I read a post on another blog this past week, and it got me thinking.

Bobbie, over at The Right Blue recounted a story she was told years ago.

The main point of the story was that everybody has a different way of looking at things - and some are very different indeed.

So as we were taking a hike through the woods this week, we came to the end of a maintained path.

Did we see this as an end to our walk since we could go no further?

I would not have even thought of that question if I had not read Bobbie’s post earlier.

We did as we usually do - kept on walking through the brambles, branches, and rough terrain.

And what a treat we had when we reached the top of the hill we had been climbing all along.

The sun was setting, and Mother Nature had painted the sky a most brilliant pink - and it was reflecting on the trees on the opposite hill.

All was bathed in this beautiful light - and we would have missed it if we stopped when the path ended.

Of course, it had been misting when we left, so I didn’t have my camera with me to capture this beauty.

If you get a chance, stop by Bobbie’s blog and read her story - she tells it quite well and I think you will enjoy it.

He looks innocent enough, but after last night’s escapade, he now has a criminal record.

It all started with a bump on the door about 8:00 pm.

A quick look out the peephole revealed nothing, so the door was opened slowly to see what could be out there.

Sitting on the porch and looking up at us was Rusty, the feral cat that had adopted us several years ago.

Nothing worth worrying about if he is sitting there, so we opened the screen door to talk to him.

That’s when we saw the evidence - right on the welcome mat.

At first we had no clue what it was - too big for a mouse and too small for a rat.

And the squirrels are all tucked in for the night.

Or so we thought.

But this was no ordinary squirrel - is had flappy pieces of skin and fur between it’s front and rear legs.

Then it dawned on us - it was a flying squirrel - something that is quite rare in our area.

And something that is protected by the law.

My son’s exact words when it dawned on us what it was - “Rusty, that is illegal!  You are a criminal now.”

The boys quickly buried it, but it had me thinking, if there is one around, there must be more.

Since they are nocturnal creatures, I guess I won’t be seeing too many of them for myself, but I will keep my eyes open in the hours before dark in the hope of seeing them.

If you don’t think every day is a good one, just try missing one.

-by Cavett Robert

I read this one and had to share it.

Quite often it is too easy to get drawn into a bad attitude and let it ruin the day for yourself and the others around you.

Not being able to experience a day at all is certainly worse than any of the bad days we have.

Life is for the living - enjoy it!

I was quite upset this past month when I opened my November issue of my National Geographic magazine and found this image.

It was taken by Sharon Fullingim who could not believe what she was seeing.

She mentions that the discarded hummingbird was dropped under the feeder when the praying mantis had finished with it, and the next day that bug was back on her feeder, waiting for another hummer to come along.

Now, I feed the hummingbirds, and I have never seen one of these guys on my feeder.

I always thought them to be a helpful bug - one that ate many times its weight in troublesome bugs.

And farmers order them by the hundreds for pest control for their crops.

If I ever see one on my humming bird feeder, he is going to be quite unhappy - no entrapment deals coming from me when it comes to these birds.

I will move him immediately to a new home way down the road.

I will say though, hummingbirds are such high powered, fast little machines, and for this praying mantis to catch one is really quite an accomplishment.

And I can only thank Mother Nature that they are the size they are - could you imagine one of them eating us for lunch?

And we could certainly never outrun them!

Out of the corner of my eye I caught a sudden movement in the trees alongside the road.

He then swooped down above the car and flew with us down the road a bit.

Perching for a quick rest on a high branch, he gave us one last look and took off into the woods - his large wings spread wide, and that characteristic red tail fanned out behind him.

I would have thought this Red Tailed Hawk would be gone by now, hibernating to a warmer climate for the winter months, but after reading about them, they can winter from Southern Canada all the way down to Florida.

Their tails make them very easy to identify, and he was a most beautiful bird.

A gift from Mother Nature that we were very happy to see.

This image was borrowed from the internet, and it shows his tail beautifully.

Another post on hunting - but it is too funny to not tell it.

Turkey hunting in our state was brought back a couple of years ago and it came with some pretty strict rules.

We happen to live in the small section of the state that allows it, so my son shelled out big bucks for his license to take one bird only.

They have only five days during the fall season to hunt for them.

You need to use a blind - stalking a turkey is not allowed, and you cannot take them if they are perched anywhere.

You cannot take them in or beside the road or around a house.

Well, first day out - no turkeys to be seen.

Second day - turkeys were following him down our dirt road - I think they were laughing at him.

Third day - between 20-30 turkeys on the side of the road, including two beautiful Toms.

Fourth day - no turkeys anywhere, but gunshots in the distance.  Someone found them.

Fifth and last day - turkeys galore all through the woods - just had to pick the one he wanted.  They were on the side where the land was posted: NO HUNTING.

By now they were not only laughing, but pointing and dancing too.

Now, many think that turkeys are not too bright.

Not me, and now, not my son either.

Hunting season has begun in our neck of the woods.

Time to dress in orange anytime we go near the woods.

Out dirt road cuts in between two patches of pretty good sized woods, so we have taken to wearing our orange even when we walk down it.

Except for the bird shot used for turkey and ducks, it is pretty much just hunting with a bow that is going on now, and orange is not required during bow season.

But we don’t like to take any chances.

Those razor sharp arrows are just as deadly as those bullets.

It’s always best to be on the safe side.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

-by Judy Garland

We will be celebrating our wedding anniversary shortly, and I thought this quote was quite appropriate.

I am not sure if this quote came from her or from a part she played in a movie.

Either way, her movies and her music are some of the best and those words ring true for me.

The first couple of days brought just two pairs of these Grackle birds.

They seemed to be quite voracious in their eating, but since they were here only a couple of times during the day, I kept the feeder filled.

By the end of the week, they had quite a number of their buddies joining them - 39 to be exact!

And they would empty the feeder in record time.

I eventually was waving a stick in the window to scare them away - they were such hogs that they would wipe me out in no time with no food left for any other birds.

They began to wise up to me in the window - they would send a couple of look outs, and when the coast was clear, the rest would swoop in.

When they realized I was no threat, they didn’t even bother leave when I tapped on the window.

Alas, I stopped filling the feeders for the second time this year, and I have seen no sign of them since.

I’ll give it another week, then I will try refilling them again.

Hopefully they will have moved along.

I borrowed the above photo from wikipedia - they are a striking bird with such bright yellow eyes - almost kind of creepy!