bits and pieces

I just came back from a run to the little store in the little country town we live next to for the Sunday paper from a big city a hundred miles away. Once in a while I like to get caught up on world news. One of the little houses in town had two old motorcycles with side cars and two life size models of soldiers, fully dressed in uniforms one sitting on the bike the other standing. There were helmets and other gear on the bikes. A street sign said “Paris 60 miles”. This must have cost a few bucks. It’s Fathers Day not Memorial day so it seems a bit odd, but maybe his father died in WWII.

I guess people must think its odd that I have two half tires hanging from posts by the driveway, painted iris blue and filled with pink and white impatiens. Geez – redneck all the way.

I walked around the pond this morning looking for a snake. I have seen this really unusual snake – about 3 foot long but slender, dark brown on top and golden yellow underneath. I had seen a smaller one just like it early in the spring by my flower bed under the oak- which is also where the big one was. I tried to look it up and the only Michigan snake that came near it was the Copperbelly water snake, which is endangered and not known to be in this part of Michigan.

I talked to a friend at the Nature center and she directed me to a herpetologist at MSU. He though it unlikely but couldn’t tell me what kind of snake it could be either. He wants me to take a picture of it- and catch it to do so if I can. Of course I haven’t seen it since. Steve saw it or one like it down by the pond though. If it’s the Copperbelly they like to eat frogs, which we have plenty of. I am not afraid of snakes and would catch it if I could. I got a good look at this one because it just froze and let me look at it. I wish I had thought to catch it then. I know garter snakes and rat snakes fairly well and most common snakes and this was none of them.

While walking around the pond I found another mystery, a big white egg floating in the water. It was the size of a chicken egg, but we don’t have any layers right now and the nearest other chickens are a half mile away and penned up. The egg had a hole in it like it hatched or was opened to be eaten. I haven’t seen any ducks on the pond except for our poor solitary white male, who lost his male friend two weeks ago. I guess it could be a wild duck or turkey egg that a coon carried there, although I have seen no signs of coon either.

Some of the wild cat’s kittens are missing, but they could have just moved them farther from the barn. Coons and fox will eat eggs and baby kittens. We have kittens everywhere so a few missing are not a problem. I counted 20 last week, different sizes and colors. I found one dead by the back barn door but it didn’t look like anything got it.

All the cocker pups are sold but we got the little Jack Russell pup we sold back. Bessie the cocker mix is due any hour now but that will be the last litter we will have for a good while.

The sweet corn is up and the tomatoes are growing like crazy. The hot wet weather is great for plants and weeds. I just got finished weeding the big flower bed out and now I need to get back to the rest. I am going to mulch the veggies as soon as I can. The tomatoes I had in the house are lanky but they are flowering. I’m trying to find the best way to support them, some are still in pots.

We got part of the new fence up around the pond yesterday before it got too hot. Soon the dogs will be able to have a good run out there again, unless too may baby kittens are out there. More storms are predicted this afternoon, possibly severe. This has been an active weather week although we have been lucky not to get much damage or lose power.