Schoharie Morning

We bird walked Christmas morning  down at Schoharie Crossing boat launch after the fun with Peggy was over. I wanted to play with my new toy...... Leupold binoculars.

 Alan gamed me good, calling me up and telling me how he had finished his shopping, but, oops, he had forgotten me. We'd get something after the holidays.

I was entirely fine with that and told him so. There comes an age when it actually is better to give than receive, and I have gotten there.

Then he walked in the door and handed them to me.

I was thrilled. I still am. I have never owned good optics....they make a world of difference and bring the birds close and clear. We walked along the bed of the river where the water has receded since they opened the dams for winter. It was only a little bit muddy and very interesting.

We saw an unusual perspective of the old Erie Canal aqueduct from the riverbed and then climbed up to the towpath and looked across the top. Amazing structure. it is a shame that so much of it has been destroyed by floods or taken down for safety.

We saw only ordinary birds, Tree and White-throated Sparrows, several kinds of gulls, Chickadees and such, but we sure got a good look at them.

Schoharie Henge

Tomorrow if all goes well, Montezuma, and Sunday the Christmas Bird Count. Alas it is supposed to rain......

Size 11 1/2 earthworm in the parking lot....someone needs to explain to him about winter

Merry Christmas from Northview

To friends and family and all of you who brighten our days in so many ways.......
hope you all have a wonderful day.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

A certain small someone has been introduced to Santa. She has no idea why he might be exciting, but she is excited anyhow. She showed me her Santa dance last night....it was too late and too dark for video but maybe today. 

In the meanwhile, Merry Christmas.

Start your Day

The Jack Russell way. First thing in the morning, dismal, dark, and foggy. Massive dog fight in the center of the kitchen floor.

Teeth! 

Snarling ball of fur!

Swirling, snapping, biting, yapping.

Over a single leaf of Romaine lettuce.

 Mack loves lettuce. He kills it first, then shreds, teds, chops, minces and dices. He could make his own infomercial for late night TV.

Then, when there is lettuce confetti from one end of the floor to the other, he eats every tidbit as if it was steak and gravy.

Daisy has no interest in lettuce whatsoever, being more inclined towards Milk Bones and cheese cubes....

Unless, of course, Mack has the lettuce. Then its allure increases exponentially.

Faster then a speeding camera

Fortunately an old 12-pound dog quarreling with a new, but still possessing only milk teeth, 10-pound dog, does not make for much of a dog fight.

I nudged them apart with my toe and went back to making coffee. 

Four and Twenty

A huge flock of starlings is visiting our woods and the neighbor's woods every couple of days.
I would hesitate to estimate how many, although I keep trying to come up with a rough number. What you see here might be a quarter of them. They are very loud and busy

Farm Toys for Tots

Toys? Did someone say toys? Can I have a toy, can I, can I, can I?

Remember this? 

Here is how it all turned out.

I am awed by the hard work of the young folks who made this all possible and the many donors and elves who contributed and got the goodies where they needed to go.

What a wonderful and positive effort to promote agriculture and to make Christmas special for children in need.

Please try to find time to read the blog at the second link....in fact, here's another link to the story. It will bring tears to your eyes and a smile to your face all at the same time. That's a great feeling, and what the season is all about.

Sunday Stills.....Home

Home is so many things...... The structure itself...we live in a monstrous Victorian that is still full of surprises after all these years.... Like the Easter Eggs in movies and games...you never know what little carving or molded strike plate or such that you might find.

Home is also family of course and ours is busy and close and full of interactions all day, every day.

These guys are important to our home...but sometimes we tend to think of them more as home wreckers

It is also favorite objects, plants, animals, the tangible things that make up our world.

And the land....can't forget about the land.

Then there are the intangibles that make up our spirit lives....home is a huge thing there. I love to be home so much I am nearly a hermit.....I am looking forward to other people's takes on home as well.

Don't Drop 'Em

Note the turkey egg in the right foreground

Hen fruit bruises easily.

As you can see the kids' egg raising operation isn't going too badly. The chicks they brooded this spring are laying well and Liz is selling eggs right and left. We also have as many as we want to eat, which is downright nice. I never much liked eggs, although I do like to make a cheese omelet in spring when the first vegetables come.

However, the other day she fixed Peggy an egg in a way she has...we call them Peggy eggs, oddly enough, and Peg wouldn't eat it so I did. It kinda looked good.

And it was, so she has made me several lately.

Don't these look good too? Liz is selling them very reasonably if you are interested in a dozen.

Alas the dear, sweet tom turkey that I have pictured here several times passed away yesterday. A ^%$$##@% Rhode Island Red rooster squeezed under the turkey pen gate and beat him up very badly a couple of weeks ago.

Liz treated him as best she could but his injuries proved too severe for his delicate turkey system. We were fond of that silly bird. Whenever people walked up to the pen he would fan and strut and chortle with pride, yet he was so gentle you could pet him.

 Peggy loved him too and went in with him all the time, even though he was as tall as she is. She is such an animal lover....you know what they say about apples? Well she is the third generation to fall from that tree..

Sadly I don't see him being replaced by any other bird as sweet as he was, although they have plenty of other turkeys.

And....winter is here.  Lots of snow up by Buffalo. I planted a batch of Dutch iris, alliums and some other things, the name of which I cannot for the life of me remember, but they look like skinny hyacinths, yesterday though. The kids found them in the discount bin and perhaps because it is December they were discounted heavily indeed. But, hey, why not? It isn't any colder right now than many late Octobers have been and I wouldn't hesitate to plant then. And at that price, if they freeze they freeze. 

If they don't they will have to be moved though, as I stuck them in the garlic bed. My flower patch is so full of bulbs that when I planted tulips during the more traditional season I dug up as many as I put in. Don't want to risk that this late in the year.

Anyhow, happy shopping and all that. We are for the most part done...I guess....

However we aren't having much fun, whine, whine, whine, because our boy is stuck out on the road working. And what is a weekend without Alan? A weekday, that's what. And prolly a Monday at that.

Bah humbug. 

The Magic Blanket

The original pink blanket, back when it was still recognizable as such

Like ever so many little ones, Peggy has a blanket, to which she clings as if it was her furry  mother. Should she ever lose her grasp upon it, the world as we know it will end.

It was given to her way back before she was born....at her baby shower...by a loving cousin who somehow knew just what she would like.

It is pink.

Of course it is pink. Little girls love pink dontcha know.

Our floors, alas, are neither pink nor particularly clean. I sweep. I require that boots be left in the kitchen...or maybe the dining room at worst.

I am much ignored

Pink blanket+ our grubby floors= nasty grey blanket that makes you cringe when you see it parading by in Peggy's loving arms.

Liz washed it the thing the other day and the baby actually stood with her arms around the washing machine sobbing. We don't have a drier either, so you can imagine how that went.

Thus we have been looking for a similar blanket since the attachment began.

Finally we found one on Amazon, but it was absurdly expensive, plus shipping and handling. 

We checked every store around here, some of them  more than once. No dice. No blanket either. Then yesterday we were at the local Walmart finishing up some last minute stuff when we checked the baby blanket display..........

And there it was! For less than half what it cost on Amazon.

You should have seen her when we took it out of the bag. It was still all stuck in a folded square the way they do with fancy blankets, but she stroked it and hugged it and ran all over the house with it.....

And then she hugged her grandpas knee and grinned up at him and it was worth all the looking and shopping, and most of the listening to screaming over the old one....... which, at least in theory, can now be washed regularly.....although I think it will never quite make pink again.

Babies-ya gotta love 'em.

Chinese Fire Drill

Yeah, we could have used revolving doors this morning as Alan and Jade left for work around three AM. 

Kinda left me not up for as much puppy walking and fooling as normal days. Oh, well. sleep is for the weak.....and I could....sleep for a week that is. 

Christmas Shopping

I hate it.

Gift cards....I love 'em. Alan and I knocked out half my shopping yesterday in just a couple of hours.

Mades me smile.

And they are easy to wrap too.

I'm working on a Farm Side for Christmas Eve. How did those of you who have, or once had livestock, cope with little kids who can't wait and animals that come first?

We have our own stories of course, like the year that foolish Mrs. Santa left half the presents in the cluttered nightmare of a closet under the stairs and when the kids finally.....after all the cows were fed and milked and bedded and the barn cleaned.....opened their gifts and a lot was missing....but we would love to read yours as well.

Thanks!

Gift of the Mountain

Adirondack Barred Owl

We needed to get out of the house today. Desperately.

All day yesterday was spent processing meat. And I do mean all day.

Thus escape was the order of the day.

It was too gloomy to bother with Montezuma, although we did think about it for a bit. Alas, you can't identify birds well in bad light and the light was pretty awful.

Then we thought, why not the Dacks? A bad day touring the mountains beats many a good day elsewhere.

So off we went, intending to search for Helldiver Pond just in case there might be a moose. Or perhaps to case it for next spring when there probably will be a moose.

Along the way I pointed this guy out to Alan and we spun around to get these photos.

He asked me, "How on earth did you spot him?'

Alan took this one

I could have claimed eagle vision but he would have known that it was a lie. So I admitted that he had been flying in to land when I first saw him and had a pretty impressive wing span for such a small owl.

Helldiver Pond was a bust. Seasonal road closed and gated and another little road that didn't look like it would deal kindly with the Camaro. We didn't dare start a hike, even though it is said to be short and easy, as it was late in the day and it gets dark real early. Plus the weather was pretty iffy. At least we know where it is now.

Coming home past all the Christmas lights was a trip indeed. The tree in front of Richardson Foods in Canjo was outstanding, even in such an amazing field. We both oohed and ahhhed.

We also passed signs commemorating this in the Old Forge area. Being curious I looked it right up as soon as we got home. If you could see the place where it happened you would never imagine there even being train tracks there, let alone a massive two-train derailment that injured two-hundred people and killed three men, plus the animals from a traveling theatrical company. 

We had a good day. Nothing like magnificent mountains to lift you up in both elevation and atmosphere of heart. The Barred Owl was like a Christmas present under the tall dark trees. Alan spotted a second one just a few miles later, but it was gone before we could stop. 

A Nose for Poultry

The kids got a new rooster from a friend the other day. He is a Blue-laced Red Wyandotte. .

This old hen comes up to the bird feeder every day. The green on her black feathers is kinda attractive.

I go down to the heifer barn quite often to see what the birds, lambs, and bunnies are up to. The kids have done a nice job getting it cleaned up and fitted up for winter......

And Sunny is a nice fellow too.....sure is different from the days when we had sixty to eighty heifers down here and a couple of bulls though. I don't think the old barn would stand up to that any more.....

Hanging On

Been battling the books every day, which is why there hasn't been much in the way of posting. Gotta do it. It's a shame to miss this magnificent weather, tucked away in a dank and gloomy office just off the throne room, but it is what it is.

I must get the checks and balances and balance beams and checkered pasts all entered into the computer for next year, when Uncle Sam will be looking for an accounting and the accountant will be looking for data with which to render it.

However, I've decided not to knock myself out trying to get stuff together to apply for welfare subsidized government health insurance. I've been trying to get the job done for a couple of years now, as the fine is painful, but dagnabbit, farm books don't fit into the handy, dandy calculator one bit. How do I separate hay sales out into his and hers and show which of us is responsible for what percentage of the expenses? To heck with it. Let 'em throw me in jail. As long as there is a library I'll be good to go...or stay, as the case may be.

Thus I am light as a feather today. I still have to do books, but I am just going to pay the fine and be done with it. The day will come when I am dumped into Medicare and that will be sooner than it seems. And if there was a light in that blessed office I don't think I would even mind the books that much. Our good bookkeeper has taught me well and it is all pretty much logic. Nothing wrong with logic, although it is a little hard to find on the ground these days.

Oh, and the CMOS battery on the computer I use for books, an ancient, decrepit old Windows XP champ, has STB. Makes for interesting stuff with dates and times.....

Meanwhile, however, we are hanging on and enjoying the long, slow autumn. Sunrises alone are worth their weight in westbound crows and golden banners, and sunsets nearly match them.

The Round Pen

I can't resist fog or the early morning light, so when I saw the crow perched in the heifer pasture tree, nearly hidden by a curtain of the former, yet lit up by the latter, I had to go out.

At the old round pen, I heard odd sounds. A flock of Dark-eyed Juncos scattered like leaves before the wind as I stepped near. I watched and listened for a while, until the sun rose higher and the fog was nearly gone. 

There were so many birds in and around that weed tangled old enclosure, picking at insects on the blackberry canes and leaves, that the sound was as distinct and sharp as the start of a rain after a long, lamented drought.

The Round Pen Now

And then

No honest counting. They were deep in shrubbery, so many that I thought about herring.

It was the same all the way to the pasture, through the good horse yard, and past the old, vacant-because-it-is-too-wet-and-muddy, other horse yard.

There were at least twenty juncos, thirty to fifty gold finches, cardinals, robins, over a dozen chickadees, White-throated Sparrows galore, beaucoup de Tufted Titmousies, and a pair of Carolina Wrens. Woodpeckers. Plus American Crows all over the hill and Canada Geese, heard, but not seen in all the fog.

A hundred birds? Maybe more. It was simply a stunning birdy moment.

I used to use the round pen to start Border Collies on sheep. Alas it has grown up to Box Elder and Blackberry and languishes unloved and undogged.

However, it seems that others are finding it useful in my absence. They are ever so  welcome as long as they keep paying the rent required.

A few songs, a flutter, the musical patter of their feeding on the bugs....that will do just fine.


. 

Chocolate and All

Because, fresh from sleep and all pink and pretty and all, there is nothing like a toddler to sweeten up your day. 

It's Nothing Personal

We don't let much of anyone else hunt here either. There are about six people, including immediate family, who get to pursue the wily whitetail in our fields and woods. They know and respect our rules, our animals, the wildlife, and firearms safety. Plus, we've told you before....several times....

Other than that we just prefer to keep it quiet and as safe as we can out there. We like to walk the farm roads and fool with ponies and let our little one run tame around the buildings with her lambs and birds. Our cows are out there and we are pretty fond of them too.

So, thanks for stopping by to ask, driving right past the posted sign, terrorizing the dog and turning your horse and wagon around on the lawn, but, sorry, no....