Franklin County Route 1 - Part 2

I was headed north on Franklin County Route 1, from Bangor to Fort Covington, NY (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). I knew I was in Fort Covington when I passed the school. It was a large campus, much bigger than what you see here:

But there was still farm country to drive through to get to the center of Fort Covington, and this place with old equipment out back sure drew my attention:

 A farm house with barn and silo:

Was this a former one-room school house? It sure looked like it:

A small barn, peeking out from behind a spruce tree:

An old carriage house, now a garage:

I knew I was nearing the town center when I began seeing more residences:

And this giant, old farm with a number of outbuildings:

I came to the end of Franklin County Route 1 and laughed when I saw a Dollar General store. They seem to be everywhere around here. I turned east onto Highway 37 toward the Fort Covington town center, but I'll post about that tomorrow:

Franklin County Route 1 - Part 1

I turned north out of the town of Bangor, New York onto County Route 1 and headed toward the town of Fort Covington. The rural scenery along the was was so nice that I decided to start taking photos:

We'd had a stretch of snow and cold, but this day was above freezing and raining, with all the snow turning dirty, muddy and slushy. Nonetheless, the scenery was beautiful:

This old barn stood alone and looking forlorn, though it was in excellent shape:

The land around the road was flat and I could see for many miles. I suspect that this was part of the St. Lawrence valley even though the St. Lawrence River had turned north into Canada here:

There were large old farm houses:

And large, old family farms:

The old barn and silos in the above photo had been added onto with a newer barn and grain bins. I couldn't get the whole place in one photo:

A beautiful home with Christmas decorations;

A farm house with a great front porch. There was more to see as I drove northward, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

A Snowy Day

It was snowing heavily, a pretty, Christmas card type snow, while I was doing the morning chores. When I'd finished, I walked out through the snow to visit the animals in the south field. My first observation was this Thistle, one I'd missed when I was trying to eradicate them, poking up through the snow and spreading seeds:

Remy was out in a wet section of the field, pawing away the snow and eating Sedge. They normally hate Sedge and won't eat it, but I guess he had a taste for something different this morning:

Blue was nearby, doing likewise. They both had just eaten grain and had ample supplies of good hay, both outdoors and inside the barn. They just felt like eating Sedge that morning:

When I walked over to see the cows, Remy and Blue followed me. I'd turned off the electric fence to make a repair, and Remy wanted to "help:"

Scarlett watched me closely, perhaps hoping I'd brought more grain out with me:

They'd already had all the grain they were going to get, so they soon turned their attention back to the bale feeder:

Blue decided he wanted some of that hay too, but those cows sure looked like giants to him. Rosella has her head down in the photo, but I don't remember seeing any threat by her toward Blue. It sure does look that way in the photo, though, doesn't it?:

Returning to the house, I saw a lone Junco hopping around the snowy ground beneath the bird feeders. Juncos, like Mourning Doves, never seem to eat at the feeders but love to pick up seed which has dropped on the ground:

When I studied Ornithology, they were called Slate-Colored Juncos, but now they are termed Dark-Eyed Juncos. Similarly, English Sparrows have been changed to House Sparrows, Sparrow Hawks to American Kestrels and Rufous-sided Towhee to Eastern Towhee:

A Hairy Woodpecker was pigging out at the suet cake and ignored my presence even when all the other birds flew away. He knew a good thing when he found it:

The dogs had been in their fenced yard all this time and were happy to see me:

But Seamus, with his extra long legs, was the only one willing to push through the snow to follow me around:

A Look Back

I scanned through my photo files the other day and saw that I had kept 116 pictures of the Red Poll cattle set aside as favorites, appealing photos of my cattle over the last four years:

 They dined on lush pastures in their new home:

 And I fed them windfall apples. Alas, one of the things these photos showed me was how svelte they used to be, compared to how obese they have now become. I fear the apples may have hastened that process. But these pictures are all from their thinner days. These three were Gracie, Scarlett and Amy:

 They were a wild bunch when they arrived, unused to humans being too close. But I made friends with them over time:

 They all look so sleek, shiny and thin in this photo. They're a bunch of fatties now:

 Little Loretta, one of my first calves, romping in the south field:

 A happy herd with their babies:

 Violet, a red haired beauty:

 Grazing near the gravel road:

 They weren't at all sure they liked the introduction of the two miniature horses, but they soon became friends:

 Maggie, another of my first calves, tried to get Blue to play with her, Blue has also gained a lot of weight since he arrived and is no longer so thin and fit as he is in this photo:

 They got to graze in the north field after the hay was cut in the autumn. I enjoyed reminiscing as I looked through these favorite photos, and I hope you enjoyed them also:

The Kitchen Corner Nook

 Daphne, Fergus, Clover and Rocky:

 Daphne, Clover and Fergus:

 Seamus and Bramble:

 Rocky and Bramble:

 Daphne and Clover:

 Rocky, Bramble and Clover:

 Rocky, Daphne, Bramble and Fergus:

 Fergus, Daphne, Clover and Bramble and Jack:

 Clover, Fergus, Bugsy and Bramble:

 Clover, Daphne, Fergus and Jack:

 Jack, Bramble, Clover, Daphne and Fergus:

 Rocky, Daphne, Bramble and Clover: