The better to see you with

Here's a recent game camera shot of a reddish coyote. I still haven't managed to get a better photo of the suspected melanistic (black) coyote. I think this one may be his/her mate. I've gotten a couple of shots of them together, but Red here is always the one in the foreground.

After viewing our previous shots, the local Extension agent agreed that the black canid was most likely a coyote. He advised me to bait the area with meat for a better photo. I'm a little afraid that would attract the wrong element though... stray dogs. There have been a few more of those around lately.

Work, work, work

During a previous set-up at Cottontails

My first spring craft show will be Cottontails next weekend.

I'll be in normal chicken-with-head-cut-off running around mode this next week, working on all those last-minute things that I think will take 10 minutes and invariably end up taking 3 hours.

So, of course it is the perfect time to start a new project! A page on Facebook for the soap biz.

Come be my fan. See behind the soapmaking scenes. Get special deals on my handmade soap and other lovelies. Help me expand my "fan base" beyond just relatives who owe me money.

I'll endeavor to be at least 50% less annoying than a telemarketer, and I promise never to call during dinner.

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Not calling during dinner offer does not apply to relatives.

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My booth at Cottontails will be Azalea 1202. Come see me!

Boat in the woods

Sure, lots of people have boats on the river, or boats at the lake.

If you want to be really trendy, try a boat in the woods. It doesn't go very fast, but there's no danger of drowning.

I really thought this boat would have fallen totally apart by now, but she's still hanging in there. (Here it is in 2006.)



It used to say, "Jazz Feeds". I've no idea why anyone would paint an ad on the side of their boat.

This one makes me feel like a sort of tumbledown Walker Evans, only 1000% less likely to take a good photograph.)



Maybe I really should plant something in it.

Cat Parables

When they had all gathered together, the cat was completely silent, and some speculated that perhaps he had fallen asleep. The cat slowly opened wide his eyes, and winked. Several of his disciples tried to interpret what this meant, though of course none of them were correct.

Spring Break

It was warm! It was dry! Very unusual for our winter this year. I was afraid we'd missed the bluebells coming up, since last year by this time they'd been budding for at least a week.

There was no sign of bluebells at all, though; not a single leaf was sprouting. It's been cold. Unceasingly, mind-numbingly, give-no-quarter cold.



We did find a few little decumbent trilliums poking up (Trillium decumbens).



There were very few of them. These individuals were on one of the warmer, sunnier slopes. I thought I heard one of them sqeak, "First!"



A single budding Toothwort was nearby.



I was sure we'd find a few Hepatica blooming, but we had to be satisfied with their lovely leaves.



We grilled some salmon, took a nap, went on this little hike, then lounged in the sun. It was nearly 70°F (21°C). It's been so cold and wet and dreary lately. It was wonderful to have a break from all that, even if it was just for one weekend.

We cleaned up in the garden a little, pulling dry vines off their supports. This had been maddening, gloppy work when they were wet. We didn't even care that we were probably popping off dozens of morning glory seeds straight into the garden soil. There are hundreds of them there already. No, probably more like thousands. They were in this dirt when it was brought in. Every spring, we pluck the sprouts with zeal, but by summer's end the morning glories have always won the battle. But on a weekend like this, we just didn't care.

Low

Around the time I wrote my last post, my mother-in-law became sick. She died before the new year.

I've wanted to talk about this, but every time I try, I get stuck, not to mention extremely sad. So I'm just going to have to leave it at these few lines, if I'm ever going to move on and write anything else.

A lot of people make jokes about their in-laws, but mine was the best. I really miss her.

Must be shred

Seen on a bin at a library. A local University library.

How proud this makes me of my diploma.

Scritch scratch

Another recent game cam pic. After looking through some of the older game camera photos, I realized that we've had the camera in almost this exact location before.

I'm not sure why it surprised me, when I first realized it... Animals like to walk on clear, open paths just as much as people do.

I suppose I vaguely imagined some sort of I'm an animal! I walk in the woods! philosphy. But no. If we built an asphalt highway through those trees, the animals would be walking on it.

Melanistic coyote?

I'm fairly certain that this recent game gam photo is of a melanistic coyote.

You can see why we've been tempted to buy a new camera with a faster trigger. We get a fairly high percentage of this type of shot (only part of a moving animal).



Here he is going in the opposite direction.



Here's that same photo, lightened up a little.

Without seeing the face, I can't say for sure that it's not a coydog. I don't think those are very common here either, though.

Keep your fingers crossed that we'll get a better photo of this individual in the coming weeks.

Tour of trees

At one of the homes we toured last weekend, my friend S. and I enjoyed the sight of the huge trees as much as the home and all the decorations.

How I could have neglected to note exactly what type of trees these were, I'm not sure... I guess I was afraid that the shuttle would leave us. Looks kind of like an oak though, I think. You can click to see it better. (I blurred my friend's face so she wouldn't kill me.)



Another nice one on the other side of the house. Wish I had trees this nice and spreading. (If you're local, you might recognize this as Mitchell Farm.)



On the walk back to the car, we passed a couple of trees with last-gasp color. (That smaller farm manager's house is really more my speed.)



The trees near the Ruby Radish were bare of leaves. The better to see the good bone structure, though.



This is the view from Mitchell Farm - it gives you an idea of the winter forest look in my limestone valley. Almost everything green is a cedar; there are few pines.

Tour of Homes

A friend and I went on the Blount County Tour of Homes. Ticket sales help fund grants and special projects for local schools.

This year, I guess they had a hard time finding people to open their houses. Out of the five "homes", one was a church, and another was a tea room.



It was fun anyway, and the refreshments at The Ruby Radish were so good that I doubt people would mind them being on the tour every year.



The photos here are all from the same house - the smallest one on the tour. (I haven't processed the other photos yet.)



I'll never live in a house this fancy, but I enjoy seeing other people's homes... their doodads, their decorations, their dishes, and so forth.



She had a large collection of nutcrackers near the fireplace.



"Nutcrackers are scary," says my husband.



Shiny festive mantel.



An abundance of matching candles.

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The schools need help because Blount Countians tend to spend their money in Jefferson county, where most of them work, rather than in their home county, where their kids go to school. It's a problem.

All that lovely new paving on Hwy 75 is thanks to stimulus money, by the way, not local tax money.

Early snow

Nothing like a little snow, to bring one out of a blog slump.



Every channel forecast snow, but I didn't pay much attention to their percentage predictions. My belief that it would actually snow, in Alabama, in early December, was exactly 0%.



But it did snow, a little.



Jasmine romped. She adores cold weather.



The chickens were wary. It might have been some evil plot, after all.



I don't remember the trees ever looking so nice, after such a light snow.



I hope the rosemary didn't get too frizzen.

I and the Bird anniversary

It's the four-year anniversary of I and the Bird! Go visit the special-edition post Four Years Young. Nice job, Corey.

Search terms

Further down, there are fifteen other variations on the yellow fuzzy caterpillar theme, and even more versions with misspellings of caterpillar or yellow.

This topic came up the other night at the Blount County Blogger dinner... what is the top search term for your blog? Mine tends to vary seasonally, but year in and year out, the overall winner is always... yellow fuzzy caterpillar.

Blue snake usually comes in second.

I used to look at my stats compulsively, but these days I tend to forget for weeks at a time. So if anyone's sent me a rash of traffic, I apologize for not thanking you properly. The stats roll over after about a day, since I'm cheap and don't pay for the extended version.

We also talked about answering comments, and I admitted that I'd been kind of slack in that regard, especially lately. If I've ignored your comment, it wasn't on purpose. I just tend to put things off, or get started doing something else, and then forget. I wish there were a pill for that.

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Who else was at the dinner?
countrypeapie
Edifice Rex
The Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore
and a friend who I'm trying to convince to blog.

The Country Experience couldn't make it this time, but we hope to see her next week, as well as mountainmelody and WhoKnowsWhat.