Deer Crossing

We knew we had traffic behind our fence but fun to see what happens at night.  Here are the first images I pulled from Steve's trail camera.  (The dates on the photos are not correct).

 

 

And here's the big boy.  Steve counted nine points and would describe as a "basic 8 with a split g-3 on his right side".  For a "score" Steve would rate him low 150s high 140s on the Pope and Young system.  He's guessing his age around 4 1/2 years.  I asked him if he would let him go by.  He said it would be a game-time decision but would definitely grab his bow.  But he wouldn't get mounted.

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned.  I've taken the camera down for now.  I need to fix the date on it.  And I need to tip off my other neighbor that is sort of the caretaker of the woods...need to let him know what I'm up to.

 

Russ and me on patrol.

"Blogcam" goes live (24/7 surveillance)

Steve graciously offered me one of his older trail cameras to use.  It has a motion sensor.  I've got it pointed north and just about waist high.

We'll see what passes by.  I'm expecting the usual suspects but hope to see something surprising.

Saw buck

Again, I have to give credit to Russ for having amazing vision.  He started whining the other day and I look out the back window and scan back and forth...up and down.   Nothing.  Then I follow his line of sight and all of a sudden, I see antlers and a head.  A buck was lying down in the weeds on the edge of the woods.

He finally got up and sauntered through the woods.  Cindy saw him off an on for maybe an hour. 

Here he is lying down....

Here he is poking out behind a tree...

Here I go again (planting milkweed seeds)

I planted what seemed like hundreds of seeds last November.  And seedlings did pop up.  But they were clumped together and I learned that you need to space seeds out.  Crowding causes weaker plants.  So they never got above maybe 6" tall.  Those seedlings may surprise me next year, but I planted new seeds in new areas and planted so far maybe 20 seeds.  I did throw a bunch into the woods and let loose many parachutes to carry the seeds to parts unknown.  I have more seeds that I will try to plant but the theme is plant less and try to get a few strong plants for next year.

Here are my four areas so far.  Just loosened the dirt and planted maybe 6" apart.

 

Not much to see here.  I have marked with a golf tee.  This is the area behind my back fence but this year moving more into the woods so my neighbor doesn't trample when he comes through.

Updates at our nearby park (Woodlawn Park)

Money was allocated by the City of Des Moines to make improvements at Woodlawn Park in our neighborhood.  There was a small basketball court and two tennis courts.  They removed one of the tennis courts and have now expanded to a new basketball court with two baskets and lines painted on the court including a nice 21' 3-point stripe.  Possibly a new Thanksgiving tradition?

Other improvements include new sidewalks, benches, etc.

Here are photos of the progress...

 

The basketball court

 

 

Hoop not up yet

 

The support is made of concrete

 

 

Glass backboards and string nets

 

 

Six years ago today we brought Rusty/Russell/Russ home

We feel very blessed to have such a good companion.

Here he is just after we brought him home...

 

 

And here he is now on "his" bed in "his" room with Blackie...