G-G-GONE F-F-F-F-FISHIN'

My first catch of the year. A lot smaller than I was hoping for, but after waiting over six months, anything is better than nothing. BTW the tiny ones got tossed back (unless they were too badly hooked to survive), some were smaller than the large minnows we were using.

Monday afternoon my son Eric had some business to attend to and asked me to come along. Afterwards we took a drive to Sebewaing to see if the Yellow Lake Perch were running yet.

We found the bridge over the river was packed shoulder to shoulder with fishermen, catching tons of small to medium sized perch. And of course we didn't have our fishing poles with us!!!

So we made plans to come back yesterday after he got out of work.

Yesterday it was about 40 degrees and very windy....COLD!!!!!

Eric and my ex son-in law Tim and I went anyway. When we got there, no one was fishing on the bridge! NOT a good sign. We immediately blamed Tim as being a jinx! Last year when ever we took him perch fishing we never caught anything. (of course even when we didn't take him we didn't catch anything either, but we aren't tellling HIM that!) We decided to try fishing in this tiny park right next to the bridge. I think it was built just for fishermen as it has heated bathrooms. And a handicapped accessible riverside boardwalk. And our backs were to the wind.

I caught the first ones but Eric was close behind.

And soon was outfishing me!!

Poor Tim was still trying to catch one.

The wind was making it very difficult to tell when one was biting.

And Eric just kept getting more and bigger fish than me, DANG IT !!!

Then Tim finally brought these in, and started catching fish.

And Eric kept on outcatching us!!!!!!

Good thing he drove or I would have made him walk home!

I thought I taught him to respect his elders!

And it's bad form to outfish the person who taught you.

The people across the river from us were doing ok for a while and keeping us entertained.

Then they settled down to some serious beer fishing.

Then even Eric started catching fewer fish.

Tim gave up and started playing games on his phone.

So after sitting a while and not catching anything we left for home.

The boys were gracious enough to allow me to keep and clean all of these little guys.

But they were quick to add that they would be here for the fish fry.



So guess what I get to do....YUP....clean fish!!!!

Maybe we will try again tomorrow, since we are going to get SNOW again, and freezing temps, for the next week...... dang it, Dang It, DANG IT!!!!

Baby Bunny Pics

It's time for a few baby pictures! Wifey is opening the nest.



Trying to extricate just one out of the squirming mass.



One of the five black ones.



Full bellies all, Penny is a real good mother.

This little grey one worked his way out of the nest.

We have 2 greys that will probably be kept for breeding purposes.

Don't now where he thinks he's going! But he seems adventurous.

Time to go back with the others.

Here you can see the white one, looks more like pink.

Time to cover them back up to keep them toasty warm, until Mom's next visit to the nest.

Lovin' It

No...It's not satellite TV......It's HIGH SPEED INTERNET.....WAHOO!!!!

It was installed late Thursday afternoon and we have been enjoying it ever since.


It was almost as exciting as the surprise we got this morning (Friday).






This is Penny sitting beside her nest box as she has been for the last couple of days....
But inside was this.




Can you see the tiny little nub of an ear in the upper part of the fur ball in the center?
There are at least five baby bunnies in there according to Wifey. We will make a thorough check of the nest box later (Saturday morning). But for now we don't want to disturb the new mother.

And here's the proud Papa, Pete.

And this is Misty, today we re-bred her to Pete.

And this is Buster, our as yet untried buck.

Mr. Rooster is waiting his turn to become a daddy too! Soon hopefully.

Wednesday evening my son and ex son-in-law came over to cut down a tree behind the house that would have interfered with the reception of our Internet receiver

This is just half of it.

The small half....Yesterday and today we worked on the large half. Hauling away all of the wood and branches.....

Raking up the debris....

Storing the kindling...

And a little extra around the pine tree....

Until it finally looked like this.

Hauling away the debris...

The beginning of the non-splitting pile...

And the splitting pile....Whew....my back is sore already!!!

and this is just the start.....



This is what's left of our beautiful 6 ft. tart cherry tree after a buck used it for a rub last fall.

Maybe it will survive.



But our matching sweet cherry tree I have no hope for.

Wifey is still mad at those darn deer!!!

And I am sure she will be waiting for them this fall, and put them in the freezer come deer season!

She's already keeping watch over them, see that white pump house in the distance?

I told you she was watching, waiting, and cussing.....better stay away this fall.

Oh, wait....I LOVE venison......Ya'll come back this fall, ya hear!

My Annie Oakley will be waiting for ya, with an open invitation for dinner....OURS!

Bee Feeder?

This is my birdfeeder. Then why this morning are there no birds here?

On a closer look you can see why!

Can you see why?

How about now.

They are rolling around in the bird food and collecting corn and other grain dust in the pollen sacs on their legs.

Then flying off with their load, as others thake their place.

Shortly after these photos were taken you couldn't see the grain any more, just bees!

Help me out here Warren!

Good News - Bad News Bunnies

Meet Dutchie.
The newest member of our funny farm.





It's a Dutch rabbit, about 3 weeks old. Just look at that pretty face.




I couln't resist buying it Wednesday, as all of it's brothers and sisters were already sold and it looked so lonely sitting all by itself.




Since it was an impulse buy, we had no cage prepared, and had to house it in a bird cage until I built a proper cage.



Dutchie will become part of our breeding stock, whatever sex it turns out to be.

It seemed content enough, but it was quite crowded.

After we got it settled in, I called Ang and she told the kids, so needless to say a little while later we had company!!! And of couse since it was Grandma's house, the second he hit the door Ethan announced that he was HUNGY, so both Aden and Ethan got a hotdog to munch on.

Then the "Rabbit Whisperer" got right down to business.

Explaining to Dutchie how to be a good bunny.

Giving the low-down on the rules for living in the house until it was warm enough for it to move outside with the other rabbits in the chicken coop.

And of course admonishing it NOT to bite!

And praising it for listening and coming to investigate.

Ethan thought the little bunny in a bird cage was just the right size.

And he was ready to take it home!!!

Sadly, early yesterday morning, one of our does, Misty, gave birth to 8 baby bunnies. It was a very windy and frigid night, the temperature in the coop dropped to the low 40's. All of the

bunnies died from exposure. By the time we got out to them 4 were dead and 4 very cold bunnies were just barely hanging on. We brought them all in and tried warming and rubbing them. After 2 hours of hard work, all of our attempts to revive them failed. We were very broken hearted. Not only for the bunnies but for poor Misty too.

We weren't sure Misty was pregnant and the night before she had shown no sign of being about to give birth. If only we had known, things might have turned out differently.

Our remaining doe appears to be pregnant. We are keeping a very close eye on her!

Oh, and last night Dutchie moved in to it's new, much bigger cage.