Come here, deer

Last night I captured two different bucks a little over seven hours apart...

 

 

 

And then this afternoon I put out my birdfeeder and of course more deer showed up (including a buck in the last picture...not real clear)...

 

 

Stay tuned for bird pictures and of course squirrels...

A fox?, a buck and first snowfall

I lowered the position of the camera last night.

This is not a clear picture but shows signs of things to come.  This was taken at 10:33 PM...

 

We see this red fox come back at 2:46 AM...

(update - I believe this is actually a coyote)

 

And here comes a small buck...

 

 

Here is first snowfall at 5:27 AM...

 

 

 

 



 

Trail cam results from the first night

I put the camera out to test placement, height, etc.  I put some old bread out and it was gone by 9:30.  I thought I saw some antlers in one of the pictures but not sure.  Here is what I saw...

Woo-hoo!

Steve and Amy generously gave me a very nice trail camera for Christmas.  Steve picked it out and he has much first-hand knowledge of different brands and features and I know they got me a good one.  Will work on setting it up so get ready in 2016 for more nature shots.  I'll still be out there with my camera (especially the bird feeder) but this will be fun to see what passes through at night and what we miss during the day.  Thank you Steve and Amy!

 

It shoots video and captures audio.  I will mostly be after pictures.  It is an infrared flash so it won't bother the neighbors.

 

I put it out to test overnight.  I want to check the height to place it and see how it works.  I'm thinking I will also use it during the day by the bird feeder so I can catch the ever-elusive Red-bellied woodpecker

 

 

Camera pointed this direction (north)

A white Christmas, early morning fog and hoar frost!

We didn't get the sun that was predicted but what a treat for what appeared to be a gloomy day. 

Here is what we woke up to...

 

Here is the view the other direction...

 

And here is a sampling of the hoar frost...

 

Here is snow on the ground and you can see what appears to be an overlay of frost...

Here is a nice shot along Lower Beaver Rd in the afternoon...

 

 

 

 

And Russell checking things out...

 

Merry Christmas from Russell!

Maddy and Jake came over to have French toast and help with making treats

Maddy asked for French toast and Grandma delivered. 

Maddy helped me make 86 peanut butter patties and she makes them thicker than me!

And of course, Russ was excited to have the kids over...

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Traditional wrapping day today.  Took our work station to another level (literally) raising one of the tables to a better work height.

Maddy and Jake are coming over later to help make treats.

 

Beautiful sunrise this morning

This is looking to the south on our street.  What's interesting is that in just a few minutes, the clouds changed enough you would never know this happened.

It was a frosty morning yesterday

Here's what I saw...

 

This last one is taken through steam coming out of a vent on our house.

One buck breakfast

Here he is again.  This is taken from my slider.  He was eating on the rock garden next door.  The light isn't very good in the morning for a picture.

Buck shot

Not a real clear picture but you can see the rack on this buck.

Interesting sunset this evening

I can tell if we have an interesting sunset by looking at the sun on the trees out our back window (looking east).  This is what I saw tonight...

Can't be too bad outside

Here's an eastern chipmunk poking his head out of the "stone condo".  Eastern chipmunks don't truly hibernate but will go into long periods of decreased physiological activity.  But not today...

Frozen fungus

I noticed this fungus growing out of a tree just behind my fence.  So I went out to look at it today and it was still covered in ice from the other night.  Looks a bit like deep-fried potato chips.