check the field before mowing
- Thread starter gws
- Start date
DarinRay
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2000
- Messages
- 566
- Location
- West Valley, New York
- Tractor
- 2004 JD 4310 300CX 72MM, dozers, excavtors, bachoes, loader, tractors.
Ahhhh you big bully stop choking that poor thing. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Nice find for you and congratulation on your addition to your family. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
MDNY
Platinum Member
GWS,
Although my wife and I would dearly enjoy adding a new kitten to the family we can't until we move into the house in a few months.
By the way you may find some takers in your local area that belong to TBN, but you need to add to your profile to say where you are. Gladd you found them before the mower or the hawks did.
Michael
Although my wife and I would dearly enjoy adding a new kitten to the family we can't until we move into the house in a few months.
By the way you may find some takers in your local area that belong to TBN, but you need to add to your profile to say where you are. Gladd you found them before the mower or the hawks did.
Michael
DarinRay
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2000
- Messages
- 566
- Location
- West Valley, New York
- Tractor
- 2004 JD 4310 300CX 72MM, dozers, excavtors, bachoes, loader, tractors.
Rutro that's not good for the kittens....NOT being a cat person that is. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif By the looks of them they shouldn't be to hard to get rid of or take them to the shelter for adoption. It's crazy all the animals out there that need homes and I would love to help you out but by Rotts don't like cats especially when they are that small. Maybe a adult cat would straighten them up but wouldn't even try the babies.
Darin
Darin
chim
Elite Member
Several weeks ago I hit a small rabbit with the RFM. The nest was in a grass area that I had been mowing every week (before it dried out here) and I never noticed the nest or the rabbit. It genuinely upset me to have killed the little critter. When I related this to one of the guys he said "you shoot them in the Fall don't you?". Every chance I get, but they're grown up and I eat them. This is different.
Another reason is to watch for new non-living things. With my first tractor I was mowing a meadow at the in-law's. One of the boys had been working on a cultipacker and left the broken parts in the grass. In a split second my blades took on a serrated look from the cast iron parts.................chim
Another reason is to watch for new non-living things. With my first tractor I was mowing a meadow at the in-law's. One of the boys had been working on a cultipacker and left the broken parts in the grass. In a split second my blades took on a serrated look from the cast iron parts.................chim
DarinRay
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2000
- Messages
- 566
- Location
- West Valley, New York
- Tractor
- 2004 JD 4310 300CX 72MM, dozers, excavtors, bachoes, loader, tractors.
cstocks
Platinum Member
Chim,
I know what you mean about being upset over accidentally killing a rabbit. Last summer I was using my FEL to flatten out a pile of dirt that a dozer operator had left behind three years ago when he worked on my lot. The dirt pile had grown up with weeds and tallow trees and needed knocking down, so I figured this was a good excuse to get in some practice with my new TC33D and FEL.
Things were moving right along and I had gotten about half of the pile knocked down when I suddenly caught a whiff of this familiar, pew-trid odor. "Argh! I think I just hit a skunk!" I thought to myself. I had seen a skunk lurking around in a culvert and a in burn pile near where I had been working the past couple of days and had been careful not to disturb it. I backed away from the dirt pile, climbed down off of my tractor and walked up to take a closer look. Sure enough, I had hit that skunk. Hit was an understatement. The front edge of the FEL had hit that poor skunk front and center and literally obliterated it. All I could say was "Aw, no! Aw, no! Say it ain't so!" I felt sick to my stomach in more than one way. It's wonderful fragrance permeated the air and was strong enough to gag me plus I was quite put out about killing it.
As I was standing there a few feet from the scene of the accident I noticed the ground moving ever so slightly. Once again I started moaning again. "Please don't let this be what I think it is!" I took a stick and pushed aside a dirt clod and.... yes, you guessed it. There at the bottom of what was left of the den were four teeny, tiny baby skunks. There could not have been more than four inches left to the bottom of the den, yet miraculously those four tiny babies did not have a scratch on them. They were so small that one or two of them were just getting slits in their eyes and the others still had their eyes closed. I wondered what the heck was I going to do with them and how much worse could things get.
BUT.... this story has kind of a happy ending. I ran to the neighbor's house and she got on the phone to see if she could locate a local wildlife rehabilitator. She gave me a styrofoam ice chest and an old towel to put in the bottom of it and I raced back over to my lot, picked up the babies with a single finger and thumb (and a kleenex) and put them in the ice chest. They were sleeping and hardly stirred as I gently situated them in the bottom of the ice chest. I had called my wife when I went next door and by now she was driving up. To make a long story a little less long, she took the skunk babies to a rehabilitator just about ten minutes down the road in the country. So, even though their mama was dead those four little skunklets got a second lease on life.
Same song, third verse... That was last summer. About three months ago we had an appointment with a home builder who happened to live about two houses down from the wildlife rehabilitator. As we discussed house building stuff the topic came up about the skunks. His eyes got big as he put two and two together and realized that the adolescent skunks that had recently appeared around his house came from you know who! Seems that instead of releasing the skunks further out in the country, the rehabilitator had just turned them loose right there at her house. My wife and I had a good laugh about it but he did not think it was so funny. Seems one of the little darlings had gotten in his garage, gotten disturbed and blessed him, his family and his house with that wondermus smell! After we left his office my wife and I agreed that we did not want to use him as our builder. We got the feeling that he and we would not get along too well after finding out who it was that brought those skunks into his neighborhood!
I know what you mean about being upset over accidentally killing a rabbit. Last summer I was using my FEL to flatten out a pile of dirt that a dozer operator had left behind three years ago when he worked on my lot. The dirt pile had grown up with weeds and tallow trees and needed knocking down, so I figured this was a good excuse to get in some practice with my new TC33D and FEL.
Things were moving right along and I had gotten about half of the pile knocked down when I suddenly caught a whiff of this familiar, pew-trid odor. "Argh! I think I just hit a skunk!" I thought to myself. I had seen a skunk lurking around in a culvert and a in burn pile near where I had been working the past couple of days and had been careful not to disturb it. I backed away from the dirt pile, climbed down off of my tractor and walked up to take a closer look. Sure enough, I had hit that skunk. Hit was an understatement. The front edge of the FEL had hit that poor skunk front and center and literally obliterated it. All I could say was "Aw, no! Aw, no! Say it ain't so!" I felt sick to my stomach in more than one way. It's wonderful fragrance permeated the air and was strong enough to gag me plus I was quite put out about killing it.
As I was standing there a few feet from the scene of the accident I noticed the ground moving ever so slightly. Once again I started moaning again. "Please don't let this be what I think it is!" I took a stick and pushed aside a dirt clod and.... yes, you guessed it. There at the bottom of what was left of the den were four teeny, tiny baby skunks. There could not have been more than four inches left to the bottom of the den, yet miraculously those four tiny babies did not have a scratch on them. They were so small that one or two of them were just getting slits in their eyes and the others still had their eyes closed. I wondered what the heck was I going to do with them and how much worse could things get.
BUT.... this story has kind of a happy ending. I ran to the neighbor's house and she got on the phone to see if she could locate a local wildlife rehabilitator. She gave me a styrofoam ice chest and an old towel to put in the bottom of it and I raced back over to my lot, picked up the babies with a single finger and thumb (and a kleenex) and put them in the ice chest. They were sleeping and hardly stirred as I gently situated them in the bottom of the ice chest. I had called my wife when I went next door and by now she was driving up. To make a long story a little less long, she took the skunk babies to a rehabilitator just about ten minutes down the road in the country. So, even though their mama was dead those four little skunklets got a second lease on life.
Same song, third verse... That was last summer. About three months ago we had an appointment with a home builder who happened to live about two houses down from the wildlife rehabilitator. As we discussed house building stuff the topic came up about the skunks. His eyes got big as he put two and two together and realized that the adolescent skunks that had recently appeared around his house came from you know who! Seems that instead of releasing the skunks further out in the country, the rehabilitator had just turned them loose right there at her house. My wife and I had a good laugh about it but he did not think it was so funny. Seems one of the little darlings had gotten in his garage, gotten disturbed and blessed him, his family and his house with that wondermus smell! After we left his office my wife and I agreed that we did not want to use him as our builder. We got the feeling that he and we would not get along too well after finding out who it was that brought those skunks into his neighborhood!
wroughtn_harv
Super Member
When I was a kid there was a friend of the family that had a house full of pet skunks. She'd started off with getting them deorderized when babes and then eventually stopped doing that because it really wasn't necessary.
They claimed they were just like kittens and I do remember them being playfull and friendly. I also remember mom talking about how when they'd get excited they'd pass a little oh dear. Enough to remind you that they were skunks but not enough to take your breath away.
The local hawks are very aware when there's mowing going on. They understand that the prey will be scattering and available.
Around the shop here I have an exhibitionist bunny along with a bushel basket of it's family. It's sorta funny how some animals are just born different from their peers. This particular cottontail will come in and roll in the sand by the forge all the while watching me. Then it's off and eating or just nosing around.
The other day I watched the silver rooster and it eating near each other. They both kept mosing closer to the other as they grazed. Then when they were less than a foot from each other the rooster reached over for a taste of bunny fur. I guess it was just curious and wanted to do a taste test.
Of course the bunny exploded and was instantly six or more feet away. And the bunny's reaction caused a similar one with the rooster so it was all feathers and squawk at the same time.
I do like watching the animals. We people are so similar it's scarey.
They claimed they were just like kittens and I do remember them being playfull and friendly. I also remember mom talking about how when they'd get excited they'd pass a little oh dear. Enough to remind you that they were skunks but not enough to take your breath away.
The local hawks are very aware when there's mowing going on. They understand that the prey will be scattering and available.
Around the shop here I have an exhibitionist bunny along with a bushel basket of it's family. It's sorta funny how some animals are just born different from their peers. This particular cottontail will come in and roll in the sand by the forge all the while watching me. Then it's off and eating or just nosing around.
The other day I watched the silver rooster and it eating near each other. They both kept mosing closer to the other as they grazed. Then when they were less than a foot from each other the rooster reached over for a taste of bunny fur. I guess it was just curious and wanted to do a taste test.
Of course the bunny exploded and was instantly six or more feet away. And the bunny's reaction caused a similar one with the rooster so it was all feathers and squawk at the same time.
I do like watching the animals. We people are so similar it's scarey.