Vampyre Bugs

I don't know what happened this year, but it has been the worst ever for mosquitoes.

We have literally been held captive in our house because of these blood sucking bugs.  When we venure out of the house to take care of the animals we must be covered with insect repellent from head to foot.  Not that it does much good, they just seem to laugh at us and bite anyway.

When we mow the lawn a cloud arises of these winged predators and follows us around the yard, sucking blood at every opportunity. For every gallon of gas I use, I lose about a pint of blood too.

I had to put up warning signs so visitors would be aware of our problem.

We have been battling these miniature vampires since the weather warmed up and the rains started. The woods that surround us are very swampy this year and our local Mosquito Abatement crews have been nowhere to be seen. I called last month to see how soon they would be roadside spraying and they said that they had no idea, but they were working overtime on the problem. They claim that the problem this year is that both the spring and summer varieties are hatching at the same time. 

All I know is that the stores cannot keep insecticides or repellents on the shelves, and no one has seen or heard the Mosquito Abatement trucks spraying. Personally I believe that they are afraid of being caught spraying with only the protection of their light pick-up trucks.

Tonight after taking care of the animals, I got fed up ducking and dodging the avian epidemic and took drastic measures.....

It may not be sporting, but it works.  This one didn't get blasted too badly.  But since I shot it, I can't figure out what to do with it, have it mounted or have it for dinner !!!

How High's the Water

It's been raining a little bit and the river has been raising. So when I headed to town yesterday I grabbed the camera to take a few photos.  Looking at all of that water reminded me of a song. Click on the video below so you can get on the same page as me.

Now that I've got you the right frame of mind, let's continue.


I've lived near the Cass River most of my life. Most of the time it's hardly big enough to call a river. With a depth in this area of about knee-deep in most places. With its slow pace and many rocky rapids, you can't even canoe much of it in the summer. About the only time it looks like a real river is during spring runoff or after a bad storm.

So we have this.....

instead of this.

And this.....

instead of this.

Now the next photo got me to remembering a tale about a couple of "young men" not long out of high school. It was about 40 years ago, and these two hooligans who thought they were so smart and fearless, decided to canoe the Cass after one of these storms. After a night of sucking suds, there hung over minds told them that since it stopped raining and turned into a beautiful day, that they should go canoeing. So they went down to the river to see what it looked like.

This was pretty much what they saw, only the water was even higher. The water was only about 3 feet below the bridge. So they went back and loaded a canoe up on one of their cars, and brought both of their cars back to the river, parked the one without the canoe by the bridge, and drove about 4 miles up river to launch the canoe.

Evidently these two idiots thought it would be great fun to get in a little white-water canoeing. However they neglected to take into consideration that the speed of the river turned their canoe into little more than the rest of the debris floating down the turbulent water. They had a very difficult time trying to avoid logs, limbs and other junk that was caught in the path of the onrush.

Some of what used to be curves of the river, now took them on a high-speed trip through the flooded woods, fending off trees and snags with their canoe paddles. Then they came up to what should have been a hairpin turn and all of a sudden ran aground. They had hit an underwater boulder that shouldn't have been there. The force of the water pushed half of the canoe up on the rock and they were stranded there. The water was so deep that they couldn't touch bottom with their paddles to work themselves off the rock. After a few attempts which almost capsized the canoe and spinning around on that rock like a compass needle, they finally managed to get loose, going backwards down the river.

Before they knew it, the bridge came in sight, along with the realization that the water had risen since they had last been there. Now there was only about a foot and a half separating the water from the bottom of the bridge. They paddled for all they were worth, but couldn't get out of the mainstream of the wild river. Quickly the bridge was upon them and all they could do was duck down in the bottom of the canoe and grab onto their life vests, (which of course they weren't wearing), and pray that they could make it under the bridge.

The bow and stern of the canoe scraped along the bottom of the bridge. The noise and darkness under the bridge seemed to last forever, but soon they shot out from underneath. They were able to get their canoe under control and finally break from the mainstream at the next curve of the river.

After they finally landed the canoe, and their knees stopped shaking, they had to walk back to get the car. They had made the whole trip in less than half an hour.

Word of their escapade got around town, and a lot of folks just didn't believe it. But I have seen the marks on the bottom of the bridge when I have waded underneath it fishing. What at first were two bright aluminum scrapes on the cement faded over the years to a dull grey.

It's been many years since I was under that bridge, I wonder if the marks are still there.


I know they are still on my canoe.

Peaches' Triplets

About an hour after being born.

After the death of our beloved Fern, we devoted our time and attention to making sure the same thing didn't happen to our other pet goat Peaches. She missed Fern very badly and looked for her constantly. We tried to make up for her loss by spending more time with her. With her due date coming up fast we knew that Peaches wouldn't be alone for long. And then finally Sunday about 11:00 AM she started to go into labor. We spent the next nine hours sitting with her, waiting for her to give birth.

A contraction.

Wifey had to help get the first one out. She grabbed hold of the tiny little front legs and gently pulled to help get his head out, the rest came easy. A beautiful little brown buck with a blaze on his forehead  While she was busy cleaning him off, the second one popped out. I hurriedly broke the sack and started cleaning him up. Another buck, this one totally dark brown. We got them cleaned off and placed in front of their mother so she could lick them dry. As we sat there admiring her two babies, we debated whether she was going to have any more. 20 minutes later she popped the last one out. A little girl this time, and beautifully multicolored.

When Peaches finally started to deliver the afterbirth, we could sit back and relax for a while. Now it was time to call friends and family, and take photos. Then we tried to get the babies to nurse. This was a problem. Peaches was not too keen on the idea. The babies were ready and willing, but mom wasn't. When we finally got her to lay down and accepting nursing, the first and last born were more interested in sleeping than nursing. After finally getting at least a little milk into each one, we decided it was time for us to finally go get a well deserved rest.

Before.

After.

A few short hours later, we were back to trying to get the little ones to nurse and to get mom to eat. We didn't get a whole lot of luck with either endeavor. So all day Monday was spent trying to coax somebody to eat. The second born buck seems to be doing the best, he is the biggest and strongest of them all. We finally got our first six hours sleep in weeks. We've been making do with naps and maybe four hours of sleep at a time.

Tuesday things seem to go a little better, even mom ate a little bit. However she has me worried as she is just nibbling at her "Goat Chow" but not eating any hay. The baby goats were out and about a little bit more, and they are developing their own personalities. Wifey is talking about keeping the boys and sending the girls to live with our eldest daughter so she can start her milk herd.We will probably have one of them neutered and keep the other as a stud.

Peaches and daughter.

We got our first full night sleep, it was wonderful and much-needed.

Wednesday morning and the goat babies were doing well. I got Peaches to go outside to eat a little browse and some grass. This was a big step, but we still need her to eat some hay. She also ate about a quarter of her normal ration of food. Hopefully things are going to get better in the days to come. Things are looking up, finally.