The Monarch of the Glen

We are already into August. Soon–as we do every year–we will exclaim, “The trees are already beginning to change color! It seems awful early this year!” It doubt it is ever early. It just feels as if summer is over too quickly.

Several months ago we decided to turn our guest bedroom into an exercise room. After we moved out the bedroom furniture, we discovered that our roof had been badly leaking–so much that it ruined a corner of the floor. We got our roof replaced in early July and then EJ started working on the floor. He took out the ruined floorboard and insulation and just got them replaced. Next he will put the underlayment in. Finally, he will put install the flooring. The room had had carpet in it, but we decided to put in square tiles. It’s easier for EJ to install with his chronic back pain. Also we have cats so a tile floor will be easier to clean up and we can easily replace tiles if any get damaged. Also, tile feels more “exercise room”-ish. When EJ finishes the floor, he will replace the part of the wall that got damaged by the leaky roof. I think that won’t be as difficult as the floor.

For multiple years we’ve had a problem with leafy spurge but last summer it really took over on our property. Leafy verge is an invasive plant whose sap can cause skin irritation, including blistering, in humans and can be toxic to animals. It has an extensive root system (15-26 feet deep) which is nearly impossible to completely remove. Pulling or digging frequently breaks roots into pieces and any fragments, even small ones, can regenerate. This can increase the number of plants rather than reduce them. Removing top growth stimulates new shoots. Leafy spurge can quickly cover open grassy areas, decrease native plant species, and reduce forage for grazing animals. It’s a nasty plant.

After doing research, and making sure it was ok to import them to Michigan, we decided to buy leafy spurge flea beetles from a company in Montana called WeedBusters Biocontrol. We were told that it would take about four years for the tiny beetles to get fully established and that the following summer we’d notice a cleared space about the size of a table. We released them last summer and were interested in seenig if they had survived the winter and cleared any space. The area where we had released them is completely clear of leafy spurge this year. Yay! It worked!

Our young chicks that hatched this last spring are now almost full-sized. They are very beautiful with unique coloring, none of them identical to the others. A coupIe of them are black with blue-ish highlights that shimmer in the sunlight. I haven’t been able to get good photos of them.

We have two little chicks that were hatched at the beginning of July. I have them shut up with their two mothers until they are bigger. I let them out about a week ago, but they were getting into trouble–the littler one had trouble climbing up on top of the fancy coop (inside the coop, which is a 10×12 shed) and it got stuck in another area so I decided they were still too small and put them all back together in isolation in the wooden doghouse, which is also inside the coop. I might try to let them out again in another week or two.

Several years ago I noticed scat (animal poop) in our driveway. I wondered what it was so I looked it up and the scat fit the description of a bobcat, including that they like to poop in the middle of dirt roads and trails. This summer we started noticing multiple piles of scat all up and down the driveway. I was pretty sure it was from bobcat(s), but I took a photo and asked Grok what it was just to verify it. Grok confirmed my suspicions. Seeing so many piles of bobcat scat indicated to me that at least one, if not more, bobcats are hanging around our property. I moved my trail camera to overlook the driveway hoping to get some footage of a bobcat. That would be so cool! So far I haven’t caught anything on the trail cam.

However, I moved the camera back to the orchard a couple days ago when we looked out the window one morning and saw an awesome buck there. He was so magnificient that we gave him the title of “The Monarch of the Glen.” This morning The Monarch of the Glem returned and he posed right in front of my camera! Here is some footage: