In the Yard

These are things I saw while sitting on the front porch today.

Squirrel

Bluejay

Redwinged blackbirds and cow birds. None of the redwings wanted to have the red spot on their wings seen.

View from my front porch of the oak tree, the road by my house and the field across from us with trees beyond. 

 

Wildlife Days

The past couple of days we have had lots of wildlife around our property. 3 does decided to walk through the field across from us and then down the road.

A couple of days ago my dog, Ziva, decided to see how a toad tasted. She had her mouth on it when I saw them and gave the command, "Drop it" which I use to tell her to not eat whatever she has in her mouth. She had barely touched the toad. Maybe it didn't taste every good, so she backed off and after taking its photo I encouraged it to go hide in some flowers where it could eat bugs. 

One morning our resident chipmunks raided the pan of sunflower seeds, mostly for the birds.

The blue jays like the sunflower seeds but don't seem to be able to hang on the tuve feeders we put up for the finches, titmouse, gold finches, and woodpeckers. Of course all the birds use the plastic tub feeder as well.

Doves prefer to just eat off the ground.

Another day Ziva dug up a mole. She dropped it as soon as I told her too. It didn't seem hurt just confused at what had happened. After taking it's photo I pushed it back in the hole and later noticed it had disappeared leaving the hole filled in as they do. We have way to many of them but I didn't want Ziva to kill it. Funny creature and I don't think they are very smart or move very fast like other rodents. Chipmunds are really fast and seem smarter than any other rodent I have been around. 
 

Pets

 
The other day I was watching the local Louisville news and they were talking about a couple of flamingos at the zoo that they thought were about 50 years old. I thought that was amazing that a bird could be that old. Then I remembered that many parrots, macaws, and cockatoos live that long. I know that lots of reptiles like snakes such as the large pythons, and even alligators can live long lives.  Elephants can live 50 to 80 years. Giant Desert tortoises  are known for living a hundred years or more.
    All of these let me to wonder why dogs, cats, horses, and other animals that are common pets don't live that long. Some horses live to about 30 years but dogs and cats never live that long. 12 to 16 years is normal for dogs and cats with a few reaching 20.
     So why is it that our most beloved pets are short lived animals. Thinking back over my own pets I remembered that the longest I had a dog and a cat live was 16 years. I had a horse that made it to what the vet guessed was 30 but he was 20 when I got him.
     I did some more thinking and realized that there had been a considerable number of dogs and cats in my life as well as quite a few birds and horses. That thought caused me to think that if these pets had longer lives would I have had as many as I have had. Another words if a dog lived to 30 years would I have only had one or two instead of the 12 dogs that I have had? If a cat could live to 30 years would I have had the 25 purr critters I have had?
     Hummmmmm. I really can't answer those questions.
     I know I have had more dogs and cats than the average person has but I don't think having a shorter life would have made a whole lot of difference in my case but I do think it would make a difference with a lot of people. Not everyone wants to have a half dozen dogs in the house at once. Or --say--ten cats. I don't think I would want that many at once either.
    
Thinking of the pets I have had I usually did have at least 2 dogs most of the time. But I don't think I ever had more than 3 at once at any time. Although I only have one at this time. The same can be said for my sisters and most of my friends. Usually 2 or 3 dogs at a time. Most of my dogs were 13 or 14 when we lost them but a lab/collie cross I had was 17.
 
     As far as the cats are concerned I remembered I did have 7 of them for a number of years. And, yes, I agree that was too many. Another time I did have 6, and I have 4 at this time. I have know people that have had as many as 10 cats at once. I don't recommend it. Most of my cats made it to 13 or 14 years but one made it to 16. I know of 3 that are that old and still going strong.

   

And horses. That seems to be another critter that you can't just have one of. I started with one and got another soon. My highest count was 6 at once, but I have noticed that horse people just can't say 'no' when there is a horse needing a home. Many friends have as much as a dozen or so of the hay burners. I do still have 4 horses but they live with my son now. I miss them all the time and much preferred when I could walk out the door and visit with them even if it did mean having to feed them twice a day and clean pens and stalls. I have known several horses that lived 30 years and one that was 37.




     Not to be forgotten are the bird people. The first pet I can remember having was a parakeet. I think I was 2 years old when my parents got him for me. I had several parakeets and a canary while growing up. I got a parakeet for my son when he was about 4. We already had some zebra finches. During the next several years we had quite a few finches, canaries, and parakeets. I never got into the larger birds but have known a lot of people that have had then. A favorite older friend was a true bird lover having many in her lifetime. The longest I had a bird live was about 10 years.



   Of course there are those that prefer reptiles. I let my son have several lizards, and a couple of box turtles. I drew the line at a snake. Thank goodness he never asked for one. He did have a good friend that had a large collection of snakes.




   And then there are the fish. When I was about 8 my dad got a fish aquarium that we had for a few years. My sister had a small aquarium while we were in collage. My son asked for one when he was about 5 so I let him have one but he lost interest in just a few months. I, on the other hand, kept the aquarium going for over 20 years. It was only a 10 gallon aquarium tank so I was limited on how many I could have at a time. Many fresh water fish that people have in aquariums don't live more than a few years at most. I had guppies, mollies, swordtails, angel fish, zebra fish, and others. The 2 I remember the most were a pair of some sort of Plecostomus that I got when we first got the tank. These are fish that are some sort of sucker fish and eat a lot of the algae that grows in a tank. One of them lived about 10 years and the other was 19 when it died. I have heard that there are other fish that have very long lives if cared for properly.
      I think all parents should introduce their children to animals as much as is possible. Since I dad was in the Air Force we moved a lot so a parakeet was our best choice of pet for many years. When dad retired from the Air Force when I was 13 we got a dog and then a cat. My husband and I had 2 cats and 2 dogs when our son was born. We always seemed to have houseful of pets when raising our son. I am a firm believer that children learn a lot of love, responsibility, respect when they have pets in the home.