The Things you See

Go away, you bother me

I don't think she sees me

Buttonbush

The Sheriff

No bandit, but it sure is smokey

Sara Lib Rd. Pond where we bird

Lyker's Pond

More Buttonbush

Ren

Princess Aurora???

Outdoor Cats

Everybody thinks I don't like cats

We used to have barn cats. A lot of them. Shortly before I met the boss a lady he knew gave him three big kittens. By the time I had known him a couple of years as many as 75 cats came to the milk dish at chore time...all of them various combinations of black, white, or grey, with lots of silver tabbies thrown in. There were nice ones and nasty ones and pretty ones and ugly, battle-scarred, old Toms. 

This is a falsehood

Rats were not a problem then. I think they had one of those signs hobos used to leave on doorposts down at the bottom of the driveway, "Don't bother stopping here."

The cats ALL had names, some of them cute, some clever, some descriptive, and some profane. We all liked them. There was a veritable barn cat culture, with stories, relationships, and a lot of silliness. I wrote any number of Farm Side columns including one entitled "Dances with Barn Cats" about trying to carry a pail of milk to the calves amid the seething throng.

Speaking of names..this was Chainsaw, a great favorite of mine
his nickname was "Chain"

Then came the coyotes. At the time I met the boss there were no coyotes here at all. A few years later there were a lot of them. They eat cats, jsyk. I guess they ate ours because by the time we sold the cows there were only two or three cats left. The smart ones. The ones that stayed near the barn. They are all gone now.

He liked to help with the fencing

We had to wait for him so the coyotes didn't get him out there on the hills

The kids would like to get barn cats again and I understand, I really do. But in all the years we had cats the lazy ones always hunted at the bird feeders. They didn't eat House Sparrows either. Nope it was always a Rose-breasted Grosbeak or Northern Cardinal that they captured and all too often left on the porch as a sort of reward for me I guess. No thanks guys, I like them better in the trees.

Pumpkin

Miss Catty-fach

It's a worldwide problem and accounts for literally millions of songbirds every year. I won't get into that but it doesn't seem fair to offer the local birds a nice lunch counter in return for letting me watch them, and then put THEM on the menu. Plus I always ended up being the one feeding and caring for the cats once the new wore off. The kids say I don't like cats, but really I do. It just feels hypocritical for me to facilitate outdoor felines and wild birds in the same yard.

The infamous Elvis

So no barn cats now.

I loved Elvis, for all his foibles, and truly hated the damned  dog that killed him

Imagine my chagrin when this morning I paused as always on the stair landing on my way downstairs. Crows were alarm calling and the Carolina Wrens were frantic.

And no wonder. Right in the middle of the driveway was a big, black, cat, seated leg-o-mutton style, having a nice wash. Dagnabbit. Visitor from the housing development next door, stray, or drop off....I wonder.

When I took the doggos out he was gone, but you should have seen the little guy's mackles come up when he smelled where the intruder had been sitting. He knew. 

Then when we passed the car he went nuts (not a long trip for a Jack Russell Terrier, I know, but still).

The cat was under the car. 

The dog began swearing and leaping and muttering and thrashing. I dragged him indoors and let him off the lead, planning to coax him into his kennel with a biscuit as always.

Hah! Prey drive in a JRT is equal to the herding instinct in a Border Collie. All circuits were busy. He even blew the inside door open and got on the porch (and thank you, Alan for the strong outside door, which stopped him.) I had to grab some MacScruff and haul him back in.

No biscuit for you buddy!

I suppose this kitty must be a drop off. It is pretty tame for a stray, and it didn't streak off toward town when threatened by the Mack. I am not excited about having to walk the little juggernaut several times a day with him out there. The birds aren't happy either.

However: I DO like cats and I can prove it.

Cat story

Another cat story

Cats with thumbs

Herding Cats

Elvis was weird

Hardhearted Farmers

He's got a knife

There are many more cat stories available here if you search "cats" and plenty of fun with perhaps my favorite cat of all time, Elvis, if you search for his name....I am not sure what will happen with the guy under the car, but I'll bet there will be a story in that too.

The Sky is Falling

That muffled thud is an apple dropping off the Winesap tree. It's that time of year.

The distant grumble, growing ever nearer and more insistent, is thunder. Lots and lots and lots of thunder. It's that time of year.

The relentless swish and swash and rushing is water, falling from the sky. In bucket loads and bushels and big, bad, bunches. At least a couple of inches overnight. I guess it's that time of year.

That sharp, alarming, crack, awaking innocent sleepers long before the sun (what sun, seriously, it's 8 AM and dark as the Devil's armpit today) comes up? That, yeah, that's part of the bedroom ceiling falling on the dresser. It's that time of....

Wait! 

What!

Oh, no!!

Look up Young Man

Dragon smile

Sky smile

Passing shower

Kinda threatening

Fist of Doom

Incoming Boom

Goodnight Moon

Farm Wifing

Once you no longer spend every day from dawn to o'dark-thirty....supper was often at nine or ten PM back in the day....juggling a dozen different jobs, then you are no longer a real farm wife, right? 

More like a shadow of something leftover right?

Maybe...

But today I caught myself farm wifing like crazy. (And grumbling like a harried farm wife too.) Liz's boss gave her some corn and we had some zucchini ready to freeze. Since she is very busy, I offered to do all the processing but the husking if she would share the result.

That plan was in full swing and the corn in full boil when the boss decided to fix the faucet in the bath tub. Good deal. It's been leaking so hard for so long that we took to using the water accumulated in a bucket in the tub...waste no, want not....to flush the other facility that resides in the same room.

However, as the corn boiled merrily on the stove, the absence of packing putty needed for the job was discovered. Guess who knew where to look for it. Ditto for other tools and substances needed for the job.

Guess how deeply it was buried....

Guess how inopportune the pinging of timer was. Then, since he was going down cellar to turn the water on and off anyhow, he reset the ground fault interrupter down there, since the garden pond pump isn't working. He had to take a fan outdoors to test the wire to the pond....while the corn and zucchini continued exuberantly bubbling. (Alas the problem is the pump, which seems to have died completely.)

This drama went on as long as all jobs were operative. Somehow everything got done just the same....although the faucet is still leaking. Time for a new gasket I guess.

Farm wifing....It's multi-tasking like a boss. Still got it. Kinda. Sorta.

Hate to tell you This

It may only be the 16th of August, but it is unofficially Fall, no matter what the calendar says.

Harvest season.

Freezer filling time.

Yup, the putting up food gene has kicked in. We've been begrudgingly harvesting and processing snap beans and freezing blueberries for the upcoming season of silver and slate, and then, suddenly, today, it became an urgent matter to blanch some corn and cut it off the cob and freeze it.

Plans are being made to travel down south to buy up a pick-up full of garden goodies for later.

Maybe the Greyzini will get done today too......

Sorry about that and all....but the time is coming, all too soon....

Sumbunny ate my Watermelon

Or at least I thought so. There was one out there yesterday when we headed up to the Dacks to buy chainsaw chains. There's a place up there that sells them for very reasonable prices....and Mappy, they say they can match any chain you bring in, as they make them up right there. Ralph remembered to ask...

It was so cute!

When we returned after a quick excursion over Batchellerville Bridge and down that side of the mighty Sacandaga, it was gone. No matter how I looked I couldn't find it anywhere. I blamed the bunnies.

Snuggling her favorite chicken. Photo by her mom

Then, late in the afternoon I spotted it again.

Turns out it is so small...about the size of a shooter marble...that I missed it under a leaf.

I am so excited to have a watermelon growing right in the backyard!

Thank you Linda.

I had all kinds of good help picking beans yesterday

Foiled

Failure has been the name of the game in catching the amazing colors of a Cedar Waxwing...at least for me.

However, I kinda like this one. Looks as if it were made of colored foil or something.

Same bird but just not quite as intense as the top one is

Homework

Perhaps the only place to find answers...

Farm Side research for the week has had me reading blogs and news stories from far-ranging sources. Australian news seems to offer more balanced coverage than other sources.

I would love to know what you think about the issue of farm expropriation in South Africa...

Really....you could be quoted if you like. This is an incredibly complicated issue, rife with political posturing and shocking violence. Such takings have a long history of failure, but the allure of something for nothing coupled with the possibility of redressing wrongs, both real and imagined has great appeal.

Here is some of what I have read so far...only 620 of a thousand words written at this point.

One of the better ones.

Unfavorable

About the same

Without compensation

Violence

More violence from last year, horrifically graphic!

Statistics, might not be the best ones though.

I am kind of queasy after reading some of these. You may want to skip the one labeled graphic and just read the others. I have a lot more reading...and thinking... to do myself, but I am going to put it aside until tomorrow and go out and plant some flowers....

Go (with a) Pro

Look, a scope!

There was a bird walk in Amsterdam this morning, over the Gateway Bridge with a birding pro. It was lead by area environmental educator, George Steele, who is a terrific birder. He leads walks on Saturday mornings in this area, but this is the first one we have made since last year....such a busy summer. 

Belted Kingfisher

It was fun. We saw 41 species of birds, some as common as European Starlings, one a pretty special bird, a Peregrine Falcon.

This is what 39 Common Mergansers look like hurrying to get outta town

There were 39 Common Mergansers in one flock, Great Blue and Green Herons, a sprinkling of warblers and other woodland birds, and some city birds as well.

Darth Cormorant

Well, really a Double-crested Cormorant

Thanks George for teaching me something new every time, and thanks to the boss for getting up early to drive me down and then sitting patiently while birds were pursued.

Common Merganser

If you would like to experience this sort of birding there is another walk tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM at Yankee Hill Lock, which is one of my all-time favorite places to bird. The river is often graced with interesting waterfowl, and the woods surrounding the tow path and bike path are always good for some excitement.

Gettin outta Dodge

There are Times

When you get all grumpy and frustrated.

That is when you should take a good healthy dose of:

This

This

This one

Or maybe this

It works for me.

Farm Side Links

This week's research links:

The rural opioid crisis

NYCAMH John May Farm Safety Fund 
MOS

NYSERDA farm energy audit program

History of Empire Farm Days

Cover Crops at King Agriseeds

Dessert

Ring-billed Gull

Immature Bald Eagle

Rainy Caspian Tern

Double-crested Cormorant

Wood Duck

Northern Mockingbird

Sandhill Crane

Mallard

Or...the carrot on the stick....It began to rain, literally the moment we pulled into the visitor center parking lot, rendering me grumpy indeed after all that walking in the heat and humidity.

However, we still somehow managed to see some nice birds, although the resulting photos were pretty awful. Best birds were the Caspian Terns, a Pectoral Sandpiper, the Sandhill Cranes, and a Peregrine Falcon that gave us a wonderful flyby at Knox-Marcellus Marsh. We also met a pleasant park volunteer, who was surveying birds at the marsh. She gave us tips on Tundra vs. Trumpeter Swans, for which I thank her plentifully.