The Spanking Machine

A long, long time ago, when we lived in the house down in town, we enjoyed a nifty little workbench in the cellar. It was a big favorite of mine and I outfitted it with lots of tools and screws and nails and....stuff.

One fall the boss and I started some projects down there. They involved careful design and much effort in the building. Of course our eager offspring wanted to come down in the cellar to help....or at least to see what was up.

........there was an important holiday coming up......

So we told them that we were building a spanking machine.....

They drove us nuts all winter, but whenever we had a few minutes we sneaked down there to work on our projects....we even made little hay and straw bales out of sections of 2X4 painted green or yellow with pinkish orange strings. 

Come Christmas the girls got homemade barns for their toy horses and Alan got a machine shop for his tractors.

At one point Liz donated her original one to Mom's Morning Out nursery school, which the kids had attended. She and her dad built a new one to replace it...this one....which now is a favorite of another little girl.Liz just brought it downstairs for her today. The original barns were painted a bit more formally, but Liz did this one herself and she was just a little girl.

Peggy doesn't care.

Stink Eye

After our boy left for the Keystone State on Sunday, the boss took me birding. He likes to drive around the countryside and I like to stare at bodies of water looking for fowl, so a good time was had by all.

We tried the pond on Goldman Road, but there was nothing to see other than a couple of setting geese on muskrat houses and a muskrat hustling across the road where the beaver excluder excluded him too.

There IS a Great Blue Heron in this photo

We saw some harriers along the way, a few kestrels, but nothing very interesting until we hit Bowmaker Pond. The place was fairly boiling there. A single swallow, looked like a Northern Rough Winged, lots of Canada Geese, at least 22 Common Mergansers squabbling up a storm, a single Great Blue Heron, and a pair of Wood Ducks that whistled in and settled obligingly against the cattails.

It was fun. I spent a lot of time wandering around the little meadow near the water peering at this and that and taking pictures. Suddenly I felt someone watching....

And there, just a few yards from my feet, was a goose, giving me the stink eye and just daring me to come closer.

I didn't. 

But you can count on geese.....

One

Two

Three.......see what I mean?

National Siblings Day

My brothers are special men, capable of many things. From making music, to making buildings stand up, to raising wonderful families, they have done much with their lives and still are......They have been good to me and for me all their lives. Happy day guys....this one's for you. 

Easter on the Peggy Channel

Where else would the bunny hide the basket?

Mama, check this out!

The perfect farm kid Easter basket and in her favorite color too!

One Dollah Bid...what the farm wife does while the farmer is at the auction

Song Sparrow

Deuce and a half of Red-tailed Hawks, quartet Turkey Vultures.

Brace 'o Blue Jays, pair of Bluebirds, Robins robbin' fruit-macs

One Red-winged Blackbird, nope, there's two,

No today's turkeys...that snow is all gone

A six pack of Turkeys and a dozen or so crows.

One big gull, way up eagle-high. Was it a Great Black Backed? Maybe

Or not.

A dozen dozen Goldfinches, a couple of Pine Siskins.

Red-bellied

Downy

Hairy......you know whats.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Carolina Wren

House Sparrows, Grackles, Starlings, Mourning Doves, Kestrel for a year bird, Song Sparrows, Tree Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Juncos, and a big fat woodchuck hustling for his burrow.

Bunny, bunny, four fat deer.

'Yote tracks, deer tracks, turkey tracks and mine.

Spring has come to the 30-Acre Lot and by golly so have I.

And though the lilacs appear to be toast and the daffadowndillies are nothing but compost, Pseudacris Crucifer has made it through.....
Peeeeeepppp.....peeeeeppp.....peeeeepppppp.....

*** I have to look that name up every single time. Why did they change it from Hyla Crucifer, which I could never forget? Same reason they took Richmondena away from the cardinal I guess, and gave him two last names. 

If you turn up your sound and play the video below you can get an idea of the number of American Goldfinches living here this year. This isn't even all of them as there were many down by the barn and by the house. 

Date Nights of the Old and Boring

Well, really, it wasn't boring, and we learned a lot.We are pretty old though....

 Last night the boss and I attended a citizen preparedness meeting up at the school. It was sponsored by our local state legislators and presented by the National Guard.

We may think we know how to be ready in a disaster....... I heard someone talking behind us....."Construction workers and farmers are more prepared than the entire community...." In some ways that it is probably true. As the man said, people who work outdoors in real and unpredictable situations learn to cope with them. However, there is always room for more information.

I read everything I can get my hands on about prepping, getting ready for emergencies, and all that, but reading isn't everything.

First of all, you have to actually do some of the things suggested. Thinking about doing them won't help...and that is my problem. My middle name isn't procrastinate, but it surely could be.

Then there is the new stuff that you didn't know that might turn out to save a life someday. Like turning off utilities...a good "how to" and information on necessary tools needed were offered last night. The guys know...me, not so much....except for circuit breakers. I have flipped those switches quite often over in the barn. We learned about fire extinguishers too.

We got to hear how well those sanitizing drinking straws work from someone...a National Guards woman...who actually uses one regularly. She said she has sometimes had to drink from mud puddles and has never gotten sick.

We learned that if you put a tourniquet on someone you must write a "T" on their forehead so responders can act accordingly. We learned about ten-year smoke detector batteries, and making provisions for pets in emergencies...hint...they should have their own "go kit" with vaccination paperwork and more. 

Righty Tighty Lefty Loosey was mentioned. I knew that one and use it often, but it never hurts to be reminded.

We learned that some of the most basic things you might need are a whistle, a phone, and matches. I carry all of those all the time, plus a Swiss Army knife.....I have read To Build a Fire too many times. The whistle is a shepherd's whistle left over from Border Collie days, but it is good and loud.

You can sign up for all kinds of emergency alerts on your phone at NY Alert. Areas for alerts can be adjusted to suit your region or even your travels. We heard an anecdote from one of the presenters about how such a warning certainly saved lives when he was running an adventure camp for kids. He received a high wind warning on his phone, a mere 15 minutes ahead of severe weather. Had he not been able to rush those kids to a safe place deaths would probably have occurred, as the area where they had been was devastated. Instead no one was injured. 

If you get an opportunity to attend one of these classes, I highly recommend it.

Here are links to some of the information:

Prepare NY

Montgomery County Emergency Management

NY ALERT

Snow

These guys will be Fine

But they don't look too happy. We have had a lot of robins all winter, eating the leftover fruits and flying around all bright and beautiful. Although many people don't notice them, it is not uncommon for robins to winter in the north.

 It is interesting to me how many birds use the house structure to soak up sunlight and get warm. I hope the wind doesn't come up today......

Will he make it?

A poor little Eastern Phoebe is sitting on the black rocking chair on the sitting porch. He does not look too great in this terrible cold weather and the insects he eats are surely unavailable. I sure hope it warms up this afternoon.

Janu-April

Winter is here. I saw a photo of a truck dashboard belonging to a farmer just to the south of us this morning that read minus one degree. It's 11 here now. The trees are rimed with frost and ice and it is freezing cold here in the kitchen, despite the stove cranking for all it's worth. 

It is 37 degrees in Anchorage, Alaska this morning. Minus 1 in Upstate NY.

There is something wrong with this picture.....Daisy wants her spring weather back.

The Plus Side

I tell people that I leave the window over the kitchen sink dirty to prevent window strikes.
That is, at least in part, a lie.
I just don't do windows.

There are at least sixty goldfinches on the two tray feeders that Linda sent me or on the ground or little honey locusts around them. I know because I counted, one bird, two bird, three bird, four..... There are no doubt a good many more than that as well, as you surely can't see all of them from the windows.

They are very spooky, whether because of the wind or an accipiter being around I don't know, but they swirl like yellow snowflakes every few minutes. I put extra seed out this morning because of the weather, but it looks as if I will be doing a refill pretty soon.

We had a flock of three-hundred or so up in the old cow pasture all through the cold season. I wonder if this is part of that flock, driven to the feeders on the breath of winter that is wafting away our little bit of spring.

There are also Common Grackles, Downy Woodpeckers, Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, a smattering of House Sparrows, Mourning Doves, and our good buddy, the Red-bellied Woodpecker, who never fails to amuse with his startled expression when he peers in through the kitchen window at me.

They all seem desperately hungry and very nervous.

Apologies

Taken from the landing on the front hall stairway

This is all my fault. See, fool that I am, I washed my down work vest and my fleece go-out-in-public vest and put them away.I should have known better.

So now, the irises that were coming up under the bird feeders are looking kinda black and squishy. Ditto pretty much everything else that was shooting for spring. The dogs came in from their morning constitutional both the same color.....Mack is always mostly white, but Daisy not so much. Ick.

Birding here is rarely dull.....these guys, about a dozen of them,
stop by whenever they get wet to dry out on this dead elm tree.....

There is little to be said except bah humbug and I will say it early and often.

We took a drive in it yesterday....well, actually, when we left home it was cold, but clear and sunny....out to Bass Pro in Utica. Not too many miles to our west we drove into a truly nasty squall. The car was completely coated with slush and ice when we stopped. There were some horrible accidents around, especially that huge pileup down on I 88.

Once there we discovered that fish tank is down for maintenance, which was a bit disappointing, but then Alan bought me a Crossman BB/pellet CO2 pistol, which is very cool. Consider me armed if not too terribly dangerous. 

We took it out to shoot enough so I would be familiar with it, after we got home, but before the storm reached us here. It makes a very satisfactory bang when shot and will no doubt deliver a nasty sting to anything that wants to give us trouble when we are out walking. 

 Beck took Mack out walking Saturday and as soon as they reached the spring where I saw all the coyote tracks last week, he came right to her feet and would not go even an inch away from her. He is usually very bold, but his little tail was tucked right down. Thus the armament.

There is no choice but to either crawl under the heifer pasture fence or walk through there if you want to get out on the hills....and we often do....so we have to pass that way.

Another squall hit here just as the boss and Alan and I went out to split some firewood. We had big plans, but it was snowing so hard my glasses were soon completely covered with snow and I was plastered with a coating of icy pellet stuff so thick it cracked when I bent over to pick up a block. We called it a day after only splitting one skid steer bucket full. No doubt better days are coming...and that much wood will last a little bit. Anyhow, Alan was supposed to have today and tomorrow off, a phenomenon to which we were looking forward quite eagerly, but late yesterday he was called back to work.

To which I repeat bah humbug and heartily too. We so enjoy having him home, but he has a living to make....I guess.

Anyhow, I apologize for bringing this weather down upon us. I should know better than to start putting winter clothes away before June at least. 

Props to McDonald's for using real dairy .
I took this at our local one where we grabbed coffee and food yesterday

Big News for Northview

Yakushima Rain Duck, after deployment and subsequent molt

It is not terribly well-known, but Yakushima Island is one of the rainiest places in the world. It is said that it rains there "35 days a month."

Even less well-known is the reason for all that precipitation. However, thanks to negotiations that have been ongoing over the last 36 months, we are going to be in on the ground floor so to speak, of the special feature that makes the little island so damp. We will be selling these rain-making capabilities through a franchise to drought stricken areas all over the world. Under the auspices of No More Sahara.com, we will be sending little rain-producing rockets wherever they are needed.

That's right! We are getting......

Yakushima Rain Ducks! 

Yup. We had to jump through hoops you couldn't imagine, from background checks to year-long humidity monitors in all our buildings, including the house, (in case sick ducklings need to be brought indoors for extra nursing). There have been scientists here nearly every day since we sold the cows.

You know how it's rained so much here over the past few years? I wasn't allowed to tell you about it, but the company was testing flights of ducklings, to make sure this was the right kind of location for them. Habitat is everything, you see. One worry I have had is escapees. It is hard enough to make hay here now.....guess we had better keep the pens real tight.

Anyhow, we were finally awarded a franchise. Right now there are only five in the world! It isn't going to be easy.

You see, for their entire lives, right up until they are deployed, the ducklings must be kept damp. Dry air triggers them. I can't reveal the exact percentage of moisture in their proper environment due to non-disclosure agreements we were required to sign, but as long as they are appropriately soggy, they will not deploy their special rain-making capabilities. However, let them dry out, even for a few minutes, and look out. They are very fast fliers too, and can fly within three weeks after hatching. They must be brooded, either under mother ducks, which must be allowed to swim in special, sterile water, at least 30 times per day (have you ever tried to keep water clean around ducks, let alone sterile?) in order to keep their feathers properly dampened........

...Or else they are hatched in special sponge-walled incubators, and brooded in imported terry-cloth lined bread boxes, with special wicking technology that keeps them just wet enough, while warming them to the correct temperature with hot water bottles, which must be refilled every hour, around the clock.

On their native island the ducks are raised in buildings that look a lot like greenhouses, with special green glass walls that protect them from excess sunlight (don't want them drying out) and keep them from flying too much as they fledge. The little white ducks ability to fly so fast and so early is part of what makes them so valuable.

Here at Northview, we will not be allowed to keep mother or father ducks. No More Sahara is afraid of losing control of the breeding stock.....remember Noah? Yeah, he had two of them and look what happened. Thus the kids have been setting up racks of the brooders and incubators, and sterile pens (with very tight roofs) for the ducklings after they are fledged. You see, the secret to their ability to cause it to rain, is their feathers.

Each duck has myriad curly feathers, covered with tiny comb-like cilia, which agitate the air when they fly, producing rain droplets 86.7% of the time. Two ducks flying over your house will result in a short shower, just enough to lay the dust. Two-hundred ducks will produce an all-day, all-night, steady rain, which is perfect for crop needs, or to help in postponing unpleasant social gatherings. When a couple of thousand escaped from a Chinese duckery back in 2004 the resulting monsoon was no joke.

Right now, the ducks, when fledged, will sell for about 160 dollars each, but as they become more readily available, that will probably go down. Maybe not though. This may be the next big thing, like llamas and emus and all.

The most elegant part of the rain duck equation is that once the ducklings have done their watery thing... and they can only do it once....they glide to the ground, molt the fuzzy white feathers, and quickly grow new ones that make them look like ordinary mallards....that huge flock that wintered down in front of McDonald's? Yup, they came from here. Thus the landscape will not be cluttered up with funny looking fluffy white ducks after every rain duck deployment. It's a win-win deal..

Meanwhile, Charles M. Hatfield, the founder of No More Sahara, believes that with proper use of duck technology, drought will be a thing of the past, and deserts optional landscaping features..Mankind has always wanted to control the weather. Duckkind has been doing it all along.

Anyhow, the kids are out in the barn right now, unpacking the special cases of rain duck eggs and setting them in the fancy brooders....I suppose that I had better go help them. 

Lamplighter

Besides starting a Facebook page for her crocheted stuffies, our middle kid can also wire lamps.If you go to the link and like her page you will automatically be entered in a drawing for a stuffed bear or bunny when she hits 100 likes.

For this I am most grateful, as without her technological abilities, the office would be mighty dark. Wish we had bought her the parts earlier!

And then there is the book she bought that I hadn't read in 30 years or so. Spent a most enjoyable evening racing through it faster than the horses that grace its pages.

Thanks, Beck!