Using the balcony

We have a covered balcony at the back of the house.  It is off the kitchen living area and gives us a great view of a large part of the pond (now that the mountain of dirt has been leveled off).  Even in the hot summer we have found many uses for it.

When my brother Andy came to visit, he would begin his day sitting out on the balcony with his coffee and tablet.  He would catch up on his email, read the daily news and converse with Mike out there.  I think he found it relaxing.  Once he left, Mike and I took up his habit of beginning the day out there with our coffee and phones.  However, we couldn't keep that up on a regular basis.  I found I was spending too much of my day out there and wasn't getting enough of my chores done.

Nevertheless, it is a great place to sit and relax and enjoy nature.  We now keep two pairs of binoculars on a table on the balcony so we can better view the activity outside.  Mike is much better at spotting things on the water (usually leaping bass) but I have spotted a few creatures.  I have seen a heron, turkeys crossing the dam, and wood ducks.   We have also had hummingbirds fly right by us to check out my wreath or wind chime.  Our latest sightings though have been the snapping turtles that are sunbathing on a floating log.

Mike spotting a snapping turtle sunbathing.  

We have decided that snapping turtles are unwanted residents of our pond.  They eat fish, baby geese and ducks and have the potential to be hazardous to swimmers.  So when we spot snapping turtles, Mike gets out his gun and shoots them.

Has Mike been watching to much NCIS?

Mike actually got one the other day.  So when Laura came to visit she joined in the snapping turtle search.  She actually spotted one but by the time I snapped this picture and Mike got his gun out, the snapping turtle quit sunbathing and went swimming.  

So there you have it, the many uses for the Peterson balcony- relaxation, nature watching and snapping turtle shooting.