Ah, yes. A long day ahead of me.

The maples are starting to turn. I see very little yellow and a lot of red this year. I wonder what that's all about. Over the years I should have paid attention so that I can predict the winter or know whatever it is the colors signify.

The neighbors yard has a few of the type of weeds I mowed down and they are starting to turn. I'm glad I did mow them because if I didn't they would simply start growing where they left off.

Next fall is going to be different. It was a true chore mowing the hillside. Carrying a gasoline powered trimmer on the hillsides can be treacherous as I am not as agile as I used to be. Next fall I'll hire someone. I'll still mow the flats though. I am not that old. I'm just not quite as agile.

A fall on a hillside with a gasoline powered trimmer can result in a pretty nasty injury, especially because I'm running it with a steel blade instead of string.

I have written earlier that the wayback is 100%. It really isn't. The weeds are all gone and it looks peaceful but there is a dead locust tree I have to deal with. A limb has fallen and created a widowmaker and I will have to deal with that but it's a fairly simple procedure. It's not too big and I can handle that.

Anymore big trees are out of the area of consideration. I dropped the last one about a year ago, a huge pine. It was leaning and I got lucky because it was leaning in the right direction. I just dug up and cut the exposed root and it landed right where I wanted it to.

Getting it onto the ground was a but dicey but I planned every single cut and got away with it.

I have a beautiful backyard and want to keep it that way for the deer and other animals.

I have seen a couple of non venomous snakes in the wayback this summer and that's a good sign. They keep the small rodents down and maybe eat a few insects to boot. I attribute that to the brush piles. Rattlers in this area are extremely rare, as are copperheads. 

It's too bad that yellowjackets seem to want to build their nests in mowed areas. I had to snuff out a yellowjacket hole this past summer and I simply wish they had decided to live somewhere else. 

I do like to keep the yard healthy.

This past summer has seen an abundance of ground hogs. However, they have stayed in the wayback and not gotten into anybody's lawn so I have left them alone.

A few years ago I shot one. It was a task requiring an awful lot of patience as I had to wait until he was alongside a huge dirt pile. We baited the spot with apples and I spent three days waiting for him to make damned good and well it was a safe shot. The bullet went right through him and dug itself safely deep into the dirt.

I chuckle sometimes because I used a service rifle and the crack probably scared the hell out of a few neighbors. 

My neighbor heard the shot and responded instantly. He ran down and immediately stuffed the body into a pre dug hole, covered it up and came up the house carrying two beers.

The general rule regarding animals here is they have to become a real pest before they get taken out and if we can we trap and relocate them. These days I'd probably trap and relocate them.

I imagine a lot of other people do this because North Park seems to have a boatload of ground hogs!









To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY