Chipmunks

Here's a set of cool pictures close up of my closest neighbor--a chipmunk. There are actually several around the inn and you can watch them running around the hillside. If you scare them, they let out a squeak as they run away that makes you chuckle. Often there are 2 at a time chasing each other around, and they are more evident than ever right now as they rustle through the leaves and make a lot of playful commotion.

Here is a link to learn more about these critters.

http://www.chipmunkplace.org/

Oh, Deer

The local family of deer is pretty used to people at this point. But with their annual rut coming soon, we will be a bit more cautious when we walk the trails.








The top photo is of the mama about 75 feet from the office door...

and the bottom photo is of her twins... about 20 feet from the balcony of Room 103...still with their spots.

Friendliest tree I ever met...

As the winds reached 70 miles per hour, the red maple close the the deck couldn't take it anymore. As I watched from inside, the tree fell--in slow motion--and lighted upon the deck as gently as could be. It missed the large picture window, the patio door, the upstairs window, the 2 flower pots, and the fountain. And the deck was still intact, as sturdy as ever. The photo shows the size of the tree, as it hung another 10 feet over the other side of the 40 foot long deck!

Clean-up took a day but no-one, or no-thing (except the tree) was injured. That is a friendly half ton of tree!

Time to plant the partial-shade garden now that the tree has relinquished some of its claim to the sunlight...

Bug ID REVEALED!

This is the kind and quick response I got from Dr. Dave Shetlar from OSU Extension Entomology (aka the BugDoc)





..."This is the saddleback caterpillar, one of the slug caterpillars. All have very potent stinging hairs, as you've found out. The saddleback is a generalist feeder being found on a variety of trees, perennials, and even field corn where it can cause obvious problems during corn harvest.
Treat the stings like any wasp sting (ice packs, antihistamines, etc.)."



Thanks, BugDoc!

Strange bug...

As I was digging some perennial sunflower (Helianthus sp.) a little caterpillar dressed like Avril Lavigne made its presence known to me....

It felt like a combination of a bald-faced hornet sting and brushing against stinging nettles. The pain subsided after about 30 minutes, but i was a little too exicted to find out what it was to feel much of the pain...

Pileated woodpecker

This is the woodpecker I saw this morning behind the inn on a large dead branch of an ash tree. The ash appears to have been struck by lightning a few years ago, and is too close for comfort to the inn and will be removed this Winter. Fortunately there is plenty of habitat through the hills here that it shouldn't need to fly too far to find more feeding/breeding ground.

It is a pileated woodpecker....the largest woodpecker there is. It was e model for the cartoon "Woody the Woodepecker."

My photo can't do it justice, so here is a link to some good pictures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pileated_Woodpecker

Come up sometime and walk the trails....see if you can find him again. (I think it was a 'him' although it was a bit too far to tell.)

They are permanent residents and build new nests every year. Hopefully we'll see him again next year.

New frontispiece

New landscape addition in front of the inn...

this is the landscape Sunday morning after finding just the right deadwood in the woods along the Indian Trail.

After stripping the sod, we planted the prairie plants scattered-like so they look a bit more natural. The end product looks like this:

We used ornamental grasses (Miscanthus s. 'Morning Light'), some Gayfeather (Liatris sp.,) some sedum varieties (Sedum 'Matrona' and S. kamtschaticum) and Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpurea)...have you ever heard of that called Gravel Root?