This is the view from my house down to the marsh. Those big pine trees are on a hump of land that juts into the water. We call it the South Point. We think it’s a beautiful part of the property. It has a mix of hardwood and pines. […]
Maine wildlife
Thanksgiving isn’t following the usual script. Instead of a house filled with friends for my annual Pie Party, it’s just Steve and me. And Scooter. It’s cold and raining outside. It’s going to be one of these days. Po had her Thanksgiving early. Around Halloween the supermarket had a big […]
Script Rewrite
Porcupines are solitary animals and stay that way by defending their territory. If you see two porcupines at the same time and it’s summer, you’re probably seeing a mamma and her porucpette. Or if you see (and hear) porcupines interacting, you’ve likely caught the action during breeding season. Occasionally in […]
Who’s This Porcupine?
I woke up early one early morning last week and got to see Po eating acorns under one of the big oak trees in the front field. I watched her through my binoculars. Steve got this photo with his camera. Total adorableness. I follow the Instagram accounts of a […]
A Pumpkin for Po
Scooter asks to go outside to either a) pee and poop or b) sunbathe. Other than that, he’d rather be inside in his bed or on my lap. Let’s just say that he’s not a farm dog. Which is why the other afternoon, when I let him out to […]
Who’s There, Scooter?
Steve and I live on a hill facing a beaver marsh in southern Maine. You expect to see a lot of wildlife, and we have. Eagles, harriers, hares, coyotes, muskrats, beavers, ravens. Dragonflies, hummingbirds, beetles and bees of all sorts, mosquitos. We named our eleven acres Turtle Hill because […]
Blanding’s Turtle Sighting!
I know that this is my second blogpost in a row about the fall colors here, but that’s where the drama is! Some years the colors tend to brown, or a storm knocks off the leaves before their time. For trees to achieve optimum color the weather has to be […]
Peak Foliage From Horseback
Turtle Hill is home to a porcupine that I have named Po. Most of the animals that we share this property with are only glancingly visible, but this summer Po chose to spend much of her time near the house. She enjoyed grazing on clover in the backyard and didn’t […]
Cleaning Up After Po
I’m one of those people who attract stinging insects. If there’s a solo deer fly, and three people hiking, it will land on, and bite, me. If I walk past a yellow jacket nest I’ll generate the ire of the hive and they’ll attack. If there’s a paper wasp hunting […]