Snake!

The other day I finally got around to cutting down a 20ft tall hedge-like tree on the corner of our house. I checked it out for bird nests (the other tree had robin eggs in it so I waited to cut that one down) and saw none so I started sawing it down with an electric chain saw. After I got a few vertical limbs cut down, my dog got Tira got really excited and was looking my way. I went to her and looked around thinking she saw a bird, butterfly, or squirrel but didn't see anything so I went back to the tree to get back to work. The next limb I cut down was a big one and when it hit the ground I saw a 5ft shiny black snake slithering away as fast as it could go. Tira had seen the snake in the tree over my head. I hated to think what would have happened if it had fallen on me when I was cutting the tree down...

I identified the snake as a black rat snake and let it be...not scared of it but I don't like snakes (that's the one thing I have in common with Indiana Jones). The snake picture below isn't the actual snake in our yard...just a snake photo I found that's of the same type as the one we have.

Craig's First Recipe - Spaghetti Sauce

I made spaghetti today using my original recipe. It delicious and easy to make, I've make it dozens of times and for some reason decided to write the recipe down to share. Hopefully, someone else will like it as well which may encourage me to write down my other recipes...

Craig's Spaghetti Sauce Recipe (53KB)

Tira v. the Bird

Every morning Tira runs outside to look at and listen to all the birds. Two mornings ago she was so infatuated with the birds chirping she sat under a tree for maybe 30-45 minutes. When she came in Min-Ah screamed and called me. Tira had been pooped on by the birds as she sat under the tree looking for birds. I thought this was really ironic and funny but promptly gave her a quick bath. I doubt Tira cared about the mess on her back...

Tira Versus the Bird

Every morning Tira runs outside to look at and listen to all the birds. Two mornings ago she was so infatuated with the birds chirping she sat under a tree for maybe 30-45 minutes. When she came in Min-Ah screamed and called me. Tira had been pooped on by the birds as she sat under the tree looking for birds. I thought this was really ironic and funny but promptly gave her a quick bath. I doubt Tira cared about the mess on her back...

Tira's New Trick

Yesterday Tira showed off a new trick she learned. While looking for birds in a hedge, she figured out that if she stood on her back two leg with her front legs on the bush, leaned backwards, and lunged forward onto the bush (like a bear trying to knock someone out of a tree) she could force any birds hiding inside to fly out. She did this a few times and made quite a few birds leave, almost catching one. Not sure how she figured this out but she's proving to be a smart little hunter.

Tira's Groupies

Tira's only been in Virginia for a week but in that time we've had three people pull their vehicles over (two were driving down the main road) and say how good looking she was and ask about her. She's also had dozens of people stop us on the sidewalk and ask about her. This is while the temperature's hovering near or below freezing...

We need to keep an eye on her and make sure she's not being stalked...

Trapped! The Mike Turner Story

I had this story buried within my site and I wanted to bring it to light. It's my favorite story taken from Backpacker Magazine. I hope you like it as much as I did. Click on the .pdf icon below to view the story...

Trapped: The Mike Turner Story (143KB)