Travel Plans

I saw on the news that an estimated 50 million Americans will be on the road for this long weekend.  On a Friday afternoon, I encountered some 40 million of those travelers (give or take a few) on my drive home from a trip to Helena.

By the time I arrived home, I had firmed-up my own travel plans.  I will spend my holiday weekend walking between my house and the lakeshore with occasional diversions to the nearest refrigerator.

My first excursion to the lake soon followed.  Down at the lakeshore, I found a good portion of the St. Clair family splashing about in the water.

It’s a good day when you find nearly a half-dozen St. Clairs playing in the water.

Cooper and Sawyer Cooling Off in the Lake

Papa Toad, Cooper, and Me with a Baby Garter Snake

—Mitchell Hegman

A Non-Traditional Pet

While poking about in YouTube, a came across a slew of videos about people saving various animals.  The video posted is charming and the woman who saved the bird made herculean efforts save the bird, but I am not convinced pooping-at-will bird is my favored pet.

—Mitchell Hegman

Video Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WQDu_L7TiI

Six Months

On December 28, 2020, I finalized my sunroom order from Florian Solar Products and sent them payment for manufacture.  Yesterday, a full six months later, a big rig barreled down my country road, spooling dust from ten big tires, to deliver the kit to my house.

The truck, per my request, had a tailgate lift.  The kit weighed a bit more than one ton and arrived in the form of three pallets and four long boxes.  The trucker, a pleasant young man named Bill, quickly dropped the pieces to my concrete drive and we carried the long boxed into my garage.  Those were followed by the three pallets pushed inside on a pallet jack.

Now, the confounding task of putting things together.

—Mitchell Hegman

4:32 AM (A Single Mouse Will Do)

At this time of morning, I find myself standing outside in pale light.  Strange light.

Above me, I can see the half-moon, Venus, and a dozen stars.  I don’t need thousands of stars.  A dozen will do.

The birds remain night-quiet in their bird places and only a single mouse is afoot at this time.  A single mouse will do.

—Mitchell Hegman

Strange Breakfast

Yesterday morning, I discovered something ate a good portion of one of the super-spiny native cactus plants in my yard.

Upon finding the partially consumed cactus, I stood there, staring down at it, dumbfounded.  I can’t touch one of the damned things without crying out in pain.  Eating one is out of the question.  Thing is, a bunch of the cactus was consumed.  Something truly worked at eating it for breakfast.

Who or what can eat a cactus?

I have posted a couple images of the cactus as I found it.  We commonly call this type of cactus a pincushion or ball cactus.   The Montana Field Guide marks them as a spinystar cactus.

Again, who can eat a cactus?

I hopped onboard my computing machine and googled this: “What animal eats cactus?”

Surprisingly, three animals that possibly scurry about my landscape landed on the list: woodrats (known as pack rats in my hometown of East Helena, Montana), jack rabbits, and ground squirrels (referred to as gophers in any bar in Montana).

Not sure which of the three might be responsible, but I am slightly impressed.  That is some delicate work right there.

—Mitchell Hegman

Pretty Survivors

Early in the spring, I and an adjacent landowner patrolled our cabin properties to check the areas where a contractor sprayed to control knapweed and Canada thistle encroachments.  We wanted to make sure the weeds had toppled, but our wildflowers survived.

Our assessment proved hopeful.  The early wildflowers appeared as normal.

Over the weekend, I spent several hours traversing my property one more time to assess the weeds and the array of early summer wildflowers.

I am happy.  The invasive weeds have been devastated.  At the same time, the wildflowers are marching along nicely.  The entire point of spraying was to save the flowers.

Posted are a few images of the pretty survivors.

Sticky Geranium

Wood’s Rose

Arnica

Lady Slipper

—Mitchell Hegman

Shooting Knees

I strapped a game camera to a tree about twenty yards behind my cabin.  I must admit, I am slightly apprehensive about this.  Do I really want to know what’s running around out there?

It is probable I will catch the image of a grizzly bear.  Even more likely is the prospect of capturing the photo of a mountain lion.  But what if I snare the image of something weird, say, bigfoot, or Elvis dressed head to toe in camo and bowhunting in my woods?

And I also needed to consider placement. 

I opted to direct the camera toward a somewhat open area where I commonly see deer and occasionally find moose.  Of course, I am equally interested in smaller stuff, too.   Rabbits.  Weasels.  Wolverines.  Bobcats (Go MSU!).

I initially placed the camera about three feet off the ground, thinking I might be more apt to catch even the smallest blibot bouncing about.  Then, an hour or so after initially strapping the camera to the tree, I started imagining mostly shooting the knees of deer and elk and moose.

Jeez.

I snuck back to the camera and hiked it a bit higher up the tree.

I will be checking for results in a week or two.

Game Camera (On the Tree Centered in the Photograph)  

—Mitchell Hegman