Red Sky at Morning

With wood thrushes singing up in the old horse pasture. Birding is slowing down as fast as the days are shortening, and it is so humid you could wring out the air like a sponge, I swear. Word is that a strong cold front will be coming through later, with attendant winds and storms. Yay. Perfect hay weather....or maybe not....

Writing two Farm Sides this week, as we will be away next week, so I got up at quarter to five for some quiet time without interruptions. The sun was not up yet! Yep, the days are already getting noticeably shorter.

Got one column done, down to the final proofread and I have a couple of others at least started.

Here are  research links I thought were interesting.

Velvetleaf

State Invasive Hit List

Meanwhile, has anyone seen the camp list, which WAS in my wallet, but no longer is?

Dreams of Dog Days

Notice Nick, on the right, carefully not looking at Mike so they don't have to fight.
Also avoiding the hated camera. Do all BCs hate cameras?

Recently spent some gift money at Amazon. It may have been unwise. I used the whole shootin' match for dog books by Don McCaig.

Known as the Mark Twain of dog writers, Mr. McCaig not only gets it about dogs in general, and working border collies in particular; he is also able to put it in words so the reader gets it too.

Or if you once had border collies and don't any more, he makes you wonder why. Not that I don't love Daisy and all....

But he wrote in A Useful Dog, of how the BCs were careful not to look at bum lambs brought into the house on a particularly cold night. If they didn't look, they didn't see them. If they didn't see them, then their delicate sense of order and propriety was not offended. And they didn't have to do anything about them.

Yes, I remember that...not about lambs, but about things they knew were awry, but beyond their control. That careful not-looking, the opposite of the intensity of their actual eye.

As if they knew and understood the power they possessed and held it in careful abeyance.

All the chapters of the little book were like that. A great deal said using few words. Much understanding within small covers.

I am saving Mr. and Mrs. Dog, which just came the other day, for camp, and waiting for Eminent Dogs and Dangerous Men. I have had Nop's Trials and Nop's Hope for a very long time....and read and reread them. They are all good, but I like the non-fiction better....

These are solid dog books that deserve a read if you are a dog person. I know I will enjoy the other two.

However, now I want a puppy. I am not sure how wise that is, but I miss the three collies that used to call this place home. Maybe it is finally time.

Mike, a good dog

New Feeder

Since it became difficult to find bulk wood shavings for bedding we have used our lean to sawdust shed for a calf pen with varying degrees of success. 

One of its biggest drawbacks is that we always end up throwing feed on the ground, where a large percentage of it gets walked on and wasted.

We decided to put our four yearling heifers out there to get some sun and exercise, but we didn't want to deal with the feed issue.

So we talked about putting in a feeder. The boss had a big, green feeder panel he was using as a gate, so we changed that out and put it across the corner of the pen in front of a window we use to feed through, and replaced it.

Voila, all you can eat buffet.

..........as long as you can eat hay.

As you can see, Abbekirk, Cedar Key, Loki, and Tequila are liking it just fine. 

Happy Birthday, Mappy

Although my younger brother's name is Matthew, we often call him Mappy. 

There is story behind this......When we were little, running tame through the doors of our mom and dad's two shops in Fonda (Montgomery's Antiques on one side, Tryon County Books on the other) we three kids often plagued our landlady. We were bored and she was there.

We must have been awful pests sitting in her kitchen and talking at her of our deeds and misdeeds. She was a fixture in our lives for a very long time though, and we liked her with just a tinge of fearful respect. You did not mess with Veronica.

She was of Lithuanian origin and had a bit of an accent. And she loved Matthew, who was pretty much a baby then. Her baby, as far as she was concerned. Her "Mappy" could do no wrong.

Fast forward to today. He is still one heckuva guy. He will help anyone in their time of trouble, or help just because he can and wants to. He can turn his hand to pretty much anything that he wants to, and is a lot of fun besides. Never a dull moment around Matt.

I am sure he is working today, at his dangerous and demanding job, which involves drilling holes and filling them up again.....in a somewhat more complicated manner....

Anyhow, Happy Birthday, Mappy. Hope you have a great one!

Upper Garden Done

Becky and I finished it today. Everything is planted, except possibly some pumpkins or gourds in some new ground. (Dear friend, Numberwise, we kept you in mind as we filled the rows. Extra pretty much everything if it grows, which is always an issue, especially in a wet year like this.)

A sad day for us though.....

After two weeks of having our boy living at home and working just a few miles away, he is back in our nation's capital, far away from hearth and home....or heart and home, as it should be. It was nice while it lasted, although I wasn't crazy about the job he was on...right out in the middle of that mean old snake of a river that runs past the place. They don't call it the Mighty Mohawk for nothing. My dear  brother is still there for a while...hey, Mappy, watch your step out there! With all this rain it is extra high and mighty.

This morning brought adventures in guinea hen chasing. Liz had them in a coop with a broody hen, sitting on turkey, guinea, and hen eggs. Suddenly they decided that beating her up and breaking the eggs was the thing to do.

So we had a capture committee meeting and put them in the same house as the peahen, although not in her coop. They had better behave!

The boss is baling some hay, not the best as it has been rained on a bit, but I have never seen a year where we weren't grateful for every bale we put up. I am sure not looking forward to unloading it, but it's got to go in. Gonna rain again tomorrow.

Sunday Stills....Power Lines

I have always like the way these power lines look from across the valley
They also run right across the west side and back of the farm

For more Sunday Stills.....

Chatting with Peggy

Peggy is quite the talker for someone turning four months old today.

A (Mostly) Good One

Big tree down up at Jade's grandparents' place
All photos by Liz

If you have to get old, birthdays like yesterday are the way to get it done. From shopping with our boy, to fireworks viewed just by propping up my pillows and looking out the bedroom window, it was a good day.

A tree base picked up their tractor mounted snow blower

Best visit ever with the folks, laughs, and memories, and banana cake. I mean, how many people turn 62 and still have their mama bake them a fantastic, fabulous, really good cake? Becky got me a cinnamon cake too, so I had TWO birthday cakes. Talk about lucky.

Another big tree

And funny shoes that are as soft as clouds too. Al bought himself a pair of these nifty bright blue and green sneakers last week. They looked comfortable and he let me try them on. Felt really nice. Yesterday he bought me my own pair, and yeah, they feel even better when they fit.

Amish neighbor's barn
This was full of people, but they all got out ok

We didn't see much of the kids and the baby though. They were out all day and into the night cutting up trees that fell on their family's stuff. Big mess I guess. Liz was kind enough to let me share some pics she took up that way. Looks like it is going to take a while to get everything straightened up. Everyone was going to go up to help, but plans got changed a couple of times so....

Speaking of fireworks, I could see three displays at once, when I went up to bed last night, one off in Johnstown, one a bit farther west, don't know just where, but we could hear them and see them really well, and then the one at the race track, which is built on what once was the farm next door. Those blossomed right over our barn roof (giving me more than a few misgivings) and I could literally see them just by turning off the light. I am hoping the cows are still in the pasture, as I am sure they didn't appreciate all that hullabaloo right over their heads quite as much as we did. Poor girls.

That white spot is Jade's old boat

God Bless the USA

And he does, every day

Enough, Really, Enough

After years of trying finally got a lightning shot
Not exactly stunning, but satisfying just the same

With the storms already. We got the usual, high winds, some lightning, a lot of hard rain. However, up county where Jade's family lives, it was much worse. No word on whether it was a tornado or not, but trees fell on the buildings where they keep some of their garden equipment and got their tractor snow blower and their old boat and side bar mower.

Worse though, it took out the Amish neighbor's barn, while all the people were inside. No one was hurt, but what a mess. 

I guess the kids will be sawing wood for a while. 

Hold, Enough

Stormy, Buggy, Muggy

Bout sums it up. A stinker of a storm smashed in all of a sudden last night and practically blew the house away. Seriously. I was just falling asleep and the wind and rain lashed in through my open window and soaked the floor six feet from the wall.

So, it was stumble around in the dark half asleep closing windows time. It banged around for an hour or so and then went on its way. No harm done that I can see, just a lot of wet stuff.

This morning the air is thick as molasses, but nowhere near as sweet. Feels like a wet, rubber sheet draped over your head. 

However, I went outside anyhow, as Jade brought me an arbor to hang plants on and I had to move some bee balm off a weedy bank he wants to mow. I planted it there when we moved up here in hopes that the lovely hummingbird friend would take over the bank. Instead the weeds did.

So I was out in the fog of mosquitoes moving it down under the arbor, which we put in front of the kitchen window. Hopefully it will take hold and grow there and I can keep it weeded out.

The Carolina Wren sure had plenty to say about my intrusion into what he considers to be his territory. he is still complaining half an hour later.

Guess the sunset was spectacular last night, with beams of light like rays of a star, shining up off the horizon. Saw some pics here and there. Alas I missed it.

And although my birthday isn't until tomorrow, people have been amazing me with wonderful gifts. Pretty wowsome. 

From my folks five books of my choice from their personal shelves. You have no idea what that meant. I learned my love of birding from Dad. He has bird books. And so.

 I felt guilty taking them, but they insisted. Found an older Nat Geo field guide that I sat down one night and read like a novel. I have the new one, but this older version, between name changes for many birds like orioles and different color plates and all, was just fascinating. Also chose a sea bird guide and a couple others. I should lug them all to camp to study.

Then our dear sister-in-law brought me some of her weaving, pretty new kitchen towels, which I love. if you want something special for your table or towels that will last forever and just keep getting better, her weaving shop is the place to go. The towels she has woven for us will probably be handed down to Peggy, they are so durable.

She and Matt gave me a set of blue ones years and years ago that still look as nice as the day she took them off the loom and they have been in continuous use...  The new ones are a soft, sweet, light brown with pale borders and are so soft and fluffy. I love them. Thanks Lisa.

From the boy of my heart...or should I say, young man.... stuff that he knows will never fail to get me. Fishing gear. Bobbers. Steel leaders. Hooks and spoons and spinners and some silly, gigantic pike hooks.

 He says they are so I don't catch any sunfish. Everybody knows I fish with #1 hooks, which are for the most part too large to fit in the tiny mouths of the sunnies. I love the brilliant little beggars and hate to kill them trying to take a hook out. Rock bass have mouths the size of rain barrels...so I would rather catch them.

Anyhow thanks everyone, for making my birthday, which isn't even here yet, so special.

Camp is coming up in just over a week. Everything camp related has been moved from its usual storing place in the front parlor. Can we find it all? 

The plot thickens.

Sticky

Sultry sunrise

I forced myself, as I trudged in from the barn last night, to remember winter. What would we have given for just one tenth of this heat last January? For even a couple of hours of truly being warm enough?

Seemed as if we were cold for months. 

It is good to be effortlessly warm.

 You have to take action when it gets this way though.

Lots of fans running, lots of ice pops chilling out in the big freezer. 

Alas, lots of misery for poor Miss Peggy, who does not understand and can't regulate her body temperature quite as well as we can.....

But after all, it's summer. 

Summer is meant to be HHH.

Second best season of the year.

And last night was purely spectacular. A sharp little storm jumped up, with strong winds, a few flashes of lightning, and about a dozen drops of rain. 

Dashing double rainbows at the end.

If we don't get a lot of rain today maybe the boss can get the hay he has down. I sure hope so. 

Stormy Night

But

beautiful. 

Where's my Coffee?

I have drunk Taster's Choice since the year it came out. Other coffees have come and gone....sometimes somebody comes along who makes good perked coffee and I will enjoy a cup. Sometimes we get high octane from a convenience store or fast food place to ramp up the energy level for extra-busy days.

However, I always return to my old stand-by.

And suddenly, we can't find it anywhere. The boss went to several stores yesterday...same story everywhere, "Back ordered,"  "Warehouse is out..."

What the hey?

How am I going to do camp without that perfect cup in the morning, out on the porch with fishing pole, camera, binoculars and writing implement? (A pen opposed to a word processor....but there are always stories to tell.)

Say it ain't so.

I'll bet the Chinese bought it.

Crops and Weather

We bunnies believe in the old adage, "Nibble the lawn while the sun shines."
Garden too

Make hay while the sun shines...that old adage is exactly right. Even if a farmer is chopping green hay for baleage or haylage, that is, fermented grass or legumes stored for winter feed, reasonable weather is required.

Tractors get stuck in wet fields and rut up the ground to ruin crops. Wet grass clogs moving parts and breaks shear bolts and makes farmers grumble and grouse. 

To make regular baled hay, two or three days of warm dry weather are required, and sometimes more.

And then there is planting corn. Although of course it needs moisture to grow, if the ground is too wet and cold, the seeds will rot, heavy rains will flood it out, the list goes on and on.

Click me! Click me!

This year has been pretty awful in that respect. it has been a rare week without significant rains. Thus even farmers with lots of good machinery and plenty of help are still planting corn, weeks after the usual planting dates.

And hay, oh dear. Some of the really huge farmers have taken off first cutting, pulling into the fields with large crews and gigantic machines, to shear and store grass, in hours rather than weeks. That very efficiency is one of the reasons there are large farms.

Economies of scale, and the ability to spread the cost of the large machines required to process so many acres over a large herd, and, because they can get over the land, feed the cows well. Big farms aren't factories at all, they just have darned good managers.

Smaller farmers work just as hard, but it is slower to put up hay a few acres at a time, and especially to put it up in small square bales.

With the little spell of dry weather we've had this past weekend, pretty much all farmers, big and small, have been going at it hard.

I'd like to have a penny for every small square bale that was made and stored in NY this weekend. We got in quite a few ourselves.

And now the rain is back.

Hay Day

Jade brought his tractor,
which once belonged to his great grandfather, down to the farm today

Waiting for the last load

Yep here it comes

Conference at the elevator

This is when I left, just before Jade crawled out on the cross mow elevator.

Girls too

Sunday Stills....Landscapes in Black and White

It was quite a week for clouds, so I included some in this, which was shot right out the back door.

For more Sunday Stills....

Waiting for the Garden

Beans are in bloom. 

Squash and carrots are up. 

Peas are getting big.

So are the varmints.

Summer Days

So what's going on at Northview Farm these days , now that most of the cows are gone?

Peggy is teething and having a time of it. Poor, poor baby, this too shall pass, but we can't tell you that, can we?

Bama Breeze is getting closer to calving every day and I am getting closer to worrying. She and Moon are almost exactly the same age, but Moon looks like a million and Bama looks...old....

She didn't shed all of her winter coat, although she is shining up some, and she is just kind of off..It could be because she has been dry so long. Hopefully she will feel better soon.

Saw my cousin on Fox and Friends this morning. He is on quite often, always very cool. The family is proud of this young writer and businessman. He grew up on the same farm where I learned to love agriculture.....

Breakfast of the boss's good omelets made from eggs laid yesterday by the kids' hens. You can't beat that.

Lots and lots and lots of birds, listed here. I am using my old garden blog to keep lists of what we are seeing. Not every day and not always complete, but something of a benchmark for next year. And here is another Northview blogger. When she has time to catalog her world, she sure has a way with words. 

Our boy is working from home for a couple of weeks, on a really scary, dangerous job. I worry about that too....but it sure is nice to have those hugs. He says that he rations them so I appreciate them better. Whatever. It sure is nice to see him.

Nice to see whole family every day. Beck helps the boss and me with the barn chores twice a day. Jade does the lawn, and lends a hand when he's not working. We see Alan every day. So good to get to talk to him so often....and he keeps the varmint population within bounds.

Nothing like having the whole family here!