Pack, Walking, Life
Sep. 2nd, 2009 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
summer_jackelI've been spending a lot of time taking very long walks in the woods behind my house, reconnecting with the place I live and my surviving pack. Everything seems so small without Pryderi, so different. Still, we're here, and Autumn is coming soon, and there is a world, and a forest, and beauty. There are things that want doing.
Um...also, some good bugs. A pic or two here may prove mildly squicky for some (and very exciting for others, at least I hope).
OK, bugs and birds first. One of the little annoyances in my life right now is the firewood saga. I just bought half a cord in rounds, and when I went to split it realized that it was phage-killed tanoak that had seasoned before being cut. For those of you who have never heated their home with wood, seasoned stuff burns the best but it is miserable to split and rock-hard---you want to split it green and THEN season it. You get what you get when scavenging, though. Alas, I will have to borrow the neighbor's mechanical splitter (smelly, loud, dangerous, cantankerous machine which I'd rather avoid) or go buy a wedge and a sledge hammer (probably what I will do) and apply even more elbow grease than usual in order to make this giant mess into something I can use. GRRRRR!
Anyway, in frustration, I turned to the three rounds of rotten pine I never got around to splitting last autumn. It was no good then, and being rained on all winter only made it softer...it'll burn quickly and give almost no heat, but I have to get rid of it and I was pissed and in the splittin' mood, so I went for it.
And found stuff, of course. The wood was full of these, a sure sign that it will burn like tissue paper. But isn't this fella just too cute? Look at the mandibles!
I don't know what it is, but if I had to guess, I would say larval pine sawyer, which is a big mean looking beetle with sharp, shiny jaws. This grub is about as thick around and long as my index finger.
Some termites. See, this wood really needs to be not in front of my house.
And who is happy that I unearthed these bugs? Well, I imagine that acorn woodpeckers eat plenty of them.
If I'd actually had the zoom lens in my camera, these would be very nice pics. As it is...well, the woodpecker is still adorable.
Beautiful acts of predation; I caught this wasp in the act of killing a green lacewing. Nature is a restaurant.
I walk with Rogue blazing trail, two rollicking puppies before me, an aging wolf casual at my heels.
Seedling shows signs of impending colliehood. In character, he is a wonderfully attentive, calm and laid back dog, although being just shy of five months, he's still living up to his name. He is either extremely noble and lovely, or very dorky-looking, a trait which, given that snout in particular, will probably follow him throughout life. This is the kind of picture that, placed on-line, might inspire many of my human friends to at least consider whacking me with a rubber fish. Chaos and Coba are dogs, though, and I'm mean. Awwww, snout like aardvark.
Not quite as cute as my icon pic, but Jez and Coba...awwwwwwwwwwwwww!
Pack as we are
Check it out, I'm a collie
Um...also, some good bugs. A pic or two here may prove mildly squicky for some (and very exciting for others, at least I hope).
OK, bugs and birds first. One of the little annoyances in my life right now is the firewood saga. I just bought half a cord in rounds, and when I went to split it realized that it was phage-killed tanoak that had seasoned before being cut. For those of you who have never heated their home with wood, seasoned stuff burns the best but it is miserable to split and rock-hard---you want to split it green and THEN season it. You get what you get when scavenging, though. Alas, I will have to borrow the neighbor's mechanical splitter (smelly, loud, dangerous, cantankerous machine which I'd rather avoid) or go buy a wedge and a sledge hammer (probably what I will do) and apply even more elbow grease than usual in order to make this giant mess into something I can use. GRRRRR!
Anyway, in frustration, I turned to the three rounds of rotten pine I never got around to splitting last autumn. It was no good then, and being rained on all winter only made it softer...it'll burn quickly and give almost no heat, but I have to get rid of it and I was pissed and in the splittin' mood, so I went for it.
And found stuff, of course. The wood was full of these, a sure sign that it will burn like tissue paper. But isn't this fella just too cute? Look at the mandibles!
I don't know what it is, but if I had to guess, I would say larval pine sawyer, which is a big mean looking beetle with sharp, shiny jaws. This grub is about as thick around and long as my index finger.
Some termites. See, this wood really needs to be not in front of my house.
And who is happy that I unearthed these bugs? Well, I imagine that acorn woodpeckers eat plenty of them.
If I'd actually had the zoom lens in my camera, these would be very nice pics. As it is...well, the woodpecker is still adorable.
Beautiful acts of predation; I caught this wasp in the act of killing a green lacewing. Nature is a restaurant.
I walk with Rogue blazing trail, two rollicking puppies before me, an aging wolf casual at my heels.
Seedling shows signs of impending colliehood. In character, he is a wonderfully attentive, calm and laid back dog, although being just shy of five months, he's still living up to his name. He is either extremely noble and lovely, or very dorky-looking, a trait which, given that snout in particular, will probably follow him throughout life. This is the kind of picture that, placed on-line, might inspire many of my human friends to at least consider whacking me with a rubber fish. Chaos and Coba are dogs, though, and I'm mean. Awwww, snout like aardvark.
Not quite as cute as my icon pic, but Jez and Coba...awwwwwwwwwwwwww!
Pack as we are
Check it out, I'm a collie
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Date: 2009-09-02 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-09-03 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 12:12 am (UTC)Good age range in fandom is part of what makes it a thriving and living community. :)
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Date: 2009-09-03 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 12:17 am (UTC)I lived here for years, plural, before I ever got to see an Acorn Woodpecker. I love them and their painted faces, but I just wasn't around enough oaks to find them.
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Date: 2009-09-03 12:34 am (UTC)Well, you should visit me. I'd say I see an acorn woodpecker on maybe a third or a fourth of my walks? Definitely plenty of them here. They peck in the tanoaks and Douglas firs and are incredibly cute; they're some of my favorite local birds. Still, not too many get as close as that one...and me without my zoom. Grump.
I wonder if I could attract them to a feeder with suet? I have never tried feeding that to wild birds, but I'm sure the jays would like it, too. And having a woodpecker on my deck would be squee-worthy.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 12:43 am (UTC)My favorite memories of backyard birdfeeding are twofold... Once, on the TRACEN, a Steller's Jay decided he didn't want to muscle through the finches covering all the feeders, so he gave his best redtail shriek and they scattered, leaving him to dine at his leisure. And then here where we are now, my hummingbird feeder was pillaged by a Bullock's Oriole. <3
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Date: 2009-09-03 08:27 pm (UTC)The acorn woodpeckers peck holes in douglas fir and stuff each one with an acorn. A huge tree came down last winter (unfortunately on someone's house) and I got a good look at their work. Pretty cool.
Stellar's jays are so awesome. Oh, corvids. And I have never seen a Bullock's---or any other---oriole. That I know of, anyhow.
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Date: 2009-09-03 06:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 06:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 07:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 05:58 pm (UTC)Your icon is so cute. Have you switched fursonas from Rensis? Do you have a reference?
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Date: 2009-09-03 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-04 04:34 am (UTC)http://mottenfest.deviantart.com/art/Mottenfest-the-Coyote-117857166
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Date: 2009-09-03 12:34 pm (UTC)It's good to have the forest, although I suspect there are more ghosts in it for you now. Sometimes being haunted is no bad thing.
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Date: 2009-09-03 08:12 pm (UTC)Chaos really needs a top hat, wing-collar shirt and silk tie. I love his mutton-chops so, although I know eventually they will become a flowing collie mane. I am savoring them while they are here.