A garden, another bird, and a sky on fire

I had this brilliant idea that I would fence off a little vegetable garden in the corner of the new big fence. Cutting off the corner would make it easier for Hub to mow back there, the inside fence would keep the dogs and other critters out, and I would have easy access to my garlic, tomatoes and rhubarb. It was a brilliant idea until I discovered that this one little corner must be an old stream bed. Planting the garlic was not a big deal, or else I forgot how hard it was because I planted them in the fall. The rhubarb was easy as well because it was just 2 small bits transplanted from somewhere else.

But the tomatoes... It took me almost 6 hours to dig up just the bit where the 6 Brandywine tomatoes are in the ground. The soil itself is not bad, but there are so many rocks compacted tightly in that soil that I could not get the big shovel more than an inch or 2 in the ground. The big shovel worked well for digging up the sod and weeds, but I had to sit and do the real digging with the little yellow-handled shovel which has sawtooth edges. All those rocks in the pic came from just in the tomato patch. And they do not include the large rocks that I added to the fire pit.

Note to self: Check out the soil condition before you go putting up fences.

Since May has been a birding month here on the blog, I saw my first Indigo Bunting yesterday morning in one of the blooming apple trees. Then I saw him again this morning. I thought it was going to be my first bluebird sighting—I hear there are a lot of them up here but I have never seen one. My first little blue bunting was just as exciting.

Last night's sky featured a flaming sun. It is burning much brighter in the photo than it really was, but still a beautiful night until the storm clouds rolled in. Thunderstorms on and off today, watering my Brandywines and rocks.

On the porch

Monkey, one of our 2 indoor-only cats, escaped lockdown last night to join me and the dogs outside. The Husband likes to leave the doors open when it is nice outside (not all that often) and somehow he believes that the Monkey won't want to escape. I knew it would happen soon enough, but I am not especially worried with our now-fenced backyard.

Even so, Husband, I am outing you on my blog. Monkey did not make it any further than the steps when Cyrus ran him back inside, but you are on record. Every time this happens, I am going to post a photo of you. Only really handsome photos of you, and I might even take them down when you catch me, but this is your warning.

Might I also mention that I was already in a foul mood because said dogs had just wreaked havoc on my irises to the left of the stairs. About half of the flower stalks were broken off. Woody managed to sneak in there, and when I hollered at him to get out, Cyrus thought it would be great fun to chase him back and forth inside that little iron fence.

There are not enough angry-face emojis to express my displeasure.

The creek and the birds

I was having too much fun birdwatching on a fine spring Saturday, so I did not get to the creek test until Sunday. It was a fine spring Sunday as well, and the creek passed its test yet again. It is much more pleasant to wade in the creek when the water temperature is 62° as compared to my previous tests. I am still trying to find out what these numbers actually mean...

Only yellow flowers are brave enough to bloom up here right now. Daffodils, dandelions, and these little yellow flowers down by the creek—marsh marigolds.

The Big Day Bird Count officially started at noon on Saturday. I was disappointed when I signed up that there were very few birds in sight. Then, at about 1:45, the eagle flew over and I knew it was going to be a good day.

I am still a novice when it comes to identification, but the species I could easily ID were: house finch, goldfinch, red wing blackbird, robin, pigeon, starling, crow, black capped chickadee, turkey vulture, eastern kingbird, barn swallow, tree swallow, 1 downy and 1 hairy woodpecker, and a pair of mallards. The trickier ones were the sparrows. There are multiple versions here. I think the ones I saw on Saturday were a swamp sparrow, and a vesper or savannah sparrow.

The other tough one was a green heron, but that was before the official count, and the sun was behind him so I couldn't really tell.

I do know the eagle, but he or she is always tough to photograph!

Little Roo, a bird count, and a stream test

Little Roo is now almost as big as the big guy, his daddy. The only way I can tell them apart is that Little has black tail feathers where Big does not. It wasn't obvious until Roberta gave me this pic that our chicken coop/old milking shed is in serious need of another paint job. What it really needs is a total rehab, but we are hoping it can stand a few more years before we have to sink some money into it.

Busy day today. Not only am I participating in the Big Day Bird Count sponsored by the Delaware/Otsego Audubon Society, but also doing our monthly stream testing. It is supposed to remain sunny for the afternoon, and it's in the 60°s, so it should be a good day for both adventures.

Saturday, May 16 is this year’s Big Day for DOAS.

The Big Day is a group effort in which birders, working alone, in pairs, or in small groups, can maintain social distance and adopt infection-avoidance procedures while enjoying the outdoors. We will try to locate as many bird species as we can in a single fun day on Saturday May 16. 

Goat reported for not keeping her distance

Little Rainbow, whose name might have to change to Little Richie, stopped by The Freeman's Journal Office today to wish Thom a fond farewell. There is photographic evidence here that she did not stay the required six feet from anyone.

No calls were made to the authorities. No arrests were made.

She is the one who was born with a crooked neck and needed to be bottle fed.

Her neck straightened out just fine, and she is eating her hay and feed and is ready to be weaned, but she still LOVES her bottle feedings!

Ask Thom how fast that went empty.

Woody's weather report

It still remains to be seen if the snow is done with us. Yesterday we were back to green grass and dandelions again (just like today) and then a few more snow squalls came through in the evening.

Considering all the hype, it was really a disappointing "record-breaking snow event".

Woody says "get over it, it's spring. What do you expect?"

Cyrus says "I need more snow than that to roll in..."

Update on the weather report: Woody says it was warm and sunny outside this afternoon with no trace of snow. Mom even sat outside with a glass of chard and took this pic.

The big record-breaking May snow!

Al Roker and all the other news/weather people were talking about the huge snowstorm coming our way in MAY!!! OMG!

We did get about 2" or 3" of snow overnight, but this is not big news. It is almost completely melted away at 2 pm the next day. I guess we are all desperate for some news other than coronavirus and politics.

The robin family spent most of yesterday building a new nest in the small apple tree on the right. Mr Robin was just watching while Mrs was doing all the work. I hope she was able to complete her task before getting hit by the snow and cold and wind.

And now that my daffodils finally opened up, they all get snowed on and knocked over. Disappointing, but all part of spring weather. At least the apple blossoms haven't come out yet, only to be frozen.

Finally, MonkeyCat always gets in my face when I am texting with Little Sister. I like this pic (even tho I am in it) because he is in the blue light from outside, with me in the lamplight.

3 robins, 2 flickers, 1 Baltimore oriole, 1 great blue heron and Saturday's eagle

Today's bird count: I saw the first oriole of the year this morning (out there with the robins and flickers) and then later a great blue heron flew right by the window while I was eating lunch. Of course I did not get photos of any of these birds, but then The Husband sent me a photo of the eagle that he took with his little point-and-shoot Canon. So much better than my iPhone version!

We had a glorious sunny spring weekend up here in the north country. When does that ever happen? I spent Saturday and Sunday working on the gardens inside the big fence, and I moved the firepit to the back by the black bench. Woody supervised all of the gardening and rock moving from the comfort of his (my) favorite chair. The first location by our chair turned out to be too close to the house for my windy backyard.

I had initially planned to have the cousins over for a safe-distancing firepit party on Saturday evening, but by late afternoon the sun disappeared and the wind returned. So we postponed until last night and had a perfect party. Still a bit windy, but safely away from the house and anything else that might burn. Woody generously gave up his chair for the guests.

May morning visitor and some hens on a bench

My (old) iPhone camera is good for a quick photo, but not great for zooming in on our early morning visitor. He or she is up in the tallest willow tree surveying the creek below, and Don on the Hill's house. Thankfully she was looking at the creek, and not in the opposite direction where the chickens were out and about looking for their breakfast.

We have some human visitors up from downstate today. We are going to attempt an after-dinner cocktail hour outside by the firepit (such as it is, never been used). Cousins B&M and Greg will dine in their own homes, and then come here to sit out by the fire. It won't be difficult to stay 6 feet apart outside.

The weather is perfect considering the not so perfect past few weeks. The only problem could be the wind. We don't want to set the farm on fire, now do we?

And the final photo was taken by another visitor on her way down the driveway after picking up some eggs. Three black hens on a bench discussing the current state of affairs.