The First Cold Spell

Well the warm weather comes to an end.
Ofcourse the first place my mind goes to is Charlotte my only cat.
She has been a pleasure the last few days.We have enjoyed many walks together.
She gets along so well with the dogs and enjoys hanging out withe the few deer in the yard.
Tonight I will have to turn on her heater. She is so tame I would have her in the house if I could....I have lately been thinking about finding her a home (in a home) as I sometimes think she deserves it. Then I think again from her perspective....she would miss the place she was born. She probably knows more about every inch of this place than we ever will. She has had a good 5 1/2 years of life here. The valley is her playground in the summer and the alfalfa fields provide many fat juicy gophers for her buffet come spring. In the summer its a lazy life for her finding a cool spot out of the sun . Usually curled up under one of the 50 year old caraganas.
Then there are her favourite sports bird and mouse hunting..I really feel guilty sometimes feeding the birds that become her prey...The mice no guilt there lol
So here she will stay.After all how many cats on the farm have a heated condo .

When we moved to the farm Tom said NO CATS...lol  he hated cats . He soon learned when our surprise litter came along that Charlotte and her brothers and her kittens to follow would be a God send as he hated MICE more!!. Now he adores Charlottte..
Well now to keep my lonely cat alive until I can bring her new friends home in the spring...
I hate to admit but I can be found brushing her in the cat condo every few nights. She loves it and curls around the brush as I comb her. I have to brush her as her and the others were "blessed " with very long hair. Barney and Kit Kat had to get shaved this spring as they were so matted...Definitely not the best situation for a farm cat....They endured.. 



This winter I bought a brush that fits in the door of the condo so a good brushing happens everytime she goes in or out...I just enjoy spending  time with her.....and helping her to feel less lonely.

Anyway get on the long johns . Keep warm and here's to the next warm spell.

January 7th Crocus Creek

Setting Sun

Below  4 or 5deer ?

This isn't Zoomed in at all..They trust  me...

Not much snow at all this year so I walked to my Labyrinth .

 Then I walked it...beautiful....and the deer watched.

LOL

This is a picture of Charlotte from last winter......we dont have this much snow this year...  :)


Today I arrived home from work.. I didnt see my only cat Charlotte anywhere....Worrier that I am I figured the worst.
I put the dogs on leashes and headed out for our walk. I called Charlotte loudly a few times... I rounded the corner of the house and started walking towards the barn.... I could see a lot of deer running towards me.....
Interesting I thought and wondered what they were up to ...all of a sudden right at the front of the herd there appeared a furry ball sprinting along ahead of them...Charlotte....the leader of the pack!
The cat and the deer continued to run right to me...at which point Charlotte halted and meowed loudly...The deer turned into the valley...where they stopped and stood..
and here I thought she was alone......apparently she knows how to make new friends   a whole herd of them...
lol
Wish I had the camera with me.....it was priceless!

New Years Eve

Another spring like day at Crocus Creek..It has been an amazing year out here. The spring was wet and the trees grew like crazy because of it. When you plant over 8000 trees in 5 years it is rewarding to see them grow so tall.


The wildlife had a good year too! Most of the muledeer survived hunting season. It makes me happy that they did. Mydoe showing up in the fall with her fawn definitely was a high light of the year for me. She is still bringing him around nightly for an apple or carrot. She hears me call the cat and she comes running.Zak has named her fawn Pokey! He is soo little good thing it has been so nice!

POKEY

THE SCARS ON HER UPPER HIND LEGS MAKE MYDOE EASY TO PICK OUT

NOT EVERYONE GETS APPLES AND STRAWBERRIES AT CROCUS CREEK

Spikey being here still is really nice. He is a 6 year old buck that was here as a spike buck our first winter. He was mean and obnoxious and even fought off the bigger bucks that firs year to get to the sunflower seeds I spread out for them. Last year we thought we would have lost him as he lost is antlers before the other bucks and spent a  month being beat up by them for food. Had we not made sure he got food he likely would have died . I would feed the rest in one area and then sneak around the corner and provide barley and sunflowers seeds to him. He was very skinny and weak by the end of January. Happily he survived the winter and went on to survive the hunting season. He seemed to know to stick on our land where no one hunts..

SPIKEY AND PAL EATING CHRISTMAS TREE

There are several sharp tailed grouse calling the acerage home and I have seen a few hungarian partridges as well!
We had our usual pair of Geese on the pond and they were successful at hatching out 3 beautiful goslings ....that made the annual hike in their first 24 hours of life to the trout pond 1/2 mile away!!!

There are several whitetail deer that visit but they tend to go to our neighbours east of us...
There are way too many coyotes...I do however enjoy stepping out the door at night to listen to their howling and also talking amongst themselves with whiny chatter...



Next Year Tom is not going to work so hard....(PLEASE GOD!)

My New Years Resolution for both of us...to enjoy this place alot more and worry and work alot less!
Happy New Year to All

Christmas Leftovers

Is it just me or is apparent to you that there is so much Christmas stuff leftover in the big box stores after "the day" that it is unreal.
I remember when the boxing day sales just cleared that stuff out. You were lucky to get a box of cards after the boxing day sale held ON boxing day... Today I was amazed to see shelves full of cards, wrappign paper, lights , ornaments and on and on...It was nice to see all the live trees sold in the lots this year...
We do how ever now live in a world of excess. Even after Hallowe'en there are tons of costumes and even treats filling the shelves.

What is the reason for this???  Just too much offered?
Today it poured rain...we drove in to town late morning and the highway was very icy. The mall parking lot was literally icy enough to skate on....By 2 pm it had all melted as temperatures reached +4..according to our truck thermometer.Next week we are to reach highs of +7. Not bad for January..
Crocus Creek was quite  today...Charlotte is showing signs of being very lonely....Hope she makes spring when we will bring in a couple younger cats for her to hopefully welcome to Crocus Creek Cat Condo

Cat Walk

Charlotte was lonely so after attempting to take my do not like the cold minpin and rat terrier for a walk without success away we went. She followed me step by step to the barn , where I let her cruise around for a bit , then back to the house for a reward of turkey meat.

breaking a trail

wait for me!!!

A beautiful winter day!!!

The birds are having a great time at the feeders today

There are many redpolls on the upside down finch feeder and the woodpecker and chickadees are loving my Christmas gift from my brother. A feeder with nuts ,berries and seeds.

camera shy chickadee

 Woodpecker with sunflower seed in mouth

 male redpoll bright red chest and head