The Most Loved Sunflower

I was hoping to get some Peep and Peep-squeaks pictures this morning, but...wait, have I talked about Peep on the blog?  Peep is my cardinal friend who yells at me when the feeder is empty...and has taught all his kids how to train me as well.  Two batches of kids so far this summer and I'm wondering if he's got a third on the way.  

Anyway, the sunflower next to the bird feeder is a volunteer, growing up between the cracks in the sidewalk.  It's been one of my favorites this summer.  Click to biggify and look at all the blooms!  And all the birds.   I'm not sure if it will produce seeds this fall, but it's been a favorite flower perch for everyone waiting their turn at the feeder.

The Coveted Spot

You would think sleeping across a wooden door step would be the least coveted spot in the barn...but you would be wrong.  I'm not sure if it's the slight elevation or the door post pillow or maybe the breeze hits there best.  Big Moose won the spot today.  That won't last long ;-).

Blooms

It's been a week since I last posted...and it's been a week.  We're all okay, basically, but the summer has taken a toll on everyone around here...except maybe Saint Tim...who's a summer loving freak...and that's all I'm saying about that...freak ;-).

Hank has had issues with the heat and also has an ulcerated lesion on an elbow that doesn't want to heal.  Salt ended up with an abscess on a foot that is slowly healing.  Tilly still has her ongoing band aid butt.  Renny got an infected hair follicle on a foot that had to be lanced.  Big Moose got a cough that needed doctoring and now Frankie's got a hitch in his get-along.  I'm getting a hitch in my get-along just trying to doctor on everyone :-o.

So it's raining AND pouring...but not actually rain...which we could use.  How about some pictures of some of my birds, bees and butterfly plants?

Sunflowers.

Pink buckwheat.

White buckwheat - flowers and grains.

Milkweed mixed in with the white and pink buckwheat with some phlox from a friend in the background.

These are the short sunflowers.  Somehow I got some packets that were supposed to grow to 12' and 15' feet tall.  These are the 12's, but they are probably only 10' tall.

The 15's are probably only 12' but that's still a pretty darn tall plant and kind of fun.

I planted milkweed, dill and parsley for monarchs and swallowtails this year.  The birds and the wasps are getting all the caterpillars :-(.

I guess I should start bringing them in to the safety of the porch when I find them, but honestly...I am mentally and physically maxed out right now...and I feel bad about that...on top of everything else.  Maybe things will settle down this week and operation caterpillar rescue can commence.

A friend posted on IG that every day there is "one less day of summer".  We (except Saint Tim) are feebly counting it down to ZERO.

There Is Never Enough Time To Do All The Fun Stuff

But Robin, Julie and I gave it a good shot again this year!  One of the most fun things we did was take Frankie for a couple drives :-D.  There are too many pictures here, but Julie took so many good ones that it was hard to pick just a few.

The reason Frankie looks like Batman is because he has really been having trouble with biting flies this summer.  We lost three weeks of training because of them.  I stumbled across this "Bug Armor" suit from Cashel and it's working like a charm.  

Go Frankie!  He's still learning how to pull up hills, but he's getting better every drive.

Kate got a good workout both days as well.

This was Frankie's first trip through a "bridge". I didn't let him look at it ahead of time at a walk. I just asked him to trot on through. He didn't bat an eye.  I am very impressed with this horse.

Photographer's turn!  Frankie stood like a gentleman while we switched passengers and he added another member to the Frankie fan club :-).

And Then I'll Shut Up About It

One last Tour de Fleece post.

Of course the best prize for completing the Tour de Fleece is all the yarn you've enjoyed spinning throughout the race.  However, most teams award other prizes as well.  As our fearless leader, Maisie helped with one of the prizes for Team My Favorite Sheep this year.  

This bracelet is made from her wool :-).  It's needle felted and then wet felted and assembled with a simple clasp.  I then attached a small silver sheep charm.  I think it turned out pretty cute.  Maisie and I hope the winner likes it. 

It was a good tour!