Invasion!!
March 04, 2010 Filed in: Vineyard
On a whim, Ethan and I hopped up this passed Saturday morning and decided to head out to the vineyard. It is a three hour trip from here in Springfield, MO so I was a bit apprehensive. We made it though! Anyhow, we get there just a tad bit later than anticipated (which is pretty good) to find that Dad and Kristen were just finishing up getting some clippings from a few of the vines. After packing in we decided to take Ethan on a ride in the “Monster Truck” or so he likes to call it. (Jeep Wrangler to us taller than three feet).
Climbing the road between the sets of vine plots, we make it to the open field where the new rows are going to be. This is also the field that we typically use for our yearly campsite. See the map below if you need a reference.
A little further down the road and we came across a bit of a surprise. I’d say between 10 - 20 feet from the camp fire-pit, it looked like someone dig up the ground for some gardening, but was having trouble decided whether it should be “here... oh wait...maybe here...or here...”
Dad just stops the Jeep, pulls the near-iconic cigar off his lip, and says ... “Hog.” ... and then banjo music started playing out of nowhere.
Not really, but it might as well. A darn wild boar has started rutting up our campsite! The thing had pulled stones out of the ground that were the size of my head. Can’t imagine how hard it would be to move something buried that size. I’d stuggle with a shovel and a pick axe.
Dad said there was some serious ground damage up by one of the feeders on the other side of the pond in the east field as well. Not a good thing at all. One of these things could probably take out an entire row or more of vines in one night!
These aren’t the cute little pigs that have names like Wilbur. These are some ugly beasts. Here is a better photo of one taken recently near the farm:
Quite pleasant. These fellas will need to be dealt with.
If that isn’t enough, Saturday night around 10 pm, I stepped out onto the back porch and ran into skunk. He brought up the tail, and I didn’t move. Apparently I was deemed a bore, and he sauntered off.
Skunks also tear up the ground. The yard all around the farm house has little holes dug all over the place. What does one do about a skunk? Trap it? That sounds like a mess. A pistol can’t hardly result in anything too pleasant. Hopefully ignoring the little fella will be enough.
Anyhow, the critters are getting braver and moving in closer. And the bears are probably getting hungry.
Climbing the road between the sets of vine plots, we make it to the open field where the new rows are going to be. This is also the field that we typically use for our yearly campsite. See the map below if you need a reference.
A little further down the road and we came across a bit of a surprise. I’d say between 10 - 20 feet from the camp fire-pit, it looked like someone dig up the ground for some gardening, but was having trouble decided whether it should be “here... oh wait...maybe here...or here...”
Dad just stops the Jeep, pulls the near-iconic cigar off his lip, and says ... “Hog.” ... and then banjo music started playing out of nowhere.
Not really, but it might as well. A darn wild boar has started rutting up our campsite! The thing had pulled stones out of the ground that were the size of my head. Can’t imagine how hard it would be to move something buried that size. I’d stuggle with a shovel and a pick axe.
Dad said there was some serious ground damage up by one of the feeders on the other side of the pond in the east field as well. Not a good thing at all. One of these things could probably take out an entire row or more of vines in one night!
These aren’t the cute little pigs that have names like Wilbur. These are some ugly beasts. Here is a better photo of one taken recently near the farm:
Quite pleasant. These fellas will need to be dealt with.
If that isn’t enough, Saturday night around 10 pm, I stepped out onto the back porch and ran into skunk. He brought up the tail, and I didn’t move. Apparently I was deemed a bore, and he sauntered off.
Skunks also tear up the ground. The yard all around the farm house has little holes dug all over the place. What does one do about a skunk? Trap it? That sounds like a mess. A pistol can’t hardly result in anything too pleasant. Hopefully ignoring the little fella will be enough.
Anyhow, the critters are getting braver and moving in closer. And the bears are probably getting hungry.
Fall Camp in the Clouds
Greetings all and welcome to our maiden post!
Last weekend was our annual Fall Camp at the vineyard. Years past, this is an event not to be missed! Camping, wine, hiking, clay pigeon tournament, midnight trips to the swimming hole, etc, all amongst friends and family. This year though, things were a bit more low-key with the majority of the partiers...erm...campers off to Vegas. Those who were able upheld the tradition and made it up for the weekend.
My goals were stripped down to the essentials. Do some hiking along the Ozark Trail, get some early morning/late evening photographs of the vineyard, and enjoy good times and drinks with the family. Things started out well, at least.
We arrived Friday night at around midnight, [this was planned...], and set up camp in the middle of the night. Successfully too! Amber and I were woken the next morning with Renee blowing the bull-horn to call us down for breakfast.
After breakfast, I went for a little hike/trail-run around the vineyard to warm up a bit. After an hour or two of recovery and a few rounds at refilling the corn feeders, we settled in to wait for Amber’s parents to arrive. This is the point where the clouds enter the scene. Literally. Right into the valley.
[That’s Amber resting after some hard work... ;)]
Quite a pretty site! The clouds, however, pretty much nixed all hopes of getting those sunny late-evening photos I’d been hoping for.
It wasn’t long before the rain showed up. Which decided not to leave until around 9 o’clock Sunday morning. So, I packed up the camera and hiking boots, and we hung about enjoying the atmosphere. Dad had a good time keeping Madie out of our dinner:
I am pretty sure that at the point this picture was taken, we had discovered the baby copperhead that was curled up right next to that bundle of stakes. We certainly didn’t notice it until after we were all huddle around the fire getting things set up! I’ll be keeping a little closer watch from now on.
All-in-all it was a great weekend at the vineyard. Even in the rain, you just can’t beat a weekend away with family, a nice view, and a good dog.
Till next time! \o
Matt
Last weekend was our annual Fall Camp at the vineyard. Years past, this is an event not to be missed! Camping, wine, hiking, clay pigeon tournament, midnight trips to the swimming hole, etc, all amongst friends and family. This year though, things were a bit more low-key with the majority of the partiers...erm...campers off to Vegas. Those who were able upheld the tradition and made it up for the weekend.
My goals were stripped down to the essentials. Do some hiking along the Ozark Trail, get some early morning/late evening photographs of the vineyard, and enjoy good times and drinks with the family. Things started out well, at least.
We arrived Friday night at around midnight, [this was planned...], and set up camp in the middle of the night. Successfully too! Amber and I were woken the next morning with Renee blowing the bull-horn to call us down for breakfast.
After breakfast, I went for a little hike/trail-run around the vineyard to warm up a bit. After an hour or two of recovery and a few rounds at refilling the corn feeders, we settled in to wait for Amber’s parents to arrive. This is the point where the clouds enter the scene. Literally. Right into the valley.
[That’s Amber resting after some hard work... ;)]
Quite a pretty site! The clouds, however, pretty much nixed all hopes of getting those sunny late-evening photos I’d been hoping for.
It wasn’t long before the rain showed up. Which decided not to leave until around 9 o’clock Sunday morning. So, I packed up the camera and hiking boots, and we hung about enjoying the atmosphere. Dad had a good time keeping Madie out of our dinner:
I am pretty sure that at the point this picture was taken, we had discovered the baby copperhead that was curled up right next to that bundle of stakes. We certainly didn’t notice it until after we were all huddle around the fire getting things set up! I’ll be keeping a little closer watch from now on.
All-in-all it was a great weekend at the vineyard. Even in the rain, you just can’t beat a weekend away with family, a nice view, and a good dog.
Till next time! \o
Matt