Odd

 

Is there anything cheekier than a Pied-billed Grebe?

This Fall has been. Warm, damp, warm, damp, rinse, repeat. Never have I ever encountered so many mosquitoes of the demon spawn variety. If you get into a swarm of them...and if you are outdoors you will...there are so many and they are so persistent that you will find yourself wiping them off your face and hands, leaving trails of legs and wings behind. I thought myself an intrepid birder, braving any weather that comes our way to go out on the hunt, every single day. They have sent me running...well, sorta, I don't exactly run these days...for the car, abandoning pretty good findings cuz I couldn't stand them. I am not of fan of first frost, but they are ridiculous.

Then there are the sneaky weasels slipping onto our land with illegal weapons and illegal agendas...through the magic of modern technology, we see you, you know. And if we don't know who you are, we have friends who do. Better be careful.

And flowers. First it was the single lilac bush in bloom along the front bank. It is beautiful and smells so nice. It has been in flower for a least a couple of weeks now and just keeps getting better. 

The other day I spotted a perfect iris up in Northville, so white it almost looked blue. So pretty.

Yesterday a single Bee Balm flower erupted on the back bank. No hummingbirds for you little friend, but kinda nice to see you. The Pineapple Sage Matt and Lisa gave me for my birthday, not to mention the one I bought myself, is covered with flowers of perfect cardinal red. I will grow it again next year if I can and hope it blooms before the hummers leave. They would love it.

The cutest asses I have ever seen. We bumbled down a dead end road the other day and they trotted out to see up.
Their braying was actually soft and sweet. I have a video. I need to upload it.

Meanwhile, where the heck are the ducks? If you use eBird you will know about orange and red dots to indicate how unusual a find is. No dots on normally rare ducks. The ducks, such as Redheads, that do not occur here in summer, should be coming by right now. Instead we rarely even see Mallards. We did find a single Green-winged Teal yesterday, and that cute Pied-billed Grebe is hanging around a marsh we visit, but waterfowl, even Canada Geese, are scarce.

I think they may be staying farther north while the weather stays stagnant like this.

Yesterday's fun...I grow cannas in pots in the garden pond each summer...cheap, easy water plants. No care at all once they are in the water. Each Fall I pull them out before frost, so they can drain, and I can store them in the pantry for the winter. Yesterday, the last and largest one seemed dry enough to haul up by the house so I did...lugging it clutched against me, because it was still very heavy. The leaves were looking ready to be chopped off so I did that.

There in the center of the pot was a befuddled Green Frog, staring up at me, as if thinking, "Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, lady, what are you doing?"

He found the energy to slip out of his torpor once I picked him up, I'll tell you. I put him back in the grass by the pond, so he can plan his winter's sojourn for himself. I don't think he would enjoy the warm, dry pantry very much.

You can tell a lot about summer just by the number of frogs in that little pond... a 300 gallon Rubbermaid watering trough with a fancy fountain Alan built me, and lots of rocks and plants. In a dry year it will be thronged with frogs, mostly lithobates clamatans. This year, with it raining every day or nearly so, we only had this one, and it didn't show up until almost Autumn. 

Meanwhile the birds miss bathing in the fountain, which I am draining and drying for winter, so I put an old gas grill grating from one of the subsurface rock structures up to the side of the pond, so they can get out once they get in. I watched a House Finch yesterday, fluttering around the edge of the pond, wanting to drink and bathe, and he reminded me of the need for same. Amazingly, last year, the goldfish and Rosy Minnows that Becky couldn't catch in the Fall wintered over, and thrived. The minnows even made lotsa little minnows, if you feel the need for a few pink pets.

And that, my dear friends, is why weeks go by with no blog posts, and not much on Facebook either. The outdoors, despite the insects, is so seductive. I have to be there. Winter will get here eventually, and when it does it will seem interminable. I have no trouble at all imagining the cold season during the summer. I look at all the green and know it will go and be gone a long, long time. However, in Winter, when all is grey and white and cold, stark blue, I cannot paint a picture of green in my mind. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have my green jungle wall of houseplants between me and the windows to keep me centered.

Btw, a couple of years ago, Ralph counted the houseplants. 75.

Lately though, I have been giving them away, or disciplining myself in new purchases and splits. Down to 40 now and I think I am enjoying them more. I put the annuals, like geraniums, upstairs, and the big, crazy jungle plants like Elephant Ears and the Split-leaved Philodendron, down here in the big windows. Much less cluttered. Easier to care for as well.

Hugs and good wishes to all from all of us here at Northview Farm.

Fog

 

To sit in the yard on these damp Fall mornings is to rest in a shell at the bottom of a deep grey sea. Sounds are muffled, air is dripping, the view is dimly muted, aswirl with suspended drops of water. Opaque. Quiet. Queer.

A leaf, letting go, bouncing branch to branch, is a warbler passing through, filling up on bugs and berries. 

A warbler is a leaf letting go.

Autumn is a mixture of brief hellos and long goodbyes, and beautiful for it.

If only there weren't so many mosquitoes. 

Snakes Alive

 

I trailed our boy up in the field yesterday, but decided discretion should be the better part of valor as far as slogging through the overgrown fields to his eventual destination. Thus I wandered down the hill, birding as I went, alone.

At midday like that, birds were scarce, but I saw more snakes than I have seen all summer.

They were all Eastern Garter Snakes, probably the commonest species we have, but all were in fresh, bright, skins and just beautiful.

They poured across the ground dark as molten chocolate, the richest lovely brown you could imagine, glittering like jewels poured from hand to hand in some mystic kingdom. I have never before seen them in such dark shiny colors.

I grabbed the photos, which don't begin to do justice to how gorgeous they were in the hot Autumn sun. More than made up for the silence of the birds.

Later the boss and I went out to Sara Lib Road quarry where the tiny migrants were busy in the swampy woods. Lots of both kinglets, chickadees, both nuthatches, and catbirds, calling and bustling around. That was nice too and I should have slept well after all that exercise.

However, the fat lady below sang all night and disturbed our peaceful slumbers.

Lion's Ear

BFFF (Big fat fluffy fellow)

 I'm a sucker for odd plants. Big plants. Hard to grow plants. Almost all plants. 

I found this one over at Sunny Crest early this past summer. it was along the back edge of the greenhouse where we choose our tomato plants each year, looking gangly and kinda scraggly, but utterly different from anything I'd ever seen.

It was labeled Lion's Ear. 

Seemed like a decent buy at around five bucks, so it came home with us.

Turns out it is a South African member of the mint family and is reportedly popular with hummingbirds. 

What a time I had getting it going. It is a BIG plant and it was rooted in a tiny pot. It was so root bound there was barely room for dirt. I planted it near the arbor where it would have some support for its lengthy stems and watered it and watered it and watered it, every single day. This btw was before the summer monsoons started and it rained seven times a day for weeks.

Anyhow, it struggled hard for a while and I just about gave up on it, but then as summer slowed to a crawl it took off. It is now taller than the arbor by at least a foot and still growing. However, the hummers pretty much ignored it until migration got serious. Now it is the hit of the neighborhood, with Ruby-throated Hummingbirds stabbing their beaks into the fuzzy flower tubes like knights jousting for nectar. It must be good stuff for them, as they look like tiny flying bowling balls, they are so fat. (Check out the waistline of the little guy above! He's gonna need suspenders to keep his pants up.)

I really liked it and will grow it again next year if I can get it. Worth every bit of the effort it took.

If you see this Guy Today

 

Wish him a Happy Birthday! He shares this day with one of our lovely granddaughters and one of my cousin's grandsons....whom we remember well dancing at Tawny's party when he was just a little guy. I hope they all have a great day and many happy returns of same!

Revenge of the Rain

 

And failure of the forecast.

You could read three weather forecasts daily...from three different sources...and they would all diverge wildly.

And they would all be wrong.

They might promise that the rain will let up around 4 PM so you plan to do some things that don't involve being wet...say maybe help park the kids' camper or pick tomatoes.

Not only will it not stop by 4PM, it will rain 3 inches between then and 4AM the next day.

On days when the cute little icon on the weather page is a bright fat sun with rays dispelling rainy gloom there will be a downpour every hour.

Ralph swears he saw 32 geese all carrying umbrellas down by the river this morning. He says some of them were downright fashionable too.

I think just about anybody you ask would happily cry, "Hold, enough!" and wish for even a few minutes of dry weather.

And you know how they always say, "It's a good day for ducks?" 

I have seen maybe a dozen ducks in the past three weeks, so I don't think they are happy either.

However I can attest that every day, all day, is a good day for mosquitos. There is a little tiny kind that goes straight for eyes, nose and ears. There are so many you can wipe them off your face!

I sure hope we get a couple of consecutive weeks of respite so farmers can get the corn in and then some more drytime later in the season for the beans.

Meanwhile, guess what???? It's raining.

Pretty much the only sun we will see today

Flashback

 

How often are you transported, whole, back to your early teens? To those years of insecurity, of finding out you were different from the kids you played with and the powers that be, of not knowing whether you were cool or not?

We moved to Broadalbin when I was in 6th grade and I found out all about different. I had been fine in Fonda...they were used to me and my quirkiness. That didn't fly up north. I consoled myself by lying on the dining room floor...cold, bare, empty, hardwood...after the dishes were done of course...and wearing out Dad's Kingston Trio albums. They had a little record player that sat on the floor there and I could play them all I wanted if I was quiet. My favorite was, and is,  From the Hungry i. (We still have the one with the grooves worn almost beyond redemption.)

Everyone else was listening to the Beatles. I didn't. (Until later when we got the band going but never with any great pleasure.) Did you know that the Beatles once opened for the Kingston Trio? Yep, I found that out last night.

See, Becky inherited my love for their music and wore out MY cassette tapes when she was about the same age as I was during the dining room years. They played locally during the years we were showing cows every summer, but due to one fair or another I couldn't take her.

 Fast Forward a few years....

Tickets went on sale for a show at the Universal Preservation Hall a couple of months ago and she got seats for the three of us. We searched out maps and parking and off we went in a snaky, slithering rain, with much trepidation.

I had watched videos online and liked what I heard, but had no idea what to expect from this extension of the original band. The founding members all left us long ago.

What can I say but, wow! Becky was one of the youngest people there, by at least a few decades, but they rocked that place and the crowd was downright dynamic. They played the best-known KT classics with a polish and fidelity to the past that was at once exciting, and yet comforting to this old fan. It was great to remember those dining room years from where I am now and realize that weird really isn't all that bad.

They played songs I had never heard before, having moved on to country and rock once our band got going and we needed to please others, so I missed some albums. They closed with one written, I believe, by John Stewart, about America's first moon walk that literally gave me cold chills. (BTW, for historical reference, along with my brother and friends, I belonged to two rock and roll/country bands, Hereafter and Stone Free. We always joked to the audience that we would probably be here after they walked out, and that although we didn't play stone free, we were certainly dirt cheap.)

The show was great rollicking fun. We laughed, sang along, clapped, and laughed some more. Even Ralph sang and amazingly well too. He is not exactly a music guy. At the end of the show the band mingled in the lobby, shaking hands and sharing memories with anyone brave enough to walk up to them. I am a sniveling coward at heart as it happens, but that didn't stop me one bit....nice guys and very approachable.

Among my favorite aspects was Buddy Woodward playing the conga drum. Such flash! What panache! However, it was all fun, from fan favorites to new territory.

Before we were home last night, having traversed the dreaded route down 29 in rain-lashed darkness, lit mostly by ill-placed reflections glaring from the watery road, Becky had found some of my new favorites, and placed them on my "3C Walking" playlist. (You know, threecollie...who is a walking fool.)

Thanks Beck for getting the tickets and coaxing us out there, Ralph for driving under such nasty conditions (at least it wasn't blinding snow like that one High Kings Concert at the Egg), Dad for giving me so much music in my kidhood, and the band for a great evening's entertainment. 

Hope they play here again and soon.

Back in the band days
upstairs at Sherman's Amusement Park
Loved that Framus guitar
and I believe that is the drum set Mike is sellin
if you are interested. It's a good un.

Planting and Putting By

 

Yesterday I planted the third, and probably last, crop of leaf lettuce for the year. We have enjoyed many salads and sammiches with it and I will miss it come winter. I grow it in old water tubs and totes. Today I picked a bunch from the second planting for us and for Liz too. I just take the outside leaves and each day there seem to be fresh outside leaves. Going to try some butterhead type next year I think. Liz bought some at a stand earlier in the summer and it was really good. 

Today I finally remembered to bake and freeze the big butternut squash I bought for fifty cents each from some Amish folks up in Otsego County. They grow darned good squash.

I don't believe my watermelon is going to set fruit this year, but at least...so far...the deer and woodchucks have left it alone. Last year just as it started making baby melons they ate every single leaf. It is so pretty that I will continue to grow it just for the foliage!

Check out this mixer. A dear friend bought it for me once when i took care of his horse when he was out of town. That was before I even knew Ralph existed, so over forty years...way over. It still works perfectly well too. You know that old saying....they just don't make them like they used to!

Happy Anniversary to these two lovely folks. 5 Years! Congratulations!

Happy Anniversary in Heaven

 

I'll bet you are still together...

It Always Rains

 

On the first day of the fair...or so Ralph has frequently said. 

It is certainly raining today. It rained all night and then between 3 and 4 AM it began to thunder continuously. It was not all that loud, no massive cracks and booms that shook the house, but no pauses either. I woke up thinking of that Garth Brooks song. Country music fans will know the one I mean. It sure was rolling.

Iron Cat hides in the Hysssss....op....

I wanted to get up before the house awoke and get a peaceful shower. Nope. Now it is at it again. I feel sorry for all dogs that are horrified by thunder, especially Jill, who is in the kitchen panting and shivering.

I rejoice:

A) that the rain is supposed to stop in about an hour, so they may be able to hold the tractor pull, a major local event, much anticipated all year by many. Fair skies predicted until Friday. I suspect the weather wizards are high on something, but hey, you never know. Maybe we won't catch the tail end of that terrible storm down south. Also prayers for the many friends and family we have in the Sunshine State. Stay safe!

B) that I am not the one washing ponies, sheep, cows, etc. in the rain, in a thunderstorm. I have been there and done that and qualify for many, many tee shirts. I'm over it now.

C), that I actually like the song above and listen to it all the way through every time I have to go find a link for it. Admire the dancing too. Such agility should be respected.

@Linda Brown

Terribly Neglectful

 

Cute little Magnolia Warbler
right in the backyard

Of this poor blog, and I'm sorry. It is just too easy to throw a couple of pictures on Facebook and go back outdoors or get back to taming this disaster area of a house.

Ralph seems somewhat better. Time will tell. At least he feels a little bit more like doing things, which was not the case before.

Immature Gray Catbird, already showing his sassy side

Birding has been sporadic. With the schedule he needs to follow for food and medicine it is a project to get out early in the morning, so that has not been happening much. Also it rains every day just about and sometimes a lot. I washed out the plastic tote I keep sunflower seeds in yesterday, laid it down to drain, then turned it up to the sun to dry. Hah! It had an inch and a half of water in it last time I checked.

Kid Rock (s)
I find pretty rocks and let the kids take what they want
when they are here.

We did our own little nighthawk watch last week. Common Nighthawks, which are anything but, are migrating through right now. We usually go down to the Schoharie/Schenectady County line where we join our good friend, George Steele, for a nice nighthawk watch. He is really good at predicting when they will come by and where.

Warbling Vireo

However, my deepest birding goal is to find as many birds in Montgomery County as is possible. With that in mind we ventured down to the Overlook Bridge in Amsterdam just before dusk to have a look. Becky came with us to get some steps in in a prettier place than looping through the house. 

The bridge did not disappoint. We were no more than halfway across when I heard an interesting call, looked up, and there were two nighthawks. We were less impressed by this idiot who chose to climb the sculpture in the park and to encourage the small children accompanying him to do the same. A little girl that was with them came up to where we were standing and concealed herself behind the hydrangeas, so as not to be associated with such disrespectful behavior. On the way home, Ralph suggested we take Queen Ann St. rather than the main road. We were halfway down when he pointed left and said, "What are those?"

Outlaw goats. 
They were in the road when we came upon them.
Thought they were deer at first but...

"Those" were 24 nighthawks...or maybe more...swooping and swirling through the dusky light. How cool is that!

Also in the road at dusk
Amish kids with wagons

Here at home, where I have been doing my early morning birding, I have been seeing the same eighteen or twenty species every day for weeks. Not boring or anything, as it is always fun or I wouldn't be doing it, but a bit disappointing, as I read reports of other folks finding dozens of warblers and wonders of waterfowl and shorebirds.

That kinda changed yesterday when I spotted first a Canada Warbler, and then a Nashville in the old Honey Locust tree. It was scheduled to be cut down years ago but the deal fell through. I am sorta glad it did. It is a danger to one and all, but the birds love the way it catches the early sun and warms up the bugs so that they can catch them.

Great Blue Heron, foggy morning

Anyhow, we are still here and on the right side of the dirt and I thought you should know. The fair starts this week...hoping the track dries out by tomorrow afternoon so the guys can enjoy the tractor pull

Member of Congress

I may or may not go over. I used to get really excited for the fair, entered everything from art to animals of all sorts, and went every day and night. Now I am just as contented to listen to the roar of the trucks and tractors and the distant jingle of the announcer's voice from right here in the living room or on the sitting porch, and call it close enough...it is right across the river.

Other side of the aisle

Of course most years I change my mind and at least take one walk around to say hi to all our friends and neighbors and look at all the good livestock. Mebbe I'll see you there.

Then again, mebbe not. 

Comments

 

Will be moderated for a little while. Sorry about that.

A spammer nailed Northview last night with 15 useless comments spread back into last year. Past history tells me that they will be back until they get tired of being denied.

So....wish it didn't have to be that way, but I guess it does.

Oh, and it's raining again. I saw a post where a neighbor farm worked all night to beat it getting in their 4th cutting. Sure gets old.