Portents

The mystery sparrow

Spent a lot of time outdoors yesterday. It was just too nice not to. 

Dark-eyed Junco

The sun dogs flickered on and off, not too strong, not so bright, so maybe they didn't have much to say about the future.

Pine Siskin

But the Pine Siskins on the feeder? The flock of a dozen of them mixed with winter sparrows and house finches? 

Now that may have meaning, although I surely hope not.

And then there were the oddly marked Woolly Bears. One had a little black on its butt, a reasonable amount of it on the front, and the widest orange band we had ever seen. What's up with that?

House Finch

Went out to watch that rocket launch last night, only to find after I stood outside for a good long while, watching a distant plane, that it had been scrubbed.

Of course it was. The sky was clear here for a change for a nighttime sky event. Normally, all eclipses, comets, meteor showers and launches that are visible on the East Coast are obscured by clouds.....and here is our Tuesday night forecast: 

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 56F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

Oh, well, we should be used to it by now. 

If the little sparrow I caught, sitting in the Mt. Ash tree is a Swamp Sparrow, which I believe it is, I picked up two year birds for the farm count in one day. Also got news that our Christmas Bird Count, unless something changes, will be after Christmas rather than before. If you have ever tried to cover a territory that takes in malls and shopping centers the weekend before the holiday, while driving slowly scanning for birds, you will understand why this was great news.

Is this a portent of a good winter's birding? One can only hope.

Jupiter and Venus

 Baby mergansers driven up on shore and held there by a mama loon guarding her chick

"Blaze strikingly in the dawn this week..." man, oh, man, that is no lie. I got up at 4 to finish up the Farm Side while it is reasonably quiet and there they were. Venus is so bright that it looks unnatural-like a glowing orb the size of a softball out there over the old pasture with Jupiter right beside it, smaller but still absurdly bright. Wow, what a treat-worth getting up for all by themselves. 


It is nice to hear our resident green frog croaking up a storm out in the water garden too..and it is blessedly cool and brisk for a change.


Guess I'd better get to work. Have a good one.

Sunday Stills....Clouds

For more Sunday Stills......

Such a Starry Night

Another calving last night around nine-thirty. Booth had a heifer calf by Leadfield Columbus. It was one of those times when things went south fast. It was a good thing we knew what she was up to and Becky went over and checked after supper. 


The calf wasn't too big, no difficult presentation, but delivery slowed down right after the head was born and the baby inhaled some amniotic fluid. We laid her over a bale to drain her lungs and worked hard at stimulating her to breathe.


 Mama worked hard too, licking her and nudging her.


I thought she was a goner, but then she took a couple of gasping breaths and shook her head, always a welcome sign. We went through a lot of paper towels cleaning out her mouth and nose and a lot of hay rubbing her ribs and ears and head, but by the time we left the barn she was trying to stand up.


Booth was gobbling hay as fast as she could stuff it into her mouth and licking the baby in between bites. Hopefully they will both come through all right.


On the way back from the barn we stopped to admire the stars and planets. With Mars, Jupiter and Venus all showing their stuff each night it is quite a show. The latter two are so bright they are like a big neon sign in the sky.....I don't know what they are selling, but I had a glass of wine when we got it.....seemed well earned somehow.

Skies

The view from the porch

During this year long adventure in Hell weather, or really, even longer than that, one constant has been the drama of the skies.

Poplar tree or Ferris wheel?

Crazy clouds, wild winds whipping them around, rainbows, sun dogs, you name it, we look up a lot. These occurred last Friday in between sets of soggy storms. It looked a lot like this back on the tornado day, but I didn't get good pics then.

I'm not sure if you can see it but this little rainbow was caused by the sun shining through a gap in the clouds.

Eerie

What am I?

Strange sky this morning. Despite thick clouds the moon was so bright that everything kind of glowed. Then, where the sun was coming up, little slits in the clouds let in thready rays of spooky, white light.

It was as if the sky was torn and leaking.

Sort of Martian.

At least it isn't raining yet. The dog barometer was dry when he came in, always a good sign. And Simon, AKA Seismo, the seismological cat, (due to his twenty-poundage and thunderhooves) flung himself in through the door for a dish of cat food, then flounced back out after he ate, with all his many furry, fat, belly folds flopping. Guess he has solved the problem of winter care and feeding for us.

If you know what the "who am I" bird is, please let me know. There are so many exotic LBBs around this fall that it is driving me crazy! There were several of these flitting around the roof eating something...probably spiders or box elder bugs. They are so fast that even though I took several pics, this is the best I could do. Help with ID would be much appreciated. I know it looks a bit house finch-ish, but I am pretty sure that it is not.

Sunday Stills...in the Sky

Thunder sneaking up on us

See the bunny?

Front porch

This was a surprisingly hard one, just because of the rainy weather all week.

For more Sunday Stills.....

Yesterday it was Sunny

And I took a couple of pictures of the morning. Today the normal rainy chill of April is back, but we sure liked summer while it lasted. I tried to tell folks not to take the windows out of the barn last night, even though it was a bit hot in there...they are going to be plumb chilly this morning I'm afraid....

Full Moon

Last night.

Strange clouds lined up from North to South

All the way across the sky

Like the backbones of sketchy fish

Laid out row on row

Across the sliding moon

Mackerel Sky

Not long wet......not long dry....

Strange Sky

Sunday Stills....Silhouettes

Did we have fun with this one?
Oh, yes, we really did.
At first I thought I might not even try....so busy this time of year. Then once we got started I had such a great time that we ended up with a lot of them.
For more Sunday Stills, go here.

Send this rain south

Or anywhere they can use it.









What we need are more days like these .

Even though the fair is in full swing

The sun still rises

Summer skies

Last night the sky was actually this strange red.
I have never seen it this color before.
I didn't think the camera would catch it, but it did.

We are suddenly having a little spell of favorable weather. I saw more hay being rolled up and baled today while Beck and I were driving over to Cobleskill than I have seen so far all summer. I waved to all the farmers dragging rakes and balers and wagons around their fields because I wished them well with all my heart. This has been a horrible summer weatherwise and some clear skies and dry air are long over due. I felt like cheering them all on, especially the elder fellow with the brilliant red umbrella shading him as he tooled along raking up some nice first cutting. He waved back and grinned from ear to ear.

Last night

Anyhow, last night and this morning I took still more sky pictures. I'm sorry but I just can't resist the sky.

Sunrise today

A very strange storm

Last night the boss, Becky and I finished up milking and chores so Liz and Alan could go over to Altamont Fair. We started early so we were in the house by 7:30, which was nice for a change. However, the weirdest thunderstorm was making up just as we finished. It was so strange that I took 51 pictures of it and of how things inside looked in the bizarre yellow light, before it became too dark to take any more.

The sky was an intense yellow color

The crows were getting out of here

The kids enjoyed the fair although cattle entries are down this year over 70 head. I am sure the economy is to blame. Showing is expensive so it is one of the first things cut when farmers are hurting (our cows aren't there for the first time in 11 years.) They brought me home bread pudding from the grange booth, with which I am about to break my fast for today....


The fair has put in a new birthing center where calves are born each day and I guess that is a big hit. If I get a chance to go over it will give me something interesting to write about for the Farm Side this week. (Special thanks to a certain family member who bought us a state fair pass for Christmas so we can go to fairs at all.)


They had quite an adventure on the way home. They both spotted an odd reflectiveness in the road in directly front of them. Alan thought it was a guard rail, but it was in the wrong place. Before he could react, Liz hollered at him to stop and he stood that little blue pick up right on its nose. Believe it or not the thing in the road was a fire truck turning in to someone's driveway! Thank God for reflective paint on the sides or they would never have seen it at all until they plowed right into it. The night was foggy but it appeared to be driving without any lights at all. I wonder what was going on. I'll bet if the tax payers over that way knew someone was driving their fire trucks around in the fog at 10:30 at night with no light they would wonder too.




Anyhow, here are some pics of the storm. I don't think I have ever seen yellow light like this. Every single tree and flower had an eerie glow, but it was pretty in an uncomfortable sort of way. When the wind got up I was watching the bottoms of the clouds I can tell you....and lightning struck so close that although it was blocked from my view by the house, the ground lit up even in broad daylight.

Off to the south


Looking north while the storm was building in the west