[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by Stuckinda60s

Put a rubber snake where the birds can see it somewhere close to where they're building the nest. They'll find someplace else, in a jiffy. Owls in the vicinity also work.

These birds are too unpredictable and persistent for me to keep rubber snakes in all the possible locations. I've had them build a nest inside my garage between three cans of primer and paint on top of a cabinet because I left the garage door up. They've frequently built nests in potted houseplants we put out on the front porch in the spring. Like I mentioned, I just cleaned one out of my gas grill yesterday before she could lay eggs in it.
The photo below is a gas weedeater that was leaning against the house near the basement door. That's a nest (with eggs) sitting right on top...lol That's just to name a few places they've targeted.
I'm thinking competition must be tough for prime nesting with the number of birds in the area. They are absolutely frantic this time of year.
By the way, I've had my share or REAL snakes in several of those areas as well.

[ponyakr]

just heard an old country song today on a local country station which plays nothin but the old country, some call it real country--you know--when the country band still had a steel guitar & a fiddle--not this new stuff where all the dudes have an electric guitar & try 2 look & act like heavy metal rockers. i been listenin 2 country for a long time & i can tell ya fur shore that new stuff AIN'T country! anyhow i think the name of this song was "daddy let me drive". he described the truck as an old short bed ford, with 3 on the tree. said his daddy would let him drive & would encourage him by sayin somethin like " thats allrite son, your doin just fine. so that took me imediately back 2 my grammar school days when my daddy would let me drive all our trucks, tractors & cars. & although my 1st pickup was a stude, we did have a short bed ford in the '50's & both trucks had a 3 on the tree. & my dad was always there 2 help & encourage me & tell me what i was doin wrong & how 2 correct it. i reckin young folks take a lot of things for granted. i just thought all the kids were learnin how 2 drive. obviously that wasn't true. so as i look back on my life, i can see how special my dad was & can now more appreciate all the things he did for me. he wasn't perfect & neither am i, but i know he loved me & always did everything he could 2 help me along through life. & i now realize that many people did not have a "cool" dad like mine. some were mistreated by there dad or had dads that didn't really care much about them. & of course some never even knew who their dad was. so, i'll have 2 say that i feel truely blessed 2 have had a dad who loved me, took time 2 show me & help me learn things, & promise 2 always be there 2 help if i ever needed him. i believe that some day i'll see him again & i can tell him then how much i appreciated what he meant 2 me while he was on this earth.

[ponyakr]

sometimes ya half 2 cross a hiway or 2 before ya can get 2 the next trail. we got a lota wild hogs in our neck of the woods. when ya cross the ark state line, then they're called razorbacks. there's always several homade hog traps similar 2 this 1 along TJ's deep woods horse trails. looks like they used some public property 2 help construct this trap. she ran across 1 that had captured 7 young-uns. sometimes in the spring & winter we get lots of rain. here's a shot of rainwater runnin down both ruts of a horse trail road. she usually needs her 4wd for several days after a big rain. then back at the old ponderosa, pokey can relax while i knock the weeds down on our little clearing. this little kioti is hi tech & very efficient compared 2 that 1st long-nosed case i drove into the side of our house back in the '50's. its lots of fun--sorta like a big boy toy.

[ponyakr]

TJ just ran across these pics & i just had 2 share. do ya'll remember the series that used 2 be in the readers digest entitiled "my most unforgetable character"? well, for me & TJ this is definately 1 of ours. this is the little guy that i mentioned earlier in my story who told us he had killed a possum with a stick the nite before & had him in the fridge if we wanted it. now you have 2 understand, this is also the same guy who had sold my dad a horse, which he said was a real good plow horse. turned out she had probably never even been sucessfully hitched up 2 a plow--although she did make a good trail horse for TJ. anyhow mr. B was known for spinnin some tall yarns. most folks didn't believe a word he said. but after the possum incident, we started payin a little closer attention 2 what he said--tryin 2 seperate truth from fiction. his little house in the picture was not much more than a snuffy smith shack. it was only 200 yards or so from a little crossroads store, which he went 2 every day. he'd sit on a bench there & harass the folks as they came in. he wasn't mean spirited at all. he was just havin fun. some folks just didn't know how 2 take him. he bought all his groceries there & if nobody offered him a ride, he would walk back home, carryin his little sack. this little store was on my milk route, & i always left some real butter there for mr. B. he told us it lubricated his intestines 2 aid digestion. i don't remember now just exactly why we went the 1st time, but when we went 2 visit him the sign in the 1st pic is what we saw. its out by the front gate which was always locked. its supposed 2 say somethin like "holler before interin please". he had obviously hand painted the sign himself, but i can't remember now what it was painted on. TJ said it looks like it might have been the fender off an old tractor. anyhow we hollered & we could here a rather hi pitched answer "hey". then he'd slowly shuffle along towards the gate, which he had 2 unlock with a key. you could sorta hear him muttering 2 himself as he did all this. some folks were scared of him--others just thought he was crazy. at 1st, we didn't know quite what 2 make of him. but, after he invited us in & we had talked 2 him for a while, we discovered a very interesting & quite comical character. he'd tell us a joke of some kind in his hi pitched voice, then say "he, he, he,(as he slapped the knees of his overalls, which he always wore) i have my fun". 1 thing i remember that he told us was about this campmeeting that he use 2 go 2 every summer at a little country church. he told us how he would entertain the young ladies outside the church by climbing up a big tree in the church yard & doing a flip out of it. i didn't really believe that tale until the possum incident. now i believe he mite have been tellin the truth about some of the monkeyshines he pulled. he told us he was 101 years old. a few years later, when he died, his obit said he was 97. either way he lived 2 a ripe old age. as you can see in the pic, we bought him a birthday cake & sat with him & had us a little party--of course, he was the entertainment, & he did a great job. TJ later wrote an article about our experiences with him, which was published in our local newspaper. he was a real "hoot" 2 be around & is definately unforgetable!

[ponyakr]

its mothers day & i've allready got 2 wish my mom a happy mothers day. i fixed her a little breakfast & she's eating now. the role is reversed now but we're still in the same house. mom was a great country cook. i can still remember those homade cathead biscuits she used 2 make for us every morning. she'd also have bacon, pork sausage, eggs, & our choice of ribbon cane syrup or maybe some homade pear preserves she'd put up the fall before. then she'd rush around & get herself, me & my sister off 2 school where she'd teach all day then come home & start cookin again. she cooked a great pone of cornbread & we'd have some veggies that she'd put up out of our garden the summer before--turnip greens, purple hull peas, yellow squash, butterbeans, sweet taters, etc. & since dad was in the milk business, we always had plenty of milk 2 drink at every meal. i think now of how much most ladies would complain today if they had 2 do a fraction of the work my mom did--but i never once heard my mom complain about how much she had 2 do. it was her role in life & she gladly accepted & met the challenge. & then on sunday, instead of having a day of rest like many do, she had her normal cookin duties plus she had 2 get us ready for church & make sure she was prepared 2 teach her sunday school class. well, i could go on & on & on & on--but you get the picture--she was an overachiever--did her share & then some, without complaint. she lived thru the roarin '20's, the great depression of the '30,s, ww2 in the '40's, got 2 kids thru grammar school in the '50's, got 2 kids graduated from hi school & into college & made it thru the first part of the viet nam war in the '60's. then in the '70's she made it thru my wild oat sewing years & my early racing years, not 2 mention havin 2 worry wheather or not i'd get back home in 1 piece when i rode out on 1 of my many motorcycles. then in the '80's, she had grandkids 2 help raise & in the ninties & on into the 21st century there have been great grandkids 2 help with & worry about. & during this entire time, she had 2 help with the bookwork for our milk business. hey, it makes me tired just tryin 2 hit the hilites of what she did. but i think you get the picture. she grew up in poverty, workin in the fields along side her siblings. then she worked hard at getting an education so she could do a little better than her mom did--which she accomplished. but she was never able 2 stop workin, except for the garndening in the spring & summer she just didn't have 2 work in the fields any more. so now her labors are over. but she can still live in the house she's called home for over 60 years now & we can wait on her instead of vice-versa. but she still worries about all of us just like always--i reckin thats just what great moms do! thanks for everthing mom & happy mothers day! ps: she'll be 95 in august--just think of all the things she's seen in her lifetime & all the changes, both good & bad thru the years.