Dyke Road In Bangor, New York

I'd just finished a driving tour of two scenic, rural roads in Franklin county, New York (previous two posts) and turned onto state highway 11 to head for home. I passed an interesting looking rural road and thought, "I might as well drive down it and take a look." So it was that I came to take a driving tour of Dyke Road in the town of Bangor, New York:

Dyke Road was indeed rural. This house, barn and garage sat so very far off the road that I had to use my zoom lens to photograph it. Surrounded by hay fields, it seemed to me like "the little house on the prairie." I remember thinking how much snow plowing they must have to do in the winter to keep that long driveway clean:

There were fields filled with long, giant, plastic covered tubes of what must surely have been silage:

And fields covered with farm equipment:

This historic farm house and barn sat up on a small hill:

There were golden woodlands:

And green hills, covered with tall Pines:

This farm pond had a wooden pier built out into it, perfect for children who liked to swim in the summertime:

We were just outside the Adirondack Park border and the sandy soil must have been similar, because this moss, birch and Reindeer Lichen covered hillside sure reminded me of the Adirondacks:

What appeared to be an elegant estate sat up on a hill and behind the trees:

This farm house and outbuilding sat so far off the road that I wondered if it had another entrance off another road somewhere. Again, I used my zoom lens to get a picture:

I ended my driving tour at this historic looking building with a new, metal roof. It had the look of an old school house or grange hall, but I suspect that it's just a storage barn for someone now. I saw no houses near it. My driving tour had come to an end, it was past lunchtime and I was hungry. So I put my camera away and aimed for home:

McGillic Road In Bangor, New York

I was traveling McGillic Road on my way home from a photo driving tour of Baker Road(yesterday's post). Not surprisingly, I decided that the scenery here was too beautiful to ignore, so I again began snapping photos, beginning with this wall made of stones, many of them the size of compact cars:

Blue, green and white barns:

A rambling old farm house with a lamp jockey out front:

A collection of farm equipment outside a historic barn:

A very old barn with lots of windows:

Even the brushy fields were beautiful, backed by woodlands and stretching out in some places to the horizon:

A modern, woodsy home:

A field of giant hay bales:

And there were even more hay bales, hundreds of them. I did not, however, see any animals to eat them...............

Until, that is, I arrived back at the state highway, I stopped to photograph this handsome herd of Belted Galloways:

They were strikingly beautiful and I imagined how it would be if I'd chosen them instead of Red Poll cattle:

I'm glad I have Red Polls, but the Belted Galloway cattle sure are lovely, aren't they? But that was the end of McGillic Road, so I turned onto the state highway toward home:

Baker Road In Bangor, New York

Note: Real winter arrived here yesterday and we are getting a wind/snow/ice storm right now - but I had these warmer weather posts already in the pipeline. Sigh. I wish the weather depicted in these posts would have lasted.

Sunny days, unseasonably warm temperatures - could this possibly have been the north country in December? Yes it could, and I planned to use one morning of it to see some lovely rural scenery. I drove east on NY Route 11B to the town of Bangor, and turned right onto rural Baker Road:

There were several old stone homes on Baker Road:

Another view of the above home, this one also showing its barn:

There was this old shack with a chimney, all by itself. Could it possibly once have been a home? It seemed too small:

An old cemetery, well groomed but without any driveway entrance that I could find:

And gravestones which were quite old, such as this one, dated 1811:

Another stone house:

This barn/garage was notable for the mural of colorful farm animals on its front wall:

A major farm with an old fashioned look to it:

And in case you wanted a better look at that blue barn and silo (as did I). here is a full frontal:

Another old farm house, barn and silo:

I came to an intersection with this very small, old, abandoned home. I turned around there and headed back to a side road which I planned to travel on my way back home. But I'll post about that tomorrow:

An Update On The Red Poll Girls

Our incredibly nice December weather has been good for the cattle. On the day I took this photo, three of the calves were watching me. They've grown so big that it's difficult to know which animal is which except by their ear tags:

Little Pearl is the youngest and still nursing. Her mom, Scarlett, is a good mother:

And all my cattle love to congregate around the bale feeder:

Gladys, Gracie's daughter, is my favorite calf. She loves grain so much that she's become quite tame, realizing that I am its source:

Another photo of Scarlett and Pearl, mother and daughter. I was taking photos in order to advertise the calves for sale:

A sunny day in upstate New York. It sure didn't feel like December:

The red in their coats shines in the sun:

This is Amy. She was undersized and underfed when she arrived here, with a too small head and an arched back. Look at her now. She's a lovely cow - and quite friendly too:

The salad bar:

Another shot of Scarlett and Pearl, this one with Rosella off to the right. Rosella was Scarlett's calf from last year:

Pearl and Scarlett again. These photos paid off, by the way, for Pearl has now been sold:

All my red ladies of the bovine persuasion:

Around The Farm In December

The fantail pigeons have been locked indoors all month, even though we've had such surprisingly good weather. I had screwed their window in place to weatherproof it and would have had to undo all that to open it again. They didn't go outside much anyway, but generally seemed content indoors:

 The two pigeon babies made it past the danger-of-freezing-in-the-cold stage and appear headed for a healthy and happy adulthood:

The chickens, on the other hand, have been able to go outdoors whenever we had good weather. Seamus was talking to them when I shot this photo:

The favorite hanging out spot for the chickens is right here by the bird feeders, the generator and the porch. They get dropped seed underneath the bird feeders and can hide under the porch if they become frightened or to escape the rain:

At other times, they roam freely:

One of my Amish neighbors trotted by in his work wagon. I waved, but then snapped a photo when he had gone far enough so he wouldn't be shown. Amish, I am told, do not like to be photographed:

Our little dirt road got a fresh coat of gravel and Fergus' vocal chords got a workout as he barked at them. Fergus thinks he is protecting our home from Attila and his marauding Huns:

I was walking out to the cattle one day when two jets did a U-Turn in the sky overhead. We don't see many of those newfangled airplane thingies around these here parts:

I got an opportunity to buy two giant hay bales as insurance against running out. They were truly huge, five feet long by six feet in diameter:

They were so incredibly heavy that they squashed down the tractor's front tires and threatened to tip it over when I picked them up:

When I stood next to them, they were taller than I am:

I was unable to lift them up and over the rim of the bale feeder. I had to set the bale on the ground and then force the bale feeder over the top of it. It was a mighty tight fit: