Feathers and Fuzz

one woman's cure for the empty-nester blues

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Feathers and Fuzz: A Blog (2017–2020)

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This site is preserved as an archive and is no longer updated.

History

For almost 10 years, I lived on 6 acres in Cartersville, GA—just me and my beloved American Pit Bull Terrier, Drake. I was never good at being an “empty nester.” Innately, I am a caretaker.

We started with one wildlife camera, one bird feeder, and one birdhouse. By the time this blog launched, we were up to 12 birdhouses, more feeders than I can remember, and 30 cameras. Empty nester no more!

In late 2019, at age 10, Drake was diagnosed with cancer. The blog went silent—my full attention on Drake. We were blessed to share almost two more excellent years.

I later sold the house in Cartersville and moved to a 55+ community. And guess what? I am now surrounded by neighbors I can “take care of” and am blessed to share my life with another “best boy in the whole world”: Bennie. My heart remains full.

My thanks to ChatGPT for guiding me through the process of preserving this blog so it may be shared without ongoing maintenance costs.

Navigating This Site

You may follow our journey by starting at the beginning and letting the story unfold. To do so, begin with the first post:

First Blog: Dawn of Feathers and Fuzz

From there, simply scroll to the bottom of each page and choose (blue text):

→ Next Story
← Previous Story

Each post connects to the next, so you can simply follow the story as it unfolds.

Or, you may browse using:

  • Index of Posts
  • Meet the Feathers
  • Meet the Fuzz

Note: Unpleasant things do happen in nature. You will only encounter such content if you choose to click on The UGLY (upper right corner).

  • MoJo (Mother Jo)

Sweeping Under the Rug to Get at the Ugly Stuff

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A number of people have asked me to post the predator/harsh videos I have collected over the past several years.  Somehow, rewatching the Wolf Re-introduction video is helping me get through this series on Backyard Predators.

I categorize this content as "Ugly" and there is a link, so named, at the top of this blog's home page.  When The UGLY link is marked with a STAR, content less than 1 week old has been posted.  From the beginning of this blog, I made the decision not to post these stories on the home page.  They shouldn't be fed to your inbox if you opted in for post feeds.  They won't show in the "Up Next" section.  Bottom line:  If you want to see this content, you will have to look for it by clicking on The UGLY link.

Software and its users (in this case, me) are known to have flaws.  If things don't go according to design and a post shows up where it doesn't belong (your inbox or the blog homepage):   All ugly content videos are stamped with the word UGLY in bold/red.  Don't open the video if destruction is not your thing!

In the Coming Weeks

I am going to clean out the videos I have saved and get them published.  If you are so inclined, you will read/see stories of several snake attacks, the effect of nest mites on nestlings, how a bird parent deals with a weak nestling, how a bird parent handles deceased nestlings, a hawk attack on a Mourning Dove, the bear attack on the Bluebird house as seen from inside the house, and what happens when "Momma Flyer" doesn't come home.

And now, with a tip-of-the-hat to my snake-loving friends ... we're off.  The first of this series, the oldest dust under the rug, has been posted.