Saturday morning, after coffee, breakfast, and feeding the horses and chickens, we discussed the task list for the day. And here’s a story that shows the kinds of things I notice while going about an otherwise typical day out here at Wild Ozark.

Getting ready for winter

Rob had cut a dead sycamore the day before while I was at work and had brought all of the limbs back to the shop. The trunk was still lying on the ground where he’d dropped it. I’d seen it on my way up the driveway Friday afternoon, so I had a feeling the weekend’s work would involve firewood in some way.

And I was right. The first thing we did was cut the smaller branches with the chop saw (my job), while he cut the larger ones into chunks with the chainsaw. Once all that was done, we hauled out the splitter and got all of the larger chunks split, loaded, and stacked in the wood shed.

Bugs, toad, snake while splitting wood 

But here’s the kinds of things I notice while doing things like this. While Rob sat at the splitter, I took the pieces he split and threw them into the tractor bucket. I noticed all of the little bugs crawling away from our work space, as they usually do when we’re splitting wood from dead trees.

Usually it’s beetle grubs that do the initial damage to a tree. But other things move in to take advantage of a compromised tree long before decay sets in. I see tunnels where the grubs traveled in the trunks. Carpenter ants and other smaller beetles use the tunnels, too. When the log splits open you can see where fungus has started to spread in the heartwood, too.

Anyway, the bugs were crawling away as they do when we’re working with the logs. A little toad hopped onto the concrete and I saw it from the corner of my eye. Rob said the little toad comes out every time he’s working on the firewood like that. As I was keeping an eye on the bugs crawling closer to the frog, I noticed a snake pop his head up from behind some containers inside the doorway of Rob’s shop. I had my eye on the snake who had his eye on the frog who had his eye on the bugs.

Now, I had been curiously watching the toad, hoping to see it get a bug. I *could* have watched the snake get the toad instead. But my first instinct was to save the poor little toad, lol. So I abandoned my post at the splitter and ran over to catch the snake.

I *thought* it was a black rat snake, but once I had it in hand, there was very blue coloration where the white belly met the black upper side. So maybe it was a racer instead. Either way, I knew before I ran to grab it that it wasn’t venomous. I relocated it farther down the driveway.

When I returned from that, the little toad was hidden again and didn’t come out for bug hunting before we finished splitting.

The point of that whole little story was twofold. First, it was an interesting observation of how life takes advantage of opportunities, and of the larger circle of life and death. Second, though, was an observation of my self observing… why did I save the frog, when I could have let the snake have a meal instead? I don’t know. I just wanted to see the toad get a bug, but didn’t want to see the snake eat the toad, I guess.

Besides, the snake couldn’t stay in Rob’s shop. He said if it had been inside a cabinet or something and he didn’t expect it, then it would have given him a heart attack. But he told me that after the fact, so that wasn’t the driving motivation for catching it before it caught the toad.

No photos to go with the story

I didn’t take any pics while watching the bugs, toad, and snake because it all went on without a lot of thought about taking a picture. However, here’s a photo of how it looks from my seat by the splitter when we’re doing firewood.

Other Random Observations

There’s a funnel spider who lives in the woodshed by the back door:

The garden is winding down, but now is the time to gather wild plums and whatever is still producing. The wild plum tree is next to the garden, so I pick up the fallen fruits (when there’s no worm holes) to add flavor to my mullein/beebalm winter-crud syrup I’ll be making soon. Last year I used wild grapes. This year the plum tree and raspberry bush has been generous, so I’ll use plums and raspberries.

Dark Skies

It is a joy to live in an area where we can view the Milky Way from our front porch at night. Here’s a pic I took that night with my old iPhone 12:

Your Turn

What kinds of things do you notice while going about an ordinary day in your life?