Tag Archives: wildlife cam

Not For You

It was really hot and dry so I scrubbed the bucket and put fresh water in and put it back in its place.

I also put out a little dish for animals that can’t reach the bucket.

But also: the camera has been mostly blank, night after night.

Then this guy showed up. With friends? Not clear from the clip but there were 2 turds. How can deer turd that much? Or do they hold it all in until they get to my yard? They damaged the apple and pear tree.

I was slacking on setting up the motion sprinkler. Sad to admit but one reason is that it’s dark when I leave for work and I don’t like stumbling around the backyard trying to turn it off.

Also, this cutie coming through, seasoning the water with his dirty feet.

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Fresh Tomato Sandwich

These are a couple of the giant tomatoes I was talking about before. There are more out there.

Bob was gone for a couple of days and for lunch and dinner for 2 days I turned one of those tomatoes into sandwiches. They were so good.

I also made a peach berry pie last weekend.

Something about foods you can only eat at a certain time of year make them extra delicious.

Here’s a little raccoon print.

The trail cam has been quiet lately. It went so long without a photo I thought it was broken.

But I got clip of a cat running through the other night so it works.

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Backyard Update

Sharp eyes will count all five of the raccoon family traipsing through the yard the other night. In the foreground you can see the motion activated sprinkler not doing anything. I think it’s because the sprinkler is pointed up a little bit to catch the deer.

This morning we went out for an early walk since it’s supposed to get hot this afternoon.

As we were coming home I spotted one big raccoon and three little ones dashing across the street. The mama waited on the curb and gave us the stink eye.

Pretty soon one more little one scampered across the street. Mama gave us a few more seconds and then went after the kits.

This was the house 2 down from ours. We started walking again and watched one of them climb a tree while the rest ran through a gap in the fence. Then the last one climbed to the ground and went through the gap.

Has to be the same family.

I do this every single time I change the batteries in the trail cam. I set the clock wrong. I ran the camera all day instead of night.

We have some very active blue jays. Not just around our yard but you can hear them screeching around the whole neighborhood. There are at least 5 around our yard, swooping back and forth from the front to the back and next door to our house. I watched one land next to 6 doves eating seeds under the bird feeders and stomp its feet once or twice and the doves flew away.

I love all the birds.

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Beautiful Monsters

Look at Sybil’s beautiful apple blossoms.

The tree is now four years old and last year we had nice handful of apples to enjoy.

Check out these monsters going to town on our cute little tree! One night they were out there chomping away for over ten minutes.

Deer sightings in the yard were rare but for a brief spell they were happening every night.

I love the deer and wildlife in the yard but eating my apple tree is too much.

I bought some deer repellant which I thought would be a joke but bought anyway because: desperation. I also bought a motion controlled sprinkler.

I sprayed the tree, tomatoes, and roses the minute I got home. I also set up the sprinkler but it didn’t work right out of the box and my initial attempts at troubleshooting didn’t get far.

I have a youtube clip bookmarked and intend to give it another try.

Meanwhile: the spray seems to have worked. These two wandered around for a minute, took some unsatisfied nibbles and then left. I don’t think they’ve been back.

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Oh Dear, Deer

Look! The deer are fighting over the fly through feeder.

I lost some of my enjoyment with the fly through feeder because the squirrels have been parking in there face first and not leaving until every corner is licked clean. I tried mixing the bird food with pepper flakes and then they licked every corner clean except for one where they left all the pepper flakes.

The feeder is presently taken down and in the garage. I’ll probably put it back closer to winter.

Here’s a nice hoof print in the middle of the garden. They have enjoyed the full buffet of my backyard.

Bad picture but you can see where some rose bush leaves have been stripped.

And here under the bird feeder where they trampled and made lots of turds. I wish there was a way to let the deer know that in my tradition we find them very yummy.

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Majestic and Fuzzy

I had noticed that part of the garden where I’d just tossed some seeds looked stirred up. And there was one tomato plant that looked like the top was snipped off.

But I didn’t think much of it until I saw these clips.

I went back out there and looked more closely.

Those deer have been enjoying quite the buffet, snacking on many of my garden offerings.

They’re so pretty, though.

The camera is set low to the ground so they look gigantic.

I have the camera strapped to a 5 gallon plastic bucket that is easy to move around. I did not expect deer when I put it in this location. I thought I’d get a better view of the raccoons or opossums.

I am still amazed by how much is going on out there in my not at all rural location.

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Something Besides Raccoons on a Bucket

I’ve been doing this for how long and I still can’t remember how many “c”s in raccoon and “p”s in opossum.

I saw evidence that there was activity around the shed again so I rigged the trail cam on a bucket so I could move it around easier and I set it up by the shed “door.” ALL THIS WAS FROM JUST LAST NIGHT. First, Raccy stopping by, sniffing around, and deciding this isn’t the place for him.

So, I have a ton of photos I intend to post here (hopelessly out of date at this point) and half-written posts in various apps on my phone and scribbled on tiny pieces of paper. I have a stack of print photos sitting here ready for the scanner.

But I am working on other projects and can’t seem to get it together here. Maybe for daily posting in November. (HAHA, sure.)

Then, Skunky returns! I had a clip of 2 of them earlier in the week but not close-ups. I haven’t seen them in the backyard much this summer. I did have a Bunny appearance one night but not a good enough clip to post. Look at that tail!!

Last, Opossum waddles along and also slips through to the shed burrow. I love thinking of them as roommates, exchaning stories about their nights and what sort of goodies they found to eat.

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Radiology Awkward

I moved the bucket to the back of the yard. Look at these cuties brawling.

I had a test (regular medical thing, nothing to worry about) at the clinic and while I was in the waiting room I had to fill out a form on a clipboard.

Then while I was waiting I read a book on my phone that involves vampires, were-beings, zombies, and a human nurse who is dealing with some stuff.

When the technician arrived she held out her hand and I was so spaced out, I tried to shake it.

She pulls back so then I offer her my elbow. 😂 So then she offers me her elbow and I realize that DOH! I’m supposed to give her my form.

She takes me back to get into the gown and I somehow space out the entire instructions – couldn’t remember open in the front or the back. Left my underwear on.

I told her: I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m normally an A+ when it comes to following directions.

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What is in the Bucket?

A hilarious clip of a unhappy customer.

Bob went to a different grocery store that didn’t have my regular yogurt.

I’m going to interrupt my own story for a second to absorb that idea that I am writing a post about yogurt.

When I used to get back from visiting my parents, I marveled at how much time we spent every morning talking about yogurt. Dad’s yogurt. Mom’s yogurt. This yogurt. That yogurt.

Why is there so much talk about yogurt?

And here we are.

Bob bought the store brand plain non-fat Greek yogurt. I can’t figure out why I hate this yogurt so much. It has no taste. It’s like a non-food. It’s not really bad. It’s just like nothing. Every morning I drag my feet when it comes time to make my breakfast. I only have one scoop left. Let’s never buy it again.

Since we’re here, my favorite yogurt is Nancy’s plain, low fat, purple packaging. I don’t like the sweet yogurt.

I also don’t really like Greek yogurt at all but it has more protein and my doctor is after me about eating protein throughout the day. So I occasionally will eat a 2% Greek but my favorite is Nancy’s.

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Wildlife Showdown!

I got a new fly-through birdfeeder and barely the first night and a raccoon was casing the joint, trying to see what it could get. You can barely see in the back ground.

Bad raccoon!

Then it heard (?) smelled (?) Stinky and came dashing over to see what that was all about.

But Stinky stood its ground with super smooth moves.

There was a full-on showdown but it’s not clear whether anyone won. Mostly a lot of hilarious posturing.

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