Teri J Pieper

Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

A Good Old Dog

Sky is going to be eleven this month. Where does the time go? It seems not that long ago that we brought her home. She’s been facing some serious issues associated with old age and some days she hardly wants to get off her dog bed. Maybe it’s the oppressive heat we’ve lived with this summer. When I take her and Willow to the lake or the river, she perks right up. I’m sure that later on she pays for that burst of energy with more pain. Wish we could have a lake right out our door so she could spend more time in the water. Sky is the type of dog that would do anything for her people.

So Much to See

I need to pay closer attention to what’s around me. The grasshopper is eating the broccoli in the garden and the snake has a really ugly black tongue.

Weeds on our Walks

It would be nice if they weren’t here but they are. We can never keep up with them.

Under a Smoky Sky

Dry crinkly stuff seen along our daily walks.

Surprise Visitors

I volunteer at a MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) station where we capture and band birds, collect data and let them go and hope to see them in future years. There is one Swainson’s Thrush that we have seen six years in a row! That means he has made five round trips to Central America and back! How cool is that? Anyway, last week was our last banding session for the summer and we had surprise visitors to one of the ponds on the property – three river otters! It looked like maybe a mama and two youngsters. They watched us as we walked by over and over again and they fished for the big-lipped suckers that live in the pond and they napped on a log. At one point they crossed over our trail and into the adjacent pond on a swim-about before returning to their log. After that, we had to be careful to avoid stepping in otter poop! We all had chances to photograph them with our cell phones and cameras and the otters did not seem bothered by our presence. What a day!