Monday stuff

Things have been going well with Suzy in the house. She gets along great with Alice and Mabel and as far as I know (unless there's something I haven't found!) there's only been one accident in the house. Out of all the dogs I've owned in my lifetime, though, she's the first "shoe thief/chewer"! Naughty girl!!

On Saturday my younger daughter and I hosted a bridal shower for one of her friends. I obviously didn't check the community calendar before I set the date and location. Turns out there was a "Bugs, Bands & Bikes" festival going on all day in the area adjacent to where we had the shower. I haven't seen or heard so many motorcycles in one place since the time we happened to be in Hot Springs during a Harley Davidson Convention! (Bugs = "mudbugs" or crawfish)

Remember the goose couple I mentioned in an entry awhile back? There have been several mornings my husband has seen the entire family, which now includes four goslings, marching down the middle of the levee road which circles our pond. I would love to get a photo of that!

We've had two new calves in the past week or so. We're a small operation, so it's always a big deal when there's a new arrival. Once upon a time I took lots of livestock photos. As I mentioned here, though, it's been ages since I took my camera to the pasture.

At least when something happens right here at the house I'm pretty good about getting out my camera. Jed was barking like crazy at something in the front yard yesterday evening. Turns out it was a snake. It kept a very close eye on me as I inched up to take its picture. It didn't appear to be a water moccasin or copperhead, so I let it go on its merry way after snapping a couple of pix. I noticed Jed didn't get too close. I guess he learned something from his last experience.

Late afternoon at the pond

Sunday afternoon was beautiful so we headed to the pond to see if the fish were biting. We both threw a few casts from the bank just to see what would happen. I caught this nice bass right away with a plastic worm!

While walking down the bank I saw a bass guarding its nest next to an old stump. Can you see it at the top of the photo?

I mentioned before that we have a nesting pair of Canada Geese that return to our pond each year. They were keeping a close eye on us as we fished our way around the pond.

Here's another bass I caught. We were keeping them as long as they were about a pound or better. I threw back several small ones, but this one was definitely a keeper!



This little guy, a muskrat, was swimming very close to us. Not very smart!

Yet another fish I caught! We ended up keeping a nice mess of them. I lost count, but I know it was in the double digits.

It was a great evening to be out on the water. The mosquitos weren't too bad.... maybe because of all the dragonflies and swifts diving around.... or maybe because I took the butane-powered bug repellant. The usual wood ducks came in as it started to laten. I love to hear their whistles. We also saw several red-headed woodpeckers. In the distance I heard a pileated woodpecker and an owl. In this last picture I think I was trying to photograph one of the woodpeckers. Instead, all I can find is a cow in the lower left of the pasture. Oh, well.

The rest of the week looks too busy for fishing, so we're off to try it one more time tonight!