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Post by BuckSkin on Nov 2, 2021 6:46:28 GMT
This well-fed Groundhog has been living in a burrow under the deep-freezer in a building beside our driveway. I have seen him countless times, but he doesn't hang around; by the time I see him, he is already headed for a hole. I am standing in the doorway to take the photo. He is terribly camera-shy. There is no quiet sneaky way to open our heavy homemade steel door. He has already heard the door; you can see it in his eye and in the steel-trap tautness of his muscles; at the click of the camera, he was off like a shot. If he don't run into something and knock his brains out during one of his hasty retreats, or trip over something and break his neck, he will live a long time by being so wary. Gullible, naive, and dead are words seldom associated with a good dose of paranoia. Tuesday_19-October-2021 I hope you like it.  |
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Post by jackscrap on Nov 2, 2021 21:19:36 GMT
Well done, he looks tack sharp and I think you captured his wariness perfectly.
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Post by BuckSkin on Nov 2, 2021 21:34:53 GMT
Well done, he looks tack sharp and I think you captured his wariness perfectly. Thanks for the compliments; I wish I could say that I had anything to do with the way it turned out. Several times earlier, I had opened the door for one reason or another and there he would be for just a second before taking off to one of his many holes. So, on the chance that he might be out there, I tried my best to crack open the door without him hearing (fat chance of that); there he was, I quickly snapped a shot, and he was gone. I am very pleased with the way it turned out. |
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Post by BuckSkin on Apr 18, 2022 17:02:45 GMT
Resident Groundhog minding his own business, grazing in the new spring grass. I have a bit of trouble telling my Groundhogs apart; maybe it would be easier if I could get them to wear different hats or maybe different colored neck-ties. More interesting reading can be found at Wikipedia, National Geographic, and National Geographic for Kids. Friday_15-April-2022 04:06:17:PM CDT 50 Yards - Handheld at 500mm  =x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=  =x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=  =x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=  =x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=  |
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pontiac1940
CE Members
Posts: 6,357
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by pontiac1940 on Apr 18, 2022 17:04:47 GMT
It looks huge!
Cute critter provided it does not cause damage.
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Post by BuckSkin on Apr 18, 2022 19:34:00 GMT
It looks huge! Cute critter provided it does not cause damage.
He is big, but he's just a pup; there are some around here that are huge.
Many around here absolutely hate them; I think it is more an inherited hate than a fact-based hate.
They have to vent their rage on something; they have a wife they abhor; they have a vehicle they can't pay for; they live in a house they can't afford; they owe people money that they will never pay; better that they gas and shoot some poor old Groundhogs every once in a while than to take an AK-47 into work some morning.
People claim they will undermine a foundation and cause a barn to collapse; and, I can see where that could be possible in some cases.
They live under every barn on this place and nothing has collapsed yet.
When a barn of mine does collapse on account of Groundhogs, I may join everyone else around here in poking an exhaust hose down their hole and letting the engine run whilst dribbling used engine oil down the carburetor.
I have been to some very exciting rat killings where they did that; it is an awful good place to get shot by some overzealous rat-killer; when that thick black smoke starts pouring out of every rat-hole on the place and thousands of rats start pouring out and running every-which-way, those that can't maintain their composure very well do get excited and shoot without thinking. |
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Post by BuckSkin on Apr 18, 2022 21:52:12 GMT
As per Wikipedia:
"In a June 7, 2009, Humane Society of the United States article, "How to Humanely Chuck a Woodchuck Out of Your Yard", John Griffin, director of Humane Wildlife Services, stated you would have to have a lot of woodchucks working over a lot of years to create tunnel systems that would pose any risk to a structure."
You might want to take that with a grain of Sodium-Chloride (NaCl) considering the author, but then it may hold true.
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Post by hmca on Apr 19, 2022 20:42:18 GMT
Here ya go, Buckskin. The downloaded image and the original. I began with the neural filter in PSCC.....and then went on from there to selective editing and CE 4. Here is the link if anyone else would like to try to colorize this image.    |
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Post by BuckSkin on Apr 19, 2022 21:56:05 GMT
Excellent job ! I got interested and gathered this bit of information: A coal miner's daughter and her pet Groundhog who is working on a roast'n'ear (pronounced roas-near - emphasis on the "near") at Dixie Darby Fuel Company's Marne Mine, on the Clover Fork of the Cumberland River in Lejunior, Kentucky in Harlan County. The Groundhog is almost as big as she. Photo taken for the Department of the Interior's Solid Fuels Administration for War (04/19/1943 - 06/30/1947) Project, Photographs of the Medical Survey of the Bituminous Coal Industry (1946 - 1947). I estimate the girl at eight-yr-old, making her born in 1938, and making her 84-yr-old at this writing, 2022. At the time this photo was taken, and considering that it was a government project, I would say that it received no exposure at all. I highly doubt that the girl ever received a copy, nor even saw the photo. Now that it has been released and made available, for the last twenty-five or more years, it has been all over the internet and viewed countless times. Someone knows who this girl is; and, she may very well still be alive. Her name and her parents' names and other pertinent details need to be put with this photo. Dixie Darby Fuel Company Marne Mine Lejunior, Kentucky Harlan County 36°54'04"N 83°08'03"W Elevation: 1,394' Photo By: Russell Werner Lee (1903-1986) Friday_13-September-1946 About the photographer: Russell Werner Lee American photographer, photojournalist, and journalist. Born: 21-July-1903 in Ottawa, Illinois Died: 28-August-1986 in Austin, Texas 1936-1943 Employed by the Farm Security Administration. 1950s/1960s Industrial Photography for Standard Oil New Jersey, Aramco, and J&L Steel. 1965-1973 Employed by the University of Texas Again I say, Excellent Job, Helen ! |
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Post by hmca on Apr 19, 2022 22:45:20 GMT
Someone knows who this girl is; and, she may very well still be alive. Her name and her parents' names and other pertinent details need to be put with this photo. Thanks, BuckSkin. That would be very nice if the woman is still alive......and if she is I have no doubt that you will track her down.  ! |
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pontiac1940
CE Members
Posts: 6,357
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by pontiac1940 on Apr 19, 2022 23:51:38 GMT
That's pretty amazing info BuckSkin I posted the photo to Tineye and it led me here: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daughter_of_miner_with_pet_ground_hog._Dixie_Darby_Fuel_Company,_Marne_Mine,_Lejunior,_Harlan_County,_Kentucky._-_NARA_-_541297.jpg Hot link is busted, you have to copy and paste the URL The photo was reportedly taken 13 September 1946 Yup, if that lady is still alive someone will know her. I am a bit surprised that it is not documented in a county museum. Fun stuff. Great photo. Helen, your color rendition is great!  |
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Post by BuckSkin on Jun 7, 2022 15:04:28 GMT
This is the same Groundhog from the initial post of this thread; at least I think it is.
He is super-wary and makes a bee-line straight to his hole at the slightest excuse.
I once saw him coming headfirst down the trunk of the tree-house tree; the wife had just came up the driveway and I think he panicked and clumb the tree.
That was my second ever sighting of a Groundhog climbing a tree; my first time was some forty years ago at the home farm, on the back side of the far hill above the ponds, where a lone Poplar stood at the head of a ravine where my father used to drag off dead cows to let them rot and return to nature and the water table.
I came along ahorseback and caught a Groundhog unawares, closer to the tree than any escape hole; he went up that tree quicker than any squirrel I ever saw.
My cute little sidekick threw a strawberry down his hole and it went out of sight as if she had threw it down a well; she ran down to the holes at the barn to see if it came all the way through.(I wish I had had prior knowledge of her intentions; I would have placed a strawberry there for her to find.)
Years and years ago, we threw a colored smoker down a hole and smoke came out of at least a dozen other holes, some quite a ways away.
Here is what National Geographic Kids and Wikipedia have to say about them.
Thursday_02-June-2022      
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Post by BuckSkin on Jun 16, 2022 0:53:33 GMT
Horse-feed-eatin' Groundhog
This is just a pup.
When I first seen them and decided to go fetch the camera, there were two of them the same size; once I returned with a camera, the second one lost his nerve and remained hidden.
This one was not quite so nervous; I was in plain view within five feet of him and carried on a constant conversation with him.
The kallunk of the shutter seemed to worry him more than anything I was doing.
Monday_13-June-2022
Ol' Henry returned to his tray and the Groundhog made himself scarce.
It won't be long before he is poking his nose in the tray with Henry.
I hope you enjoy them; thanks for looking.
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Post by BuckSkin on Jun 26, 2022 11:20:35 GMT
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Post by whippet on Jun 27, 2022 18:50:17 GMT
Quote BuckSkin. Ol' Henry returned to his tray and the Groundhog made himself scarce.
It won't be long before he is poking his nose in the tray with Henry.
Seems he already has, BuckSkin.
 Note. BuckSkin asked me to put this here. |
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