Should have been posted last week

Wrote this last week, but was too busy to edit.

 Spent the week packing for camp. We haven't been since 2019 so a lot of camp things had melted away into household use or been spoiled by dead batteries or are just among the missing.

However, as I delved into the totes and stacks of stuff from previous years I realized that despite my actual 4-H background I may have been a boy scout in a previous life.

I mean, there are ropes. All kinds of ropes. Despite the fact that we will be staying in a reasonably civilized cabin, I HAVE to have ropes. I have paracord, dock rope, heavy twine, camo cord, rope we used to use to tie down the canoe on the dock when it stormed...and a dog leash. We are not taking a dog, but hey, you never know, so in it went.

Found my hatchet, which by an amazing coincidence, has been missing since 2019....because it was still packed. Can't camp without a hatchet. 

Discovered that I don't have to buy matches, as I have a brand new (in 2019) box of strike-on- box, plus a pack of waterproof ones. Plus there's a lighter or two in my quick travel tote that goes everywhere we do. I had to read Jack London's To Build a Fire in high school (unforgettable story, but no fun) and I rarely go anywhere without a source of ignition. After a lifetime of heating with wood most of the time I am good at producing flame.

The list of guy things goes on and on...a knock-off Leatherman tool, needle-nose pliers, heavy side cutters, extra fishing line, ninety-pound tackle box...or at least it feels like it....even though I predominantly fish with worms. When Dad passed I ended up with some of his lures and they are in there too. As a preschooler, taken along on evening trips to this very lake, I loved to sit and peer into Dad's tackle box admiring the lures (while fishing with worms.). I always coveted his River Runt Spook.

People bike across the county with a couple saddlebags and a backpack. I fill the car to groaning with things we "might need." 

I cannot lie, I am tired of packing. It is the worst part of the trip, other than packing to go home, which is mildly worse. We always seem to have more stuff than we came with.

However, I cannot wait to baptize the fishing license part of the lifetime hunting and fishing license I bought myself last year...already used the hunting part...

And to swim and look for mountain birds and maybe go out rowing. See you next week with another adventure in store.

***Update: We had a nice week! I walked thirty miles, saw 61 species of birds, only caught three Rock Bass, but one was a nice size. Hopefully we can do it again next year. 

Summer of Storms

Liz and Peg 2015
In the Cellar

 I can't recall any recent years where every single ten-day forecast shows thunder storms every day but maybe one or two. Not that this isn't the time for thunderstorms, but five or six a week seems excessive. I don't know how the farmers are getting any dry hay. A single day without rain is rare, let alone three consecutive ones.

Last evening we were all in the house doing stuff and talking when my phone started screaming...a tornado warning.

The ominous edge of the front

We scurried around getting dogs in, moving the car away from trees, and getting ready to hit the cellar if we needed to. Liz and I spent the next hour checking the sky for the wrong kind of cloud formation. The cellar is not a place we want to go if we don't have to. The birds all went silent....

Storm bird

We got some vicious winds and green skies, a bit of the now all-too-familiar torrential rain, but not much that hasn't come with every storm since the beginning of June. I guess other places saw much worse with trees down and at least one house hit by lightning, probably two, but we were okay.

I know complaining about the weather is about as productive as trying to teach a chicken to line dance, but dang, it's getting ridiculous!

I don't LIKE the cellar and I don't want to go there!

On the other hand it is a lot cooler today.

A captive tornado at the Fonda Fair Model Railroad
Display

My Washing Machine plays Schubert

 

Anyone know what this plant is?
It grows at the edge of a swamp we know and it seems really pretty.

I am not sure if that makes me special in some way or not. However, it does drive me nuts* (not a long trip), as it reminds me of the old song, Convoy, which then gets stuck in my head for hours...or even days. Thanks Samsung, just what I needed.

***Merci to Becky for discovering this useless but interesting bit of trivia.

Speaking of audio delusions, we have the usual adult House Wren making an endless racket on the sitting porch...I think they are going to go for a third brood this summer. We also have its enthusiastic but not particularly talented offspring. (I assume it's its kid because it tolerates its presence and lousy singing there). Big wren sounds like a wren. Baby wren sounds like a screechy Black-throated Blue Warbler. I need one for my year list, so I sit up and take notice every time. See above for the general effect of this*.

Two pics of Long Lake in happier times

Meanwhile, it is nice today for a change, although it has managed to rain twice. 

On an ongoing basis however, it rains a lot every week, and almost every day. One of my favorite towns in the 'Dacks, Long Lake, pretty much washed away due to a dam failure under the onslaught of the ridiculous rains we've been having. It makes me really sad, as I love the place.

Our driveway tried to for a dip in the river too, but Ralph managed to catch it and haul it back up the hill with the skid steer. The rain can slow down a bit anytime now and I won't get mad. In fact.....

Go home and dry out Mother Nature, yer drunk.

YOY
Young of the year
An immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird
and the first flower on the one of the geraniums I started from seed
last winter

You could

 

Get up at five and be out soon after.

Make your bed. (The fact that he made his doesn't necessarily mean that I made mine....not that there is much making to do in this weather....just smooth out one thin blankie and call it perfect. I will let him enjoy his leaves without a shred of jealousy.)

Eastern Wood Pewee

Quavontavius, who is finding free flight quite joyous

Share the garden with friends. (32 species this morning.)

Eat green peas right out of the pod.

And Red Currants. Get that vitamin C right off the vine...or bush, as the case may be.

Get in 10 before it gets too hot.

Fledgling Chipping Sparrow

Newly-minted Red-winged Blackbird.

Summer...ya gotta love it.

Happy Birthday in Heaven

 

Grandpa Lachmayer. He would drop whatever he was doing to do anything for anybody. Worked every day that he could doing horrible jobs in the tanneries. I'm sure it killed him in the end. Sometimes I walked through the woods to the mill to find him hauling on the heavy, nasty, hides, dragging them out of whatever they were soaking in, working on the process of making leather. Even on holidays. Often he would be the only man there, called in to do something for the big boss that no one else wanted to do.

I learned rhubarb and red currants at his knee and still have descendants of his rhubarb, as well as a patch of currants, growing in the yard here.

If I broke down somewhere bitd...and with the pathetic cars I drove it happened often....I could always call on him for rescue. It was the same with everyone he knew. If he could help he did.

There is no doubt in my mind about his current address.

Big Atlas Weekend

 

Disheveled and downright soggy,
this poor Red-tailed Hawk was being mobbed
by Blue Jays as well as getting wet.
Did I mention it was raining?

Several state breeding bird atlases are having a late June event to get folks out and counting during a very busy time for baby birds.

One of the goals is to get birds discovered and coded in blocks that are not well birded. The block we live in, a priority block, is complete. Somebody who birds like it was their job just happens to be based there....I won't name names, but if you click the link....

Anyhow, the boss was kind enough to take me birding this morning in this block, quite local, also a priority block, and only having two species confirmed. 

It was fun. I used to keep my first-ever, long ago, horse, Magnum, at a farm within the block, so I know the roads by heart after riding them so many times. Things have changed since those Stone Age days though...new houses, new woodlands, no more Red-headed Woodpeckers, which used to be common there.

Savannah Sparrow,
a fairly common grassland bird. 

We found two more Common Raven nests on silo platforms, making five that we have observed in Montgomery County now. Also a good showing of grassland birds in the farm fields, a nice group of Veerys, all singing like mad, and assorted other summer visitors.

I am pretty sure we will not, however, even attempt to complete the block. Most places we bird we are a familiar sight and no one pays any attention to us. (Although someone did shoot at us last month!!!) In this new area, we will probably be viewed with suspicion, especially if we try night birding. I don't want to hear the sound of someone racking a round while I'm recording with Merlin.  Also there aren't many good places to pull off the road and there is a lot more traffic than in the Magnum days. 

I did discover that the area where we bird Lyker's Pond is also a priority block, but then again, that's where I heard a rifle nearby and saw the projectile kick up water about thirty feet from me....

Another Common Raven nest on a silo platform

Juning for Joy

 

Hey, I'm too darned old to jump....

Last night we visited Rankan Grove Rd. Ext. where there is a little beaver pool with adjacent swamp and a larger, although shallow, beaver pond. We stumbled upon the spot several years ago and it is one of the best places we know for warblers.

The evening was no exception, with the usual suspects, Chestnut-sided and Yellow Warblers singing cheerfully, as were a couple of Common Yellowthroats. There was a Northern Waterthrush hanging around and a Black-throated Green Warbler too. 

Best by far for me though was a Canada Warbler bouncing around the brush foraging and chirping contentedly. Made my day. However, in the dim light and with a slowish camera I never got a photo.

Maybe next time.

Had the first lettuce from the garden last night and it was right tasty. The woodchucks and Liz's darned rabbit think my stuff is tasty too. If I didn't grow most things in old watering troughs and half barrels there would be none left for us. What the rabbit doesn't eat he digs up.

As it was while I was inside this morning one of the villains ate the sunflowers and scarlet runner beans out of the tub by the door. I am not pleased.

However, even after a hot spell with the weed whacker and a mess of other chores I am downright pleased with the day. June is about as good as it gets and I am going to enjoy as much of it as I can...except the varmints of course. 

What's this Bug?

 

Actually I believe that these are flies, not bugs, but I would love to know what they are beyond that generality.

We found them a couple of days ago near the Sara Lib Road quarry.

Also, here are some dragonflies that need monikers. 

Thanks in advance! (If they were birds I would either know, or know where and how to look...insects, not so much)

And while we are at it, I forgot the name of this millipede. I don't think it's Milly, but it might be.

Happy Father's Day

 To the Father of the best kids in the world (some prejudice in play here) and a darned good companion for lo, these many years.

To the fathers of our grandbabies. (Also among the world's most outstanding children... much loved by Grandpa and Grandma Friers)

To my beloved brothers, great dads as well.

And to my dad in Heaven. Thanks for the Hooded Warbler yesterday, Dad. What a delightful life bird on such a special day.

BITD, my favorite auctioneer

Love to all. Hope your day is all you could wish.

The June Garden

 ...is a demanding mistress.

Yesterday I....

Transplanted watermelon seedlings outside. Two years ago we saved seeds from the best melons we ever tasted, purchased from an Amish family up on Lynk St. Last summer I tenderly sprouted them, planted them out and watched them grow into lovely grey-green circles of fuzzy leaves with cute little yellow flowers. I couldn't wait to see the melons come.

And then something...woodchuck, deer, bunnies, pixies, or garden sprites ate them right to the root. I was sad. Yesterday there were two deer right on the lawn, listening calmly as Liz lectured them on the folly of eating our veggies and fruits. They did not seem impressed.

So this year I put the melons in a barrel. A lot more care but maybe...just maybe.

Planted a few green and purple beans, also in a large container. You can't fight Mother Nature.

Watered everything. There are a LOT of things.

Made a set of deer repellent devices out of parts of broken laundry bars, fabric softener sheets and rubber bands...maybe

Uncovered the tray of paprika peppers I am attempting to grow for Becky. Remind me to never try peppers in peat pots again. Peppers do not like peat. Germination was abysmal and there are only a couple of spindly sprouts, only one in true leaf stage, after weeks and weeks in the big windows and a couple in the mini greenhouse on the porch. Ugh.

Pulled leaf segments off the various holiday cacti we have and stuck them in the vacant peat pellets. Maybe...

Built, with Ralph's help, a little plant table out of stuff that was lying around the yard and stuck two of the 11 sweet basil plant pots I for some reason, known only to my gardener heart, started this year.

Planted more cannas in front and side yards. And yes, there are more if you want some...maybe you do!

Potted the new yellow mini canna I indulged myself with and set it out. I think it is done blooming for this year, but the leaves are pretty....next year...maybe.....

Finished the destruction of the Ginger Mint barrel, which broke really badly when I tried to move it earlier. Potted a big pot for me, stuck some in the ground, and made a pot for Liz, as a ready made herb garden is part of her birthday gift this year. So far I have Sweet Basil, Orange Mint, Catnip, Golden Lemon Balm, Chives, Thyme, and now Ginger Mint. I have a couple more mints to pot up ready for her. And Walking Onions if she wants some. Ooh, and Garlic Chives too. We usually have lots of them from seed each year. Matt brought me pots! What fun to fill them!

Moved two half barrels Matt brought me, weeded same. Oddly enough I lost my last Wall Pepper last year. It is a kind of soft, creeping sedum, which I have carted from house to house since I was 18 and in college. Matt was cleaning up and asked if I wanted these barrels. As I container garden as much as possible (dog lazy I am) of course I said yes.

Lo and behold, two of them were full of Wall Pepper from plants I gave him previously.

How nice is that?

Ate the volunteer lettuce in the green planter so I can stick a mater in there. It was tasty.

More stuff too, I just can't remember. I was outdoors playing in the garden almost all day. Made meatloaf burgers and mashed taters for supper. Crashed. Slept.

Today...hopefully...more cannas to plant. Seven tomato plants that need to get in the ground. 

May and June are my favorite months, what with migration, gardening, and generally bearable weather. They never last long enough.

Greater Love has No One than this

... than to lay down one’s life for his friends.