Coop's Corner: No Question, It Is November

Sunday, November 19, 2017

No Question, It Is November

Mid going on Late....

The critters all know, the hunters are aware as well. Our valley has been dotted with orange and boom booms. Our local deer season is typically the first week of November, then a week off with the season returning again for the Thanksgiving week. At least 2 hunters were very successful in our vicinity.

Deer weren't the only animals busy and about....I had to get busy with the Opossum Relocation Program.

I thought I'd be smart and put the cat dishes up on the porch swing to prevent the robbing of their kibble. Our Moesha isn't in the best of shape (overly broad), jumping isn't something she's very good at these days so I turned the planter upside down, mostly confident that our "little grinner" wouldn't have the needed skills to access the food bowls.

I greatly underestimated the ability of our recent arrival.

The live trap was put out in the driveway. Percy, our other barn cat learned to not do that again and the trap was reset. It didn't take long and I had the proper captive. Off we went, a fearful and very still opossum clinging to the side of the trap. 5 miles away in an area more isolated and near the State Park, the release was complete. Proud of myself (for not using a different method to rid us of the pest) I drove home, back up the driveway and swung the corner to the garage only to see another opossum cleaning up the uneaten food where the trap had been previously set.

Repeat.

So far, we're opossum-free.

Last winter, when the very coldest snowfalls required my use of The Plowtruck, the truck's starter wouldn't run. I discovered after much frustration that if my magnetic heater was attached right to the body of the starter itself, the truck would start. Of course that meant crawling under the truck, the very coldest snows typically with very coldest winds, making that entire process less than ideal when the whole reason for having the plow truck in the first place was to be able to deal with our driveway enjoying inside the cab comfort.

Starter was ordered, it arrived and on one of our nicer winter days last February, I crawled underneath and started to install the new unit. Getting only as far as that one impossible to reach bolt, the process reversed, I put everything back together.

I told myself and others...."I'll put up with this Attaching Heater Method for now and then install the new starter when it's warmer and easier."

We had a lovely summer, I spent much of it riding and put the new starter in yesterday afternoon in 32 degree weather. It was markedly warmer (the lawn green) than the last time I attempted the job.

Ambitious yesterday, I finished rebuilding the snowblower's carburetor and this morning reinstalled it. The upside is that the blower started on the first pull, something it hasn't done for a few neglectful years. The downside is that gas was leaking very improperly so that project is not yet finished....I'm going to call it 85% complete.

The sun was shining this afternoon and our thermometer was reading 34 degrees on the shaded side of the house. They're saying maybe 50 for tomorrow but I'm not retired yet.

The Lake City boat harbor....

Looking downriver...

Looking upriver....

Finally a stop for a hot cup....

8 comments:

SonjaMNovember 20, 2017 at 9:23 AM
It's very kind of you to relocate the opossums instead of using other likely less harmless ways of getting rid of the critters. Thanks for that.
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redlegsridesNovember 20, 2017 at 12:44 PM
That pretty rig of yours needs to be featured more....especially once there's snow on the roads!
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VStar LadyNovember 20, 2017 at 8:13 PM
Lucky are those who self-store and still have their rides within reach when the weather turns unseasonably warm in October - before the Gales of November.
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TrobairitzNovember 21, 2017 at 11:18 AM
A chilly ride, but at least it was sunny.

Do you think you could come visit and use your opossum relocation skills on a family of raccoons? They too are cute, but since the forest was cut down behind us they prefer the trees in our yard (and the sunflower seeds in the bird feeders).
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)