Tag: Wildlife

  • Farewell Road Trip

    Prior to jumping on a jet headed to the Greatland we and took a Great Smoky Mountain road trip to bid adieu to some locals, who graciously obliged us to pose for a few photos. Lord willing, I’ll send along some of pics of their brother Grizz and  and uncle Bullwinkle relatives after arriving. All…

  • ‘Lions’ and Lying

    The game cam recently captured this large local bobcat strolling along the path by our stream-side ‘Quiet Bench’. A persistent rumor exists that mountain lions still roam the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Mischievously curious (one of my ‘Needs Improvement’ character traits), I envisioned an opportunity for prime rumor enhancement. Stretching the truth just a…

  • Creation vs. Invention

    Fur and feather together . . . from my Quiet Bench I watched these two of His wild creatures sharing the stream together, and got to a-musing . . . Who among mankind could have designed a sleek otter or gangling heron with their intricately functioning life support systems uniquely suited for their survival, and…

  • Wapiti Wanderings

    The Cherokee National Forest borders our Great Smoky Mountains environs. Except for sections lying within the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, it comprises the border area between eastern Tennessee western North Carolina. A pristine retreat John Muir once described  . . . “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my…

  • Bear Hug

    If you haven’t had a good bear hug in a while, here’s one with a few amorous nuzzles administered in our Great Smoky Mountain backyard yesterday 😊

  • Young and Old

    Youth is adorable, but hasn’t shown up in my mirror for eons. I don’t feel as old as that dude staring back at me . . . perhaps I’ve just been young for a very long time . . . there’s a lot to be said for being delusional 😊 Today a baby snapping turtle…

  • Black and Blue

    Rural living precludes urban living’s convenient access to the theater, but Mother Nature featured a free-admission BBB feature . . . Butterflies, Birds and Bears . . . today up here on the mountain – down in the ‘holler’ – over the ‘crick’ 😊 I M Blessed . . . May U B 2 Keep…

  • Beauty and the Beast

    Spring in the Smokies is in glorious bloom! Today’s woodland wander was a stroll along Beauty Boulevard. “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil or spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed as one of these.” Matthew6:28 . . . until going off-trail…

  • Midnight Deck Party

    I was just about to call it a day and turn in last night when Ellen said, “Quiet . . . I hear something outside on the deck.” My wife’s hearing exceeds that of the Secret Service’s most technologically sophisticated listening devices. Without my hearing aids I’m borderline deaf, and often don’t wear them. This…

  • Wishbone Family Album

    I was in my element today . . . wandering the woods with other turkeys. Wishbone definitely makes a fashion statement, but it doesn’t appear to ‘fowl up’ her relationships with the other girls in her family, or her flamboyant boyfriends 😊 “All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise…