This week's entry will be a little shorter than usual. I was a little under the weather for the whole week and didn't take too many pictures...maybe the game cam was in the same boat, because when I pulled the card Thursday night, there were only a couple of night shots, and it looked like coons-no surprise there. I set the hav-a-hart anyway and baited it with little friskies salmon dinner (sure to be irresistable to coons). We looked out the window Friday morning, and... Hallelujah! There was a non-skunk critter in the trap. We could hardly wait to drip the morning coffee, slip on the rubber boots, and head out to take care of the varmit. As we got close, we saw just what kind of critter was lured in by the bait...
A big old barn cat! Upon his release, he streaked away to the north through the piney woods. I'm pretty sure he belongs to the 40 acres on the northern boundary. Anyway, I replaced the batteries in Big Daddy's game cam and set up one of the other Cuddeback cameras in hopes it would take pictures. I'll know next week.
The rest of the day was spent mowing, then attempting to fix the mower. One of the gambrels came apart (like a wheel bearing only mounted vertically on one of the mower blades). I had an extra one, and the repair is not too technical, but I couldn't get the blade off to remove the part. After several hours of laying in the dirt and hammering on the handle of a wrench (and occasionally my forearm) I quit in disgust and will try another day. Denise and I went into town and splurged at a Sonic, and got a good night's rest.
The next morning dawned quite muggy with a little fog, but I could see activity in the hav-a-hart. We looked through binoculars...it was not a skunk and it was definitely not a cat. Finally, it looks like we got one of the intended varmits. We dripped the morning coffee, slipped on our rubber boots, and took along the .22 and found...
A marsupial! While we are not catching our intended prey, it looks like boxing the bait end of the trap with concrete pavers is working. Anything that wants salmon cat food (and it seems that is anything EXCEPT a raccoon) has to come in through the front door. Anyway, the 'possum is now buzzard chow and we'll try again next week.
I've taken all of the pictures in this post with my smart phone (except for two reference pictures around the pump shed). I must not be smart enough to figure out how to take good pictures, because I wanted a good one with the bird feeder and bird bath (courtesy of my Aunt Faye). This will have to do for now. I've seen wrens and cardinals splashing around, and I'm sure it will be quite popular with our avian visitors next summer. The birds have definitely found the food, and are going to town on the seed buffet. Mostly cardinals, chickadees and titmice (titmouses?). BTW, the azaleas look so much better after the rain we've had compared to during this summer's drought.
Since LSU mercifully did not have a game on Saturday, Denise and I spent the rest of the day cleaning up the privet and other brush from around the old pumphouse. Actually she did most of the work with loppers and a bowsaw...I did a couple of the larger trunks with the chainsaw. I was in charge of the burnpile. First, the only pictures I could find of the pumphouse as we found it - It's to the left in the first picture.
After a day of slash and burn, it looks a lot better. I'll get the stumps yanked out at a later date.
Well they say Rome wasn't built in a day, and that applies to fixing this place up, too. Maybe next's weeks blog will have something interesting!
Joe and the kids came for the weekend to keep me company and watch the LSU game. The first half was pretty good, but it turned out to be a stinker. You might think that LSU's second half effort inspired this weeks title...au contraire. We have not had any success trapping coons, but I re-rigged the trap by boxing in the bait end with concrete pavers, thus forcing the wiley critters to enter from the business end of the trap to get the goodies. On Saturday morning I looked out the window and I could tell that we had something in the trap. We hurried out to investigate...
Pepe' L'Pieu!! Jack dispatched it with the .22, and the area immediately filled with that special aromatic sensation that only a skunk can deliver. I held my breath and dumped it out of the trap, and Joe did the "honors" of walking it off into the woods. You can tell by the look on his face that he was truly enjoying the experience.
Multiple checks on Friday and Saturday nights revealed no coons, though. The game cam says they are still coming.
The squirrels and coons are getting fat...and the turkeys are still regular visitors. I've heard that coons are hell on turkey eggs in the nest, so I have another reason to thin them out around here.
The kids showed me a few things about our new phone. I experimented with the camera a little.
It's also getting to look like fall around the farm.
There was a patch of hickory trees that were really golden. The pictures don't do it justice, though.
That's all for now. I've got to get ready for another riveting week at the office instead of planning my next stroll through the woods.
Well, a little water has gone under the bridge since the last post. I'll at least make an entry in case anyone is checking. I can start with "Tibo's Trailcam Highlights". I let it run for a couple of weeks during the squirrel hunt weekend and when Denise had the computer in Baton Rouge. There were 1200+ pictures, and about 1150 were of coons. I can't seem to trap those dudes, but I'll keep trying.
Of course we have our regulars (from the last couple of days)...a real squirrel party in the afternoons!
The legendary black squirrel has made another pass through the neighborhood, and even gave me a muscle pose to prove how badass he is...we'll see when I turn Jack loose with the 20 gauge just how tough he really is. I cannot abide being taunted by a rodent!
I had a blurry shot of a possum and one that potentially may have been a bobcat, but what I am really fattening up are the neighborhood coons...too bad they are so much trouble to cook.
The most exciting capture was of the first ungulate that ventured under the feeder...proof positive that further development may yield something significant for the freezer. Meanwhile, a coon is figuring out another way to get the salmon catfood out of the hav-a-hart trap without getting caught (he succeeded, BTW).
Since I don't have any recent yard or house upgrade pictures, you'll just have to take my word (or not) that there has been progress. I did snap a few pictures of the annual squirrel hunt...which was greatly diminished when Big Daddy had a stroke a few days before. He said it was the first squirrel hunt he missed in 57 years! He's headed for a full recovery, and we've added strokes and heart attacks to the list of prohibited activities in October (like weddings and births). Anyway, 3 Thibodeaux's and a Fell were there to represent.
I got there Thursday afternoon and used all of my almost forgotten Boy Scout powers to set up the camp.
Pat Fell came that evening and he and I hit the woods on a friggin, foggy Friday morning to see if we could start scratching up enough squirrels for the traditional Saturday jambalaya. We got a good start.
Joe and Jack came Friday afternoon and added to the haul.
I think Jack shot an ambiguously gay squirrel based on what was in its mouth, but we can't really be sure. Anyway, the boys debated the orientation of the squirrel and whether it could affect the jambalaya, but ultimately decided they all stewed up the same.
Afterwards, it was a semi-relaxing evening...the campfire was great, but the LSU game on the radio was a bummer since we lost to Ole Miss...it did save me from watching the debacle on the DVR.
All in all, a nice little campout...and that'll take me out for this blog post. Maybe LSU will jump up and beat Alabama next weekend...if so, my post is sure to be a merry one.
