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Monday, August 15, 2016

Almanac


It has rained.

A lot. 

Will it break the drought? Maybe. For sure there is no need to water the gardens.

The pup has caught his tail and is lying on the floor holding the wiggly white tip and looking at me as if to ask, "What do I do now?"

He has also decided to bring all the locust pods in the yard into the house. Do you know how many pods fall off an 80-ish foot tree in a high wind? A lot.

Other than that it is just August. Hazy, hot, and humid. Laundry won't dry, nor will hay. No sense even mowing because it is just going to get rained on.

Wal*Mart is sold out of fans...the guy said 178 went out the door in just a short time.

August has a schedule for us here at Northview that would drive some folks off cliffs. People go to work at three AM while other people come home from work at three AM. Or four. Or five. 

People come home in early afternoon, others leave a couple hours later...sometimes they pass each other in the driveway. People work in Massachusetts, in NYC and Washington DC, or just down the road in Fultonville. Or in the barn or up in the fields in the back of the land. There are people working every single day of the week, Sunday to Sunday, and all the days in between. It's like an anthill around here.

Somebody is always sleeping so they can go to work, or awake working, or getting ready to work. Instead of a pocket door in the bathroom, we need a revolving door.

I guess the common theme around here is that everybody works at something, be it building America, delivering the goods that keep her running, managing a restaurant, feeding critters, making hay, or if you are me, just watching them all whirl by like a carousel of hard workers, off to their various jobs. And doing laundry and housework and gardening....the easy stuff that is....oh, and bookkeeping too...the nasty stuff.




Sunday, August 14, 2016

A Restless Sky

Wood Duck

And a reckless one. 

Even after the big storm wreaked its havoc all over the region, devastating Pine Lake, and ruining vacations everywhere, lightning flickered and whined and tossed bright tantrums all night long.

Pied-billed Grebe

I was awakened once, when I happened to be facing the window, by brilliant red, as a flash so bright it shone right through my eyelids struck something west of the barns.

It was nasty and for many, no doubt terrifying. It hit fast and hard at the end of a day of utter misery from the heat and humidity. If I wanted to live in Louisiana I would move there.....


This photo, taken by Alan, could give you an idea of the density of birds in some places

We hit the swamp early in the morning, an amazingly rewarding time for birding, and saw so many it is going to take me a while to tabulate the list. Becky rode along and very generously served as secretary, which allowed me to see even more birds than usual. Funny how the population changes week to week. Not a Black Tern to be seen, but Common Gallinules abounded.



Peeps, but not of the shorebird kind


Then afternoon brought a family reunion. Everyone got together despite the weather for good food and good company. My knee was giving me fits and Al needed to get home and get some sleep, as he is off to DC for three weeks, so we left pretty early, but it was still a good deal. Four generations of aunts and uncles and cousins and kids....and my own folks too. How cool is that.

Alas, the stormy night did not bring even an ounce of relief from the nasty heat wave and there is none in sight. Can't get laundry dry, or hay either. And never mind webbed feet....I swear I even have webbed ears and eyelids.

Ah, well, I guess it will snow soon enough.


Friday, August 12, 2016

I look at all the green


....Green grass and swear that I will not complain about the heat and humidity. It will be cold and snowy soon enough.... I truly hate our winter desert of ice and misery. 

Taint easy though. Even the pup, who does not like the fan attall, attall, lies in front of it by the hour. This morning his usual rambunctious play has been limited to merely parading squeaky toys in front of Mack's kennel and squeaking the heck out of them. Mack doesn't even react. He came in from the outside about three minutes after I let him out too. Usually he is good for a nice, long hunt, but not in this weather.

I am stubborn though. This is the third year I have not run the air conditioner and I ain't a gonna do it this year either. I was tempted last night though. The heat bakes into the upstairs west-facing rooms in the afternoon about like the sun on the Serengeti. Guess where I sleep.....

I must bake today for a family reunion tomorrow. Liz ditto. Kitchen will prolly resemble the 6th circle of Hell before we're done.

Anyhow, have a good one. If you can.

Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Almanac

This is how it was birding this morning. This is a power wire in the cow barnyard.
Note: two Mourning Doves, one Indigo Bunting, and a very ticked off Robin
 that was trying to feed honeysuckle berries to nestlings somewhere

While the cat's away.....

The boss is off to Empire Farm Days today. I hope he is having a good time and not suffering too badly from the heat. Meanwhile, this mouse is having a fine time.

From the unusual phone call department comes one from his orthodontic surgeon, who is repairing the damage from the car accident. Early this morning the doctor's receptionist called. Visions of missed appointments flashed through my head, but no, the doctor's cows were out on the road and she was looking for someone with a horse trailer to haul them home. I truly wished I could help her, but there was not much I could do. Alas, I don't drive, and by the time he made it home from Seneca Falls the cows could have walked back to the farm...

And that's not all.....


Despite being the last full month of summer, August has plenty to show us.

Gold finches flutter all day in the rudbeckia like so many flying flowers. They are the exact same color. There are so many that it is a challenge to get a remotely accurate count when I want to do an eBird checklist. They are simply everywhere.

For every bird that has taken to the airwaves and headed south there is some other species still busily rearing young. Two sets of robin parents were still feeding nestlings this morning and a young Northern Flicker was following its parents around begging vociferously. Catbirds appear to have kids as well.


There are advantages to being a gimp for a while. It took me a very long time to walk over to the barn and up to the crossroad to the T-field this morning, but what a lot of birds I saw.... 28 species in all. (It takes me a long time to walk anywhere btw.)

Then, as I was standing dead still, listening and watching for movement right behind the barn, I heard a sharp cracking from the bushes. There is a deer trail there....maybe about four feet from where I was waiting....

Sure enough after a few seconds a doe thrust her head out of the bushes right in front of me. I stood frozen waiting to see what she would do. Had the wind been different I might have even gotten a photo, but it was almost exactly from me to her.

With a loud WOOF! and a lot more crackling, she was gone back down the hill. I think she was an old one, as her face was pretty grizzled. Deer, by the way, are not always the quiet, wily things their reputation would have you believe.

The highlight of the trip was a Black-and-White Warbler busily feeding right next to the barn gate. Although they are not terribly rare, the last one I saw was on our blacksmith's garage roof before Magnum was born. Anyone who knew him can figure about how long ago that was. (Hint...I was still thin and blonde, and he's been gone over a decade...oh, and he lived to be 32.)

It was an amazingly crisply-marked and tidy little bird, and obligingly gave both its song and chip call so I could have a good listen.

I have really missed walking out and although this was a short, and really, really slow walk, it was a lot of fun.

Flicker family


Monday, August 08, 2016

The Look of Eagles


I've been following, albeit reluctantly, stories of the protests against horse racing in Saratoga. Activists want the sport banned because they consider it cruel. Horses have died at the track, perhaps more than usual this year, and they are simply horrified. I get that.

Of course it is sad when a horse dies. If you think you as a spectator are troubled, imagine how the horse's connections feel. They care for these animals day and night, often giving better care than the most cosseted of house pets would expect.

And as one commenter on a local news story pointed out, when human athletes die in competition, no one suggests banning football or baseball. However, horses are animals and so must be elevated to a higher plane. They must hate to be made to run so fast all the time, right?

They couldn't possibly actually like racing as much as any youngster likes T-ball, could they?

Nah, of course not. Why would an animal born to run want to? Horses, even horses without an iota of Thoroughbred blood, don't race each other in their pastures do they? And sometimes get hurt?

Not possible. Except that it is. Horses run by nature. Horses race by nature. They like it or they wouldn't do it. You can't really make them, as was demonstrated by some Amish fellows trying to get a drafter out of the road up west of here. It didn't want to get out of the road and so it didn't. It just stood there blocking two lanes of traffic until it got good and ready to move. It was way too much bigger than the human pests trying to influence it for them to make it do anything.

I will leave you with this little tale of my days walking hots at that selfsame race course.

I worked one summer, much to my infinite delight, for Henry Clark's stable at Saratoga (check him out, he's in the hall of fame).

One day late in the season the stable claimed an older chestnut gelding. I really liked him, even though he was so tall I could barely reach his head. Many of the horses in the yard were "hot", so high strung, full of giddy-up go, that it was hard for a neophyte such as myself to keep them politely walking in a circle when they needed to cool out or stretch their legs a bit.

This guy, however, was as gentle as a kitten. Truly kind. With his head about a half a mile above mine he always walked quietly beside me, whenever he was in my charge. 

Normally most of the horse walking takes place early in the morning. On a normal day, unless one of the horses that I walked was racing, I went home by noon.

However, one afternoon someone was racing...can't remember who...but I think it was Sweet Sop, another gentle chestnut, a little filly that I simply loved, so I stayed to work while actual racing was going on.

For some reason I was tasked with walking the old fellow, while we waited for the other horse to get back from the track.

The call to the post sounded as we paced around the walking ring. 

I still get chills when I remember how he raised his magnificent head upon hearing it, pricked his long red ears, and, with flaring nostrils, bugled his own call to the contest. He was utterly alight with eagerness.

As much of an old veteran as he was, as far as he was concerned that bugle rang for him.

That was over thirty years ago,  yet I will never forget that moment.

The look of eagles. 

Don't tell me that horses don't love racing and live to race. I've been there and seen that. If you want to be cruel, take that away from them, and break their generous hearts.


Twofer


Big day today. Eleven years for this blog and 34 for our son-in-law, Jade.

So happy Birthday, Bubba, hope you have a wonderful day.

If you want to read the first Northview post ever, from all those years ago, there is a link over in the sidebar, as the featured post.

Sunday, August 07, 2016

Why Yes,





As a matter of fact, I AM in the toy box with all the toys...

Who wouldn't be?


We are really great buddies.....

To the Swamp

Gulls and Caspian Terns


Pied-billed Grebe (Photo by Alan)


Many of the pools were lined with goose down. Pillow fight anyone?

We did a quick run up to Montezuma National Wildlife refuge yesterday and drove around the main loop. No time for the side pools, but we had a great time.

Saw a good number of Caspian Terns...normally only one or two, some ducks, many Pied Billed Grebes, a few American Coots, and a nice flock of Black Terns, which I particularly enjoy.

Yesterday's Dark-eyed Junco was unusual enough to warrant a query from eBird, which I thought was very cool. I discussed it with the data reviewer, he was quickly convinced and is interested in the White-eyed Vireo Alan is pretty sure he is seeing regularly. 

Saturday, August 06, 2016

I hate to be the One


To tell you this.

However, the birds are saying something these days. All you have to do is look and listen.

Yesterday, Alan put all four sets of brakes in the car. When I went out to see how it was going and to walk Fin I heard Chimney Swifts. Nothing unusual about that. They nest in our chimney after all. 

However, when I looked up to count I was amazed. Our little flock has grown by twos all summer....first the original pair, then a couple of more, etc.

This time there were seventeen! Yeah, and those were just the ones I could see against the bright noonday sun when they were very high in the sky. No doubt there were more.

You know what that means don't you?

And then this morning, once again walking the pup, I heard something strange over at the barn. Never did see whatever bird was making that call, but as we walked over we flushed a Dark-eyed Junco.

Yeah, a winter bird. Although range maps show them occurring in Upstate NY in all seasons I can tell you, they are winter birds here. Winter. Normally we start seeing them in October.

And it was hanging out with a flock of Song Sparrows. I called it a dozen, but once again, there were almost certainly more. Limited mobility and a dog jiggling the binoculars made it hard to get a really a good number. Plus the weeds are still high.

I don't know what to make of a junco in early August, but somehow I don't see it as anything good by way of portents. 

47 days until Fall.


Thursday, August 04, 2016

Stink Redux

Bama Breeze

When the boss came in from mowing hay and I told him the skunk story he had a tale of his own. 

Seems that he noticed that something had torn up some of the swaths where he had hay down. Hay was strewn all over the place and there was a large thing in the middle of the muddle.

He went over to see what had happened and there was a dead skunk. It had evidently not gone gentle into that good night.

In fact it actually was only some bits of a dead skunk, such as the legs and stinky part.

Then he saw another one, similarly impacted by whatever they had encountered.

Great Horned Owl maybe? If it was yotes I hope they stay away from the house....although I am sure we will be able to detect their presence right promptly if they do come down here.

When the boss finished his story, I suggested that maybe he might want to rake around that part of the field......

What's up with all these skunks anyhow? None since spring and now they're everywhere!

You work with what you got



Prior to the knee I had a reasonable routine worked out....for doggies that is.

First thing in the AM, walk the pup on a leash and put Mack up in back on his running cable. Let him exercise on the cable until the sun got warm, bring him in, leash walk him at noon, and put him back out there when it got cool later in the day...

It worked for everyone. I don't let him loose with Fin because he has such a tremendous prey drive that I'm afraid he'll kill him.

Enter the knee. Just one trip up the muddy slope to the backyard laid me right up. Thus I now walk the pup, crate him, and just let Mack outside loose. He is such a hunter.... he peruses the yard and barnyard for vermin at warp speed. He has a lot of fun and it's fun to watch him at it.

This morning all was in place. I was washing dishes and keeping half an eye out the window for him. He was hunting under the horse trailer.......when an all too familiar scent wafted in the open door.

Oh, crepes! Not that!

I quickly crated the little guy, closed the doors, which were propped open, and went out to assess the damage. Plans whirled through my head of how Mack was going to have a nice vacation over in the cow barn...in solitary...

For a week at least. Or two. A month. Or two. A year....you get my drift.

I was getting some drift too, and it sure didn't smell good out there in the yard. My heart was down at my knees. I was all clean and showered, nice fresh clothes and all, and now I had to catch my dog......who was certainly neither clean, nor freshly showered, and probably not smelling of roses and daffodils either.

I called. Called again. "Here Mack."

And he came, bustling up like a good boy.

Covered with mud, panting and soggy with dew, but smelling only of muddy dog. I don't know what riled the skunk, or where it is, or anything else about it.... But at least he didn't get the dog....and that's what counts.

Alas, I obviously now have to cook up a new knee-saving morning  routine, as, if there is a skunk out there, probably Mack should not be hunting off leash.

Dagnabbit.

BTW I discovered, much to my surprise, that he comes when I blow my shepherd's whistle just like the old BCs did. Which is handy.

Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Something Fishy

Taken last summer. Lilies haven't bloomed yet this year

Our garden pond is not an elaborate thing of water falls and pumps and fancy fountains. It is instead a 300-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank, intended for the watering needs of cows and horses. When I first wanted a pond we were not in a position to buy one. However, I had a job feeding a neighbor's horse and it paid enough to buy a watering trough.

It doesn't look too awful either. I wouldn't trade it for anything fancier, because the maintenance of it is virtually negligible. If I am not forced to drain it, it balances right up and stays fairly clear. This year I am not even running its little el-cheapo Walmart fountain.

Used to be, the first decade or so that we had it, I could winter fish and frogs in it pretty easily. Then the last two or three years winters have been so cold that it froze solid to the bottom. 

Thus we do our best to relocate any summering frogs to more suitable water features and bring the goldfish in the house.

This year six made it through the winter in an aquarium and back out to the pond.
 All orange. 
There seem to be four of those surviving.

The kids bought two more white-and-orange ones and four really pretty guppies.

I don't usually feed the fish in summer as the pond keeps them pretty well fed. However, since I wanted to see the guppies every day....did I mention that they are pretty?....I took to feeding them.

What should show up in the middle of the feeding frenzy but a huge, natural-colored (that is brown) carp goldfish. At first, since I didn't see the kids' fish when they put them in, I assumed it was a new one they bought, but, nope, they don't know anything about it.

The only thing I can figure is that is somehow escaped capture last fall, even though we nearly drained the tank, and survived the long, cold winter. There was one giant frog that we missed last fall that appeared to have made it through, although it sure looked rough when it emerged this spring, so anything is possible.

At any rate, it sure was a surprise!


Sheep Rustler

Safe back in his pen

A Sassenach reiver raced through the fold, fast as a candle, lamb in his hold.

Out he went at speed of the light and was gone o're the hillside and into the night.

Like any good shepherd I took my wee sheep dog, seeked out to find it and bring it home right.

It was cowering under the charcoal grill.

Yeah, every morning we have this little touse, wherein Mack steals a toy and tries to get out the door with it and I stand in the doorway and try to prevent same. He is young and terrier fast and thinks it's the funniest thing since Steve Martin. I think I want to get started on writing before everybody else gets up and don't much enjoy playing keep away in the kitchen door.

This time I gave up and just let him go. It was only one of the toy lambies.

At least it wasn't the light-up squeaky ball. Everybody likes to make off with that, even Peggy.

Fin and I went out to find it after Mack was in for his breakfast. It has surely seen better days.

Monday, August 01, 2016

Sad


Got some sad news about a family member's family member this weekend and it was on my mind when out for early morning puppy walks yesterday. I often say a prayer or two when out with just the dogs in the early morning light. I guess I added some extra ones for those who need them most right now..

It was dripping gentle rain, welcome and needed. Things are already greening up after drying down to potato chip crispness over the past couple of weeks.

A call came from the outdoor faucet. A small bird popped out and proceeded to circle us, chirping loudly.

It was a little Common Yellowthroat, I'm guessing young of the year. Very pretty in subtle browns and yellows, with just a hint of a mask that made it a male. It was much impressed with us and stayed as long as we did, flitting from bush to bush. It lightened my heart a little. I often think that such encounters are sent to give us hope and faith and even bravery when we are frightened. I was really worried about my dad once and spotted an Eastern Bluebird, right in the driveway, one of his favorite birds. For some reason I felt better, calmer, full of belief that all would be well.

And at least that time it was.

In these hard and frightening times, I am grateful to have straws to grasp, in the form of small, friendly, birds, rainbows, good sunsets, and rain in time of need. They seem to offer comfort and strength in the face of all that life has to show us. 

Friday, July 29, 2016

Almanac

Not from today

Anvil clouds are piling up, ready for the hammer. It is dry, dry, dry, and the east wind is tugging at everything not nailed down, billowing the laundry like the sails of a ship, and intriguing the pup with strange smells.

There is a frog in the garden pond again, just a little feller. There were several, including a big one that appeared to have wintered over, earlier in the season, but they left for better venues. The kids bought a few more goldfish and some guppies. What fun it is when they feed them and the ones I had from last year.

The water fairly boils. 

While I was hanging out the laundry...yes, on crutches....Liz carried it out for me, but I hung it up....a mayfly plopped some eggs into the pond. Dab. Dab. Dab.

Flop. She bumped over to the oak log that is a feeder in winter and rested there a moment, just about spent. Without a functional mouth, and having fulfilled her purpose after a year under water, she is done and will no doubt die now, having laid those precious eggs. I wonder if they will hatch and grow and winter in the pond. Or will the guppies polish them off before they even sink to the bottom. 

When we were kids and staying at the lake there were mornings we couldn't swim because there was so much detritus left from the mayfly hatch. Who wants bug shells all over them? Not I.

I have so many beans that need to be picked, but I guess they will have to wait a bit. Don't think I can manage that job yet. I only planted a few squash plants and they are feeding us well, although if it doesn't rain in the next hour or so I am going to have to water. Did I mention that it is dry?

It is hard to get used to after all the soggy years in a row we have experienced.

Found out something interesting this year that I had never thought about. One of the morning glory seed packets I planted suggested growing them in a hanging basket. I gave it a go and the ones in the basket are blooming way before the ones in the ground are showing any sign of same. Very nice pink frilled ones with white edges. Even the vines are pretty, climbing out of the basket and down the hummingbird perching strings.

It was good to get outdoors even if only at a hobble. I hate being cooped up inside.

Just as it came from the camera last week



Thursday, July 28, 2016

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Ouch


Wrecked my "good" knee digging garlic. It is pretty bad and I am plumb crippled up. This has happened before...I borrowed a brace from Jade and in a couple of days it was fine. This time I am going to get my own I think.

Meanwhile it is all I can do to get dinner and walk the dogs, so not much is getting posted.

Thanks for your patience. 

Monday, July 25, 2016

What do you get




When the deer flies are bad? Why, you get to see a frantic little lawn Bambi, with much ducking and dodging and shaking of ears, running around your yard. Poor little critter was wild with the misery of the darned things, which I can attest are plumb awful.



He trotted around the lawn for a while and then ducked down into the brush, which was probably where mama left him in the first place. Wonder if this is the little one that was born up under the leaning tree in the heifer pasture. Seems like a good year for fawns.

How do you like the little lines of spots up his back and neck? I thought they were pretty neat. ***Some of these shots are mine and some may be Alan's as we both took some. 

Saturday, July 23, 2016

The Peggy Channel

Of course, Grandma, I'd love to have you take my picture
But let me get ready for that flash first....

Rockin' the over-sized hand me down Justin's and taking baby for a walk
There is a plastic long horned bull in that stroller too.
Our little lady is well-rounded