Category Archives: wildlife

Sudden adoption

September 29, 2019nature, pets, wildlifesusanmanzke

This multiple adoption was not in my plans. It wasn’t until we found abandoned kittens in the barn that I became a mother again.

It took some work getting to the kittens. The mother had left them behind two heavy motors in the old shed shop. Lucky for them they were old enough to pop out from behind the motor so I could grab them one at a time.

There are four in total and they have totally taken over my life.

First, they were housed on the back porch but today they are in our kitchen. This is not the ideal setup for raising kittens. I just hope I’m up for the job. They have made it through a week of bottle feeding.

Keeping them fed is hard enough. The worst part is keeping them clean. Mother cats have a tough job. I just wish their mother had raised them. Hopefully, we’ll have lively kittens to send to new homes in the future. Adopting four might be a bit much for Bob and me.

Nature’s beauty

September 1, 2019nature, photography, wildlifesusanmanzke

I thought I’d share another deer photo taken on our critter cam.

This beauty came to munch on an apple and posed right in front of our camera.

That velvet will be coming off pretty soon. It will take a bit of time for his antlers to shed the outer coating.

I’m afraid his antlers will attract hunters.

I hope to see him again after hunting season.

Bombs away!

August 28, 2019Bob, gardening, Weather, wildlifesusanmanzke

The apples on our trees are coming down. A wicked wind in hurrying them off the trees.

Bob wants to mow the grass under the trees, but he can’t. The apples are in his way.

What to do? Pick them up.

Bob can not pick up off the ground, so he uses his grabber. I just lean over and pick up as many as I can.

We both had to watch for falling apples. A healthy wind was bombing us with the fruit. Good thing the apples are rather small this year. These don’t hurt so much when they drop on our heads.

Hopefully, we’ll get some good apples off the trees before they all blow down.

Wonder what we do with the apples that have fallen? We take them down the lane and toss them in an unplanted area where we just happen to have our critter cam set up. It isn’t our fault that deer and other critters come and eat some of the discarded fruit.

Action cam

August 2, 2019Bob, photography, wildlifesusanmanzke

Bob and I are big fans of our critter cam. Getting infrared shots at night is great, but some interesting action photos come in the light of day.

Today I’m posting a few actions shots we got over the last few days.

The last action shot is of Bob cutting grass so we can see our wildlife visitors.

Morning encounter

July 30, 2019Farming, fun, photography, wildlifesusanmanzke

Bob and I took a ride down our farm lane before 8 this morning. It was cool out and buggy. We never expected to see deer. The crops and grasses are getting tall and making it harder to see whitetail.

We saw this doe at the far end of our lane. She watched us for a while, even coming closer.

Eventually, she turned and ran.

Sunny was riding with us and enjoyed the deer sighting, too. It was a good start to our day. Now we are getting ready for another Farmer’s Market in Seymour. Hope to see you there.

Susan Manzke

Writer, Speaker, All-Around Good Person