Your House - Pictures

[Nick in Manitou]

We went and visited the local historical society and they were very excited to hear that we had a school house on our property.  The lady actually reached for a camera, picked up her hat and said, "Let's go take a look."

They were trying to figure out what happened to a couple school houses that were sold off and removed after they were decommissioned.  Unfortunately our school house was not one that they were missing. 

They felt that ours had probably been purchased from another school authority some distance away and brought in.  An aerial photograph from 1937 shows the building standing where it is today, but where it was originally is still a mystery.

It has an odd feature that might help someone find its original home - it was framed with two windows on one side and only one window on the other...those who seem to know about such things say that perhaps that indicates something about the original location.

Bat boxes are designed with an open bottom and several narrow compartments inside that allow the bats to live comfortably so that they will stick around and do their important environmental work (eating bugs!) and not try to live in your house!  We were pretty successful in excluding them from the several buildings on the ranch and not having them leave the place altogether.  We have a soft spot for the critters as we were active cavers in the past.

Plans for bat boxes are available on the web and if one lives in an area where mosquitoes or other bugs are an issue, bats can be an enormous benefit.  Some bats can eat up to 50% of their body weight in bats in a night...up to 3000 insects! Despite all the press to the contrary, bats rarely bite people and rarely are they a real threat to our health.  Hey, mosquitoes carry some pretty scarey diseases themselves.  (OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.)

Nick

[Nick in Manitou]

We had some visitors at our house this morning.  Deer are very common around here and can often be seen several times a day - but these guys almost seemed to want to come inside!

I took the photo from inside a window on a staircase to the lower level, so I am looking across the front porch.

[cello973]

Nick,

The middle one looks annoyed... 

[Nick in Manitou]

It's kind of funny that an animal can look annoyed, but sometimes they do.

I agree that the one in the middle looked a little peeved that I was taking its photo without asking first.

In the photo of twins below, the one on the left (female, I believe), looks relaxed, but the one on the right (a very young male) looks a bit ticked.

[Jim Stettler]

I think they just wanted to use a phone.....
Jim

[McHeath]

Those three deer look like they are hoping you will toss out some viddles to munch on. 

We get no deer here, but we do have possums galore.  Along with stray cats. 

[southernphoneman]

Here's my house.  It's a 1966 ranch house style on a 1/2 acre lot.  When it was built it was out in the country and there is a water well and septic tank in the backyard, but we are deep in the city now and on city services.  Above ground construction, but no basement as is usual for California, stucco walls and wood shake roof.

Also included is a pic of the kitchen.

that is one nice house, looks very well taken care of.

[Nick in Manitou]

McHeath,

As a result of having the deer, we also have cats in the neighborhood, but they are of the mountain lion type!  Folks don't let their dogs run free because they might not make it home.  It is fun to have the wildlife around, but it makes one think a bit when you are out walking by your self.

From our house we have seen golden eagles, falcons, bears, foxes, coyotes and little 4" lizards.  In the neighborhood I once saw a lynx.  We have seen a mountain lion only once but several folks on our mountain see them on a relatively regular basis. 

The lions and bears are not much of a threat to adult humans, but one should be aware that they are out there.

[AE_Collector]

I'm surprised that you came outside for long enough to take the picture with all of those critters on the loose! We are used to the bears here in the Vancouver Cabada area though. As housing encroaches on their territory they sometimes take up residence in out area!

Terry

[Nick in Manitou]

SouthernPhoneMan,

I think that I would walk very carefully if there were venomous snakes and alligators in my yard!

We have to keep an eye out for rattlesnakes, but in reality I have only seen a couple in decades...and THEY make noise!  Your cottonmouths and copperheads, etc.  don't play fair and give you a heads-up before you step on them!!!

Looks like a quiet spot you have there.

We were in Winston Salem in February and appreciated the more reasonable temperatures that were prevailing there as compared to Colorado at that time!

Be careful when you are walking!

Nick

[twocvbloke]

I like the satellite dish just hiding in the trees to the left there, I guess you're near the equator for it's elevation to be so high...

Good thing though as over here, with all those trees in the way, getting a signal from most satellites aimed at us would be a challenge, as the satellite are a lot lower in the sky here than they are over there...

That and snow can be a right PITA when you want to watch Nigella doing her thing in the kitchen and you didn't align it properly, like I did....

[southernphoneman]

i noticed all the deer in one of the photos around the house,looked  like they were just hanging out. here in eastern north carolina you would never see that.the deer are very skiddish,probably because they have plenty of forrest andwe have a lengthy hunting season here,so i guess if i were a deer i would probably stay away from humans to if i were about to be shot with a high powered rifle.

[southernphoneman]

Home Sweet Home

doug rose, that is one beautiful place that you have,probably filled with vintage phones

[Doug Rose]

Home Sweet Home

doug rose, that is one beautiful place that you have,probably filled with vintage phones

thank you very much. We got dumped on by mother nature yet again on Monday, but Spring is on the calendar!

[southernphoneman]

 a little while ago I accidently deleted my house photo so here it is again. I live in eastern north carolina. it is about one and a half hours north of Jacksonville, nc.