An Evening with Bats in Iowa.

We have had some cooler nights lately...  And Cheryl, with her injury still bothering her,  has consented to evening walks.   I like the evening walks in Iowa.   Well, not the walking part so much.   But I do like the Fawna we get to see.   Like Deer!

I also like feeding the horses and dogs we see along the way.

 And every now and then a colorful sunset.

But most impressive were the bats the other day.    There were so many flying bugs in the cornfields, that it looked as if it were snowing!   ( Pity the pictures did not turn out with the setting sun blinding everything)  But as the sun set, the bats came out in force!   I have seen several fluttering around our house, but this night there were dozens!   Very cool.   We found a dead one ( after a rather windy storm) and I believe they are the "Big Brown Bat" Species.  ( That is the actual name.  Look it up..)

And lastly,   for the last week,  I have seen this Cuckoo bird chasing around its adopted parent.   I knew that a Parasite bird had invaded one of the locals nests.  ( I saw the casualties on the sidewalk)

But the Cuckoo confirms it.  He is at least three times larger than his parents and they feverishly attempt to stuff him with anything that is edible.   Sometimes Nature can be so insidious with it's strategies for survival.  Killing unborn young and replacing it with your own is simply appalling.  But it apparently works.   Who ever said Mother Nature was fair and just?   ( She is NOT!)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.   Cheryl and I have been working on our next presentation for the Farmer's Market.  Fingers crossed on how things go this time.

A rant about Bats

It happens from time to time when I encounter an article or cute story about bats. If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you will know that I'm quite fond of bats and these articles always catch my attention. Without fail, no matter how cute the story or how bat friendly, they always seem to mention that bats are carried of RABIES and should be treated as if they are ALL infected with the dreaded disease. Bats have a tough time as it is being the creature of myth and legend for the blood sucking vampire. Add the curable and almost impossible to find rabies disease to the mix and you have red neck midnight batting practice! So let's ask a few questions. When was the last time you caught rabies from a bat? When was the last time you caught rabies? Do you know ANYONE who has caught rabies in the last 10-15 years? Do you know anyone how fell down any \steps in the last 10-15 years? do you know anyone that was struck by lightning? You may be asking what do these last questions have to do with bats? Well....statistically you probably have a better chance of getting struck by lighting or falling down stairs than getting rabies from a bat. So leave our poor furry friends alone. They eat bad bugs by the millions! That DO carry disease. That alone should keep them flying for a long time. But no news article ( including this one it seems) ever want to write a purely positive piece about bats without mentioning the "scary" fact that they carry rabies. Ah well, can't tell everyone what to write, so I'll just keep plugging along with My little rants from time to time.

New and improved Bat House

Tonight I built another bat house, hopefully for sale! I guess my crazy bat personality has been getting around and people are asking about purchasing them from me. Well, Ihave never made bird or bat houses professionally, but this might be a new direction. Well, I actually bought new wood for this project instead of just cutting up old bits of scrap I had lying around. We'll see hot it pans out when the glue is dry and it is painted. I may even add a nice carving detail to spice it up a bit.

Bats and moths welcome

Tonight, one of the bat houses I put up in my neighbors yard has become popular! I'm thrilled that one of the houses that i built is now being used! I'm kinda bummed that the bats have left the store bought one in my yard to set up shop over there. It's all good though as long as they keep eating bugs! There are still a lot more houses to fill up all over our yards. Jeff has a MUCH better camera than I do and took some really great shops of the bats and of one of the Io moths. I am too embarrassed to show off my comparison pictures.

Painted carvings, BATS! And some more origami.

finished painting the toucans, Now I just have to poly them and attach a hook to the back. We'll see if anyone likes them enough to purchase them. A wonderful surprise today showed the bats have returned to the bat house, and Boy are they stuffed in there! It's crazy, because I have about 10 other bat houses up that no one seems to want to investigate. Granted, it took 3 years for them to warm up to the one they love now. I still want an army of bats flying around in my backyard. For now, I'll be happy with these little guys. As for Origami, I wet folded a beetle. Not too bad, but it didn't turn out much different from my other beetles. I may try it again later to give it a little more character.

To the Trees! The Bugs are coming! Again.

So I headed back to the forest tonight with the last couple of hours of daylight, and worked on another dead log. I also snapped a picture of the green man during the light. The final picture to the wood spirit was in the dark, but a little "fixfoto" and we have something that can be seen. The mosquitoes are now out in a pretty good force. Thankfully, it was cool enough for me to wear long sleeves comfortably. I think my bats have taken up permanent shop now and I hope they stay all summer. They might migrate when the bugs disappear, but they will always be welcome.

Where have all the sales gone?

Let's face it! Last week's sales were crappy! And this week is beginning the same way! I did sell one, but Come on! Ok! With that venting out of the way, I decided to work on a tree that was a little larger and closer to the house tonight. I Actually want to do a "good job" on this one and carve a full person or at least most of the upper torso. The wood is being rather "uncooperative" in that is it soft, rotting, or extremely hard all at the same time! I worked on it till after dark so I had to use the flash and thus it doesn't capture much. Then again, I didn't go too much into detail yet. Who knows with the wood as soft as it is on half of her face, I may just have to be really simple. And...More great news! My bat house has at least four bats now! I'm so happy. Keep 'em coming!

Happy Mother's Day! Well, for us anyway.

So we went to Grand Rapids to visit Cheryl's family on mothers day to catch up and grab a bite to eat. All in all It was nice seeing everyone again. We got home kinda late and I ,out of the blue, wanted to check my bat houses to see if anyone had moved in. I'm soo happy to announce that there are these two cuties in at lest one of the houses. I'm soo happy! Aren't they adorable! This is going to be a short post but here are some of the Origami beetles I have been working on. Cheryl says I need to add more colors. I'll be working on some gold ones later tonight.