Ash Trees Continue to Die (Blog 427)

Saturday afternoon, I spent much of my time cutting down and cutting up dead ash trees done in by the emerald ash borer plague. Our 38 acres in Botetourt County, Virginia hosts many ashes that are dead or succumbing.

It is a sad thing to see  beautiful hardwoods like the green and white ash quickly disappearing from the mountains here in Southwest Virginia and across their range. There is no cure on the horizon, either. And on our land, I can find only one mature tree that, to my surprise, has not been affected yet.
That will probably change this summer.

Chickens "Complaining" about Cold Weather (Blog 426)

Here in Botetourt County, Virginia, the wind chill is below 0 this morning and our heritage Rhode Island Reds are not happy. Chickens have a way of... perhaps fussing the right word... when things do not go to suit them. They march up to Elaine and me, and the whining begins.

This is usually after we give treats to the other chicken run's fowl - the two separate flocks have pens that border each other -  and the other flock does not receive any. Of course, both flocks will complain simultaneously if we walk by and don't give anyone anything.

This morning there was quite a bit of ruffled feathers, both literally and figuratively. Literally because the birds were constantly "fluffing" because of the cold and figuratively because they were complaining about the frigid conditions.

Preparing for Snow in the Virginia Mountains (Blog 425)

Elaine and I were supposed to have given an outdoors-related talk at the Bridgewater public library this morning, but the impending snowfall cancelled the event. Instead, we are cleaning both chicken runs, and I am going to cut some more fire wood before the snow starts.

Human nature is strange. We have plenty of firewood already in the garage and more is out at our woodpile.  But cutting wood in front of snowfall just seems like a constructive thing to do. Elaine is going to cook venison tenderloin for lunch and a wild blackberry cobbler is hopefully on the menu, too. Let it snow.

Deer Scarce during Virginia's Late Muzzleloader Season (Blog 424)

I had five different "settings" during doe days in Virginia's late muzzleloader season and only saw deer (two fawns) on the first of the five. I am often amazed when I see stories about trophy hunting for big bucks during the late season, and I struggle to see deer most years during this time period.

Maybe my poor success year after year is because of my hunting so much in the mountains where the weather is colder. Or, frankly, my poor hunting could be because I am clueless on how to pursue late season deer.  In any event, another late season has come and gone, and I struck out again.

On the January and February Saturdays to come, I'm going to look forward to squirrel hunting behind the house and doing Timber Stand Improvement projects on our Botetourt County land.