Evening at the pond

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The other night after work, I walked down to the pond. The sun was low in the sky, the shadows were long.

I saw a mallard, a fish (an honest to goodness fish, 6-8 inches long) and a red winged blackbird.

And then I saw this, and I was so excited I nearly fell into the pond.

Do you see what I see?

I managed to recover my balance and only ended up with a wet boot, which was fortunate because 1) I’m pretty sure me falling into the pond would have spooked this guy and caused him to move to another watershed, and 2) the camera would have gotten wet and then I wouldn’t have been able to take the dozen other pictures I shot.

Hello there!

My new friend was a little suspicious of the statue (once I found my stability, I wasn’t moving!) that had turned up on the shore of his pond, and he swam big ‘S’ patterns across the water as he eyed me. Eventually he decided I wasn’t that interesting and he went back to paddling and diving. I was able to track him swimming under the water by following his bubbles. At one point he climbed out of the water onto the opposite shore and I got a better look at him.

He’s a big guy! Almost 3 feet long, nice and round and very, very sleek.

I’m not sure exactly what species he is. My best guess is some kind of muskrat, although I guess beaver or otter could be a possibility. I never saw his tail clearly, so that doesn’t give me a clue.

Over the course of our farm search, the pond came on and off the must-have list. I really, really wanted a pond, but at times I was ready to sacrifice it in order to just get a farm. Now, I’m so glad we have the pond. It’s one of my favourite spots on the property. I love walking down to the water and just watching the sun glisten over the ripples, the reeds waft in the breeze and the bugs dance across the surface. Seeing this guy enjoying the pond was a complete bonus–a really special moment for me.

For the weekend, I leave you with this video of our new pond paddler.

All of you naturalists out there let me know in the comments what you think he is.

Our first deer

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Deer in the back field. Can you see them? I promise they are actually there.

One of the nice things about a holiday weekend is that you’re around to see things you wouldn’t normally see.

Last Friday morning, eagle eyes Matt spotted two deer in the back field. We walked back to get a closer look and we were actually able to get near enough to see it was a small doe and yearling.

We’ve been waiting to see deer on the property. Up to now, all we’ve seen is tracks.

I didn’t have the camera with me, so I wasn’t able to get a picture of them.

However, a trio of deer showed up in the same field on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, this group was a lot more skittish and as soon as we started to walk towards the field they took off. The photo above shows their white tails as they bounded away. If you squint really hard at the circled areas and use your imagination, you might be able to envision them there.

We’ll keep an eye out this weekend and try to get actual photo proof that deer pass through our property. What’s on your weekend wish list?

Wishing everyone a great one.

Running with the cows

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

A country scene from our Sunday morning run.

This past weekend, we went for our first run from the farm. Once we determined where the run actually started–does a long driveway count towards the final mileage?–we had a great time touring the area immediately around the farm and seeing a different perspective of the property.

It was a nice sunny day, no wind and not too cool. Just warm enough for the first shorts run of the year.

To give you some perspective on the size of our property, just over 2 km of the run were actually along the border of our own land.

We ended up going for about 7K in total. Good preparation for my race this weekend after being completely off running for the past two weeks and hit or miss for the two weeks before that.

Running down the quiet country roads was a nice change from the city. We had a good paved trail by our old house, but nothing beats the country air.

Speaking of the air, I’m constantly noticing the smells of the country. There’s the earthiness of the marshy spots as they’re thawing and warming up in the spring sunshine. There’s the manure of the barn yards we run past. There’s the sweetness of hay from the huge bales in the back of the pick-up truck that drove slowly past us. I love it all.

The most interesting moment of the run came when we were going past one farm where 10 calves were penned in a paddock by the road (not sure if I’m using the correct “farm” terminology here). The calves were all penned, but the mama guard cow was not. She came charging down the driveway towards us, and I don’t think it was just ’cause she was happy to see us. I of course stopped to walk because cows, especially ones that are stampeding towards me, are still enough of a novelty to cause me to stop and look. Matt was not so interested in slowing down. His comment as he watched the huge mama thunder towards us was, “Ummm… maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

She stopped just short of the edge of the road and proceeded to pace along the fence, placing herself between us and the babies and snorting in warning and keeping an eye on us.

We talked nicely to her and the babies and then wished them all a good day and jogged away.

It was a fun sight for the morning, and definitely made for a memorable first run.

ETA: We went for our second run last night and met a run away dog while we were out (and his family who was trying to get him back). What is with us and run-away animals!