Graduation

Almost ready for the cap and gown

Tall and proud out on the stage

Going, going, gone

Hi Ma.
I didn't like college. The room was too small and algebra was too hard.
The worms were too squishy and the berries too mushy.
Can I move back home?
Can I? Can I?
Oh, and here's my laundry.

I Failed Gym Class

More than once too. I wasn't much of an athlete in the first place, although I loved gymnastics. The whole blind-as-a-bat-thing interfered with all sports played with balls....and alas, most of them are.I could run pretty fast and jump pretty high, but catching balls or hitting what I was throwing at...not so much.

However, I was a tough little thing and could perform with a reasonable level of sufficiency. I probably could have gotten by and passed...somehow....

So why did I fail? Because I was terribly shy and would not, could not, undress and shower with other girls.  I "forgot" my required gym uniform. Often. Daily in fact. 

The uniform wasn't the only way I skated around the issue either. It was possible to hide in plain sight. The whole invisible act, kinda like an ostrich. Even today I am a pretty good hider in full view and still not be noticed sort. I get stepped over in lines and nearly knocked off stairs all the time, by taller, more aggressive folks.

You could also wet your hair in the sink and sneak off between the lockers, more or less unnoticed, pretending to already be done with the shower. I was never a popular kid so I got away with it, but the whole missing uniform/missing class/sitting on the bleachers reading a book thing was hard on my grade.

I managed to graduate from high school and get in a couple of years of college without ever showering in public. (The one exception to my nearly perfect record was a trip to swim at the Y as an adult. And I still shudder.)

So I failed gym. My other grades were generally adequate to keep me from being held back so it didn't really matter.

I admit to being a child of the fifties, an era much more closed and private and secret than today. I am utterly an introvert. However, I suspect that there are plenty of girls today, not unlike myself, who are shy, and careful, and private about themselves. 

What on earth are they doing to do when boys are added to the misery of those public showers?

I hate to even think.

Bad to the Bone

Polished up the Farm Side this morning and sent it along to the editor. This week's topic is the nasty Norway Rat. Like most farms (and cities) we enjoy the company of this ever-so-successful other mammal.

Or maybe enjoy is the wrong word. I personally abhor them, as do most folks. When one showed up on the bird feeder right in front of the kitchen window recently, I went on the warpath. Alan bought me a Crossman pellet pistol, which I love btw, but it doesn't have the greatest sights in the world. That did not stop me.

However, better shots than I am missed and missed and missed, as did I, for two solid weeks.

Finally it got so used to us trying to shoot it that it sat there yesterday while I dispatched it from about six feet away. I wonder why the pistol has such lousy sights anyhow....instead of the usual round beads, or things that line up sensibly it has two squares....if you line them up right, you can barely see your target.

The furor over the baby bison out in Yellowstone made me wonder what reaction I might get to admitting, in public, both here and in my column, that I used a "firearm" to kill a verminous rodent (I didn't actually see it die, as it scurried off, but it hasn't been back, so I'll betcha.)

I am sure there are plenty of defenders of rats, who, if this blog were more popular (thank God for obscurity) would take me soundly to task.

I have read some seriously ill-informed discussion of the above event, wherein foolish and pointless human interference caused the death of a protected animal. I found the interference to be simply outrageous and incredibly arrogant. Some folks thought the people who picked up the poor creature should be given a pass, since their actions were caused by an excess of ill-directed compassion.

 I call bullsh**. There are signs regarding the proper treatment of wild animals. I've been to the park. I've seen them. There is no excuse for what the fools did and not much of an excuse for the people who have subsequently attacked the rangers, the park, and any person with actual livestock or wildlife experience who dared offer a sensible comment in a public forum. 

I am beginning to think that some kind of practical animal husbandry needs to be taught in schools or something. The simplest of country kids knows better than to touch a baby animal, even a domestic kitten. Folks see fawns stashed by their mamas all the time. The best thing is to walk right past and pretend not to see. Simple. Obvious. Except when it's not.

We need to somehow counteract the Disnification of our interactions with the natural world before no one is allowed those interactions because of the foolishness of a few. Even if, as some sources claim, the mother bison was deceased, how hard would it have been to contact authorities about the calf, rather than intervene, risking lives, and ultimately causing the death of the animal?

The Doors

A quick shot of our neighbors' new carousel milking parlor
Word is the cows love to ride on it.

Normally I open the big double front doors in April. 

I still haven't even taken the blankets and things we use to keep the draft down off yet.

Bah humbug!

Still, I have faith. There will be screen door days and lightning bug nights.....someday....somewhere....just not necessarily here.

A Light Breeze

The wind was so cold and strong last night that I had nightmares....well, okay, maybe it was the leftover Chinese, but it sure was a wild night. I was happy to wake up in my own safe bed rather than the strange places I visited. I knew I would pay for my laziness in not closing the window at bedtime. It sure is shut now.

What a wind though! There is a milk can under the bird feeder arbor with a big, flat, block of wood on it. I fill feeders there. It has been in place since a year ago winter and never budged. Last night the wind dumped it in the flowerbed. Good thing there was an old bottomless egg basket over the nice new hosta growing there or it would have been crushed.

Big change from yesterday. Most of us have been in shorts for a couple of weeks, but the heavy clothes are sure back out today. Glad the big bird count wasn't today because there is no way I would be hiking those hills! Brrrrr....

I brought all the tender garden plants back into the house last night, but there are a few old geraniums outside for the hummingbirds, which returned yesterday, (looking pretty tired and tattered). Guess they will have to come into night as possible snow has been predicted. Wish the hummers could come in too.

Because....... snow in mid-May. Hooray. 

Big Day

Today is Global Big Day 2016. What with all the birdie bounty we enjoy here I thought I might play along. Yesterday evening Alan and I took a wonderful walk out scouting, and finally picked up an Eastern Towhee for the yearlong farm count.

The sheer numbers of birds we saw was astonishing. 

Since the boss and I took our walk  a couple of days ago, the Bobolink and Red-winged Blackbird populations have skyrocketed. Hundreds of Bobolinks. Lots of Common Yellowthroats, Yellow Warblers, and other birds of interest as well.

Here's how the Big Day count went. (Had the day's 10,000 steps done by noon.)

She just showed up today and she looks terrible.

 5 AM first bird American Robin

7:30 AM-24 species and  I haven't even actually started birding and haven't left the house and driveway behind the house....just been out airing the dogs and hanging up the laundry.

Such drama! I went out to discourage a chipmunk and discovered both red and grey squirrels marauding around the place. A red was trying to get nestlings from a Common Grackle nest in the old blue spruce. Up and down the trunk it raced, big black birds in hot pursuit. I scared it away, but I am sure it returned as soon as I went back in the house. It's pretty much welcome to the darned grackles, but we have dozens of other birds nesting in the yard....... I don't know what's up with the arboreal rodents this year, but there are too darned many of them.

Anyhow, we are off to the fields again soon.

Later.....Alan took antifreeze and water way up in back to the skid steer where it overheated yesterday. The boss fixed the rest of the heifer pasture fence while Becky and I walked for birds. We crawled under the fence to the south and met Alan in Seven-county Hill Field to sight in some rifles. 

He started teaching Becky to shoot and within minutes I could hear her pinging the targets....I was over in another field birding.

A good place for the shooting range

1:50 PM-40 species and still counting.Picked up a couple first of year birds for the farm count too, Ring-Necked Pheasant and Barn Swallow. Keeping on keeping on...

3:00 PM...roughly....a life bird shows up right in the cottonwood across the driveway. A Cerulean Warbler. What a beautiful little bird! What a perfect day to show up!

Looks like we are only going to hit the low 40s for numbers this year, which isn't all that shabby. However, once upon a summer haying day, many long years ago when Grandma Peggy was still with us, I spotted 52 species in one day. I don't suppose I will ever top that.


  .

Spy

In the living room Fox News drones day and night. Politics, politics, politics. NOTHING is happening in the entire world except the presidential primaries. 

On the sitting porch the programming is much more diverse. Instead of the same old story attacked from all sides, with commentators like chickens pecking a mouse, something different is happening every second.

There is no Megan Kelly, but cardinal acrobatics are at least as attractive and much more natural. The male postures and twists, fluttering fancy red wings and singing eagerly, as he displays his talents for his lady friend. She shrugs, harrumph, and flies off in high dudgeon. 

Instead of false rivalry and folks talking rudely over one another, bunnies, Eastern Cottontails that is, are chasing robins off the lawn. They are equally rude, but much funnier. 

Bunnies have great press. Everyone thinks they are all cute and cuddly and Farmer McGregor-ish, when in reality they are violent little scoundrels, fighting at the drop of a dandelion head. In the short hour I steal out here, just enough past dawn to have adequate light to identify at least some of the birds, I see skirmish after skirmish. It's a wonder they find time to eat, between beating each other up and harassing the birds.

There are a lot of birds these days. Four new First of Year birds yesterday alone. Chimney Swifts, Wood Thrushes, Common Yellowthroats, and the Bobolinks. I think there is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet out in the brush in front of the house too, but the little stinker is too elusive for me to be sure.

The boss came with me on Bobolink watch last night and we had a nice walk. Even as crippled up as he is....and he is...that accident did him no good atall, atall.... he can out walk me. I had to keep reminding him if we were going to look for birds he couldn't get a hundred miles ahead of me, because they would all be gone when I got there. 

The jingly techno music of the magical little blackbirds greeted us when we crested the hill though, and his sharp eyes helped me spot things far away. Hooray!

It was funny about the turkeys though. We were at the exact crest of the hill, and he kept insisting, "They are right THERE!" And pointing. 

And I could not spot them.

I know I am kinda blind and all, but how can you miss an entire flock of turkeys?

Well, if you are a lot shorter than the guy pointing them out, and they are just over the top of the hill, you just might be a tad too short to see over the grass. I had to laugh.

Anyhow, outdoors is better than in, and birds and bunnies are better than the all day "news".

Congratulations to Becky for being promoted to manager where she works! We are pretty proud of her.

Sproing

Spring is springing up all around us. From parrot tulips the kids bought me last fall to Robins nesting everywhere, including places we would prefer they had left alone.

It's all good. Had a nice Mother's Day trip to Cabela's, which is where we found  a toy...finally..that Mack can't destroy. 

At least so far.

 A nice lady clerk told us that she had bought one for her dog, but dogs couldn't make the squeaker in it work. Too complicated because you have to turn it on its side to activate the noisy part.

I told her I had a Jack Russell Terrier. They can do anything they want to.

She said, "No, I have one too, and he can't work it". Although Mack loves noisy toys and squeaks and honks them all early and often, I did wonder why someone would be concerned about a JRT not being noisy.

Anyhow......

Guess how long it took Mack to squeak it....

Yeah, half a lap around the kitchen table and it was going. He loves it and plays with it by the hour. Honky, honky, squeak, squeak, squawk.

Just Passing Through

Woods and edges ring with the calls of White-crowned Sparrows.  It seems late for them this year....usually we notice their visit in April. The White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, and American Tree Sparrows are gone....vanished north about a week ago. We may see a few stragglers yet, but the ones that live here all winter and walk tame, practically underfoot, have left for the nesting lands. The White-crowns will not be far behind them.

On one hand I miss them, but it is hard not to enjoy the migrants showing up here every day to fill their niches.

Many of our winter sparrows summer and breed far to the north. I guess they are fueling up for the flight to northern Canada this week. I sure am enjoying them. 

Here's a bonus link about how false eggs are helping preserve bird populations.

Mom

I have written many times over the nearly eleven years that this blog has existed about how amazing my mother is.....mostly because she truly is. She supported my dad in all he undertook, which meant that although we certainly didn't grow up rich, we grew up well-rounded. He was president of everything from the local Audubon Society to the mineral and carving clubs and of this region of Clan Montgomery too. She was right in there helping, and doing all that good stuff right along with him.....And those were just some of the official things they did. I was learning about how the Mohawks lived in this valley long before we were taught in school.

However Mom has undertaken so many exciting projects there wouldn't be room for them here. They square danced for a few years...she handmade all their fancy clothes. Made kilts....real, properly pleated and stitched kilts for the male Montgomery descendants and dad.....and set  us all up with Betty Crocker cookbooks when we left home. Both of my brothers are outstanding cooks BTW. She talked me through stuffing my first turkey...over the phone....and making Thanksgiving dinner is something I do very well to this day.

She even makes good split pea and ham soup and that is saying something.

However, perhaps one of the most unsung, and yet incredibly heroic, things she has done, is tolerate a rock and roll band that practiced in her house.

We took our show on the road after the first few years, but when we were in the trying to get to play at school dances, but not quite there yet, stage, she endured all of Creedence Clearwater Revival with a sprinkling of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin and other  truly atrocious music thrown in, played, pretty badly, in the confines of their tiny house. That's a mother!

Later, we graduated to playing those dances, and playing clubs, and even a wanna be biker bar in a small town named after its lake to the north of us. (Born to be Wild!) She was always supportive, and we were often called upon to play a little acoustic stuff at family gatherings. How lucky is that? She has always been kind and supportive to the people around her and they love her for it....

So Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mom, and to all those wonderful moms out there on their special day.

The Other News from the Other New York

I could not wait for the Amish guy to leave. This horse did not like being tied to that tiny twig in a sloppy little knot and he spent the whole time he was here yanking back and forth and wringing the wagon around on the lawn, all frantic and scared. There wasn't a dry inch of hide on him and it wasn't raining. I was scared to death he would tug that knot out or pull up the little Box Elder tree and run down on the highway

We are all inundated by news these days, buried in it, smothered by it. With the rising of social media....like this in fact....we are bombarded day and night, if we don't shut the darned thing off and get out and do...until it can wreck our mood, gloom up our lives, and make us feel all helpless and sad.

The big Amaryllis bloomed. So did the Elephant Ear with TWO flowers this year
Hope I can get seeds again! We pollinate the Amaryllis too, and this is one Alan and I grew from seed

But that isn't why I didn't post much this week. That was more the cold, dismal, dragging-on-forever rain that fell all week. Every day I told myself....aloud....that with this rain we won't get fires. You  don't hear of them here in NY all that often, but my dad fought fires in the Adirondacks...big ones....either before I was born or when I was a baby....and there was that biggie at Sam's Point Ridge not long ago. And there are plenty of places that would give a lot for a week of rain. Still it doesn't exactly make me do caprioles and tap the keyboard like a dervish when we have to slog along in a soggy, slippery, mucky, muddy mess every time we go outdoors. I only walked purposefully one day all week.

Chick transport when you can't find the chickie box. There are SEVEN chicks in that pocket!

However, news was happening here just the same. First of the year Yellow Warblers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Savannah Sparrows and Warbling Vireos.

FOY Savannah Sparrow

An Amishman showing up wanting to buy our old barn. Or not as the case may be. We didn't want to sell it anyhow, but the boss was polite and let him take a peek through the windows. He was afraid of the dog...

Not a happy fellow

Chicks hatched and then little turkeys, which are peeping now in the dining room. Imagine that? Little chickies in the dining room. Peggy loves them!

And there you have it, a different set of news stories from the endless politics and gloom and doom. We had plenty of gloom, but it was only weather

Sunny, the horse, watching deer up on the heifer hill. You can often find the wild things by watching the tame ones. If I see Sunny, or the pup, or the ponies, looking off into the distance, I always try to see what they do.

And the deer....looking back at Sunny....
or maybe at me, sneaking out of the house with the camera

Animals in the Fort Mac Fire

I have been watching, almost in real time, as people are evacuated and try to get their animals out of this utterly horrendous fire. Horses have been turned loose when people couldn't get them out in time, and others are being hand-led to safety. Once again the good hearts of people shine through in a crisis.

Dozens of offers of trailers, kennels, stables, feed, and monetary donations are showing up in groups I follow in Canada.

Prayers for these poor souls and for the good people who are doing what they can to help them. 

Recycling

Remember the poachers last deer season? The guys who shot the buck in the rump and shoulder after dusk, on our posted property, right next to the boys in the driveway?

Well, Alan found that buck a good while later, injured, full of rot and death, and put him out of the misery the not-so-good hunters inflicted.

He could have called DEC...we had already been in touch with them over the incident..and gotten the animal, which was not edible, picked up and had a new tag issued to him. However, we already had venison enough for winter, and he wanted to mount the antlers, so he kept him.

As suggested by the DEC officers, and as we have done in the past, we put the carcass out for the scavengers. Usually coyotes and crows fill that niche, but sometimes we get Bald Eagles.

The bones, long since picked clean, lie in the thick grass of the field behind the house. I had been thinking maybe I should move them down in the woods for the mice to chew, but hadn't...

Then this morning I thought I saw a turkey out there. Something thick and black and clunky was hunkering down there....I got the binoculars and, no, it was not a turkey, but a Turkey Vulture, picking away. Now there are several. I can't imagine what they are finding to eat, but they seem to be enjoying their bony breakfast.

Chicks is Chippin', Eggs is Pippin'

Yeah, the kids brought their incubator down here after a test run up at Jade's grandparents' house. It has been running in the dining room for a while or so.

Late last week chickies began to peck and pick their way out of their shells. These so far are mottled, blue, and black standard cochins.

They are also crazy cute.

However, after having raised many hatches of chicks and many store bought chicks on the porch down in the village, I am utterly attuned to the distress calls of chicks.

And every single one cheeps stridently for a while after it exits it's ovoid enclosure......

Yup, I been noticing.....

Yeah, it's that kinda Day

Blow up Dolls

For turkeys. They are eerily realistic! They turn and bob on their fake pink legs like.....like turkeys...... 

Mack was terrified of them. He nearly slipped his collar trying to get away from them when I walked him down near them, and then ran headlong into the back door. Crash!

And then we didn't use them anyhow.

See, we went out turkey hunting this morning. Opening day. Really Alan hunted. I tagged along a little and then ended up sitting on a log in the barnyard, as they were right down behind the house, and I am not up for all that creeping and stalking stuff.

It was kinda nice sitting out there listening to the birds and the noises of the poultry from the barn though.

Anyhow, Alan stalked and called, and stalked and called, and there was a good-sized flock of them right out there on the hill. He prolly could have gotten the tom, although it was just a small one, and there are much larger fellows out there somewhere.

And then, wham, a herd of deer ran right through the center of the flock.

Busted. It was starting to rain anyhow, and I had my toys....camera and binoculars...with me.

It was okay. It is more about the being out early in the day and creeping around in the woods than about needing a turkey anyhow. For me at least. If he gets one I have to cook it.....

And there is no accounting for deer.