Good Bye Chuck

I am mourning the loss of Chuck today. I have only known him this summer
but he has been interesting. Last night was the first time I had been able
to get a picture of him and to wake up and find him dead- well I'll be
watching for he cat I took pictures of last night too.

Chuck was the woodchuck that came to our yard this spring. In all the time
we lived here we have never had a chuck up close to the house- there were
some in the pasture by the woods. Last year one was on the other side of
the pond and I guess he or she moved or multiplied. I saw him first sunning
on a pile of wood behind the barn. Then I saw him stretched out on the
lower limbs of a tree near the barn. I occasionally saw him in the evening
out eating.

At first I worried about Lily our horse stepping in a hole he made but his
burrows were carefully concealed right along the fence and his holes were
under the wood pile and right in a corner of the fence where it would be
unlikely Lily would stumble in it. Lily didn't like him though. His one
entrance hole was close to the gate she comes through from the pasture to
the barn and if he was out her ears would go up and back and she would snort
and prance around.

By midsummer I noticed a hole had been made right under the propane tank and
another in my butterfly garden in a huge clump of bee balm about 30 feet
away. Both were pretty well concealed and didn't do much damage. I don't
know to this day if it was the chuck from behind the barn or a new one. I
worried about my garden which was only about 50 feet away.

My experience with chucks was from the community garden where they did
horrendous damage and from the stories of clients and friends. My parents
in the city battled chucks that undermined their shed and garage. But I
decided that if he behaved himself I wouldn't bother our chuck. And behave
himself he did. No damage to the garden that I could find, and other than
the bee balm patch- which seemed unfazed, he didn't dig up my gardens. My
own turkeys were far more damaging to the garden.

I would see him out grazing in the lawn in the early mornings or late
evenings. Many times he would be quite close to the turkeys or Frizzle the
rooster, without causing them any concern. My husband in his noisy wheel
chair never saw him. That is until yesterday. I was washing dishes in the
evening and saw Chuck feeding on acorns smashed in the driveway. I called
my husband over to watch out the window. "He is real" he said. "And huge."

When I went out to do chores I put my camera in my pocket. He ran when I
came out the door as usual but I could see he was quite fond of those
acorns. I sat down in a chair, got the camera focused in the right area and
waited quietly. Soon he came sneaking back out of a clump of weeds by the
mailbox and I was able to get several pictures of him, although not from as
close as I would have liked.

Alas those acorns would prove to be his undoing. Even though he ran every
time a car passed the end of the drive where the acorns were, he must have
not ran fast enough at one point. This morning when I went out to feed he
was lying there dead in the middle of the road at the end of the driveway.
I suspect he crossed the road for some reason- looking for acorns? - and
tried to get back across to his hiding spots when he heard a car coming.

As I moved his huge, heavy but sleek and shiny body out of the road with a
shovel, I noticed some other animals had found the acorns attractive. The
road and drive were covered with deer tracks. I sure hope none of them get
hit at the end of the driveway.

Chili weather

Lambsquarters are big lanky weeds that come up everywhere. I have some in
the dog run just outside my office window. They are about 6 foot high.
They have small green flowers that don't look like much but must turn into
some tasty seeds because the ones outside my window are filled with tiny
birds. Goldfinches, sparrows, and other small birds seem to be eating the
seeds. My canary is right by the window and he keeps singing his head
off. He's probably trying to warn them away.

I am eating some trail mix with sunflower seeds in it. My little canary
loves me to save him a few. He eats mostly fruit flavored complete and
balanced pellets for birds. That's got to be pretty boring but I can see it
makes less mess- no seed hulls. The sunflower seeds are hulled too. I
think the canary recognizes the package the trail mix comes in and knows he
is going to get a treat. He was eating the pellets when I got him so I have
kept him on them.

My chickens have started to ay again. I broke down and bought a box of eggs
and sure enough the next day there were two eggs in the nest. At least 2
white and two brown egg laying hens are back to laying after the big dog
scare. One of them has to be a new layer- one of the hens who hadn't
started laying yet. The one young rooster who survived has not crowed since
"D" day - I wonder if he will start again soon.

The weather has been cloudy and cool but basically dry. We had some good
rain last week but it wasn't enough to make up the deficit. Our pond is the
lowest I have ever seen. The herons are down there every night looking for
fish in the shallow water but there isn't much I can do about it. I am
actually hoping for rain from one of the hurricanes to make it up here. I
will actually have to drag the hose around this evening even though it's
about 60 degrees.

The tomatoes are ripening more slowly but my new crop of lettuce is growing
like crazy. I can't ever seem to get the two of them ready for eating at
the same time. I was making tomato sauce and freezing it just last week -
then the tomatoes stop ripening because of the cold and cloudy weather. I
dug all the potatoes though and we have been doing some good eating.

I think I will use some of my delicious tomato sauce tonight and make a big
pot of chili. Sure seems like chili weather to me.