Fonda Fair

This fair stuff is all well and good but I wanna play with stones

Went over yesterday for a few hours to enjoy Peggy's reaction and get some notes for this week's Farm Side.

There is nothing that compares with an agricultural fair. From the scent of cotton candy and the ring of carnival music to the mooing of the dairy cows and the clucking of the artificial chickens in the poultry barn it has to be experienced to be understood.

Seriously, stop taking my stones!

We had a great time, from eating the first tasty apples of the year that we bought at the Dairy Promotion booth, to talking to some of our dearest friends that we only see once a year.

Di looks like a wild thing, but she is really very sweet

I'm not sure how often I will go back, as I didn't enter anything this year, so I don't have a pass....and I'm lazy.

However, the kids are there with the ponies, Miss Peggy is having a great time, and I'm sure you will too if you stop over.

Have fun!

Look, a stone, Uncle Alan, let me go!

Sixty-Four

Years ago today, my folks tied the knot. They were very young.....just kids really....starting out together in the fast-changing and exciting world after World War Two.

They started a family quickly....me first....and began an epic journey that would take them from here to Scotland and many other bits of Europe, chasing down Montgomery lore and tracing family roots, from Indian village archaeological digs to clan tents at Scottish games, from mineral collecting expeditions in Canada and all over the Northeast to digging gold in the Carolinas just a couple of years ago.

After the memories of birthday parties downstairs where Grandma and Grandpa Montgomery lived when I was tiny....I swear I remember my first one...and homemade French Fries and spaghetti in Grandma's kitchen, as their large family gathered around...came memories of the antique store on Main Street in Fonda.

I always thought of it by its full name...Montgomery's Antiques, bought and sold. They started it when we were just little kids and Dad's collection outgrew their apartment. Then came the book store, Tryon County Books, which was right next door and is still in business.

Then we moved to the farm house just down the road from here, where this city-born country girl got the first taste of rural life.....btw I liked it....I remember having just moved in and discovering Barn Swallows....still one of my favorite birds....and Barn Owls and Bobwhites, in the barn and in the fields....oooh, that was an exciting place.

Dad carved wood well enough to exhibit at national shows, Mom painted wonderful portraits, they made jewelry with handmade settings with stones they collected, cut and polished themselves. It was always fun, but it was always business too...there were livings to be made.

They were always deeply involved in something fascinating, besides running the businesses and Mom having high responsibility jobs for various companies, including one multi-national one.

Along the way they raised us....which is of course, an incredible accomplishment. I won't say there weren't hard times, because of course there were...everyone has them and we had our share.

However, when I look back on growing up in such an interesting atmosphere, I can't help but thank them for teaching us passion and an abiding love of learning. We all have it....they taught us well.

So Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad. Keep up the good work.

Sunday Stills...the Letter T

For more Sunday Stills......

GoAmateur

Tractor and Baler

If you don't GoPro. Alan and I went up to look at the hay field his dad has been cutting and to pace off the distance in some target shooting he had been doing (inch and a half groupings at 330 yards, shooting prone on a hay wagon at gong targets on the hay bale in this story. His new .223 the tool involved.)

Same tractor from the top of the hill, through the gateway using full zoon

Then we went up Seven-County-Hill to take some photos and just look over the valley and the mountains beyond. I have been trying forever to get shots that give an idea of just how high that hill is and how far you can see.

Tractor from the top with no zoom.
Gate is between the two large trees in the center,
one being the hickory tree that Hickory Tree Field,
 to our right here, you can just see the corner of it is named after.
Tractor can be seen through the gate....sorta

It was pretty clear last night, lighting and shadows were good, so you can kinda get the idea from the photos.

And I got the idea to make a GoAmateur video so you can really get a feel for it. The video was shot over Alan's shoulder as we descended the hill on his quad. The blurry parts are because I had to keep my distance glasses on...not enough hands...so I couldn't see at all what I was shooting.

Hang on! That blob in the center of the cut field is a bale of hay...the target holder.

Montezuma...all Birds, no Revenge

We ID'd this as a Caspian Tern.
It was as big as the Herring Gulls it was hanging with

Thursday is one of my favorite days of the week. With writing chores done I can putter at other stuff with no deadlines hanging over my head.


Thus when Alan and I were shooting the breeze in the backyard early yesterday morning and mention was made of the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and he said, "Let's go."

We could.

???

We did.

Great Egret

 Mistakes were made. Two birders. One pair of binoculars. We broke off halfway through and ran to Bass Pro so he could buy himself a pair. He got good ones....which we really wished we had earlier when we were on the ponds in the rain looking at brown ducks and little sandpipers.

It was a great day. One of the best I have ever had birding...ticking off life birds for him like jelly beans in a bowl and a few for me too. It took us a good two hours to drive a quarter mile there were so many to see and hear.

Now comes the fun of sorting the horrible photos we got into species....it was quite dark and rainy in the morning. So many shorebirds were in fall plumage and I am awful at them. Can barely tell a Willet from a whale. Is that a Yellowlegs? Maybe....but which one? I am going to be keeping the Nat Geo and Facebook Bird ID Group busy for a few days I guess.

And of course we saw a nifty little flycatcher, and got a reasonable shot of it, but it wasn't talking. I think it was one of the Traill's splits, but....dang...this is hard.

Anyhow, another great day for the books and a list of 26 IDs so far, with at least four or five others to figure out.

Our chariot awaits at the end of a long walking trail we took

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Liz wanted me to share this because we grew everything but the pan it was cooked in. She was the chef by the way and it was delicious. 

National Dog Day 2015

l to r Gael, Nick, Mike (you can see just how much BCs love cameras)

Mike...he had a tennis ball in his mouth here

Brandy, abandoned at the animal hospital where I worked as a kid
His folks didn't want to pay the bill and didn't want him any more
Their loss, my gain

.....is today, so this seems like the perfect time to make an announcement that I had been holding off on. 

First of all I have been blessed with some pretty cool dogs over the years. There have been many, sometimes five or more at a time, but the real standouts are above, Mike, Nick, Gael, the three collies, and Brandy, a dog I rescued from impending death at the animal hospital where I once worked.

I had a lot of fun with all of them.

Now we are turning in a little different direction. I used to show Smooth Fox Terriers for a well-known kennel when I was younger. Soon Alan is getting me a Jack Russel Terrier. They are kinda, sorta similar.

This will be a big change from the eager-to-please cooperation of the herding breeds, but I had terriers before obviously, and they are pretty cool dogs too. Not particularly obedient, but smart and entertaining.

I think Daisy knows something's up....she's been real clingy lately.

I Wonder

If tiny winged ponies flutter through the morning glories just at dawn and pretend the perfect spiral buds are unicorn horns and dance with them stuck to their little foreheads. 

I dunno, but if I should see them I will tell this little one about it.

Because Helmeted Guinea Fowl on Toast

Just doesn't sound the same.....

Leash Walks

Coyote track I found in the gate between the house yard and the cow yard on one of my butterfly trips
You can't really see how big it is from this photo, but I first went to ask Liz is Ren had been over here before I decided that it was a yote.
And Ren is a big dog. However, around here our coyotes are big dogs too
They once came very close to taking down a good sized pony right in view of the road. Thankfully passersby drove them off.

For Daisy from now on, unless the sun is well up and family activities have started out around the barns and buildings. She is a tough little pup, but at only twelve pounds she would make a nice snack for the critter that left that track. Too bad...she loves to hunt around the buildings.

This little light of mine

Sunday Stills....Going Buggy

For more Sunday Stills......

How can it Be

That we are blessed with so much grace?

Butterflies have always puddled in the road behind the barn...in other places too, but I could always count on finding a dozen or so of the little yellow jobs with pink edges and eyes like tennis balls sipping the ground over there.

However, this year has been insane for butterflies. Great big blue and black ones that I think are Red-spotted Purples dance over the fields. Your usual Cabbage Whites, Skippers, a Great Spangled Frittilary here and there, and many others that I can't name (could anyone suggest a good field guide?) fly everywhere you look.

One day Beck was feeling low and went to the barn and was surrounded by dozens floating all around her....instant cheer on wings.

Last night even the boss remarked on them so we all went over for a look. There were quite a few but it was too dark for photos.

Today Peggy is with her other gramma and things are very quiet here, so I took a walk up behind the barn to see how many had come after last night's rain.

The answer to that question? 

Thousands

I counted over fifty Checkerspots in six feet of road....just one side. The yellow ones were not as thick as some years but there were plenty....plus lots of others.

I don't know how we rate to have so many, but we are sure enjoying them.

***Anyone who knows butterflies, please feel free to chime in with species....