Theresa · Mather

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is much closer to us than the more frequently visited South Rim, so it's where we go most often. It's higher than the South Rim, and heavily forested. The lodge closes for the year on October 16 although the park stays open until the snow seals it in for the winter, or November 30, whichever comes first. We decided to get a final visit in before the lodge closes.
At this time of year, we were expecting autumn color. We never expected to see the elusive park buffalo, which used to keep to the back country, yet there some were right past the park gates. Judging by the number of "chips", they come to this field frequently.

We saw lots of animals, including about 40 wild turkeys, grouse, deer and a rare kaibab squirrel, which is a large charcoal grey squirrel with a black belly and white tail.The regional deer population is teeming- we saw tons of them all the way back from the park.
( More pictures, clicky here )

So they removed a huge killer bee colony from a home a block and a half away. There were 150 pounds of honeycombs in the eves of the house and the hive apparently had been there for at least four years. So all the bees in my yard for the last four years have been killer bees. They didn't act any more aggressive than regular bees, they just buzzed around and did usual bee things. I guess we should have been tipped off by the fact that honeybees can't survive the winters here... now we know. But a small twisted part of me is also kind of disappointed that after all the hype of the 70's and panic in the media and movies, I lived near killer bees for 4 years and they seemed just like regular bees, happily pollinating my apple tree and rolling in yellow pollen in the wildflowers. Somehow, in my mind, they should have looked more sinister...with some kind of special stripes, larger size or little villain's capes or something.
Even so, I'm very glad no one got hurt.

EDIT: Link to news coverage including video and pictures. I should note though that contrary to the caption, Cedar City is not in Utah county. :P
Click here

I'm irked for two reasons.

1. Pine pollen and privet hedge pollen are making my eyes water and my nose stuffy.
I've taken an antihistamine but it still looks like I've been crying. There is so much tree pollen that there was yellow powder all over my driveway until the rain washed it away, but the rain caused more trees to start blooming.

2. The Cooper's Hawk that hangs out in one of my trees near the studio.
He ambushes robins and jays from the tree. I know he's just doing what hawks do and is just looking for dinner, but finding broken backed robins staggering around the yard and robin parts and piles of robin feathers where he plucked them before eating them on an almost daily basis is getting old really fast. Nothing like getting up in the morning and walking to the studio only to find some form of robin carnage along the path. The hawk watches me through the studio door and I just know if I was small enough he'd try to eat me too.

Stop reading now if you don't like bugs.

Calamitous Drama is going on in my yard. For some reason, I have lots of ant activity this spring. But it isn't ordinary black kitchen ant type activity.
The drama started this week with a huge (3/4 inch) ant with big jaws sitting wounded on the walk to my studio. I stopped to look at him because he was so unusually extra-large. One of his antennae was clipped and several of his legs were missing segments. He stayed put until he died and I assume a bird ate him. Later in the day, I found two similarly wounded big ants. I went about my business and came back only to find that they were missing more parts. Apparently they were trimming eachother's legs and antennae, and they kept fighting al la the Black Knight in Monty Python's Holy Grail. "It's only a flesh wound!". They both blew away or got eaten by a bird because they certainly could no longer walk away on their own.
Toward evening that same day, I noticed a dark spot on the ground about the size of a salad plate next to the bread crumb pile I leave out for the birds when I have old bread. Curious as to what had been dumped there, I examined the dark shape and found that it was a bivouac of tiny ants.... many thousands of them. They had set up camp while other ants were busy dismantling bread. I didn't know army type ants ate plant material or bread. A robin came and ate too, though I think he was eating ants rather than bread.
Today I found another wounded warrior ant on the walkway, waiting boldly for his fate. I went into the back part of the yard and there past the area that passing deer like to use as an outhouse was the beginnings of a colony of half inch ants. They were busy excavating on top of a mound. The huge ants may be warriors of this type of ant, but I can't be sure. I had left a hard boiled egg that had been forgotten in the fridge out there for the foxes or raccoons but instead, through a crack in the shell yet another kind of ant had removed about a quarter of the egg in a little over a day. These ants were being ignored by the half inch ants that were building the new tunnels.
I've been looking online to figure out what all these ants are, but there are just too many types to narrow it down. I do know that one of the regional businesses locally was once collecting ants for Ant Farms. Mail in your Ant Farm ant certificate and some Utahn went out and trapped them to fill your order.

I seriously hope none of these ants decide to move into the house.

My work for the day is done and I'm winding down with a Wyder's Dry Raspberry Cider. I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but I did get the studio almost ready for transferring my supplies back out for the season. I even swept the deer crap from the walkway..it was very thoughtful of the deer to leave nice a nice big steaming pile behind so I would know that they had stopped by.
( Lots more, with pictures! (not of the deer crap) )

Somewhere in my yard, a stag with a full rack of antlers is hiding.
It's hunting season, and deer like to come into town to avoid that. He had apparently bedded down this morning near my picnic table, then realized he made a mistake when I opened my curtains and was looking right at him. Last I saw he was in the vegetable garden trying to go down the hill to the neighbor's side yard because there's a big clump of trees there. I assume that's where he is now. I don't want to startle him getting to my studio, if he leaves my yard now he's in a lot of trouble due to daytime traffic and the fact that he's in the middle of a town. Also, coming face to face with a scared stag isn't a great idea. I see deer prints in my yard all the time but I've never actually seen one out there...until today.
I guess I'll spend the day matting.