A Black Vulture is at our back door?

I am not sure why this lone Black Vulture came to our back door. He did not knock, but did stay for a while. Our cats just watched in amazement and I think he must have smelled the cat's food.http://www.oldfieldart.blogspot.com/

A visit from a Tennessee Owl!

Yesterday, I looked out of the front window and in a tree was an owl looking back at me. It was a Barred Owl and I was lucky to get a nice photo. He was about 20" tall and had cold dark eyes. I checked the bird field guide and Barred Owl's are fairly common in Tennessee. Interestingly its call is "who cooks for you, who cooks for you all.". I think it's a southerner because I heard it call "who cooks for ya'll.

Great Blue Heron takes 2nd job!

The economy has gotten so bad a Great Blue Heron takes a job as a Stork.

Woman finds bear pooh under bed!!

It all started on one fall day when Callie, 4 years old, noticed that her 1 ½ year old sister had a poo diaper. Now Callie had watched her mother change diapers before and decided that she could also change diapers, but better. She quickly and secretly took Sarah to her room, found a new diaper and started the poo change process. As she removed the poo diaper, she apparently discovered that there were no wipes around. Now what do you think a 4 year old will do in this situation? Very simple, find the nearest object around and start wiping. After Callie completed the good deed, a new problem surfaced: What to do with the evidence? There's a very obvious solution, toss everything under the bed and no one will ever know. The next day a bad, bad, bad smell came from Callie's room. Karen my wife and their mother, made a complete search of Callie's room to determine where the smell was coming from. Finally the discovery, it appears that pooh bear was used to clean up Sarah and was tossed under the bed. Now that's how a woman found bear pooh under the bed!

A BIG STORY!

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Will the Post Office Deliver Crayon Mail!? Part-1 &2

It all started one fall day while coming home from work. As I started to open the front door of our home, I would find 4 or 5, folded sheets of paper out on the steps. I wondered who was trashing the front porch. I found out that Sarah, 4 at the time would scribble a stamp, an address, fold the paper in half and toss it out on to the front porch for the mailman to pick up. It was written in green, red or blue crayon and normally had a heart inside. Sarah believed that if she tossed her mail out of the front door, the mailman would pick it up. Wouldn't it be great to scribble a crayon stamp on a letter and toss it out and the mailman picks it up? Well, Sarah seems to think so from watching us do the mail, however she didn't completely understand the concept. I enjoyed coming home finding Sarah's, crayon mail on the porch. It was very cute and sweet but hard to read.

Will the Post Office Deliver Crayon Mail!? Part 2

For about a week, I kept finding crayon mail at the front door. I decided to show Sarah how to mail a letter. I went through a simple process and pointed to the mail box up the drive as the place you put the mail for the mailman to pick up. She listened as intently as a 4 year old could. The next day was Saturday and I decided to go to the gym and workout, leaving Sarah, her older sister Callie, and Karen my wife at home. As I drove up the drive, I could see a little, red headed girl, with a white, folded piece of paper in her hand and she was headed to the mailbox across the road. It was Sarah. Ahhhhhh! Imagine, your 4 year old is about to cross the street by themselves. I became frantic, visualizing in my mind what could happen. I zoomed up the drive as fast as I could in hopes of getting there before she crossed. I was blessed and I made it. I screamed out loudly, "STOP". Sarah stopped before crossing and I pulled up next to her. She looked up with big eyes, and a tear starting to form. I asked "What Are You Doing!" She said "I am mailing my letters like you showed me."

What Santa says before he goes out on Christmas Eve!

Man finds pillow top bed in mailbox! PART 1 & 2

On a fall sunny day, I opened the mailbox and to my surprise it looked like a mini pillow top nest had been made right on top of the mail. There were many leafs, long strips of grass, and fluff. In addition, there were strips of white paper shredded and laying on top. All this looked like a mini pillow top bed all swirled in a circle with an impression in the middle. It was obviously a connoisseur of comfort.

There were two questions that came to mind, what creature lives here and how did it get in our mailbox? I could see the mail was under the nest. It appeared to be vacant, but I was cautious because last year as I was reaching my hand into the mailbox a red wasp flew out and chased me down the road. It is a good thing no cars were coming or I would have been dead. Unlike most folks, if it had stung me on the head I would have blown up like a Halloween pumpkin on a fall day. You see, I am allergenic to bees and will automatically react without thinking. I once even jumped off a 10 foot roof, but that's another story for another time.

I carefully reached in and removed the nest out of the box. I could see that the mail had been munched on around the edges and torn in strips. I went to the mailbox three more times during the week and found a nest, torn mail and no sight of a creature. By now, I really started to wonder what was living here; perhaps it's a band of fairies that like to sleep comfortable on a pillow top nest. I thought, the next time I will bring my camera and take a picture. Part II of the story will be posts in the next few days.

Man finds pillow top bed in mail box – Part II

After about three weeks of finding a nest and no creature, on this day I went to the mailbox wondering if this will be the day that I will find out what is living here. I have learned that it prefers the Sears advertisements over all other mail. I'm thinking it's the softer side of Sears that makes the best bedding.

I have my camera in hand and I carefully opened the mailbox. This is different, I find two black sticky pads in the box and a nest built on top of the sticky pads. Hmm, it seems the mailman is interested in what's living in the mailbox too. This does bring up a question: Do all mailmen carry sticky pads with them or only in our area? Also, I was charged $5.39 for mailbox extermination. Have you ever heard of a Mailbox Extermination charge? I haven't, because I'm kidding. They did not charge me, but did provide the sticky pads for free. Now back to the story, I'm not sure how this creature avoided not getting stuck to the pads and was able to build a nest on top, but it is apparent, this is one smart creature. I cleaned out the box and hoped for a lucky tomorrow.

This is a new day and a new trip to the mailbox. I opened the mailbox and to my surprise there is a brown, furry, warm blooded, little creature, all curled up in the nest. It's a field mouse! I did capture this picture of Mrs. Mouse. Shortly after I took the picture, Mrs. Mouse scurried away to the back of the box and out through a small hole. I have now plugged the hole and have no longer seen Mrs. Mouse. With a little improvement and a few changes here and there, I think this could be a good children's story, "Mice in the Mailbox". Catchy, What do you think?