Summer is rapidly drawing to an end. Somehow this year it seemed to arrive late and to be planning on an early departure. We had a lot of snow in April and on into May followed by non-stop rain in June, or so it appeared. The rufus hummingbirds arrived in July, earlier than usual. Once the rufus arrive, their mission is to drive off the other hummingbirds from the feeders or even humans if we venture too close. To be the smallest species in the bird world, they are also among the feistiest and don’t seem to recognize their minute size. The male rufus and the male broad tailed hummers constantly skirmish. While the males are engaged in their aerial warfare, the females of both species just calmly drink with one another at the feeders. I could comment on this fact, but will restrain myself!
Growing much of anything up here is also a challenge. If I want tomatoes, I have to cheat and buy plants with little green tomatoes already on them. I can’t begin to tell you how many pounds of wildflower seed and high altitude grass seed we have spread out back and in the meadow. We do have some pretty nice grass now, but we get a lot of winter kill every year. Ironically, the flowers that have done the best are the ones that have just appeared on their own. This year I (yet again) planted a number of Shasta daisies. Sometimes they come back, and sometimes they don’t. It may correlate to how cold the winter is I suppose. Anyway, as I was putting the girls out for the last call before bed a couple of weeks ago, there sits a large rabbit happily eating all the daisy blooms! I guess my feeble little flower bed looks like a salad bar!
We do have a number of bird feeders which we faithfully bring in every night so as not attract the bears to a free meal. This is the time of the feeding frenzy! The birds are there in force; the coyotes are yipping and singing every night, and the occasional bear skulks by behind the house. With two large dogs, we are often awakened during the night by their frenzied barking at the bedroom window. Sometimes I’m not sure whether it is a coyote, a bear, or perhaps Bigfoot outside the bedroom window. We have learned to discern among the girls’ various barks. A high-pitched yippy bark is usually reserved for smaller creatures like chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits, little trophies we would like to catch and proudly carry around the yard and on occasion, eat.
A loud vigorous barking while peering out the bedroom window in the middle of the night is the typical watchdog warning that something dangerous, like a coyote or bear, is outside. A low growl or woof means something serious is out there, but we don’t want to attract its attention. This is reserved for bears actually on the deck and for really big animals! One afternoon we had some moose strolling down the easement just outside our fence. The girls did the low growly barking at a safe distance back from the fence–about 6 foot back to be exact. Incidentally, moose are notoriously bad tempered with poor eyesight. Their only natural predator is the wolf, and apparently they are too stupid to know the difference between a domestic dog and a wolf!
Several years ago I let the dogs out for a middle of the night nature call. As soon as they made it down the deck stairs, there was an instant outburst of barking and ominous rustling sounds. Peering through the darkness, I could make out two black shapes scurrying up a tree. Two bear cubs! Now the cubs didn’t seem to be too much of a problem, but the big question was, where was Momma Bear? Not wanting to be a part of the story about the three bears, I did the only thing a modern-day Goldilocks could do and yelled, “Bill, come get the dogs!” Luck was with us. The two red guards were forcibly dragged into the house, and Momma Bear apparently chose not to get actively involved. Many of our trees also have scars from bears climbing up the trees to jump over the fence, either getting into or out of the yard.
Have I told you about the fence? We started out with a four-foot fence, just basic metal poles and rolls of green fencing. When the girls were younger, they would constantly manage to squeeze out under the fence, so we ran an electric fence wire around the bottom of the fence. That cured the digging out. Then came a hard winter and firm packed snow, and they learned they could just hop out over the top of the fence so we ran a second electric wire around the top of the fence. More snow! The fence disappeared on occasion so we added a three-foot extension around the top of the fence. Now we have a seven-foot fence all around the yard. More drifting snow on the west side of the yard! For a while there we tried to shovel the west end of the yard. I got shovel elbow, sort of like tennis elbow but not as much fun in the acquisition!
Our next step was to add another three-foot extension along the west end of the yard. We now have a fence that is ten feet in spots and seven feet everywhere else. This helped somewhat, but still called for some shoveling of the large drifts. The following summer we added a four-foot snow fence just outside of the west fence. It typically helps for the first part of the winter, until it too disappears beneath a blanket of snow! We still have to shovel a bit, but it is not as bad as before.
Now, you see why I would like to savor summer for a while longer. What does the Farmer’s Almanac say about this upcoming winter? I think I am afraid to look!
©2015, The Eclectic Grandma
