More of Aroostook in Maine

It's been kind of quiet lately here at Aroostook NWR.  It's been a week since I saw a bear.  I've seen a few moose, but not many. Saw this cow moose yesterday morning...

She stopped to check me out.  I waited until she crossed the road...  thought there might have been a calf with her, but there wasn't.

 I did see a porcupine this morning...  the biggest one I've ever seen....  but I didn't grab my camera in time to get a shot.

Now that the Upland Sandpiper nesting season is over Bill is spending a lot of time mowing.  There are several acres of fields in need of the bush hog and our time here is running out.

I spent several days painting the boiler room....

A few shots of the room after I painted....

And...  just in case you forgot...

 what it was like before....

I felt like a contortionist....  like I was standing on my head, reaching in between all these pipes to get the walls and ceiling painted.  I ended up using 2 different size rollers and a brush...   a LOT of using the brush!  Three gallons of paint later, I felt like I was finished.  Well, not really finished...  I have maybe a pint of paint left in a can... I'll use that to work on the places I missed after it all dries and I can see it better.  I'm not very agile and don't do well with heights...  even a step ladder gives me the shakes...  but by the time I got done I was climbing around on top of cabinets...  scrambling up and down the ladder....  a regular athlete!  Well...  not quite....  but the room looks a lot better than it did!  

I can stand being inside only so long, so would limit my painting time to a half day.  (Okay, so it took me 4 days.....  nearly 15 hours total to paint the darned thing.....  I never said I was speedy)...  I've worked the visitor center a few half days...  And the rest of the time I am outside as much as possible.

I saw this family of Pied-billed Grebes this week....

Seems kind of late in the year to be raising young.... but maybe they raise 2 broods...  or maybe she lost the first brood...  I don't know, but I always smile when I see little guys.

Speaking of "little guys"...

Look what the game camera picked up the other night...

This coyote pup came for a visit...

But it wasn't alone...

Guess the whole pack came along.

These guys look to be in pretty good shape.  

They must be finding good eats somewhere....

And...  as one subject leads to another....

The Short-eared owls have been hanging out of an evening on the roof of the building we're parked beside.  It is quite high...  maybe it's a great lookout for dinner?

I found a whole bunch of Mallard Duck feathers on the ground below  (as well as a WHOLE LOT of bird droppings).

I can't imagine a bird snagging a duck and flying to the top of that building with it in its talons!

I was hoping to find some owl pellets (think cats hacking up "hair balls" ...  well, that's gross...  just forget I mentioned it)..  but haven't found any.

We finally got a little rain here...

Not much, but the broccoli crops are looking better.

I even mowed the trails this week!

One last thing...  So glad that Chris of "Living and Boondocking in Mexico" is back doing his blog.  We've caught up with him a few times...  both in Mexico and the States....  He writes an interesting blog whether you plan to travel in Mexico or not.

That's All For Today!