Blog Profile / Natural Notes

Way Too Cold and Resolutions

In my opinion, it’s way too cold out there.  The thermometer says 25 degrees.  That’s just wrong.  But I’m not going to complain too much – at least we don’t have any snow on the ground. We don’t get the kind of snow I grew up with here.  A NJ winter back in the 50s [...]

Howling Coyotes and Ignorant Neighbors

There are coyotes in them thar woods.  For the past few weeks now, the coyotes have been singing – their yips and howls echoing down the canyon walls of Lake Cumberland and causing our dogs to bolt out the pet door into the fenced yard, barking and bristling at the hoodoos in the woods.  I [...]

Happy Thanksgiving!

I Don’t Want to Talk About It

I’ll just say that this blog vacation has done some good, and I’m ready to blog Natural Notes again.  I know I’ve said that before, but apparently, I wasn’t as ready as I thought, and that’s all I’m going to offer on that subject.  Thanks to all of the folks who keep reading and commenting [...]

Spring Count

I had a great time birding on Saturday morning for the Spring count.  My list for the day, from just before sunrise to about 2 PM. 60 species Wild Turkey  4 Turkey Vulture  7 Red-shouldered Hawk  1 Mourning Dove  2 Yellow-billed Cuckoo  2 Chuck-will’s-widow  1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird  2 Red-headed Woodpecker  2 Red-bellied Woodpecker  4 Downy [...]

International Migratory Bird Day and Spring Counts

Also known as International Bird Migration Day, or simply Bird Day -  the big event is tomorrow,  Saturday, May 12.  Celebrated  in the USA, Mexico, Central America, and Canada,  IMBD was created in 1993 by the Smithsonian Institute, in an effort to raise awareness about migratory birds and migration.  In some areas the date may [...]

Shelter From the Rain

Heavy rain on Tues. evening, with showers and thunderstorms into the morning.  But then came the clearing and the sunshine – and the discovery of what some critters do to seek shelter from the rain. Just outside my studio there is a shagbark hickory tree, with large, wide leaves.  As it turns out – a [...]

Seriously Creeped Out

This is NOT what I wanted to see on my studio window screen this morning!  The window was open, but at first glance I couldn’t tell whether this way-too-big-to-be-comfortable-with-it spider was on the inside of my studio, or outside, where it belonged.  Closer – albeit careful – inspection revealed it to be clinging to the [...]

Rough Green Snake

I saw my first green snake yesterday.  Unfortunately, it was dead in the road.  Road kills on this road always disturb me, since this road has very low traffic and one shouldn’t be going more than 40 mph anyway, due to the narrowness, twists and turns. Of course I didn’t have my camera along, so [...]

7 Random Thoughts

So I was sitting here trying to decide what I would post about this morning – having not posted here in a while, and all I got were a lot of disjointed random thoughts – so here they are.  Some of these will no doubt become future blog posts. 1.  I’m tired of ticks.  There [...]

tickeyes

Dastardly ticks

The Groundhog is Out of Work…

At least here in KY, because we haven’t really seen the dead of winter yet.  And I’m not complaining one bit.  In the 50s all this week.  I wonder what will happen in late March, when the daffodils are supposed to bloom?  Or is this just the longest spring ever?

Speechless

Sometimes, I just have to wonder.  The butterfly and bird- frequented puddle at the ‘quarry’ down the road, which I mentioned in this post, is obviously a spring-fed puddle.  It’s there year round, rain or not.  There are springs and hidden streams very near – on a quiet day you can hear them bubbling under [...]

NJ Visit and Empty Sky Memorial

I enjoyed a short but lovely visit with my son in Jersey City, NJ over the Christmas holidays.  A bit of culture shock for me to stay in the city, after living out here in the Daniel Boone National Forest.  On Christmas day, with temperatures incredibly in the mid-50s and the sun shining,  we decided [...]

So Wrong…But So Nice

This is so wrong – but so nice.  I dislike winter  and so there is no complaining coming from me about this unusual weather.  But I do wonder about the consequences.  For instance, will we have enough water this spring – without the snowmelt?  I don’t pretend to know all of the effects this non-winter [...]

Garden Dreaming

This is Milo. What can I say?  He’s a little strange….but very adaptable.  And yes, he does have a nice, comfortable bed.  

Happy 2012!

2012 – that number always seemed so very far away, and now here it is.  Not that much has changed – I mean, we’re still tooling around on rubber tires (weren’t we supposed to have personal flying saucers by now?)  I’m not complaining; it just seems that when I was a kid I had this [...]

Cats, Snakes, and Trash Cans

So last night I’m working peacefully on my laptop on the bed before calling it a night.  My hubs is working in the music studio so I’m alone in the house and everything is quiet – except for my two cats, Claudia and Max, who are softly playing with something in the kitchen..probably one [...]

Glade Cress and Butterflies

There’s a spot just down the road from where we live that’s known locally as ‘the quarry’ – though one old timer told me it was a former Civil War salt mine – a limestone quarry seems more likely.  Not that there couldn’t have been salt here, but I can find no evidence of it.  [...]

Chem Trails in the Sky

I’m not usually one to believe in a lot of conspiracy theories and stuff like that, but this theory of chem trails rings a little more true for me since I actually observed the tic-tac-toe grid being formed last week and watched some interesting documentaries on the subject. Basically, “they” are seeding our atmosphere with [...]