Back when I felt like it was time to get out of apartment living and into a house, I thought it may never happen. My then husband had very specific requirements. It had to have at least 2 acres of wooded land. The trees had to be hardwoods too. I live in North Georgia! There are mostly pine trees in this state. The house had to be brick, not just a brick façade. That was because of the termite threat (I’ve since learned you can get termites even in a brick house). And it had to have a full basement. Full basements have gained popularity in this area in the past few years, but they aren’t necessary like they are up North. I felt like we would never find his dream house, but we did and it was the first we looked at.
The best part of this property is the wildlife. I do see a little less of it since the area has become more developed. I have seen deer and wild turkeys traveling across the back yard. Last summer the dogs alerted us to something outside the backyard fence. It was a small snapping turtle trying to dig under the fence! I was surprised to see it there because it was a little distance from the creek. We find box turtles often; in fact we have to rescue them from the dogs who think they are toys. Every spring a pair of hawks nests in one of the trees. A few days ago I thought the dogs were barking at the hawks, but when I saw two birds on the ground and one in a tree, I knew they could not be hawks. I went out to investigate and discovered they were buzzards that were lunching on the remains of a cat. Yuck!
My sister had an above ground pool put in several years ago. I had a total of 11 trees cut down inside the backyard fence to expose the pool to the sun. That water was cold! The loss of the trees did not deter the tree frogs. They use the pool for mating and spawning. It’s amazing that such little creatures can have loud and irritating voices. The eggs would collect on the Polaris hose. I was glad when we finally started using chlorine instead of an ionizer for sanitizing the water. The frogs still lay their eggs, but at least the eggs die and filter out.
Those 11 trees left behind large stumps. I’m glad I didn’t have them removed. The dogs use them as barking platforms. Watching them, I sometimes think they are playing ‘King of the Hill’.
My driveway is 300 feet long and I like to walk out to get the mail. The main reason is to look for wildlife in the front. There are lots of squirrels and chipmunks. When spring comes, I’ll start seeing the rabbits again. There is a creek that cuts across the property about half way up the drive. The creek has been a problem a few times over the years and has washed out the driveway twice. I like the creek because I can see footprints of the animals that come there to drink. That includes the neighbors’ dogs as well as possum and raccoons. There is enough of a pool next to the drive that there will be small fish wash down from the pond a few properties up the street. They disappear with the next big rain, but I like to think they are making it to Sweetwater Creek and my little pool is just a rest stop.
My cats live inside, but still enjoy the outdoors from the windows. While they lived upstairs, I had lounging shelves on 3 windows. You could always tell when there were birds on the feeders. Eliot’s tail would lash about and she made a strange chattering sound. At night both cats would bat at insects on the other side of the glass. Now that they have moved downstairs, they have to share one window. Sometimes it means that there is some hissing and hitting as they argue over possession of the window sill. One day they were quietly sharing the sill. I noticed Eliot’s tail doing that excited lashing. I managed to squeeze in between them and discovered two tiny black eyes looking back from outside. A mouse had nested in the weeds outside the window. I’m just glad the mouse is outside. I think the mouse is glad too.
I’m trying something to attract more wild birds to the basement window. I use a litter made from corn cobs in my finch cages. I have started dumping the uneaten seed in the bottom of the cages rather than dumping it in the trash. The finches seem to enjoy searching among the litter and the seeds. I cleaned the cages yesterday and emptied the trays into a trash bag. This morning I took the bag out to a spot outside the basement window and emptied it there. The corn cob should degrade naturally and hopefully the wild birds will be attracted to the leftover seeds. I’ll just have to keep an eye on the cats to see if they are watching out the window more.
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