Homes, and Wildlife

 Lots of broken trees in the backyard. Very thick, dense forest. I am not going to try to negotiate this forest. I am going to leave it as it. This tree is dead, Probably broken from the ice storm a few years back.

The owner of the San Juan home was always trying to encourage birds, and what have you into view. I have not loaded these with seed, so I don't know if any of them will bring the wildlife. In fact, I have not seen many birds here at San Juan home at all, nor have I seen squirrels, or raccoons. I have seen deer, a woodchuck, and an armadillo. The squirrels and raccoons were all over the place at the Apache home. Anyway, I am looking at getting a stock camera, one that flashes when it senses game moving through. Kathy thinks I am nuts. I probably am.

 The fawn and the doe (below) were walking through the front lawn. Both looked right at me as I walked up to the front porch to take their picture. Then casually walked across the road and disappeared.

Looking at the back corner of the "defined" backyard at the house, and deck. The house looks bigger than it looks from the front. the deck is really nice, but we don't spend much time using it.

 



 Front porch, looking down at the front yard, and the picket fence. Very nice arrangement, but this yard is very hard to maintain. Probably best to just let it be "natural".

 I guess maybe I can clean the dead debris off of the edge of the driveway.

Looking back at the rear deck, and the satellite dish. There is some work to be done on the doors. They are almost impossible to open, especially the right hand door. It appears to be sprung out of kilter.

 

 The house that never was to be. This house was infested with spiders. Black widow's among other things. That is why we moved into the San Juan home. It was much safer.

The Tawsee house. Also known as the "spider" infested house. It was a lovely house located on the Lake Chanute. Too bad the spiders had moved in, and made our move impossible. Thanks to the realty for finding a suitable home right on the other side of the lake.

 OK, this wasn't from the Tawsee house, but I have only seen one of these tarantulas since I have been here. This one was moving across the Simstown road in Evening Shade, AR, and couldn't make up it's mind whether to cross or go back. Ended back where he started.

You usually don't see the raccoons out during the day, but they have gotten bold because I suspect they are hungry. First night we lived in our Apache home, we put the trash out. Later heard a crash, and went to find our trash all over the place. Never put your trash out until the morning of.

 Our Apache house is just up the road. This is a common occurrence. The deer are abundant here, and they are always crossing the road.

This deer was trying to get away from us, and Kathy snapped the photo. This one also was near our Apache house.

 

 

They called this turtle a terrapin. I have heard them called that before, but don't know what constitutes a "terrapin" over a "turtle". He was in the middle of the road, and you saw them mostly in the spring. Think, crossing the road for these little critters was hazardous to their health. This one wouldn't move, even when I got up close to take pictures. But the expression on his face tells the whole story: "Go around me, you dummy!"

 Armadillo. What a critter. Foraging for bugs in the yard. See these smashed on the side of the road quite often. They don't move very fast that makes them vulnerable to the speeding cars here. Yes, the roads are narrow, but people think they are super highways or something. OK, the reason these creatures end up dead on the road, people think that if they drive over them, they will not kill them. Problem is, when frightened, they jump STRAIGHT up into the air, and hit the underside of the vehicle, splattering them all over the place. If people will just go around if possible, a lot less of them would become road-kill. Maybe.

I wonder if those bugs are really tasty.

 

Speaking of narrow roads. This is a very narrow bridge. I have found a few of these in various locations. This is Spring River, and is created by Mammoth Spring north of here.