You Too, Halley?

Our dear cat Gus, who was killed by a car not long ago, was a charming cat, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer, even for a cat. Below is his version of bird-hunting. He just couldn't figure out why the hummingbirds never came.



The day after he died, Halley showed up. She's very different in personality, and we had some hopes for a while that she might have a little more upstairs.

Alas, it was not to be.



I can't imagine why the hummingbirds aren't letting her catch them.

Not that I want her to catch a hummingbird, but still, it's a little embarrassing, isn't it?

Video of the Vulture Attack

I managed to get a short video of the vulture attacking the ducks...

A Vulture Attacks the Ducks

My husband called me out onto the deck this morning to see a vulture that had landed on the roof of the boat dock. As we watched, he repeatedly swooped our three ducks.



They squawked in terror, and Gilligan, the domestic white duck who's larger than the other two, tried to spread his wings to cover Miss Penny, the small female.

We found Gilligan's white feathers all over the shore later.



Here the vulture tries again...



After a few minutes watching, we ran down to the shore, and my husband stood there to keep the vulture at bay. It finally gave up and flew away.



We can't help but wonder if it'll be back, though.

I imagine the ducks are wondering the same thing.

How Do You Weigh a Horse?

I've been describing Gus as a 1200-lb horse. Really, I just picked that number out of the air, since it seems to be a standard horse size.

Today we went to Tractor Supply and I got a weight-tape for horses. You pass it around their girth just behind the front legs, and it gives you a weight estimate. Gus is actually about 1050 lbs, and that should be a high weight for him, since he's had a lot of great pasture grass this summer. (When we got him at the end of last winter, you could see his ribs.)

We have to watch his weight because his previous owner tells us that he injured his hip in an accident some years ago, and too much weight will aggravate it.



The other thing I got at Tractor Supply was the perfect shovel for scooping goat poop out of the shed. Goat poop looks just like deer poop, and it passes right through the wider tines of our horse-poop shovel. I came home and used it, and it worked great.

Hmmm, the things that make me happy have certainly changed!

What We Saw On Our Evening Walk

My last post was about taking an evening walk with Gus the horse. It's a little difficult to concentrate when we're walking with him, because you have to watch your feet, which is -- oddly enough -- not conducive to good picture-taking.

But I got some pictures. Our native Beautyberries are flourishing. We have them everywhere, and their vibrant pink-purple berry clusters just make me happy.



Other wildflowers are spreading now. I have no idea what this is, with its little yellow flowers, but we have a lot of it.



We also have a pretty purple wildflower that is making this little fellow very happy.



And this enormous fellow is munching away for all he's worth on.....well, we never did figure out what this plant was.



I'm happy that all we have are weeds, so God's creatures can eat to their hearts' content, and we don't have to care.

An Evening Walk With a Horse

See, until Gus the horse came into our lives, we had never had a horse. The biggest pet we've had in our married lives has been a cat.

So we don't really know what's normal. For example, if you take an evening walk around your pond, is your horse supposed to walk with you? All the way around? Stopping when you do?

Here's what greeted us as we set off for our walk tonight. We paid him off with an apple. (If you look closely, you can see apple juice.)



Then we edged by him....and started walking. A quick look behind showed this.



Now here's the thing: A horse can walk a lot faster than you can. So pretty quickly he's walking on top of you, and keeping track of the relative locations of your feet and his feet is not as relaxing as you might think.

I'll tell you what IS relaxing, though....



Oh, yeah, Pops, thaaaaat's the spot....

Our weird little threesome continued on its way around the pond, as the sun fell lower in the sky, and then we were done.



And the other weird little threesome joined up and settled in for the night...

Beautiful Savannah River

We're fortunate enough to live near the Savannah river. We had some family guests this weekend, so spent some time showing them different parts of the river, and I thought I'd show how beautiful it is.

This is the Riverwalk in downtown Augusta, GA. The Georgia side of the river has the walk, and across the river on the South Carolina side are beautiful riverfront homes.



Then farther west is the Savannah Rapids Pavilion, a Georgia park with a dam across the river. The river runs parallel to a canal here, and a wide canal path leads about seven miles into Augusta itself, and is enjoyed by bikers, hikers.....and panting strollers like ourselves.



The dam...



The canal...



This is truly a beautiful part of the country.