sells Mushrooms

          Some kids sell lemonade, but my six year old neighbor sells mushrooms!

          I have written about Alf previously in this blog. Alf spends part of his time with his Dad who is my next door neighbor. Alf is typical of any six year old...full of energy, creative, curious, and cute. When Alf is with his Dad, they try to do many active things like swimming, cycling and yard work. So there wasn't time to organize a lemonade stand. And I'm not sure about Dad's ability to make lemonade.

         We have had a very wet cool summer. As a result we from time to time had a bumper crop of mushrooms(fungi). At Alf's place there was the stump of an old tree and several large mushrooms appeared. You guessed . Alf got the idea in his head to sell mushrooms. So for part of one morning I was pestered to buy mushrooms. I was creative in my refusals and tried to tell him about edible and non edible mushrooms. The price varied from a dollar a mushroom to a penny a mushroom. Finally, I thought if I take his picture that should satisfy him.

       So here is the salesman and his mushrooms. I would be happy if anyone could identify the mushrooms for me.

Coyote Chases Dog in Red Deer

       Tonight I was out for my usual bike ride and stopped to chat with Mike. We were 100m from the bike trail into Bower Woods.

       As we were talking I noticed a mid sized dog running down the middle of the road away from the bike trail. I thought "wow" a loose dog. About a minute later I noticed a coyote standing on the bike trail about 15m from the side walk. The coyote stood for about a minute and was probably watching us and wondering,"Where did that dog go?" The coyote quietly turned around and went back into Bower Woods.

      You often hear of coyotes chasing dogs and preying on dogs, but this is the first time I have seen an incident. Bower Woods is right beside a residential area. Bower Woods is about 80 hectares of variable habitat with a creek running though. I went on the bike trail a few minutes after the coyote left and there were many people on the trail: walkers, runners, families and people walking dogs.  

     Coyotes are common in this area and are common in Red Deer as we have natural areas left along the river and streams. These natural areas are connected so it's a good habitat for wildlife. Coyotes eat a wide variety of material in the wild. The other side of Bower Woods is a large shopping mall. I would think the coyotes would find much very edible garbage in the mall parking lot each night.

      Let me know if you have seen any incidents where coyotes are chasing dogs.

I Hate Shopping

     I'm getting to be quite a whiner lately! Really I'm fairly amiable and easy to get along with. But when it comes to shopping I am challenged and I know it.
 
    So what brings this sudden complaint? Well, my daughter is getting married next July and since Home Farm Girl and I are walking her down the aisle, I have to look pretty. Well , you say that's a year from now. I agree, but Home Farm Girl gets really nervous and has to get me ready because maybe all mens' clothes will be sold!!!

     As you can tell Home Farm Girl is the shopper. She can think of 99 questions about the fabric in a pair of pants let alone where they were made and what style they are. Okay, good for her, but my patience is gone before I walk in the store. So Home Farm Girl has quite a challenge to get me to look at clothes and try them on.

     Now I'm a comfortable "rumple." I like tee shirts, jeans, jean jackets and black and red plaid wool shirts. This stuff's comfy. With my black and red shirt I am comfortable to minus 10 C. Add a hoody and I'm good to minus 15. So I have things figured out for comfort. It maybe doesn't look too cool but it's comfortable.

     So the other day we got a nice pair of gray pants, blue shirt and yellow tie with blue and gray in it. So I will look pretty for my daughter's wedding which is outside in an arboretum in Chicago.

Heavy Wildfire Smoke at Red Deer

       Yesterday a tremendous amount of smoke came in on a weather system from the forest fires which have been burning in British Columbia all summer. These fires are at least 500 miles away from us and across the Rockie mountains.
   
      The smoke was quite noticeable at 7:00AM. By afternoon smoke was obvious within 100 meters. It looked like every home owner had a bon fire in the back yard. The smoke was blue and very easily to smell. Visibility was down to about 1km and the sky was completely obliterated by the smoke. Needless to say our day was extremely dull. Night came early. When we saw the sun it was an orange red. Too bad I didn't take any pictures yesterday.

     Later in the evening we had thunderstorms which continued until about 3:00AM.

     Today there was much less smoke and the day was much brighter. However we did not see any blue sky. This condition is supposed to last until the 21 st . One wonders at the huge amounts of material burned to produce such a tremendous amount of smoke.