Moon, flowers, berries

Of course I missed getting a good photo of the "blue supermoon" because of the clouds, so I will offer this little slice of moon on the north side of the house from a clear night.

These Chater's Double hollyhocks were purchased from the Cornell Coop Master Gardeners last year, and just bloomed this year. I don't think Chater's are supposed to come in this color combination, so I wonder if they somehow got mixed up with my weedy Zebrina hollys. Whatever the case, I hope that they will continue to reproduce these same flowers from seed every year!

The little Cyrus head at the bottom of the last photo is to show how large that elderberry bush is in the background. We have this one and about 4 more that were planted by the state DEC as part of the Trees for Tribs program. 

A plastic shopping bag of elderberries only makes 2 and a half pints of jam, but it is worth the effort.

Folk Fest for Food and flowers

The farmer has been busy as a musician as well, playing different music with different folks. He used his farmer talents here also by donating a dozen ears of homegrown corn and a big bag of yellow squash for the Cherry Valley Food Pantry.

The WoodMan is always entertaining, even in his old age. For whatever reason he likes to pick flowers off this mallow plant. I have seen him deadheading daisies before, but never murdering innocent little flowers. (video in comments on FB)

Disappointing tomatoes, the chick, and gardens

It has been a bad year for our tomato "crop". The Husband's garden did well with corn, peppers, and string beans, and squash, but his tomato plants were destroyed by the critters before they even had a chance to blossom.

My little garden inside the big fence and inside a smaller fence was doing ok, not great, with the little plants I started from seed in the house. The one big Cherokee Purple tomato started by a friend from seed was doing fantastic. 

I was just waiting for these 2 tomatoes to get ripe, not paying close attention since Mother Nature was doing the watering for me. Ugh! I am not sure if that little snail on the left one did all that damage by itself, but they were about 2 feet off the ground, so I don't think it was a bigger critter. I was able to save most of it.

The little chick is getting big enough that I think it will be safe from the crows, especially with Mom being so very protective. I am thinking (and hoping) she is a hen.

This old retired lady has had more time to clean up the fenced yard. The hydrangea and lilac are doing great, and I actually have some flowers blooming—a nice big double hollyhock, lots of daylilies, big pots of annuals. By next year I should have some actual gardens to show you.

Clouds and the chick

Odd weather patterns must have been stealing the gorgeous sunsets this summer—at least that's my best unscientific explanation. I did catch this beauty a few days ago, and the afternoon cloud parade was interesting as well.

Broody Mama is now overly protective of her last chick. I think she learned her lesson.

Even worse than a helicopter mom, she is more like a Mack truck mom sitting on top of her little Beanie Baby every night, way up high in the coop.

Farming, chick and Zelda

After a few bad farm years, The Husband's retirement and attention to his garden has produced a lot of produce! Those few squash vines in the front have given us a boatload of Zephyr (yellow) squash. String beans are just starting to come in, and corn is getting close to picking time. The only thing that isn't doing so well this year is our tomatoes, thanks to marauding rabbits and groundhogs.

Sadly we are down to one little chick from the broody hen. One was somehow killed in the dog crate when I was still closing them up at night. And the smallest one that I had rescued when it was first hatched just disappeared 2 days ago. 

I am pretty sure the crows got it. They are known nest robbers of baby birds, and this little chick was readily available.

Mom has adjusted and is being super protective of the last one. At night she has her all the way on the top roosting bar 6 feet up in the big coop. I have no idea how chickie makes it up there, only to have big mama sitting on top of her all night long...

Our Zelda goes missing every once in awhile and we worry about her out there in the world of predators and cars zooming by, but she is a feisty little girl and somehow always reappears. She has an orange cat friend who comes and goes as well.

 

Chicks hit the road

Mama hen was still making a big mess stirring up all the hay and pine shavings into the food and water in the new big dog crate. And she broke up the last 2 eggs she was sitting on, probably a day or 2 before they were ready to hatch.

I was cleaning up this mess when she saw an opportunity and jumped ship. I couldn't catch her, so I had to put the big crate on the floor so she could get to her chicks.

She was good about staying with them on the floor of the big coop while dust bathing her dirty old self. (last pic) She was not so good about going in the crate at night with them, but when I put her in there, the littles ran in after her.

On the third day, brazen little mom that she is, she got tired of the dusty coop and took the chicks on the road with her...all the way back to the house! These little egg-size babies followed momma through grass that is taller than they are, at least 500 feet back to the goat barns, and then right up on the front porch here at the house.

At least she managed to get them home safely and even back in the crate last night. Let's pray it goes like that today as well. Keep an eye on them Mama!

Visitors, smiles and chicks

Visiting family from Florida inspired the WoodMan. He had mostly recovered from whatever that was 3 weeks ago that had me worried. He was back to eating and barking, and then the visitors came and he was back to smiling. That's the part I was missing most.

We were expecting some chicks between July 12 and 14, and  magically the first one appeared on the twelfth! This is the same hen who went broody last year, and she was a very good mama. This year she was not quite so patient, probably because I had her isolated in a crate that was too small. After the first 2 were born, she cleaned out the nest and destroyed at least 3  eggs that still had chicks in them. I was able to rescue the little one in the last pic yesterday. She was all covered in dust and hay, and stuck to bits of shell.

I washed her off and hid her in the closet upstairs, away from the cats and Cyrus, and went out and moved mama to a big dog crate. I snuck her back under mama last night when I closed them all up, and magically she is perfectly clean and seems to be healthy today.

There are 2 eggs I also put back under mom, but I don't think she is going to hatch them. This year I think she was happy with her 2 kids...not wanting any more of the 10 that were under her.

Life goes on

Woody had a rough week. He was fine last Wednesday morning, then a couple hours later he was shaking his head oddly, having problems with his back legs, and later still, not eating or barking! Not Woody at all!

A $413 vet visit on Thursday didn't really find much of anything—which is a GOOD thing for my 15YO guy with a tumor on his spleen. The x-rays did show some arthritis in his spine, which leads me to think that maybe Cyrus broadsiding him the day before might have injured him somehow?

Some drugs got him back to begging for my dinner on Thursday night, but he's still not himself. 

The day before that, I noticed that the tree swallow parents were no longer feeding their babies. When I went out to check on them, I saw mom's feathers on the ground below the birdhouse. Something must have gotten her early in the morning before I got up.

There are 3 in the photo, only the one on the left was strong enough to beg for food. I found a wildlife rehab lady who agreed to take them in. She said to give them some wet cat food mixed with water. I was able to get some into all 3 before I brought them to her. The strong one lasted a day longer than the other 2, but they could not be saved. They were too young.

The good news of this bad week is that a pair of house wrens have already claimed the house for a new nest. Life goes on.

Woody, Monkey, and angelica

Monkey had his head tucked up against Woody's big ear until rude mama went over to take this photo. Best buds!

I am back to doing water testing in the creek, first time since September. A big willow came down blocking my access point, so this old lady has found it too difficult to climb in and out of the water in bad weather.

Cloudy today, but I easily made my way down there, and found this monster angelica plant in with the dame's rockets that are still blooming. I had seen angelica on the back of the property before, but they somehow crossed the creek and made it over here. Another "pretty weed".

Canadian wildfires

Wildfires burning in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada are wreaking havoc with the air quality here in Upstate New York. A storm is sending the haze and smoke down in this direction, and much farther south and east.

The photo was from 2:15 yesterday afternoon in our backyard. Orange skies are never a good sign. Even the UPS driver stood there and stared for awhile, saying "that's not good."

According to Siri, the air quality yesterday when I took this photo was 168. I thought today the skies looked better, gray not orange, but today you can actually smell the smoke/fire.

The air quality today is 218, and it looks like that big dark purple blob is headed our way.

Staying indoors as much as possible.

Good day for making goat cheddar. Inside. Windows closed.

Wildflowers, wild critters

Dame's rockets are blooming everywhere on our property. It's okay with me that they are not native, and they will have a tough time being invasive with all the goldenrod they have as competition. I think most of the goldenrod species here are solidago, native and not considered invasive.

Of course the "pretty" wildflowers in these pictures are the non-native invasive ones, the dames and the buttercups. 

Mother Nature is our landscaper, and we let her do as she pleases. In spite of the fact that we have had several late frosts, I think she is providing us with a good apple crop this year. Last year we had none.

The wildflower show was from my walk to the creek to pick up the trail camera. It had captured a coyote on the gravel bar before, this time it caught 2 together. Out of 98 photos, only 2 had coyotes, most of the rest had 1 or 2 deer. This one might be a young bald eagle.

I have seen a large eagle-size bird from the house back in that same area, but it is really hard to identify it from a distance. This photo isn't all that clear either, so I guess it will remain a mystery. Osprey or second-year bald eagle are my 2 best guesses.

And finally, there is no mystery as to the species of the last wild critter. But it is a very big mystery as to who is the owner of those feet. At 4:41 pm on my birthday, just hanging out by our chicken coop where the other camera is set up. Hmmmm...