Aerial photos in November

I flew my drone today. Previous flights this year included October, August, June, April, and March.

This time, we’re done with the fall foliage, so there are just the millions of evergreen trees around us.

Lots and lots of trees, to the misty horizon:

Trees

Here’s a glimpse of Mount Hood:

Mount Hood

Zoomed in a bit:

Mount Hood

Our pond, flowerbeds, etc:

Pond, flowerbeds, etc

From lower down:

Pond, etc

The junk area in the corner of the property; there’s an old dinghy (that I occasionally think about putting by the pond as a decoration and duck shelter), and a bunch of rocks, pipes, wood, and other stuff, mostly buried under weeds:

Junk area

That rectangle near the bottom is an old potting shelter, that I plan to enclose to make a beekeeping storage shed. Here it is again, along with the beehives:

Beehives

An angled view of the beehives, hoop house, veggie garden, etc:

Beehives, veggie garden, etc

Looking down on the veggie garden, berry cage, and chicken runs:

Veggie garden

One reason for flying today was to investigate a gutter that has come loose:

Gutter

After flying, I got out a ladder and fixed it; all better now.

Here’s me and Rory on the main deck:

David and Rory

Cat update for week ending November 28

A fine Caturday to you. I know I gained a few followers this week, so welcome! If you’re new here, check out the cats summary page for the background of the feral cats we care for.

Here are Poppy and Porcini inside their heated cat house:

Poppy and Porcini

Spud by the cabins under our main deck:

Spud

Spud on top of our mail parcel box:

Spud

And having a good scratch:

Spud

An alien black cat visiting the feeder; don’t think I’ve seen this one before:

Alien black cat

The alien cat is startled by Porcini:

Alien black cat

Hey look, it’s Spud on the front steps again:

Spud

When refilling their food, I flushed out Pommie and Porcini, who watched me from a safe distance:

Pommie and Porcini

Three cats inside their house:

Three cats inside

Poppy:

Poppy

Poppa, Bella, Poppy; just shows the level of acceptance of Poppa that they can eat with him in there:

Poppa, Bella, Poppy

Bella, Poppy, and Porcini, with Poppa inside:

Bella, Poppy, Porcini

Bella:

Bella

Porcini having a bath on the cat house deck, and Paladout sneaking in the back door to the feeder:

Porcini and Paladout

Porcini looking out the window at another cat on the awning, of which you can see a shadow of ears above Porcini’s head:

Porcini and shadow

Flock Friday for November 27

This week’s Flock Friday is more of a Duck Friday. No chicken pictures this week; I’ll try to capture some in the coming week for next time. In the meantime, enjoy pictures of the quackers.

The ducks on the pond:

Ducks

On the bank:

Ducks

One semi-chicken-related picture: a pumpkin that I cracked for the chickens to enjoy, but they pecked a neat hole in the side:

Pumpkin

Back to the ducks, sleeping on the bank:

Ducks

On the lawn:

Ducks

Ducks with the brown gazebo and new chicken coop in the background:

Ducks

Flapping:

Ducks

The new and old coops in the background:

Ducks

The old coop, veggie garden, and shop in the background:

Ducks

Flapping:

Ducks

Cat update for week ending November 21

A happy Caturday to you.

Here’s Spud on our front steps:

Spud on front steps

And in the breezeway:

Spud in breezeway

Poppy and Porcini snuggles:

Poppy and Porcini snuggles

A GIF of snuggles (previously posted on my personal blog):

Snuggles GIF

A cams app screenshot, showing four cats:

Cams screenshot

(The outside cam is still offline, though I have received the replacement; just need some time to set it up.)

Spud between the cabins:

Spud

Another screenshot, this time with five cats:

Cams screenshot

When refilling their food, I flushed Poppy out of the cat house; she watched me from a safe distance:

Poppy

Porcini and Poppy licking in somewhat different ways:

Porcini and Poppy

Two cats; one on the cat deck, one near the lantern behind the tree:

Two cats

Flock Friday for November 20

Hey there. It’s Friday… Flock Friday. This week, ducks, chickens, and hummingbirds… and a rodent.

Here are some ducks on upturned-pot islands in the pond:

Ducks

In and around the duck house:

Ducks

On the pond:

Ducks

Hey there Betty:

Ducks

A rodent (rat, I think) has been visiting the duck house this week. Not welcome, due to possible disease concerns, though it doesn’t seem to be doing any harm, and I don’t know what I can do to stop it — it comes in via the pond pop door, and during the day too. Here you can see it under the ramp, with the ducks nearby:

Rodent and ducks

The ducks were very curious about it:

Rodent and ducks

Some pictures of the chickens in the veggie garden:

Chickens

In their run, coming to greet me on rounds:

Chickens

Leafy treats:

Chickens

More of the ducks:

Ducks

Going up the bank to the lawn:

Ducks

On the lawn:

Ducks

A GIF of the rodent in the duck house:

Rodent GIF

I shared this GIF of dancing hummingbirds on my personal blog:

Hummingbirds GIF

And some pictures of hummingbirds, taken with me standing outside a few feet away:

Hummingbirds

The ducks on the lawn again:

Ducks

Some chicken eggs in a nesting box; we’ve been averaging about two or three per day of late, but occasionally have more:

Eggs

Finally, a couple more duck pictures:

Ducks

Cat update for week ending November 14

Happy Caturday!

Let’s start with a screenshot of my cams app, showing two cats on the deck, one in a cabin, and one in the feeder:

Cams screenshot

Three cats outside their house:

Three cats

A photo of three cats — can you spot all of them?

Three cats

Pommie and Poppa in the cabins:

Pommie and Poppa

A shadow of a cat on the awning, peeking in the window:

Cat shadow

Paladout on the path to the pond deck, watching me:

Paladout

Four cats inside their house:

Four cats

A zoomed photo with two cats; one on the deck, one inside:

Two cats

Pommie peeking out the door of the house at Paladout arriving to steal some food:

Two cats

Spud jumping up to the breezeway cabin for a midday nap:

Jumping up to breezeway cabin

And down again a few hours later:

Jumping down

The twins:

Twins

That is the last picture captured from that camera; it stopped working after that. When investigating, I figured out why: the pin of the power supply cable had rusted off. It’s an outdoor cam, but not totally impervious to the elements. So I’ve ordered a replacement cam. (I got a “renewed” model, which is pretty cheap.)

Spud in the breezeway:

Spud

Three cats at breakfast time:

Three cats

Spud by the cabins:

Spud

Paladout watching me again:

Paladout

Video

Video: a spider attempts to hoist up a large leaf

Spotted in the feral cat feeder: a spider lowered itself onto a large leaf on the floor, and hoisted it up to the ceiling… but ultimately dropped it. An impressive effort, regardless! This video is at 8x speed.

Flock Friday for November 13

Welcome to Flock Friday.

Let’s start with some hummingbirds (previously posted on my personal blog):

Hummingbirds

The ducks in the pond:

Ducks

And chickens:

Chickens

Chicken

Chickens

Chicken

Chickens

Chicken

The chickens waiting for me in the veggie garden; you can see the two coops beyond that, and the brown gazebo in the background:

Chickens

The ducks on the edge of the lawn:

Ducks

Cat update for week ending November 7

Happy Caturday folks.

In case you didn’t see it, last weekend I added an upper door to the cat house, as an emergency exit. Check out that post for details.

Here’s Porcini by the new back door:

Porcini by new back door

Two cats inside the house; the new door gives them another window to look out:

Two cats

A cat peeking around the corner of the house while I was refilling their food; very brave approaching that close:

Cat peeking around the corner

Two cats hunting for food I sprinkled on the ground as a treat (it’s a fun game):

Two cats

Looking out the back door:

Looking out the back door

A GIF of jumping out the new door:

GIF of jumping out the back door

Cats looking out both back doors:

Looking out both back doors

Another GIF of jumping out, watched from below:

GIF of jumping out the back door

After a couple of days for them to get used to the concept of the new door, I removed the stick that was holding it open:

Removing stick holding door open

Snuggles:

Snuggles

Poppy-face:

Two cats

Poppy and Porcini outside:

Two cats

Porcini about to jump from the awning to the roof:

Two cats

More snuggles:

Snuggles

Long cat and round cat:

Long cat and round cat

Porcini licking Poppy:

GIF of licking cats

The reason I added that upper back door was as an emergency exit in case a raccoon came in when a cat was inside. Well, that happened this week, though ironically the raccoon headed straight for the upper level, so the cat was able to go out the front:

GIF of raccoon inside