Resident Felines

This is Simba on the left & Cutter on the right, waiting for dinner.
Cutter met an unpleasant demise to a coyote last fall, so Simba is now restricted to the house.This is Molly. She was born here on the ranch and remained when her original owners sold to us. She is a barn cat who has a kitty door into a heated tack room.
At 14 years of age, she is wise to the dangers of the wild.

This is Tilly, a stray who took up residence in our hay barn.
She has a unique dot on the end of her tail.

This is Tux, Tilly's daughter. She arrived with Tilly.
She looks like a miniature Simba.

This is Thomas T. Tomcat, another visiting stray, who has gone to greener pastures.

We have many strays that take up residence in the warmth of our barns. All critters are that we can catch & tame are neutered.

Resident Canines

This is Nickel, She was abandoned as a 3 month old pup. She is now 11 and the matriarch of the family dogsNIkki with her pumpkinman

This is Bo. He was adopted from the local humane society in the fall of 2007.
He is stilll learning how to be a ranch dog (mainly how to stay home at the ranch house and not chase the critters).

Bo looks like a littel fox when he's sleeping.

Freedom for the Red Tail

The hawk completely recovered after 5 1/2 weeks. True to her word, the bird rehabber brought the bird back to the ranch for release. Here they are getting her out of the crate.
She looks healthy and ready to go!

She's outta here!

Scoping out her new surroundings

I spotted the hawk several times afterward. I knew it was her as her tail feathers were ragged from sitting in a cage. I can only hope that almost a year later, she is one of the hawks who screeches at me when I enter the woods every morning!

Rescueing A Red Tail

Bird Rehabbing
Last winter while on my morning walk, I discovered an injured red tailed hawk. I called a local bird rehabilitator who's husband came to get the bird. He approached with a large net as the bird sat motionless. .
Much to my relief, the bird offered no resistance and he wrapped it in a towel to contain it.

A closer look at its face

The sharp talons

In you go, back to the bird sanctuary

I spoke to the bird rehabilitator several days later to see how the hawk was doing. She said the bird appeared to be a female juvenile who had an infection, probably from a bite from prey such as a squirrel. She had some blood & fluid seeping from one eye and had to be hand fed for a few days. At first she didn't hold her head quite right, but improved to feeding herself bits of mice. After several weeks of monitoring she was moved outdoors to a flight cage. When she recovered completely she was released back here at the ranch.

Wild Birds at the Ranch

A Bluebird and a Robin on a snowy day

APileated woodpeckerMallards in the creek

Indigo Bunting

An injured Red Tailed Hawk
Next post I will journal his story

Other not-so-cuddly critters found around the ranch

We have some not so cute and fuzzy critters too.
Baby toads are everywhere in the spring.We have tiny snakes

And big snakes!

Big ole snapper turtles

And nice easy-goin' box turtles

Even some interesting insects such as this stickbug

Riding Horses at the Blue Rock Ranch

Here's a nice video of my friend Janette and me riding horses. Debi, my neighbor found us and joined in.

Wildlife Photographed at the Ranch

Of course, we have the bird feeder raiders, the fox squirrel.
And the lovely Opossum. This one has a bloody foot.

We occasionally have beavers in the creek.
And Raccoons.
The wily Coyote.
Deer are plentiful here on the ranch.
The deer are even in our back yard.

More snow

Today dawned with snowflakes flying. I took a walk down to the pasture to see how the horses were faring. They seemed oblivious to the snow collecting on their backs. Couldn't resist taking pictures of their frosty faces!

First Snow, first post!

We got the first measurable snow of the season and, of course, I took some photos. This is what I saw this morning when I went to the paddock to let the horses out to graze. Tag, my 21 year old Appaloosa is on the left and Rocky, a 12 year old chocolate palomino Quarter Horse is on the right. They are always hungry!