Wednesday, August 7, 2013

And More Critters

The chipmunk is getting bossy.  We slept a bit late this morning after thunderstorms came through.  There was no damage here, nothing like what happened in the Fox River Valley, but a lot of rain pelting the metal room of the camper.

When I finally went out to sit in a lawn chair, Chippy came right up to me, sat on his haunches and said, "Well, here I am being cute.  Where are the peanuts?"  I rectified the situation right away.

I hike around the lake again this afternoon and came across a nice sized garter snake.There are no worries about poisonous snakes in this part of Wisconsin. There are rattlesnakes and copperheads in the southwestern part of the state but all we get up here are garter and grass snakes.

I've always liked snakes. They have the neatest way of moving. This little guy looked at me, wriggled a little way off then waited for me to snap his photo.

There are lots of white-throated sparrows in the woods who love to have whistle offs with me.  There is only one bird with a prettier song around here and that is the hermit thrush.

In the mornings a couple of sandhill cranes that must be nesting nearby fly over our campground nice and low.  They must already be done with their parental duties so are free to fly off together.

This evening we drove to Goodman to have supper at the Stony Ridge Restaurant. I took along my camera because bears have been spotted along our route.  I had the Nikon ready all the way there and most of the way back but finally put it aside.  Sure enough, just as we went around a curve coming down Lost Lake Road, we saw a black bear sitting on the road.  He ambled off. Even if the camera had been ready, it was already too dark to get a good photo. It was our second bear sighting of the summer.

This must have been the Chipmunk Rapids bear.  Perhaps he was on his way to explore the garbage bins there. We won't mention it to the ranger.  A guy has to make a living somehow.

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