Brush Begone!

Most mornings I walk past and admire a neighbor’s acreage located right here in our neighborhood. Taylor Burns owns about 30 acres at the east end of Copperoaks, most of which is heavily wooded. Recently I stopped to watch a man on Taylor’s property using a grinder to sharpen the blades of a tractor attachment I’d never seen before. At the end of my walk, I went back by to watch, at a distance, as he cleared some of the heavy undergrowth from Taylor’s land. He would raise the Tecon mulcher on the arms of his Bobcat T76, and then, with the cutting blades rotating, he would lower them onto small trees and heavy brush which would be reduced to mulch. If you’ve never seen one of these in action, click the link below and fast forward about seven minutes.

See the Fecon brush mulcher in action

And here you can see the results.

Mystery Insects at Hidden Lake

Jack and I went to Hidden Lake this morning and were amazed at these large insects digging tunnels on the dam. There were hundreds of the things and others flying just above them. I couldn’t get a decent photo so cadged this from a DuckDuckGo search but it looks like the same bug (and Eastern Velvet Ant) with more orange than red. I will try to get down there later today with a macro lens and see if I can get a shot of my own, but if there are any entomology fans out there, I’d like to know if this is the correct ID.

 

Morning Walks, Fall 2020

In the mornings I walk. First my dog, then I take my camera and go on a longer jaunt, about four miles. In the fall I photograph foliage; this has been a good year for catching color, and Halloween decorations.

Morning Walk: Our Furry Neighbors

Squirrels seem to be everywhere in our neighborhood. I rarely walk more than a hundred yards without seeing one or two, and I enjoy their antics. They seem to enjoy driving our dog, Bella, wild by playing right outside the front window, where she stands guard. They like breaking into attics and setting up housekeeping there. And they seem to be fearless when running across the road in front of Country Place drivers. Of course, there are drivers who don’t brake for them.

The female pictured above likes to sit on the Middleton’s fence and scold passersby.