Animal Kingdom

The last couple of days have been a reprieve from the 100+ heat indices and high humidity, which in the middle of the day felt a lot like slogging through hot soup under a broiler. No rain with the weather change, unfortunately. Also unfortunately the cooler weather has brought on a flare-up of fibromyalgia, which has kept me down and out for the last day and a half.

The puddle next to the water trough is now home to 4 frogs. (The water is murky because I just emptied the trough, causing the frogs to leap from the fence and the puddle margins into the water and stirring up the silt.) I'm not surprised to see these frogs in the puddle, as there are what sounds like hundreds in the spring pools between the paddock and the woods. What's funny is that before now, I've actually seen one of those frogs only a few times, maybe two or three times, as they always fall silent if you get near them and they're very good at hiding.

Leopard Frog?

Juvenile?

To see how small this tiny frog kingdom is, here is Tommy next to the trough, with the puddle to the
right. The little bumblebees that feed on the Bee Balm come here in droves to drink during the day.

Tommy will venture into the paddock as long as one of the horses isn't too close by.

Prince's coat has faded under the fierce summer sun. He and the pony spend some time under the shelter of the stalls during the day, but most of the time they stay outside. We will probably move them back down to the pastures tomorrow.

View to the neighbor's horses, regular sized and minis.

The deer family that was sampling my daylilies, down near the old house site.

Mom

Yearling buck

A couple of nights ago I saw a Gray Fox in the driveway near the horse trailer. At first I thought it was Prissy, then I realized that it didn't have a white chest and was too tall. Foxes are so graceful and cat-like. I've seen Gray Foxes many times over the years here on the farm, at times surprisingly close up. I've seen a Barred Owl in the woods behind the paddock at twilight recently as well. Gene has seen him or her a few times when he came home after dark (usually on Thursdays, when he works evenings), hunting at the wood's edge next to the driveway.