Twisted Trees

Some of them are nature's work, or the efforts of strangling riverbank grapes.

Others are the pattern left behind by an old lady with too much time on her hands and the desire to keep the little honey locust branches from reaching out and touching folks with their jagged little thorns. 

They are all kind of cool.

The Things you See

The backdrop, minus the birds

 With only two cows, a heifer and three calves, there was no reason to cling to a rigid schedule yesterday, so for the first time in forever....literally our whole lives together..... I suggested to the boss that he finish all his chores before he ate his dinner....which I didn't rush and race to cook, since there were only three of us here, and no need for a tight schedule atall.

And I boned out the bird before we had dinner, so after there were just the dishes and the packing away.



Thus it was still daylight when I sat down in my Sunday chair, done with the day's requirements.

I happened to look up. To get this you have to imagine that every single surface for miles around is coated with inches-thick snow. Weirdly the sticky stuff fell in the midweek storm and just clung to every branch and leaf....everything is starkly and utterly white.

The sky was darkening woolly grey....



Into this stark, but beautiful monochrome burst a murmuration of starlings...not a big one, just a few hundred birds.....

But a few hundred strong black birds, swirling and twisting and twining against a backdrop of sheer white was a thing of staggering beauty such as I had never imagined. Jaw dropping, heart stopping, awe inspiring wow.



The trees over in the eastern hedgerow were also covered with thousands more....enough to make them look as if they had sprouted a full crop of black leaves.

Of course before I could get shoes and camera they were gone, but I won't forget them.

A Toast

To all you sisters who are stuffing turkeys, eyes watering from the onions, sinuses tickled by too much sage, in overheated kitchens, even as I type. And to brothers who are hunting deers with visions of that stuffing dancing in their heads.

And to brothers making dinner and sisters sitting in deer stands and to all the farmers who grew the green beans for a million green bean casseroles. To everyone who cares for livestock every single holiday in every kind of weather.

And to all who serve and cannot be home on this day of traditional gratitude and camaraderie and overeating.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, one and all.

And peace to America and everyone who lives here.

And don't forget the good folks who print the paper that runs the Farm Side. Word is that they have been without power all night and are struggling to get that job done before going home to their families. Be safe and strong today.

Are You Ready

We think we are, but no doubt today and tomorrow will reveal to us all the things we have forgotten. Kids are all dining with inlaws or prospective inlaws, so it is just the three of us this year.

Which doesn't mean that I won't be cooking. I figure to be filling folks up with leftovers for at least a week.

Meanwhile, the kids had their six turkeys processed locally and were quite happy with the result. Weights ranged from a smaller hen at 15 pounds to big toms that were nearly 25.

They gave me one of the big ones, which I am saving for Christmas....really, if I had gotten it thawed we would be having it tomorrow....however, we do have a fresh one in the fridge. 

Anyhow, I hope you have fun cooking up a storm, while hopefully avoiding the predicted one. And be safe on those roads out there! It isn't bad enough that we are predicted to have a lot of snow....no, we all have to dodge thousands of people looking down at their phones. Texting while driving seems to have become the new national pastime.

While Alan was on his way home last night and driving through the Baltimore area he saw four accidents in quick succession. Three were obvious cases of distracted driving.

One involved the car directly in front of him and the one in front of it.

I guess we have to watch out for them, since they are certainly not watching out for us.

Have a great Thanksgiving anyhow.

Clear Today, Gone Tomorrow

A present from my husband, who knows that the way to a farm girl's heart is not flowers and chocolates

The past couple of days have been phenomenal for November and much appreciated. Yesterday was so warm we opened all the barn doors to let the heat in.

Today the wind is whipping and whining, but it is still warm enough to go out without a coat.

I was hanging up laundry in fact and happened to look up. A twin engine plane flew past with two wind tossed pigeons right below. The plane can certainly move a lot more cargo, but the pigeons were more graceful. 

Then a perfect storm of box elder samaras came swirling down. It was so cool! There were thousands of them, clouds of them, each whirling in its own path to earth.

 Of course this means that next spring there will be thousands of tiny box elders springing up wherever we don't want them. Seems as if by two hours after they sprout they have a whippy trunk that is hard to break and roots that go to Taiwan.  Acer Negundo is not my favorite tree!

It's the burdock of the maple world in my mind.

 In fact the other day when the trimmers from the power company interrupted my Bald Eagle photo shoot, they apologized nicely for taking out maybe a dozen young box elders. I assured them that if they cut every one on the farm my heart would not be broken.

And, as previously mentioned, there would be plenty more next spring. I wouldn't be surprised if you could count hundreds of them out in the hedgerows, around the buildings, in the flower beds, in inconvenient cracks in the foundation....everywhere.

This is NOT an acer negundo, but rather, I believe, an acer saccharum
a much more welcome tree
This piece is hollow and will have geraniums planted in the top next spring.
Meanwhile, NOBODY is going to plow over the garlic bed.

Anyhow, this sweet little interlude of wonderful weather will be interrupted tomorrow by a major winter storm or so the forecasters are saying. Weather wise this has been the nicest fall in decades. I am not ready for it to end. Be safe on the roads this week, please....

Gambit

Please join us in welcoming THS Timeless Nights In Satin (AKA Gambit) to NY. He came all the way from Ohio over the past couple of days. Peggy thinks Uncle Alan is the greatest and thanks him for making this possible.

I would also thank you all for good thoughts that he settle in all right and thrive here.

Thanks!

Sunday Stills....Light my Fire

This time of year at chilly Northview, a good fire in the wood stove is one of the most important things going on. Thanks, boss for keeping us warm!

For more Sunday Stills...

They were Probably Harmless

It's all about the turkeys

The boss doesn't sleep much.....or at least not at one time.

Thus last night at midnight he was struggling with his TV....set top box is old and worn out and he really should get it replaced....and wide awake in the living room.

It was Friday, and sometimes Fridays mean Alan coming home, although he is actually working through this weekend down in DC.

But still....we never really know....

Thus when he saw headlights coming up the driveway, at first he was happy rather than alarmed.

But then the beams from flashlights started sweeping across the living room ceiling and he knew something was wrong.

He went to the back door to discover complete strangers wandering around the yard with flashlights.....merrily snooping at will.....

He was not happy. We are quite some ways from the road, up a twisting, rough old driveway. We have signs at the bottom to repel uninvited boarders, of which we get more than our share. It is not an inviting place for midnight perambulation...yet there they were, right by our car and the kids' trucks.

Supposedly they were looking for dogs missing from down in town. Brindle dogs, so I am thinking pit bulls....

So they just trundled right up the driveway, past the two, yes two, sets of posted signs to start searching the yard.

They were treated to a taste of the boss mad, an event which, once experienced, is not something you want to repeat.

Myself, I would have called the police on them, dogs or no dogs. In fact I have the non emergency number for the sheriff memorized in case I need it. However, I never even woke up.

Maybe they were just trying to give that guinea hen from yesterday a run for her money in the fastest hamster wheel competition and really were looking for dogs. Maybe they had something else in mind.....whatever..... long before this I had taken to re-locking the doors when I get up before the rest of the world and after I walk our dog. And nagging about bringing in keys, and locking up cars, and putting tools away.

If there were dogs I hope they find them. If there were no dogs I am glad the boss was awake and vigilant. And either way I hope they never come back.


And btw, the guinea hen turned herself in to the poultry authorities early yesterday morning, and put herself right back in the coop. She is now safely down in the barn with the rest of the flock.

There's One in Every Flock

The boys of summer leave in the fall

Night before last what was probably a weasel killed the last white guinea keet. Well, really they aren't keets anymore, but not quite full grown either.

Now, how did I get up here...and how do I get down?

Thus Liz moved the rest of them to the big chicken coop and Laura and her rooster to the peacock coop.

Except for this one. If turkeys have the reputation for not being likely candidates for Mensa, it is guinea fowl which come right from the factory devoid of anybody home upstairs but a rapidly whirling hamster on crack.

Programmed to panic, so to speak.


This one shot out of the top of the little coop when Liz lifted the roof panel, like a bean out of a pea shooter shot by a tornado.

Oh, no, here comes the person who raised me from the egg and fed me every day
Flee, flee I tell you, flee!!!!

I was upstairs picking up laundry when it hit the window of the room I was in. And clung, frantic, to the crossbar before falling to the porch roof. Then it went up on the big roof.

They chased it, lured it, tried to trap it, all afternoon.

No soap. This is one of the same birds that came running in their little yard, whenever I went out, in case I might stop to feed them drop apples or fallen grapes....the little ingrate....or maybe ingrape. 

And this morning, having somehow evaded foxes and other varmints all night, it is still, not unlike the new mercury light bulbs, not quite bright enough to do its job. Such as roosting in a tree, for Pete's sake.

We have lots of trees.

Oh, well. 

Alas, the turkeys go today and I will miss them, but Thanksgiving dinner was always their fate. More next year I truly hope.

And incidentally, one of my very first blog friends has written a whole bunch of good ones lately. Rather than link to just one post, you could just go check out her whole blog.

  

Why, yes, that lump out in the snow on the back lawn is the stupidest of domestic fowl
Why do you ask?

Sunshine all Around

Counting our blessings.

The big storm missed us. I don't think we even got an inch. Lots of prayers for those poor souls who did get nailed..... just a couple hours from here it is really bad.

The barn water thawed so we could do chores in the normal manner this morning. You don't know whatchu got til it's gone.....We were looking at hauling enough for all the stock and to wash the pipeline, so not having to do so brought big smiles.

It is a lot warmer than recent days...see above. The best part is there are hardly any birds coming in. Although I like to see them, when there is a crowd, you know what comes next....a nasty storm.

The boy made it safely to DC...always a big worry for his mama. I was so happy to get that phone call last night that he was there okay.

And the little peanut above brightens the days more than a little, especially when she isn't teething up a storm of her own.

Christmas in November

Becky bought me a refurbished Nook and gave it to me early. Then B$N gave me five bucks for a free book. I found a lot of other free books too.....

See you next spring. 

Seriously, the thing is beyond cool. I spent yesterday evening figuring out how to use it and reading on that first free book. I chose The Last of the Breed, by Louis L'Amour. We used to have a paperback copy, but I guess we read it to death.....you get that sometimes....when you really like a good yarn. 

This particular book is the one Alan was thrown out of study hall for reading because it wasn't "approved". Guess how long it took me to go up to the school and straighten that out....

Anyhow, yesterday was cold, but interesting. We went up to see Mom and Dad and take Dad a slightly belated birthday gift. This morning it is also cold, middle of January, glassy ice, and frozen feet cold, and I don't like it much. Maybe I should curl up with a warm blanket and a nice, cozy Nook.......

First bird today, a large flock of indignant House Finches and a bunch of Gold Finches. Oh, my, they are loud.

Aux Birds

This

Went out yesterday to take a picture of the seven-point buck Alan got opening day....which by the way will be processed here this evening, a job which I dread, but which must be done.

Plus this
equals a big deer in anybody's woods

I got carried away. The deer was in the shed. Not on the top of the heifer pasture hill. Not in the heifer pasture woods.

Not in the lane. Not down by the creek.

Nope, but I still went to all those places and the birds went with me. Song Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos down by the buildings. Pileated Woodpeckers right behind the hop house.... Of all things a low-flying plane spooked one out over me at the top of the hill.....how odd to look up to see the chicken-like bird flying right below the plane.

There were Robins in the woods. A flock of Cardinals. Tufted Titmice galore. We have never had so many before this year. Chickadees. Gold Finches, White-thoated Sparrows tentatively whistling "Old Sam Peabody...." A Red-Tailed Hawk that kept just out of good camera range, but didn't deign to actually fly away. Always the Carolina Wrens.

 Crows and a flock of Canada Geese that flew right over me. I was so glad I didn't take a step forward in their wake. The oak leaves at my feet rattled as if there was hail. But it wasn't hail. At least they missed.

Red-bellied Woodpecker. Some Downies. Blue Jays. A Corvid-like something or other I could not identify, though it called and called and called. Not a Fish Crow. Not a Raven. Not any jay that I know. I wonder what it was.

There were Grey Squirrels, every single one masquerading as a nineteen-point, nine-hundred-pound, White-tailed buck. Squirrels are stinkers.

Can you imagine how they must sit in their dreys and snicker at the end of each cold November day? "Hah, I had a guy practically falling out of his tree stand over me today. I just hop-hop-hopped slowly through the leaves right under him. He was so excited he nearly choked himself with his gun sling trying to bring it around to shoot. Then I spoiled his day by chattering at him and warning every deer for miles. I almost fell out of the tree laughing."

Yeah, the squirrels all do it and even when you KNOW it is a squirrel, and you SEE that is a squirrel, it still sounds more like a deer than a deer does.

Anyhow, it was quite a walk, all unintended. And if I forgotten any of you friendly local winter birds I apologize....next time I need to take a pen and paper for my list. 

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Sunday Stills....Shallow DOF

For more Sunday Stills.......

Opening Day South

Be careful out there! There are a lot more people in the woods and fields than on a normal fall morning. Some of them are not exactly woodsmen, but hopefully no one will squeeze the trigger until there is an actual deer in their sights.

Beautiful day for it though. Cold, frosty, with a peach and gold and green and blue sunrise just now flowing over the horizon like cool, bright water in an exotic fruit drink. Mango anyone?

Birds aren't up yet, so I don't know first bird for the day...oops, there it is, a Chickadee peeping on the feeder......but a Bald Eagle visited right behind the house yesterday.

And of course when I was creeping up the lawn trying to get some good shots, some power company tree trimmers walked right up behind me to ask it they could cut some box elders....I am always glad when they are polite enough to ask before hacking down trees. Plus delighted to tell them that they could cut as many box elders as they wanted to. What are the odds though?

Their timing stank to say the least.

There were Crows earlier. Lots of Crows. Red-tailed hawks, what I thought was a Harrier, (no pics of the latter) plus the normal cast of characters at the feeders, which they now empty in a day or less.

It's supposed to snow tomorrow night. Guess everything is on the move.

And, as always on this special holiday for Upstate NY deer hunters, the Youpers.... Second Week of Deer Camp



.

First Snow

Fell all unwelcome and unwanted, last night into this morning. I worried, as mothers will, because our boy was on the road from Washington DC, in a Camaro, in the dark of the night. 

Woke very early, long before the daylight, and padded outdoors in my bare feet, flashlight in hand.

Camaro in the driveway?

Yes, there is. 

And back to sleep until dawn's early light. Resting peacefully.

Boycott American Women

Just  call me immature and unchaste and all that

 The comment below showed up overnight on my handy-dandy photo blog, which I use upon occasion to dump photos that are too good not too keep, but too numerous to save forever on my computer.


I am an American man, and I have decided to boycott American women. In a nutshell, American women are the most likely to cheat on you, to divorce you, to get fat, to steal half of your money in the divorce courts, don’t know how to cook or clean, don’t want to have children, etc. Therefore, what intelligent man would want to get involved with American women?

American women are generally immature, selfish, extremely arrogant and self-centered, mentally unstable, irresponsible, and highly unchaste. The behavior of most American women is utterly disgusting, to say the least.

This blog is my attempt to explain why I feel American women are inferior to foreign women (non-American women), and why American men should boycott American women, and date/marry only foreign (non-American) women.

BOYCOTT AMERICAN WOMEN!

Do you suppose this is spam? Do you think he knows that I am an American woman? Should I boycott myself? Should I click that link?

Nah, I don't feel like catching anything he is spreading.

But I feel all fat and cheaty now. And unstable. Arrogant, and self-centered.....Yeah, that too.

I guess he told me! 

Anyhow, I will leave it there for today as a source of sneering laughter and satire, and then he is going to get his sorry, insulting, ignorant fanny deleted. Yep. Click.

Recall and Equine Edjamucation

All our computer charger cords were recalled....every single one in the house. Here is the link to check yours. 

Seen on the highway in front of the house, on the bridge in town, and over by the fairgrounds....not by me, alas, or there would be pictures....

An Amish horse, hooked to a wagon, with another horse tied to the tailgate, hooked to yet another wagon....like a tandem with a horse in the middle.

 Guess the rig held up traffic on the bridge for ages, as the rear horse was not excited about following the front horse and wagon.

I assume the guy was attempting to train the horse on the rear cart to travel in traffic and pull something behind him.

At any rate he tied him up to the new posts in front of the fairgrounds entrance and went down to the river to get him some water. 

You just never know what you will see in small town, Upstate NY.

Huntin' season south opens this weekend BTW. I generally share a link to the state's laws on trespassing for all the folks who think that little bit of paper is a license to trot through pasture and cornfields willy-nilly.

And here it is.

Thanks for your Service

One of my favorite veterans