Day 323 - Country horses

A lovely horse is always an experience....

It is an emotional experience of the kind that is spoiled by words.
~ Beryl Markham ~

Day 322 - Backyard beasties

For this week's animal, vegetable, or mineral theme, our resident critters were very accomodating.

In addition to the normal squirrel and blue jay activity, a couple of occasional visitors showed up...

the little guy on the left is a downy woodpecker,

and this red-headed beauty is... are you ready??... a red-BELLIED woodpecker. Go figure, huh?

Lew captured some great bird shots on Lew's Pics.

Day 299 - You talkin' to me?

Though much needed, this gray and rainy day wasn't the best for outdoor autumn photos. I was trying for the rabbit that at one point scampered onto the patio and yep, stopped to look at me through the patio door. Of course, I couldn't get the camera on quick enough before it hopped on its merry way leaving me to once again settle for yet another squirrel shot. *sigh*

Day 272 - Can you stand another deer pic??

Y'all are going to get sick to death of deer photos, but they finally figured out the obvious so I had to record it. I took them from our bedroom window, so they're not that great, but they're the only ones I took today.

Anyway, while the fence between our yard and the field, rusty, rickety and falling apart as it is, still provides a bit of barrier, my next door neighbor took down some of the fence in his yard so he could tackle the weeds more easily. So, there's a large gap in the fence that's been there for a couple of years. Today these younguns finally figured out they could get to that nice green grass on the other side by just bounding into his backyard... which they could have done ages ago!

If you look closely, you can see red things lying on the ground. My neighbor has an apple tree, but apparently they could care less about the juicy, tender apples and preferred munching on the surrounding vegetation instead.

See Lew's Other Pics for a few more shots.

Day 265 - Kurious Kitty

That monster grasshopper I shot the other day has decided to hang around and has been making periodic appearances on the screened patio door. This morning it caught Zoey's attention.

hey, you wanna play??

c'mon a little closer...

curses! foiled by glass!

Day 260 - Wildlife refuge

Our resident back-yard rodents have been frolicking and chasing one another (and the birds) pretty much all day. At one point, one of the local stray cats slinked (slunk?) ... whatever... snuck over to see what was going on. Too late! The squirrel saw it and scurried up the post to safety while the cat waited and watched from under the Japanese maple below. No dummy he, the squirrel just outwaited it until the cat finally ran off to chase something else.

P.S.
Often Lew and I end up with the same subject matter for our photo of the day. Today, it was a mommy deer and her two little ones but his photos turned out much better than mine. Do check out Lew's Pics for a darling look-see.

Day 144 - Nuts in May

At the risk of boring y'all simple with my squirrel/bird photos, please bear with me for at least one more set. :D

So, obviously, our resident rodent managed to uncover one of his buried treasures... a walnut...
And look! He used our deck bench to feast on the fruits of his labor... the little beast has no table manners at all!

Day 137 - Backyard wildlife

Since I haven't strayed too far from the house this week, the critter doings in the backyard have captured a lot of my attention. Today I saw Mr. Cardinal going about his daily search, as well as one of the goofy squirrels who apparently likes to live dangerously. That cat sitting on the post regularly gives chase as the squirrel runs up and down the tree and across the yard. So far, the squirrel has been lucky... or the cat's slow.

Day 122 - Jay Cafe

While finishing preparations in the kitchen for my siblings arrival tomorrow, I caught a glimpse of bright blue out of the corner of my eye. Grabbing my camera, I caught this blue jay going to town on an acorn (that's an oak tree behind it.)
If you look closely to the left, you can see part of the squirrel that interrupted its meal and made it fly away.

Day 103 - Peep Show

So I'm sitting at my computer last night (well, actually about 1:00 am this morning,) putzing around and playing a game. About the time Lew comes walking out of his office to go to bed, I looked up and noticed what I thought was a big ol' bug latched on to the outside of the patio door. On closer inspection, we discovered this cute little odd-colored frog critter peering back at us. Instinctively, I grabbed the camera to get a shot. Clearly, Project 365 has me well-trained!

Day 76 - Green fueled

Wrapping up this week's theme, I chose a familiar sight in these parts. Through the ages these magnificent creatures have served us well as beasts of burden, transportation, and beloved pets.

And then there're these cutie llamas, not something one expects to see in the foothills of Maryland but rather in the heights of the Andes of South America.

These particular critters were curious and stopped grazing and feeding long enough to stare and pose pretty for the strange lady with the camera! ;)

Day 8 - Cozy little nest

Winter (when we're not having record-breaking temperatures of 73!) in my neck of the woods means bare-naked trees. After the leaves and acorns drop, the squirrels scurry around gathering their winter stash of nuts, and some of the leaves end up back in the trees in the form of squirrel nests. This one lives up at the tippity-top of our maple tree.

P.S. Lew bought a new camera - a Nikon D40X - with an awesome telephoto lens. 'Course I get to use it too - provided I can hold the stupid thing steady - and with the help of a tripod, I got this waaaaay up there shot. Wheee!

Day #307 - Deer danger?

This was the weirdest thing. A whole bunch of deer ran out of the woods, across the field, and then just stopped! The whole story is on my regular blog - Lil Bits of Me.

Lew, being the cool dude that he is, ran upstairs and got my camera for me. I'm always impressed with the zoom on my camera; where they were standing is about 1/4 mile from the house - the photo was taken with the zoom all the way out.