Adventure

This blog is a documentation of my bone collecting adventures and my passion for nature. I'm happy to answer any questions you have! Thanks for stopping by! Check out my bone identification blog!

[boneyadventures]

I've got four squrriels in this bin and suddenly this mystery squash/melon plant popped up! I'm so excited to see what it produces so I guess those squrriels will have to sit tight for a while. Anyone up for some mystery melon fertilized by dead squirrels?

[boneyadventures]

Here's a sneak peek at my new bone cabinet, still very much a WIP! I've got most of my boney friends in there but several need repairs and I have a lot of other miscellaneous things to still add. I haven't even attempted to do anything with the top yet (just threw the elk racks and other random things up to get them out of the way). I'm thinking about mounting some of my bigger skulls on the wall above to make more space inside the cabinet. So much potential and so much fun to play with everything again!

I just finished adding lighting in the cabinet which has all sorts of colorful settings - above is the white setting and below is spooky cool red!

[boneyadventures]

Today's little surprise is a squrriel jaw in my backyard! Can you spot it?

[boneyadventures]

They're coming out!! Got through one box today and I'm tagging each skull as I go to keep better track of their origins. I've got my old bone journal for reference and I'm really glad I kept track of things back in the day, some things have been a pleasant surprise!

[boneyadventures]

You guys.... it's happening!!

My friends are coming out of storage! I still need to find a display cabinet but after years I finally get to enjoy my collection again. I'm so excited <3

[boneyadventures]

Fun finds in the hay tub tonight! Tiny rodent bones likely from an owl pellet and a bird foot (I also found a bird wing still in the hay net). Hay growers can't help what might end up in the hay field, I've found lots of trash over the years but bones are a first! Somehow horses and vulture culture just go together so naturally!

[boneyadventures]

A cautionary tale in series:

Someone (me) left these containers too close to the wood stove and they got a little melty - cue plastic dissection and as it turns out I don't have any more of these containers so I just refreshed the soapy water and placed the cut-off lids back on. It's sunny and warm outside now so no more melting plastic!

[boneyadventures]

I grabbed this paper organizer from the thrift store a while ago and it's been great for my bone projects, it's a perfect drying rack and keeps everything nicely organized!

[boneyadventures]

Its time for Spot The Bone game! I can always count on these guys, though I wish I could have found some other goodies!

[boneyadventures]

I had such a great adventure today! I only found cow bones today and didn't take any home, but I had a wonderful time in nature and didn't come home empty handed. I picked up some trash along the way including a cool glass bottle and I found a neat stick which I'll be using as a jewelry holder! Bone pictures to come shortly!

[boneyadventures]

I have to give a birthday shoutout to my dad today, my greatest bone hunting buddy and supporter ❤ Bone hunting with him is some of my fondest memories, I can still hear him calling my name from a distance away pretending not to be excited while he stands beside a killer find. He's even crazier than me when it comes to the hunt! I'm going out to our old stomping grounds today so hopefully I can steal some of his birthday luck and find treasures!

[boneyadventures]

Juvenile and Adult California Ground Squirrels

The big fellow gave my pup a nasty scar under her eye during their battle, she definitely didn't expect him to fight back!

[boneyadventures]

Spent a little time today putting together the squirrel skulls and organizing their skellies while the glue dried. All for naught, everything will go right into a baggie and wait to be repurposed one day, but it's still fun to do a little bone work!

[boneyadventures]

Life is hindering me from vulturing so getting these big boys at a moving sale for $10 each was a much needed win!

[boneyadventures]

Happy Valentine's Day to my favorite beings, animals ❤

Of course us vultures love our living animals as much as the dead ones, so here's some highlights of living animals around my property caught by game cameras! We've had a little bit of everything come through here and the only wild animal we haven't captured is a mountain lion, though I'm grateful they haven't come through here yet!

Pictured are skunk, raccoon family, gray fox, bobcat (listening to the chickens sleeping), opossum, coyote, wild turkey, deer, and the inside of my chicken coop where I suspected someone was moving in with the chickens. Not included are numerous stray dogs, feral cats, birds, squirrels, and rabbits that come through all the time, as well as thousands of pictures of suspicious shadows that the cameras thought were interesting. Highly recommend game cameras!!

[boneyadventures]

Lita had broken her sternum at some point which healed well before her death. I have to wonder if this contributed to or was the cause of her first decline about a year before she died. I had found her in the usual sick chicken position, hunched over and unable to move much, and after isolating her and feeding some vitamins and meds she improved quickly and was back to her normal self for a while. About a year later she declined again in a similar way, but after a couple days of treatment she passed overnight. It's heartbreaking knowing she was in pain and I'm glad she's no longer suffering in this world.

This is why I love bones so much, they tell stories that we might never see, especially in animals. I always enjoy reading stories where someone has an xray and finds some strange anomaly on their skeleton that they never realized was there. Wonderful bone mysteries!

[boneyadventures]

Lita's skeleton is mostly clean except for her leg bones which are still trapped in degreasing prison. I can't wait to get her all finished and ready for articulation!