I took a walk around a small farm and the water gardens on Sunday -- checking holes and otherwise avoiding digging while waiting for the corn to come off. The big corn hoppers were already placed at the edges of the fields, so the harvest is just waiting for a dry spell. It's been a bumper crop in this area, with perfect weather all summer. Big round bales are being loaded and moved out to other farms -- the first sign of the end of summer.
I found what I think is a fox den at the corner of a small and very old cemetary. I will have to let that go -- a grave is not 6 feet away, but it did get me to wondering what the fox has found while excavating. I did note a loaded persimon tree in the hedge nearby; a good thing to hit after the first frost when the fruit begin to turn really sweet.
I found a secret pond tucked back into a small woods and covered over in duck weed. There was a huge blue heron on the pond, and a number of good-sized old holes in the woods above the pond -- worth a look now, and later in January when the fox will be looking for likely denning sites.
I left both dogs in the car at the farm, but took Mountain out for a jaunt at the big water garden up the road. She busted a flock of geese into the air, and a couple of blue herons as well, then bolted one groundhog out of a short hole in a berm at the edge of a dry pond, before jungling up another small groundhog in a shallow scrape of a pipe at the top of another berm. Though I was without a shovel, I had a small knife and opened up the edge of the hole to let Mountain at it.
All in all a short day, but a very relaxing one and not without a small bit for Mountain who certainly needs more solo time.
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