I was sorting through old photos last night and I ran across some pics of these guys, who we discovered while house hunting a couple years ago..
They were so pretty and sweet. And we didn't get spit on, either - bonus!
I seem to remember their names were chocolate-related...... I believe one was called Hershey, the other might have been Cocoa (not sure). If I had a couple of these beautiful critters, I'd probably name them Fernando and Lorenzo Llamas. Yes, I'm totally positive that's completely original and nobody ever thought of it before ;-)
We had a chance of snow in the forecast and it came through! There was about 3/4inch on the cars, grass and rooftops by 10am, big slushy flakes that made great snowballs. We had an impromptu snowball fight while clearing the windshield on S's car. Then the temps came up a bit and it melted down mostly. Sounds like the mountains are in for quite a bit more.
Here's what my Spring flowers looked like at 9:30
It's that time of year - the Spring weather roller coaster - warm for a moment, then Wintery again. The flowers are starting to bloom, and the local crows are nesting. I spied this one savaging a dogwood tree in our backyard. The tree is mostly dead so its branches are dry and crunchy. Apparently this is very appealing nesting material!
Ah, success. Off with a nice big branch......happy nesting!
Epic fauna exploration occurred during another hike around Cades Cove on Tuesday.
Let's get started!
Several hawks circled high above as we trudged through the grassy fields.
Along a creek we found large bleached bones, probably deer.
Leg bone. (1st time it was warm enough to not wear hiking boots this year - felt weird.)
I lost count of the deer we saw that day - a LOT.
Two kestrels passed, one stopped briefly while crows fussed nearby.
Hanging around along Hyatt Lane. See/Hear/Speak no evil?
Recent heavy rains and snow melt had flooded many of the creeks and streams in the area. As we passed through this debris pile along the banks of Abrams Creek, S. spied a frog - try to find it in this picture! Click here for the answer.
Can you spot the frog in this debris?
Ribbit!
Bumpy little dude.
Wild hogs have been tearing up the grass along the creek.
As we passed along, we spooked a couple blue herons into flight - not this one!
This big beauty had discovered an all-u-can-eat frog buffet & just ignored us.
A brief video of the heron struggling with its unwilling meal. About 5 seconds after I stopped filming, the frog took a long, quick slide down the heron's throat. That's life......
This has been turkey week - we've seen a ton of them! On the way to Townsend there's always a big gang of about 20 that we see in the fields next to the road, spotted them again on Wednesday.
On Sunday, we were finishing our hike along the Roaring Fork Road (which is closed to vehicle traffic for the winter) and as we neared Ely's Mill we crossed paths with a rafter of turkeys (that's the official term for a bunch of them, interesting choice) :
Just after I stopped the video, two turkeys were startled by us and took flight, landing high up on the hillside where the rest were headed. It is amazing to see that happen, as big and galumphy as they appear, they are quieter and more graceful in flight than you might expect.
Also of note, Ely's Mill is getting their bee hives ready!! Hooray for mountain honey! I'm sloooooowly using my one jar of wildflower honey I got from them last season, it tastes *exactly* like the cabins and forests along the Roaring Fork smell (to me). Heavenly.
