Retirement stuff

People are still asking me what I do with my time now that I am retired. The short answer that I usually give is "stuff". Spending time outside and enjoying the weather on beautiful days like yesterday is a big part of my new lifestyle.

With more time for stuff, the garden is now looking more like a garden, although these plants in the large pots were destroyed early on by the groundhogs and rabbits. I still have the netting wrapped around them, but I think the critters have finally found more interesting foraging outside the fence.

The hollyhocks are almost done flowering, and the hydrangea flowers are starting to get some color.

While I was sitting out by the firepit, I saw this little wasp making a nest in a piece of charred wood. Siri identified it as a kind of potter wasp—so called because it normally makes its nest out of a mud-like substance that looks like a little ceramic pot. Just recently I have been seeing a lot of these little "pots" stuck on the house and garage. It wasn't until the old retired lady had time to sit outside on a nice afternoon that she had the chance to ID the artists. 

Cool August, warm September

We made it through a few days of heat and humidity—reminiscent of New Jersey weather but not nearly as steamy. Just before the hot, it was unseasonably cool (and beautiful) at the end of August. Mixed up weather, but the goldenrod still knows when it's time to bloom, and the apples are ready for picking.

This was the big storm approaching that was supposed to wash away the heat. The rain missed us, but it did cool off quite a bit.

Willie and Woody are the senior citizens in the house (along with the 2 old retired folks). Willie, who spent his first 10 years in this house as an upstairs-only cat, is now permanently attached to my lap when I am on the sofa.

It's hard to do anything other than stare at his handsome little face. Brushing is not an option.

 

More flowers, and bees

These tiny bumblebees must have a nest somewhere close. I've seen a dozen around the patio and flowerpots, but recently not as often. I just found out that's because they are all busy at work on the big, blooming Limelight hydrangea. The whole big bush was buzzing!

I wasn't sure about getting this (mostly) white flowering variety because I like the more colorful ones. I had Nikko Blues in New Jersey, and there are so many other colors available—but not so many do well in the colder climate up here.

This one is thriving now that the deer can't reach it inside the fence, and the greenish, pinkish, ivory whitish flowers are perfect.

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.