Saturday, June 9, 2012

Berries and a Bat


The week ended as one of those weeks when, despite the uncertainty with Sam, things seemed right and how they should be.  With good weather this past week it allowed us to pick the bumper-crop of blackberries that are ripening faster than we can get to them.  Unfortunately many are going to waste. 

But I had no idea that there were so many blackberries growing on our property.  Sheba still cannot get enough of them!
Yesterday Sheba and I went for a walk around our property and picked the ones along the edge of the woods.  One of the things I get most nervous about is seeing a snake, so I'm always watching where I step.  I should probably spend more time looking up because when I did, I saw a little brown bat clinging to a branch.  
I backed way off and stayed just long enough to take a couple of very quick pictures. When we first moved here it was not unusual to see bats.  On a warm spring or summer night, shortly after dusk from our front porch I would watch their fluttery, erratic flight as they caught insects with the greatest of ease.  But the last few years we've not seen as many because of  'white-nose-syndrome' that is killing them in record numbers. I personally think that bats are a little misunderstood because of the myths associated with them--And I understand and respect why many don't like to have them around. But for me it was good to see this nocturnal resident, and I hope it has friends.  

40 comments:

  1. cute little sleeping one. :) and man, i'd love to pick some of those berries!

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  2. We have bats here too, I don't know if they are in trouble with disease. There actually seems to be fewer animals of all kinds than seven years ago when we got this place. But I have seen three snakes so far this spring. I love the picture of your dog pack.

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  3. That is so cool to have seen a bat. I would love to see one up close in person. I did not know that dogs could eat berries. I am going to get some for Roscoe. Even though he is not much into sweets.
    Glad to know that Sam is still doing well.
    Have a great weekend. Our weather is yucky, muggy and raining.
    TFS. Ana

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  4. Beautiful photos, today - and we LOVE your new header. Very glad life has returned to "normal" for you !

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  5. Interesting title :-)
    Wow those berries look great! ....and the bat,cute...but I'd be gone too LOL!

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  6. Glad you had your camera with you to snap the photo of the bat awesome!
    Love Leanne

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  7. Berries and a bat, go figure. Those berries look really good. That little bat is to sleepy to bother any one, kind of cute.

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  8. Good to see Sam holding in there. In this part of the world bats are considered by the farming folk to be very, very good luck.

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  9. We generally see a bat or two flying above our yard during summer evenings, in fact we saw one last night. No berries here yet. I freak over snakes so yes... watch where you step! Some of them are dangerous.

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  10. Wow, that's a lot of blackberries! Maybe you could find something to bake with them? As for the bat, I like the outside, but not near me and definitely not in the house. One got into my aunt's house once while just one of my cousins and I were there and oh dear...we ran out screaming, stayed out on the porch until 3:00 A.M. when my aunt came home and when we couldn't find the bat in the house, my two cousins, my aunt and I ended up sleeping in my aunt's room all huddled together. The apparently made a few more appearances in the following weeks, namely making for a very rude awakening for one of my cousins when she opened her eyes to find it handed above her from the upper bunk of her bunk beads. The trials and tribulations of living in a house with nothing but women :oJ

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  11. Hi, I wish I could come snag some blackberries because I'd freeze them or make jam. Yummm!
    I used to love bats until we had a cabin and had them inside-there is nothing worse at night than having them dive-bomb you. Plus, in Denver a week or so ago, a wild bat was found just laying on the ground and when the zoo worker, with gloves on, picked it up it bit her. It had rabies so the poor gal has to undergo horrid treatments. I also heard that bat-poop is very bad for dogs-they can get sick(don't know if that is accurate). Love seeing all the pack out walking.
    Have a wonderful evening.
    Noreen & Hunter

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  12. Are you going to make a lot of jam with your bumper crop Kim? (sorry I mean jelly! we call it jam).
    Unusual to find the bat just hanging around...some years ago I found one in a park, it was so small it wouldn't have survived on the ground, so I picked it up, took it home and put it somewhere safe (from neighbourhood cats mainly) and hoped. Sure enough it recovered and flew off. I hope it had a good life and that now there are a lot of its descendant's flying around.

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  13. I'm not so sure that I would have been brave enough to hang around and take a picture of the bat. I have to confess, those childhood "old wives tales" managed to ingrain a fear of the little critters.

    Did you know that blueberries are rich in cancer fighting anti-oxidents? I'd go ahead and let all of the dogs eat as many as they can!

    :-)

    If only it were that easy...

    Hugs, Dear Friend. I'm fighting a battle in the Bluff Country so back to war I go!

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  14. We don't see the bats at night the way we used to, they are such great bug catchers...

    Blackberries, I haven't even looked. We had loads of blossoms. Well, more for the birds.

    Snakes... take a boom-box out with you and turn up the bass, set it on the ground where you will be standing.

    An early Happy Birthday if I can't get this @%$&^ to work tomorrow!

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  15. Wonderful new header, Kim and is tomorrow your birthday? Happy, Happy to You!

    Freeze all those berries you can. super smoothies, pie, cobbler, dog treats, jams and jellies. You can enjoy them all winter long.

    Cheers,
    Jo, Stella and Zkhat

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  16. oh my poor little bat
    so misunderstood
    glad you got a photo of him
    and a dog eating berries....how about that

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  17. Now you could always send some berries this way! lol Blackberries are my favourite!! Ours won't be here for a while yet but they are coming....the blooms are just starting to open up.
    That bat photo is great Kim! Yes, I hear we are losing some too here in N.S. due to 'white nose'.
    They fly around here in summer scooping up the flying bugs.

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  18. I like seeing bats because, as you say, they eat bugs!

    Sheba will help with the overabundance of blackberries. ;o)

    Have a wonderful Sunday!

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  19. All the bat caves in NC have been closed to prevent spread of the disease. Like you I am delighted to know they are around. We love watching them fly near the house in the summer evenings. Most people have no idea how many insects they eat.

    Wish we had some blackberry bushes. But we do have a nice produce stand that will sell them when they are ripe.

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  20. Woof! Woof! KIm what are going to do with the berries, pie or some breakfast muffins? Oh My mom is afraid of bats. We are discovering different kinds of insects/animals here and its good n bad. Its been a while since we visited your blog. LOVE your new blog header. Golden LOVE to the Golden Pines Gang. Lots of Golden ALOHA n Woofs, Sugar

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  21. We like bats. We have huge flying foxes that we just love even though they carry some horrible disease.

    XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

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  22. We see bats here sometimes, usually in summer though (it's winter now).
    But like Daisy and the girls said, they have a bit of a bad wrap for carrying diseases like the hendra virus and stuff.
    Poor guys, they're an important part of the echo system!

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  23. I am just drooling over those berries. I would love to goggle some up. And I have to say I like bats. Yes I do.
    Blessings,
    Goose

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  24. glad to hear all is well at Golden Pines this week! Man, I'd freak out if I had a close encounter with a bat! Yes, I know they are great insect eaters but, I am not used to seeing them and would not welcome them into my yard. Why is it that some of nature's predators are just so scary looking (like snakes and bats)? Love the new header and those sweet golden heads peeking through the porch rail! Would love to come over for some of that blackberry cobbler...we'd have a lot of doggy tales to share!!

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  25. Hi Kim
    We are soo jealous of all your blackberrys! It will be a dew more months until the wild blackberrys are ready to eat. Oh we just love the smell of the air in the afternoon when the sun shines on the berries and everything smells so sweet.
    Sheba is soooo lucky,, and a nice berry breath we bet!
    We have bats and we love them. A few years ago we found an injured one, (its wing was torn_ so we took it to the wildlife association so they could help it.
    We saw 3 snakes today,, they are not bad snakes,, but who wants to touch them?? Not me!
    We love your new banner,
    love
    tweedles

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  26. Hi Kim, dropped in from Elaine's Country Cove blog and happy to find a fellow Virginian, although we live in different parts of this state. We are on the VA eastern shore, but formerly lived in NJ and hope to relocate to NH. Sorry to read about Sam, he is much loved that shows through so clearly. Your blackberries look wonderful, we have strawberries only here and lots of them in recent weeks. And I agree with the comment about bats. We used to see many here when sitting outdoors on summer eves but not so many anymore. They are really such misunderstood creatures which can do more good than harm when left to their own devices.
    By the way, feel free to drop in anytime to our little blog spot as we are definitely back door and front porch folks who really enjoy company and friends we've never met coming by for a chat.

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  27. Yummy blackberries, definitely get baking and preserving!

    I think bats are sweet, there's one that we see every now and then flying around the bottom of our garden at dusk. xxx

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  28. I am so sad to hear that the bats are in trouble, poor babies and the bees are too!! What are we humans doing to out earth!!
    Tom is working on the computer for me and he will find a way to get it fixed some how???? LOL I wish we had bats. Years ago we bought a bat house to try to attract them but none have come!!
    I loved taking with you on the phone!! I'll call if things don't get in the way next Thursday OK??

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  29. Oh what a beautiful huge potfull of berries - love the photo of Sheba! We like bats because they scoop up tons of 'skeeters! Don't mind snakes either, but in the west, a slight bit easier to see before startling one than in east where they can lie in tall grasses! What an idyllic place you live!
    Hugs xoxo
    Sammie, Avalon and mom

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  30. We have bats in the woods behind us and often see them flying around at night. We used to have wild berries, too, but some curly dogs weren't happy just eating the berries. They ate the entire plants. Now I have to buy berries.

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  31. oooohhhhweee, berries and bats! How exciting! Mmmm, I bet those are tasty (the berries, I mean...I don't think I'd want to eat a bat, but who knows?! ;)

    XO,
    Lu

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  32. Those berries look delicious!! That's a great picture you got of the bat. :)

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  33. I have no problem with bats as long as they stay away from me, the dogs and the house. Oh and eat lots of bugs!

    The berries look good! Do you make them into jam?

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  34. We have some bats here in the city. I don't mind them in the country but don't really like them in the city.

    All the berries seem to be doing really well this year.

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  35. Sheba is a lucky dog! Our dogs always dine on wild raspberries in August but they are tiny compared to blackberries!

    I love seeing bats swooping around at dusk...

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  36. Jed & Abby aren't as lucky as Sheba; they have to be content with eating the tiny raspberries [or whatever they are] that are growing wild in the backyard. They're competing with the birds, the mulberries being about gone now.

    We're keeping our paws crossed for Sam. Mostly that he continue to enjoy as many days as possible without pain. And we're keeping our paws crossed for Annie, too, that the new diet keeps her healthy.

    Happy Birthday!

    Jed & Abby

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  37. Love that little bat, I have only seen one in my entire life. How lucky to find him there, in the daytime.
    It must be the year of the Blackberry, ours are outrageous,as well. I may actually make some cobbler ( and I hate to cook!)

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  38. Hi Y'all,

    Thanks for stoppin' to visit me!

    I love the blackberries. At the shore we have a couple of fig trees, I like them even better.

    Catch my post on BSL tomorrow.

    Hope y'all are havin' a wonderful, safe week.

    Y'all come back now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

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  39. Kim, I'm glad to be getting 'caught up' and so glad Sheba is keeping you abreast of the berry picking...now about that cobbler; oh my gosh, does that look yummy! Will you please top mine with some vanilla ice cream with it slightly heated up? I think that would be a good breakfast!
    So glad Sam is keeping his own pace and seemingly at peace right now. Isn't that all we can do for our senior friends? Even when we do our best, it is heartbreaking to see them struggle. Bless you Kim!

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  40. We have a bat this year that is hanging around our porch. So many creatures have moved into the suburban arears ~ the farm lands are disappearing. The blackberries look delicious. I think I would eat them like Sheba, right off the bush.
    Sweet William The Scot

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Speak--I really enjoy your comments! Thanks for stopping by today!!