March

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March was jam packed...but pretty darn good :-).

Happy Anniversaries

Twenty-two years ago today we closed on this farm...and each other.  Technically it was the 23rd, but I liked the idea of the fall equinox (possibly my favorite day of the year :-), so our anniversaries are a floating holiday, depending on the year.

This has been a horribly long, hot, dry summer so I'm especially celebrating that we got some much needed rain and cooler temperatures today, just in time for the fall equinox.  The farm is celebrating, too.  

I actually enjoyed walking out to our oldest pear tree this afternoon to gather some fruit to try to make a pear tart. I tried to set up a photoshoot with the freshly baked tart resting under the tree, but the rain pushed us back to the porch.  That's an okay trade.  I brought the tree to the porch :-).

Twenty-two years ago my mother looked at that pear tree and said it was very old and she didn't think it would last much longer.  That old tree outsmarted the spring freeze that took all the rest of the pears and apples here and at the local orchards and it was loaded with pears this year.

This is a very dear little farm.  Thank you.  For everything.

April 2024

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Surely things are going to slow down soon...right?  :-o

 

No Mow May

The men's race Tour de France/Fleece is over, but now we are spinning for the women's race.  I'm using that as my "justification" for not having taken pictures of my yarn for a blog post yet.  I will do it.  In the meantime, one last gift from the camera card archives!

I'm not big on over mowing (even though it looks like it) and used the "No Mow May" campaign as my leverage to push Tim to not mow the back field this spring.  I thought it would mostly be used and enjoyed by all the animals, but I enjoyed it at least as much as they did. 

I loved walking back there, especially in the evenings.  Everything looked soft and magical and it didn't even feel like the same farm.  We got a bunch of rain early in the spring and everything was green and lush and the trees surrounding the Frog Pond almost felt like a little woods (the one thing I really wish we had here).

I wish I'd done a better job taking more pictures, but I'm glad I got these if for no other reason than it tricked me into putting them into a blog post so I'll be able to jog my memory for the rest of my life.

I love tulip poplar flowers and I'm glad our trees are finally old enough to really send them out.

I know most people consider wild blackberries a weed, but I think they are pretty and I know the birds love all the berries.  One year Paige picked a bunch and made a cobbler.  It was fabulous, but I'm not that dedicated and I just let them go.  I enjoy the blossoms as much as anything.  You could smell them from 15 feet away.

No Mow May was a huge success (in my books ;-) and I have added it to the maybe three things I like about spring.  If you have the opportunity, give it a try.

If you'd like to hang out in the meadow for a bit longer, here's a new puzzle.

My Favorite Tree...Of The Week...Or All Time

The Crowing Hen and her tiny friend Blondie have been here for almost ten years.  There were originally two tiny hens and the two tinies hung out together and the Crowing Hen, now affectionately called "Yaya" because that's what the bantams sound like when they're talking to me bossing me around, was brave enough to mingle with the big hens.

The two tinies slept each night side by side on one of the beams just over the cart stall in the barn.  Yaya chose the Sheep Chicken's perch in the outside stall.  The big hens are locked securely in the coop.  I've always wished all the chickens would sleep in there, but the bantams have never wanted to do that.

Something happened one night and the two tiny hens moved from their normal perch to way up into the rafters for a few months.  They eventually moved back down and then the silver hen started having trouble getting up into the lower perch.  She let me help her for awhile and then one morning a year or so ago I found her dead.

Blondie continued to sleep over the cart stall for quite a few months and then one night she wasn't there.  I eventually found her sleeping in the rafters over the Easy Breezy stall.  I'm not sure what scared her over there, but she seemed okay with that spot and that's where she's slept for many months.

A month or so ago I found the Crowing Hen with a bare spot on her neck (!).  I'm not sure what happened, but I feel like something had tried to grab her, luckily unsuccessfully.  Because I knew that a. she was pretty comfortable with the big chicken and b. she was in a location I could easily get to, I started picking her up and locking her in the main coop at night.  She still makes me move her each night, but at least she's basically okay with it.

One night last week Blondie moved back over the cart.  There is a nest of fledging barn swallows near where she had been sleeping and I wondered if they'd told her to get lost.  The next night I found her in the tack room.  I made her a perch in there and hoped she'd move in there at night, but the following night I couldn't find her anywhere.

She did show up the next morning (whew!), but that night I again couldn't find her.  That went on for several days.  I tried to be as stealth as I could, watching her every move, trying to clue in to where she was going, but she kept eluding me.  The fifth morning she showed up looking very tired and cold. I really needed to get this figured out.

Tuesday night she walked into the Wool House and looked around, eyeing the loft.  I love this little chicken...but not that much ;-).  I'd seen her poking around a little with the big chickens recently, I think trying to talk herself into moving in to their secure coop, so I tried to stick her in their with them, but she was too scared.  I set up a small cage in the wash room like she'd slept in during the Polar Vortex and she settled right in.

Last night I propped the door open and hoped she'd go in there on her own.  As I walked back up to the barn after dinner I found her heading across the yard.  I stood there quietly, watching, thinking at least now I was going to find out where she'd been sleeping every night.  She headed for the big pine tree and just as she was going to make her big leap, I scooped her up.  

My first thought was how scared she must have been to move out of her long time barn home into the "wilds" and how scared she must have been out there huddled in a tree all night.  No wonder she looked exhausted.  

Then I thought about finding blind Rocky out there after the night he wandered out of the barn and got lost.  And Salt always sleeping under that tree and Ewenice and Renny and Kate and Tilly and sitting out there with bottle lamb after bottle lamb and who knows who else has sought shelter in and under that kind tree.

It's had a rough life.  The top has been ripped out of it time and again by wind and ice and lightning.  Because it's lost it's ability to grow up, it's grown out.  Way too far out.  We've tried pruning it back a few times, but I know it's days are numbered.  It maybe does as well because it's setting a bunch of pine cones this summer.  

I'm hoping I can harvest some seeds from these cones...but I mostly hope I don't need a replacement for a very long time.

Spring Shine

Everything budded out early this year and right as the redbuds were getting ready to open...we got a hard freeze.  The redbud show is a highlight of spring and I was sick about probably missing it this year.  Not to worry.  The trees were smarter than me and had saved up buds to replace the damaged ones.

The bees have been enjoying them as well.  Bees of all shapes and sizes.  It seems like they all take turns finding their own "peak" time throughout the day.

Here are two favorite pictures from the last couple of days.  

And they are new puzzles :-).  

Enjoy!

April

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Spring Beauties

The flowers have been so pretty this spring.  Somehow we've gotten lucky and the hard frosts have not been devastating.  

Last night walking back from the night check.  I love the way the porch lights illuminate the rain, snow, ice and flowers throughout the seasons.  

Some fog the other morning.

The old magnolia and an ancient redbud.  I have no idea how old that redbud is or even how it's still standing, honestly, but I like to think it might be because they are taking care of each other.

Green.

The greenhouse was outstanding all winter and is still going strong.  

I shared this picture the other day, but today we'll focus on the flowers :-).  I love our yard full of color each spring.

The lilacs are just starting to open.  The branches are loaded with buds and most seem to have survived the frost last week.  Fingers and proboscises crossed! 

 

Not weeds to me :-).

Do You See What I See?

So you'll know what to look for.

Do you see them?

Can you see them on the top of the tree?

This was the best I could capture on the now not so little Christmas tree on the creek, but a few are showing up.   I see these when I go down to open the gate and the sun is shining bright on a cold, frosty morning.  Little prisms...or Christmas lights :-).

April

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What a crazy, but beautiful month! 

April Snow

The snow was mostly gone by noon, but it was sure pretty while it lasted.

   

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O Canada

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When we moved here in 2003, we planted the two maple trees out front in honor of Tim's Canadian family, so, yes, of course Canadensis is blogworthy!  Sorry for the unintended slight ;-).

Well, How About That!

We have had a beautiful spring and the redbuds have been glorious!  And here is where I google "redbud" to include a link with information about the trees and find their scientific name is cercis canadensis.  

Canadensis means 'of Canada', so...interesting, but probably not super blogworthy.  Cercis, however, comes the Greek 'kerkis' which means "a weaver's shuttle" because of the shape of their fruit/seed pods!  

That just made my day :-).

There are six new spring puzzles :-).

Yarn Along - June

I decided if I was going to get back to normal regular blogging, I'd better have something ready for the June Yarn Along.  That and I'd picked up a skein of Rhapsody in Hue's Equinox Farm yarn at the fiber festival and I was dying to try it out ;-).

Melanie did a spring and fall colorway and I picked spring.  I'm not sure why, as I much prefer fall, but I was probably feeling sentimental about the redbuds, which were as beautiful this spring as they were when this picture was taken several years ago.

The redbud blooms might be gone, but the yarn still looks right at home with a backdrop of Johnny Jump Ups on the Wool House porch.

My knitting mascot for this project is Silke, a super sweet lamb from Little Cotton Rabbits.  I've been trying to purchase one for several years and finally got lucky (they sell out in a minute when she lists them!) last fall...winter...?  If I'd kept the blog current I'd know for sure :-/.  Anyway, she took the first frogging with great courage and luckily we haven't had any more trouble.

Melanie did half the skeins with Merino and half with Blue Faced Leicester.  I chose the BFL since I'm...all together now...a coarse wool girl and I thought it might suit me better than merino, but it's not coarse.  It's very soft and smooth...and I'll be happy to get back to some good old Texel or Jacob when I'm finished ;-).  

The colors are really pretty though and I'm having fun working with it.  I think she may have a few skeins left from the festival if case you are interested in knitting along :-).  The pattern I'm knitting is Taina by Eeva Kesakuu.

For my book...well, I listened to some really good ones over the winter and during the Iknitarod/Iknitaredux.  I actually have some Friday Flashback pictures to post from the epic journey, so I'll share that list then.  

For this spring?  Meh... I've only listened to one book that I've really enjoyed.  But I really enjoyed it.  It's the final book in a series of three.  I've listened to them all and loved all three.  They are The Rosie Project, The Rosie Effect and The Rosie Result, but Graeme Simsion.  

I think you could listen to just the last one and not be lost, but why.  Start at the beginning and fall in love with all the characters and the last one will be just that much better.  They are cute and funny and the last one really makes you think.  Just brilliant.

Joining in with Ginny.

Flashbacks

The best part of maintaining a blog, at least to me, is having a verbal and/or photographic record of what you'd like to remember. The ability to be able to scroll back or search for a specific date, person or activity is priceless.  The lack of regular posts lately has been the biggest only disappointment in my blogging "career".  

Losing Abby last year was a blow.  Looking back, I'm happy I didn't do much actual blogging while she was with me.  Blogging takes time.  Frequently a lot of time.  During her short life I concentrated primarily on taking care of her.  Thankfully.  Enjoyably.  I'm glad I didn't lose any time to sitting in front of a computer. 

In the months that followed though, I struggled to get back on my blogging feet.  Honestly, my own two feet were a struggle sometimes.  I'm not going to try to explain that because if you are reading this blog, you already understand.  I guess it's easier to break a good habit than a bad...and here I sit with a a year of nearly empty pages.

Instagram filled in a lot of gaps.  Frequently a lot of gaps.  It's so much easier to do a quick post right on the spot using just your phone.  You don't have to go inside and download pictures from your camera.  It's easy for people to leave comments, ask questions...  I have no idea what is going on with Blogger comments anymore.  I'm so sorry.  I am as frustrated as you are.

For all it's trouble though, Blogger is still an important tool.  At least to me.  And I'm glad there are still a few of us fossils out here keeping our journals, even if they aren't daily.  They are treasures.  They teach, they inspire, they connect us to friends and family.  They cheer people up...and sometimes make them cry.  You know...life.

And when I'm old and senile and living in a nursing home, I'd like to be able to look back through my old blog posts and remember that in May, 2019, the locust trees were amazing.  The prettiest I saw.

Flashback - Honey Locusts

A couple of new puzzles :-).

Springtime

It is pretty...

Biscuit and Muffin

And a new puzzle.  Enjoy!

The Young Eagle - Updated

Just to keep things interesting around here, this fell out of a barn nest a couple Sundays ago.

He was in a sort of secure location, so I left him, hoping his mom would figure out what to do.

When she didn't and he started doing this...

...AND THIS!   

...you know what I did.

I couldn't figure out a way to put him back in the nest and he was far too young to be out in the world so I gave him some meal worms (that he gobbled up) picked him up, stuck him in a bucket with some hay, covered him with some netting and took him to the house.

We have two types of birds that aggravate the socks off us live in the barn - big annoying birds and small annoying birds.  I figured he was the small annoying variety, so looked up sparrows and what to feed them and a couple places mentioned dog foods that provided protein and he readily approved.

Fun fact, it only took about two days before he figured out the microwave (aka baba maker ;-) meant food and would start "baa-ing" just like the lambs do.  "Hurry UP, lady!"

I pulled one of the heated beds from the cat condo and set it under his bucket at night and that worked perfect to keep him warm, but not too warm.  After about a week, once his feathers started growing in, I picked up this awesome brooder box from a friend and moved him into it.  

I added some branches so he could practice perching and he grew and grew.

The first few days we had the cage on the house porch.  It was handy, but I worried that he wasn't getting to see other birds eating in real life. Then, on Saturday, he got super excited while I was feeding him - he liked to perch on the side of the bowl while I stuck clumps of dog food into his mouth - and he flew out the open door.

He flew (as Tim said, "like a wiffle ball") to the nearest tree, just out of reach.  Panicked and flew higher.  Wanted to come back down, but couldn't figure out how - up is easier than down apparently - so the next thing you know, yep, I'm up on the roof.

When I was getting his food ready, I'd say "cheep cheep" and he'd answer "cheeeep".  He'd also use that call to tell me when he was hungry.  I used "cheep cheep" and his "cheeep" to find him in the tree and eventually he was able to figure out how to land on the chimney where I was standing, I gave him some food and picked him up.  Whew!

Moving him to the Wool House porch was a great idea.  

Less (a little less at least) cat traffic, much more bird traffic, only one tree (that wasn't quite as TALL), morning sun (he's not an early riser and frequently would want to wait until 8:00 to really dig into breakfast) and afternoon shade.  

I put a feeder out front, scattered loose seed on the railing and in the birds came.  All sorts of sparrows, some his kind, some probably a little different.  They talked to him, he talked to them, I hope he watched them eating and drinking and yesterday afternoon I opened the door.

I felt pretty sure he'd fly around and then come back when he got hungry.  He did.  The plan was to feed him like that until evening and then lock him back up for the night, but then Tim mowed the lawn, scattering everyone, and I feared the worst.  "Cheep cheep?"  "Cheep cheep?"  No reply :-/.

This morning I headed out, hoping for the best, but again, no reply.  I didn't give up hope though because, remember, he's not "the early bird", and by 8:30 I'd found him!  All was well.  I tried to feed him again at lunch, but he wasn't interested, hopefully because he was full of bird seed and insects.

About an hour ago, when I came in to post these pictures (in the air conditioned house with the doors and windows closed) I heard a loud "cheeeep" outside.  Not uncommon because we have tons of these birds around.  "Cheeep".   Surely that's not him.  "Cheeep".  I'd better go check...and sure enough, he'd come to the house looking for me.  

"Hey lady, how about firing up that baba maker!"

I've never been so happy to see a little annoying bird.  I'll keep feeding him like that as long as he wants it, but hopefully he's well on his way.  At least he doesn't fly like a wiffle ball anymore ;-).

Tim named him The Young Eagle because I volunteer with the Young Eagle program at the Cynthiana Airport.  Perfect.

*      *       *       *       *

Saint Tim got a picture of him eating dinner tonight :-D.