Wait for It

Hmmm, what looks good today?

Ants?

Keep an eye on the sky

Aren't I fancy?

WHAM! Catbird photo bomb.
Right in the back of the head.

Well That was Interesting

Corner of Lusso and Borden Roads in the wake of last week's storm

Another big storm. Haven't heard yet about any damage, but everything we had in the yard took a hike, including a heavy stainless steel milk house bucket and the big barrels we use to haul water to the barn.

Started out with warning tones from the National Weather Service interrupting the boss's TV. Didn't sound good atall, atall. "Continuous cloud-to-ground lightning.....seventy-mile-per-hour wind gusts."

When I paused on the stair landing there were still a few stars glimmering in the west but that continuous cloud-to-ground was already flickering against the gathering clouds. 

Not much later both bedroom doors blasted open despite being firmly latched closed. The whistling started and the whining and the lashing rain and booming and blasting of the thunder. I should have gotten out of bed and tried for that elusive lightning shot I have been chasing for so many years, but I was sleepy.....after a while it tapered off and sleep returned, but it was a hummer of a storm.

And now, this morning, we are looking for stuff. 

Last week's big one took down a box elder tree in the barnyard. To our great hilarity all three cows take some time every morning to eat the leaves. Must be something there they want or need because it is just about bare now.

Anyhow, these photos are of the end of the road that runs behind us, Lusso Road, and Borden Road. I don't know where the water came from, but it sure cut a heck of a channel. It is no wonder the roads were all closed in that area. 

Dunno about you, but I am ready for some warm, dry weather for making hay and drying laundry. That is all.

Catbird Lessons

Or, I should have figured this out a long time ago.

Although I make as much of our jam and jelly as I can, time and questionable crops often leave us buying some at the grocery store.

And it ALWAYS ends up getting tossed. We will enjoy some delicious toast or ice cream with some kind of exotic jelly, then forget it is in the fridge, and voila, mold.

Then last summer the boss bought me a gigantic jar of grape jelly for the catbirds and orioles.

So big that most of it was still left at the end of summer. I stuck it in the freezer for this year. When I started to feed it I discovered that it was easily spooned even when frozen, so I just left it in the freezer. When it was gone I bought a new jar and did the same.

Now everybody is using my catbird food on their toast! (We ran out of homemade strawberry.)

But, lesson learned. From now on when we buy jelly at the store it is going into the freezer so we will get to enjoy it much longer. 

I feel kind of foolish considering that I do about ten batches of strawberry freezer jam every year and eat that right out of the freezer sometimes...oh, well, live and learn.

Just Another

Day in Paradise. The soft chuckling of a sleepy hen. Strident peeping from not one, but two, cowbird chicks tormenting their song sparrow foster mom. 

The scent of something minty out on the lawn where Jade is mowing. Finally it is not raining so he can.

Deep, rich, black, garden earth, crumbling underfoot. Two rows of beans failed...old seed I guess...so there is replanting in the sweet, sweet sun, listening to singing from gold finches and the Carolina wren and the distant clamor of the crows. For the wrens a second nesting maybe...they have been on the porch, but they spend a lot of time over at the cow barn too.

The air is redolent, ripe, and drowsy with the heavy scent of wild, white roses. All the rest of the year they are a hated pest, spoken of in the same voice as skunks and slugs...but in June, ah, sweet, strawberry June, they are the most wonderful thing around.

The sun is up before we are and hangs just below the silvered horizon at bed time. It is tame as a kitten in June, warm, friendly, close enough for comfort.

Nights are open-window brisk, air as clean as mountain water, and as clear and sweetly savored.

 Not for nothing is June my favorite month, but rather for everything.
  

Bird Wing

She smells of soft and feathery things

Her mother's love and angel wings.

Her call is like the catbird's cry

Her mama runs and so do I

Whenever we hear that plaintive song 

as it

Rings through Northview's sunny halls.......

The call of the wild granddaughter


Early, late, and often

New Kid in Town

The new guy

Beef calves, powered by Moon

Cinnamon, "You talkin' to me?"

Alan added the little guy above to the beef side of the operation this weekend. He bought him from his fiance's family. He is a vigorous little fellow and is already drinking his bottle from a bottle rack.

To Our Fathers, Our Teachers, Happy Father's Day

To my own dad, who led me to the wide world, and showed me amazement, from starting my interest in birding when I was just a little kid, to getting me going on nature and camping and history, books, and art, music, and all that this wonderful world has to offer. If you notice that I notice the wonder....it is because Dad noticed when I was little, and always wanted to learn...... So much of who I am grew from the roots from which life sprang.

Thanks Dad, for teaching me see what a spectacular sphere we spin upon. Hope you have a wonderful day!

Love you!



And to my husband who taught me purebred cows....I knew a little when we met, but he built the foundation of understanding pedigrees, type, production, and the beauty of the right cow, the good calf, and the feet and legs and udders and ribs, and all the other parts that make them up. Incidentally along the way he taught me to drive tractors, pull the forage chopper...and rake, and ted, and unload and store hay, and much....most....of what I know about what it takes to be a farmer.

Hope your day is all you could wish it to be....love you too. 

Oh, and happy anniversary....I am not going to ever forget a certain small wedding 29 years ago....just two best friends beside us and tears of wonder at the joy....We have come so far since that distant, fondly remembered, day. I hope the journey can continue. Never a dull moment in all those decades......

And to the new dad under our roof, having his first Father's Day today....you must be doing something right because that beautiful baby girl sure gets mad when you have to work late. Happy first Father's Day, Jade. Have a good one and many, many more to come. 

And to all you dads out there, who are there for your kids from birth through youth, the difficult teenage years, and whenever you are needed, knowing you are loved, even as grandpas with grandbabies bouncing on your knees. Changing tires, offering advice, giving rescue, and succor, and love, and the solid strength of good men to your families all their lives. Where would we be without you?

Good job, good fathers, this is your day.

Babies Everywhere

Saw a beautiful new baby boy on Facebook just now, not even two hours old. The tears came quickly to my eyes. His mama and our Peggy's mama, our beloved middle girl, our dear sweet boy, plus a waxing and waning bunch of assorted neighborhood kids, used to play in our backyard down in town.

There were little tow heads and smiling red heads and kids with brown hair and black. Tall ones, short ones, older ones, funny ones. This new boy's mama was one of the closest, Liz's best friend for years and years.

They played in the sandbox, helped in the garden, socialized border collie puppies, ran in and out the back door all day long, and stopped in for a story sometimes when they were littler. There were dolls, and trucks, thundering herds of plastic horses, homemade wooden barns and stables.......and tanks and soldiers, a kiddie pool and Legos, all the stuff of kidhood scattered here and there. We tripped over it and picked it up a thousand times and complained and complained, but we wouldn't have missed it for the world.

There were fights. There were friendships formed.....some that will probably last their lifetimes. New kids moved in, others moved away and were missed. 

Then we moved up here to the farm and everybody grew up and we don't see them so much any more.

Now the babies are coming.

And they all touch my heart...all over again....Congratulations Lina....

Sound of the Storm

Amish farm just between the storms

Below is a little video I took last night of the tiny stream between the house and barn. Normally this is barely deep enough for the cows to get their noses down for a drink. This was taken a couple of hours after the first really bad round of rain had passed, so it was probably much higher a little earlier. Turn your sound up if you would like to hear it.

However, I have a deep and abiding love for the camera and don't take it out in that kind of weather. Plus it probably wasn't all that safe up on the bridge then. It has calmed down considerable since then....butter wouldn't melt in its mouth so to speak. 

I hope this is over, but the strong warmth of the sun on this really chilly, wet morning, are making me think otherwise. 

The kids are at the event below with Diamond, if you want to stop by and visit....and with Peggy Ann too!


Click image for details.

Flood Warnings

Not a creek...our barnyard, down which rocks were merrily rolling even an hour after the storms

Our normally tiny creek. Sorry for the poor focus. no light

Truck 'o' water

More flooded roads

One of a dozen bank filled creeks we passed. This is normally a tiny rivulet

All around us. And closed roads. The kids went to pick up a horse trailer for an event they are attending with the pony tomorrow and they couldn't get there from here.....for a while at least. I just read that some places are being evacuated locally because more rain is expected. 

Horses

Magnum, later in his life. I got him when I was 21

When I think about horses, Magnum, who was with me from the time he was two until he died at 31, comes to mind... I rode both his sire and dam before him, as they belonged to good friends. Back in those days I would do about anything for an hour on horseback.

He was a 14-2 hand Morgan-type black gelding that did pretty much whatever I wanted him to. ...reluctantly, stubbornly, but with a certain style when he finally got around to it. 

He would trail ride anywhere...just ask Joe...do flying changes and had a handsome extended trot. He didn't fear much....he might pretend to be afraid, but he really wasn't....just looking for an excuse. I once got lost and had to take him between a building and a running, loaded, crushed stone conveyor, close enough together that his ribs almost touched both sides. He never flinched, just hung his head over my shoulder and soldiered on.  I discovered the other day that a certain son of mine even shot off him...apparently fairly often. The things your kids don't tell you until later....

You only ever have one first horse, and you never forget them.

Richard, training the girls

And then there was Deranged Richard, a nifty little chestnut driving pony, that well and truly lived up to his name. He was responsible for my first blue ribbon and many embarrassing times. He was given to me because you could only get one good class out of him a year, before he remembered that if he went over to the out gate and stood there and refused to move, he was pretty much done for the day. Rude little runt.

He taught me a lot. Also taught the kids that you really should jump off before the pony runs through the barbed wire fence. And to duck when approaching low-hanging branches.

 He lived to be 32 or 33 and is buried here on the farm, as is Magnum. They had a love/hate relationship that was pretty funny. If together, they would turn rumps and squeal, but they hated to be apart and carried on like fools. They died within a couple weeks of each other....When Richard went, Magnum just gave up and quit. That was a pretty crappy year.

And then there was Major Moves, a bigger, bay, driving pony, who did good things for me and better things for the people who bought him from me. I will never forget driving him as a young horse, over all the fields and farm roads, butterflies dancing all around us, flowers brushing the sides of the cart, and my brother's dog running alongside. Fun times, fulfilling a dream of what driving could be.

They were the good ones. 

However, I was talking with a horse friend and realized that between, around, and among those three equine cornerstones, I've owned a larger number of horses than I ever thought about.

And a lot of them, for some reason, were Appaloosas, a breed of which I am not fond. To put it mildly. Runaways, rearing fools, barn sour, buddy sour, I managed to buy them all, some with lotsa spots, some not so many, some with none..but all nuts in one way or another.

Sunny

So far in thinking back, I am up to 11 horses or ponies of my own, plus the boss had a pair of Belgians and the kids have always had, and still have horses. If you count Ralph's Belgians and the kids' horses, it adds up to 18. Or so.

One of these only belonged to me for a couple of weeks and I can't remember his name. He was an utter jerk of a Standardbred that tried to stomp me shortly after I bought him...so we parted ways quite quickly.

Diamond

Right now there are three on the place, Diamond, Sunny and Jack....but back in the day I had them five at a time, and didn't like cows. Who knew that one day I would be as cow crazy as an old fart as I was horse crazy as a kid?

Jack

Meh

While far too much of the country is so dry a potato chip would be worried about ruining its complexion, we are wet, wet, wet. Too wet to even weed the garden.

Too wet to do anything worth mentioning or writing about.

Unless doing the dishes counts.

Meh.

What are you doing to get through the soggy days?

Faster than a Speeding Bullet

Grazing in the rain...just after dawn

Life is taking lessons from Superman around here, changing so fast we feel like we are spinning in circles, trying to catch a glimpse of our world as it flashes by. Looks like the boss will be taking an off-farm job for the first time since he was a kid, except for auctioneering of course...just for a few days, for a good friend...but a huge change.

If all things work out we will be getting a new calf probably this weekend. Haven't heard from Al yet about the details, but I guess he is buying one for the new beef operation.

Speaking of beef, you should see those little bulls and steers go for the new-made hay. Heifers too. Even the old cows go nuts for it and they have all the grass they can eat, all night and all day, out in the pasture.

Meanwhile, we are still planting garden. Got to replant two rows of beans after I get over to Sunnycrest for some new seed. I always grow a Dutch bean, Slankette, or Slenderette, depending on who's selling it. Must be my seed got old, because not a single one germinated. And then it's on to squash and kohlrabi and radishes and, and and...

 Most days I pot up an herb seedling or two for the next poultry and small stock swap.

But it's raining again today. Have a good one. 

Just Family Stuff

Four generations, Montgomery, Friers, Schultz and Shultz

Between hay we visited Mom and Dad yesterday.

And got some photos. Peggy is teething and was not in a particularly good mood.

Great Grandpa of the Peggy person

Hay

Black locust trees in bloom

Some nice bales made this weekend, with help from most everybody. It is so soft that I carried a bale, while wearing shorts, and didn't tear up my legs. Sure smells good.

Brown Thrasher. I accidentally pished out a pair
while chasing warblers and they weren't happy with me much.

A bale fell out the mow door and the two cows and Cinnamon went nuts. Mind you they spend all day and night on grass that used to feed fifty head...and then they come in and go crazy over baled hay.

You should have seen the calves. Most of them are too young to have ever tasted freshly baled, early, first cutting before. As soon as I started feeding out a bale they were practically jumping out of their stalls. And yet they had enough haylage left from morning to probably last another day. The hay smelled just that good.

Squashed beetle....Six-spotted Tiger Beetle, I think

Very nice....I don't think there is a farmer alive that doesn't love feeding animals, and then watching them eat. And we have more to feed them this morning.

Serendipity and a Great Showman

Liz 'n' Jade's horse, Sunny, who now lives here

We used to hit every fair we could drive to between milkings. When Liz was a baby we happened to be at the Morris Fair when legendary horseman, Dick Sparrow, stopped and put on an amazing show with an 8-horse hitch of Belgians.

It was a day to remember. From flying at a fast gallop, up and down the narrow race track, to docking the wagon, he did everything you could imagine doing with a pair and then some, only he had eight. Too bad Liz is too little to remember and digital photography wasn't available, so we have no pictures. Here is a video though.

Sunday Stills...In the Air

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

This challenge was a lot of fun, and took me all week. There were bubbles discussed and I went so far as to purchase some bubble stuff, but we were just too busy to play with them.

Male Bobolink,
member of a mating frenzy for the record books...
maybe fifty pairs in one field

However, the birds were busy in the air all week and I did capture a couple of them.

Red-winged Blackbird upset about my presence in our hay field

For more Sunday Stills....

Two male Bobolinks fighting over a female.
There were as many as five for each one.