The Popsicles were right There

Come along with me for a quick bit of time travel back to the early nineteen-sixties. We Montgomery kids spent the summers and most of our weekends hanging out around the folks' two stores, Montgomery's Antiques and the Tryon County Book Store. We were downright feral in those days and went pretty much wherever we wanted to.

BITD kids had to get creative to acquire cash even in tiny amounts. We had been known to check out the alley behind the row of shops where ours were located for stray dimes and nickels lost from the pockets of the patrons of certain now long closed establishments. Sometimes there were even quarters.

We also sat in the bookstore while Mom and Dad worked in the antique store, and either sold books ourselves or called them to help when things got interesting. 10% commission folks, plus all the ancient books you could read. Tarzan, Hardy Boys, Roy Chapman Andrews anyone?

Despite these excellent sources of income, when the Newberry's Five and Dime up the street got in a little box of horses like the one above, I had a rough time finding enough cash to buy him. It took weeks.

After all, saving was hard for a kid. In those days Collins' Market was just two doors east (the dime store was around six stores west). 

Popsicles were right there! 

And only a nickel. Grape was my favorite.

That oh-so-desirable red horse was priced at 29 cents, a veritable fortune's worth of Nehi, or Royal Palm or Double Bubble (two for a penny.) Six Three Musketeers at a nickel each!

The store also had cheaper horses, mere dimes and nickels in price. I could have had several for the price of old red. 

Somehow though I turned my back on sugar and cheaper temptations and bought him, plus a black one and a white one that were posed a bit differently. The bay markings, blaze and stockings are courtesy of a paint by number set I cannibalized (he was born a chestnut) and there is the tiniest trace of modeling clay stuck to one leg. I used to make bridles and saddles of same for my many toy horses.

Today this little horse is the only one left. The rest of a cardboard boxful, which I carted wherever I went, was lost somewhere along the way. However, he still lives in the China closet in the dining room, along with antique fishing lures, rocks, minerals and actual China and stuff. 

I don't play with him any more, but I wouldn't trade him for a dozen grape popsicles or a case of Orange Crush either.

***we searched Google and eBay for similar toys and didn't find a single one. Wonder where they all went.

Summer 26

Weird summer here for sure. Long dry spells interrupted by sometimes days of torrential rainfall. It's been cooler than normal for the most part and I'll take it. 70s beat 90s, mercury down.

Birding has been fair to middling...mostly middling. Our usual haunts offer the usual birds to the point that I have to drag myself out to chase them. Lots of babies though. The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks that summer here have brought, I think, 3 kids in to feed at the feeders. They chirp all day and sound EXACTLY like Eastern Bluebirds to the point that they even fool Merlin. They drive me nuts (!) as I cannot for the life of me stop looking for bluebirds. 

We got a new dog in May, from Ayres Shelter, an Aussie I named Marieta, Rita for short. She is a fascinating puzzle...where did she come from? She was found running down the road in Auriesville. What name or names did she have before? She answered to Rita right from day one. What weird or unfortunate things happened to her before? I am sure we will never know the answers to these questions, but we fell in love with her right promptly and put up with the nonsense as part of the deal of having her.

We were able to rent our favorite cabin at Peck's Lake this year and had only 1 1/2 days of less than great weather, although that week it was pretty hot. On my very last cast of the year I caught the biggest fish I have ever hooked in my life. It jumped over a low-hanging fir branch, tangling the line there, and I had a heckin' time getting it landed. What a thrill!

On the downside I took a terrible fall in the camp driveway while walking "my 10". Large, crushed stone makes a lousy landing pad. My face smashed into the ground; why my glasses didn't break I will never know, as they impacted hard and sharp right on a rock, and I hurt stuff. Ribs, wrists, face, soft tissue here and there. Stubborn old fool that I am I elected to tough it out. 20 days later it's mostly down to dull aches and lingering pains. Guess what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Still walking my 10 so...

Not yet, my fine feathered friend
Not yet

The garden has done pretty well. Lots of lettuce, some nice garlic, plenty of herbs to dry. I fear for my tomatoes though. There maybe some blight taking hold out there, or it may be just the uneven watering due to the weird weather. A few of them are getting a little curly on the edges.

Anyhow, it feels more like September than July here and that is fine with me. Hope you are doing well and enjoying the outdoors....

Watch your step!

Happy Father's Day

To these fine dads

and all the rest of you good men out there.

Have a great one! 

Storm

 

Not today!

That was some storm last night.

Nobody got enough sleep to mention....huge rains, hour upon hour, thunder, lightning that made the indoors bright as day.

Pure misery. It lasted all night. The weather radar showed green, accented with orange red and yellow over the entire state and beyond. I read that Pennsylvania had a flurry of tornado activity!

This morning the leftover cloud banks over the Adirondacks looked like an extra set of mountain ranges perched over the real deal and ready to rumble.

Today a brisk cool wind is racing over the ground, shuddering the trees and whipping the grasses. Still more clouds are scudding across the sun, fast and furious, and in a hurry to get somewhere though even they don't know where.

I am over that storm, just plumb over it!

Some Gave All

Touch Grass

 

Rita, out there in the deadly grass

...The mantra of random smug strangers on the internet when they are losing an argument to someone who might actually have experienced the topic under discussion. Or to folks who actually know what they are talking about or something offensive like that.

I think it means something like go outdoors and cool off, get in touch with nature, or maybe just cool your jets and chill.

Or maybe even, "You're wrong and I'm right, and nya, nya, nana poo poo."

Not one to comment on anything but friend's posts on social media, it has only been hurled at me once or twice, and in general I just disengage. I don't know them, and they sure as heck don't know me.

As far as going outdoors, I have dogs. Going outdoors is engraved on their souls. Even before Rita came into our hearts just under three weeks ago, Manipulative Mack required at least six walks a day. He preferred eight. I thank the Lord above that in summer he has a lovely, shaded, outdoor kennel run. There is even grass dangling through the wire mesh if he wants to touch...or being a dog...eat some. 

In three of four seasons encountering grass is inevitable each and every time I walk a dog, fill the bird feeders, or go on a daily birding adventure..

I will let you in on a little secret.... I avoid it like the plague. I mean, heck, I don't want to get the plague...

And it's worse when grass touches me.

I walked a local volunteer maintained nature trail last week. The birding was delightful...even heard a Sora calling from the marsh. However the trail is getting overgrown and I had no choice but to be touched...by tall ferns, taller weeds, and yes, emerging grass. They were hip high in some spots.

And therein lies the rub with the whole thing.

Guess what lives in grass...

Ticks!

That's what touching grass gets you!

Ticks!

When I got back to the car there was a Black-legged Tick, more commonly known around here as a deer tick, on my knee. It was as big as a large apple seed, only with eight legs and deadly bitey parts. It hadn't bitten yet, so there's that.

This is the worst year I have ever experienced or heard of for ticks and tick bites. Poor Rita was covered after her adventures before the kind folks at Ayres Shelter, saved her from life on the highway where she was dumped by some "loving" owner. Even Ralph was bitten for the first time in his life. Touching grass, or letting it touch you, is one of the stupidest things you can do this spring. If you have a lawn, keep it short. Stay the heck out of the shrubbery and if some random knight brings you one, whack him with a herring.

Meanwhile, it would probably deliver nearly the same message if they just said, "Smoke grass." And, no I don't do that either, but at least there are no ticks.

Maybe there is justification for the favorite curmudgeonly saying,
"Get offa my lawn!"

Happy Mother's Day, Mama

 I hope Heaven is everything they say it is. Give Dad a hug for me...

Love,

Dotter

Black-crowned Night Heron

 

From Cypress Wetlands, Port Royal, SC

Meeting Spring Halfway

 

A week month ago it felt like anything but spring here. It was cold and grim and not much fun. (not much better now either. What a year!)

The kids decided to take us down to meet it on its long, slow journey north so off we went to the Carolinas, where I fell in love with them all over again. We hopscotched down to SC first, to stay in a cozy, pleasant, well-equipped Airbnb. We were met with delightful weather, a huge backyard with a great deck and a playset for the kids...plus incidentally, almost as if pre-ordained for my personal enjoyment, a next door neighbor with an impressive array of bird feeders and houses, well attended by flocks of everything a northern girl could desire.

On our first day we visited the Yorktown. It was great. I read, or listen to, whole series of WW2 books and now videos as well. Reading about the great ships simply does not prepare you for their scale and functionality. I loved the visit, and I loved that the kids are offering their girls the chance to grow up knowing things I could only imagine until now.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow on the
Yorktown

Ooh, look, a Tri-colored Heron, my first lifer of the trip

We also visited the Viet Nam Experience and got a look at the USS Laffey, which was closed due to gangplank issues.

Next we had a day at Fort Sumpter, bracketed by really cool ferry rides in both directions.

A day on the USS North Carolina, a peaceful walk through Moore's Creek National Battlefield, the site of the last broad sword charge by Scottish Highlanders, and the first significant patriot victory of the Revolution were all exciting and fun.

Moore's Creek was also the site of the first Friers family scavenger hunt, and I am proud to say that I personally found the feathers....finally. lol

Perhaps not surprisingly to regular readers, my favorite day involved first a beach....I do love me a beach...complete with waterside boardwalk and finding tiny sharks' teeth among the grains of sand...and second...a trip through the Cypress Wetlands boardwalk. I have literally been interested in birds since before kindergarten. I can remember being excited about robins on my grandmother's sidewalk before I went to school. In all that time, and including trips to Florida, some of the best birding spots in NY, and wandering all over the West, I have never experienced anything like it.

The boardwalk takes you around small, shaggy islands with so many herons, storks, egrets, and other water and shorebirds, that the branches on the shrubs are bent under their weight. There are stacks of nests, one over the other, already full of sitting birds. Tucked away in a corner among some pines is a rookery of so many Black-crowned Night Herons that I didn't even attempt to count them.

We walked within a couple of feet of a couple of dozen Little Blue Herons quarreling over choice spots to roost or nest. There were alligators! Babies even.

I can't thank the kids enough for this amazing adventure. They go south with their girls quite often and know all the great places to visit and things to do. I took hundreds of photos and am still trying to get them into shareable video form...and maybe some day I will figure it out.

Meanwhile, Amber and Alan; it was the best. Sorry I have been neglecting this blog and storytelling so badly.

And then there was this part....