The First

Paragraph of this Friday's Farm Side....

"A bully moon in full regalia gave me the third degree the other night. Not a truncheon in sight, but she shined her blinding spotlight right into my room and chased my sleep from pillow-to-pillow. Arghh, but not-so-soft, what light through yonder window breaks, and in all-night misery the sleeper wakes?"

Yeah, I had fun with this year's June is Dairy Month column.

I always do, every single year. From the history of ice cream to the first folks to make milk into other goodies, dairy is fascinating and June is Dairy Good.

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day

To my dad, who pointed me at the birds and little fishies, and all the other wild outdoor things. All my life he has demonstrated and shared a love of learning that keeps me racing against time even now. Hope you are finding good books to read and enjoying those apple bites. 

And to the father of my children, a guy who will sit patiently in the car for four hours while I go on a birding trip and then be willing to forego his planned auction visit so I can do more. I missed a life bird not going on the second half of yesterday's birdy expedition, but I was pretty pooped and we got a little Schoharie County birding done as well. It was all good. I'll get that Louisiana Waterthrush some other time.

To my dear brothers, both fine men, who have raised a number of delightful offspring.

To the fathers of our amazing granddaughters, who are of course, the brightest and most entertaining young ladies in the world.

And to all you dads out there. Hope you can feel the love flowing through all the neckties and grill accessories straight to your hearts, at which they were aimed. 

Love to all.

Watching a wild storm come in across Beardsley Reservoir, while the birder
clambers out across a narrow peninsula stretching out over the lake.

Also, Happy 34th Wedding Anniversary to the same guy above. Two holidays for the price of one. We somehow survived farming together for decades and are still having fun. Hard not to like that.

This pretty bird was right next to the auction barn, being harassed by a flock of
Common Grackles

Happy

Day

It's the Little Things

Marshmallow season is in full swing

An early morning video chat with my boy who is far away in Canada with no functional phone.... suddenly the day is a lot brighter. Winnipeg is flat and cold as far as I can see...and far away. Did I mention far away?

Flippity Do Dah

Some of my good Facebook friends getting on MeWe where the world is not run by people who think that I should think differently....and the possibilities are....interesting.

I have been using it for a while now, but with no one I know available and no easy way to meet like minded people I really only stop in to check on a group I started there, Field of Birds, and to share bird stuff. Real friends will be cool. No big brother censorship will be nice too. I have had posts taken off FB that were merely scientific articles about birds. Hate speech to someone who hates birds I guess.

Common Gallinule...in the pouring rain

Finding a Common Gallinule at a pond we visit. Not technically a rare bird for Upstate NY, but they aren't exactly thick on the ground...or on the water...either. We are up to 155 species in Montgomery County so far this year. It is getting hard to find new ones with migration mostly over for now and all. If you see something exciting please let me know. Have binoculars, will chase.

The LogNess Monster of the Mighty Mohawk

Not such a little thing, but it has been great to see the hay fields clean and clipped with first cutting stored away for winter, and to see corn planted, sprouting, and after the insane rain of the night before last, jumping double its own height overnight.

We may be retired, but a farmer's heart is a farmer's heart. And you can forget what everybody told you about NY being all about Manhattan. This is farm country up here in Montgomery County. We love our cows and crops and we like to see them prosper.

Kill the Dust Mop

Cottonwood stars surround the moon

I've searched in vain for a dust mop of a sort that I like for quite some time now. They do not make them liked they used to....literally.

I had one that I liked once though.

It was back when I lived in the woods. One day the elderly man who lived up the road showed up with it in his hands. He had walked the significant distance from his house to ours carrying it. 

At first I didn't know what to make of his arrival on the door strep, floor cleaning tool in hand.

Then he explained. His beloved wife of many years had died suddenly the day before and he thought I might like to have it.

Really I guess he needed someone to talk to...we had chatted in passing a few times in the past...and it seemed a good reason to come and tell us. I thanked him profusely for his puzzling gift.

And I kept and used it gratefully...because that was when they made them like they don't any more...but was always a little sad about it. However, nothing lasts forever and it is long gone. I don't remember his name and lost track of him a long time ago. Poor man.

The other day, after several eons without one and faced with two long-haired dogs worth of shedding in the house I tried to get one. However, a lady was engaged in deep thought in the kitchen tools department and every time I tried to step up to the rack she hurriedly hustled in front of me. Okay then...maybe another day....of course I reported on my experience on the way home.

So Friday the boss and Becky both bought me new ones, separately and independently. 

The one the boss found is something like a feather duster on a stick. Absolutely the nuts for getting down cobwebs, and bless his heart my taller-than-I guy decimated several rooms worth with it.

This morning, however, as I started out the door at doggo walking time, Mack spotted it.

Instantly he hit high-terrier mode and dove into it as if he'd found a badger in the house that needed killing.

I laughed so hard I could barely pull him off it. Thankfully no harm done though.....so now I have two dust mops...or maybe three...I've lost count. At least until the dog kills the fuzzy one. 

Notadustmop

Traffic in Upstate NY

Coeymans Marine Towing

Ole McDonald's Honey Farm

Amish hay tedder heading to the field to fluff some hay

When YouTube finally gets around to processing the video you will be able to see how this implement works.

In Case you Wondered

That's not smoke, it's grass pollen

Why we sneeze....

Fluff machine

Some Days

Cool stuff just seems to happen all unplanned. First we "got" a White-winged Scoter down on the river. Pretty uncommon bird this time of year.

Then the weather decided to turn perfect...at least for a minute. When the weather is willing things get done! Can't decide whether to plant or weed or water the porch plants.

And then the phone rang. I almost didn't answer. We get between six and seven million spam calls per week, and this number was not familiar...not even the area code. 

I looked at the display for a minute thinking...and then because Alan is in Canada without a phone and I am worried about him (I'm a mother, it's what I do) I pushed the button.

And, boy am I glad I did. It was one of my very favorite people to whom I get to "talk" via this blog and Facebook, but to whom I had never actually spoken. Kind of a blog friend rock star if you know what I mean.

It was the coolest thing ever. She and her husband were passing the house on their way from spring to summer and hoped to meet at a coffee shop or the like. 

Alas, the boss and Becky were shopping, everyone else was working, and we have only one car. Which I don't drive anyhow.

So that didn't happen. However we talked about everything from weather and hay to Indigo Buntings. 

I went out on the sitting porch to listen for their horn from the Thruway And an Indigo Bunting flew right in front of me while I was out there.

Anyhow, I wish them safe travels, a great time, and hope we will do better on the reverse trip. Also hoping it doesn't fall while we are at camp...

We Took to the Hills

Yesterday Peggy, her mama, and I went walking out over the hills. There was plenty to learn.  Our wee guide showed us deer tracks, with much discussion over whether they were fresh or old and dried out.

Deer tracks

Some were fresh enough that there were deer at the end of them, two obliging creatures that jumped across the farm road right in front of us.

When you are not tall enough to see the deer over the grass

She delighted in the hundreds of Red Admiral Butterflies that were using the road as a place to meet singles and party.

She learned to "pish" birds and called out three Song Sparrows and an American Robin all by herself.

There was an Indigo Bunting.

Then she planted Cottonwood Trees, after she and her mom found a twig loaded with them lying in the road. Tip...if you shake such a twig with great vigor and enthusiasm the little floaty seeds...summer snow so to speak...will fly off and float away.

Planting cottonwoods...see the fluff?

And then we gathered rocks. The road to the 30-acre lot is full of pretty stones so the kitchen counter is covered with them. Kudos to Liz for being willing to fill her hoodie pockets with enough to weigh down a full-sized hot air balloon....and then some.

Alas, long before we were ready to come back down it rained. Again.  We had to scurry.

More fluff

The Things you See

Peggy at the Animal Park

The Bird

The kids took me to Adirondack Animal Land yesterday as official photographer and designated grandma for Peggy. The boss and Becky followed as soon as she got off work.

It's a nice place, remarkably clean, animals seemed comfortable, healthy, and contented, and the layout was wonderful. Between the animal enclosures were all sorts of fun slides, wooden play structures and model animals, such as a big white bison that kids could climb on for fun or photos. It made for a kid-friendly experience that was truly enjoyable for someone following a speeding kid up and down the paved paths.

While we walked I listed a few local birds, as the park is situated in a beautiful woodland, bisected by a pleasant little stream.

Nice. And the weather was perfect.

I got so involved in feeding pellets to a pair of Nilgai that I didn't really notice the parrot enclosures.

However, on the way back up the paths to the safari ride I stopped at a big kiosk where a Scarlet Macaw and a Blue-and-Yellow Macaw were sitting on a climbing toy kind of thing watching people go by. I approached the structure and felt an odd compulsion to say "hi".

The birds perked right up and spoke back at me. Not in English, but maybe in parrotish.

The more I chatted with them the more interested they became and both beak-and-claw walked right over to visit with me. I was smitten.

Alas, the rest of the crew was getting away from me so I had to leave my new friends.

Not far away was another such enclosure containing another Blue-and-Yellow Macaw and a big green bird, which I think was a Green Macaw. The latter found me utterly uninteresting.

However, a cheerful "Hi" to the big blue guy elicited an immediate verbal response. We spoke in parrot parseltongue for a bit before the bird began to very slowly beak-and-claw across the wire to me.

It was a slow process and everyone was leaving me behind so I suggested, "Could you get down and walk across the log to come over?"

See, there was a nice long log perch running diagonally across the cage right to where I was standing.

He immediately climbed down to the log and carefully walked right over to me. I was gobsmacked. You know I love birds... I talk to the ones in the shrubbery all the time, with chirps and hisses and other birdy sounds trying to get them to come out where I can see them. However, that is just smoke and mirrors, not real communication.

I have never been around parrots, other than the African Grey that spooked us so at a 4-H meeting years ago. Are they really that intelligent? Did that bird understand what I was saying, or was the log just a logical way to get to someone who was providing some interest on a sleepy afternoon?

No idea, but it was the high point of the visit for me, other than Peggy-watching and getting photos of her and Liz feeding a giraffe that echo ones we took of Liz when she was a little 'un feeding one at the Catskill Game Farm.

I've got to dig that one out so you can see....

Some Gave All