Tuesday, July 31, 2018

A Hot Summer, Full Of Life

The Rugosa Roses had few blossoms on them as July began drawing to a close, but the wildflower called Bouncing Bet burst into bloom beneath them to make up for it:

 Our drought became so severe that the few Rugosa Rose buds we had shriveled and dried. This clump reminded me of the scene I imagined when I read of Miss Havisham's decades old wedding celebration, locked in time, from the book, "Great Expectations:"

 The two baby pigeons forsook any semblance of a nest and just lived on the floor - but they grew at an astounding rate:

 Both parents were excellent, rushing to feed them whenever they peeped:

 Two more babies hatched, each in a separate nest with different parents, and lived through their first few days. That made me hopeful they'd grow to maturity, though what I'll do with more pigeons is a question I haven't yet answered:

 The newly planted baby Day Lilies did well and continued to bloom in spite of the drought because I watered them every morning. The first to bloom was this variety, called "Chicago Arnie's Choice:"

 The wildflowers are accustomed to droughts and other natural calamities, and they continued to bloom with abandon. The Black-Eyed Susans began to flower in mid-July:

 And my property was filled with white and yellow butterflies. I had a hard time getting any photos because they seldom held still, and identification was also difficult because there were three common and nearly indistinguishable species for each color. These butterflies, I decided, were called Cabbage Whites:

 It make take a second or two to notice the yellow butterfly in this photo. I decided that this species was Clouded Sulfur:

 But the Canadian Swallowtails which loved my orange Asiatic Lilies were easy to identify and nearly impossible to miss:

 Scenes such as these make summer, even a hot and dry one, a treasure to remember:

 My sister visited and came to church with me on Sunday morning because I would be singing in a duet. This photo reminded me of photos of the two of us as children out in front of our childhood home, all ready for church on a Sunday morning. It also reminded me of photos of my parents as children, taken similarly on summer days with their siblings. Once children, now adults, and things haven't really changed that much except for the natural aging process:

Monday, July 30, 2018

Red Poll Ladies And One "White Poll" Calf

The little white calf, Lucky, was born on May 9th. I decided to sort out the cattle photos in my file which included him for a blog post of happy bovines, at home in the south field pasture:

 His father was half Charolais and half Blank Angus. His mother, of course, was purebred Red Poll. Lucky is all white, just like his father. He also seems to exhibit his father's gentle nature:

 We've lived through a heat wave and drought this summer, both of them the worst I've seen since I've been here. The herd knew where to take shelter, and this Box Elder tree is probably their favorite place to do so:

 The whole herd watches out for Lucky and I wouldn't want to be a stranger who threatened him. I think the cows would defend him:

 Loafing with his aunt Jasmine:

 Grazing with the herd. Which one of these is different?

 Hey, are you lookin' at ME?

 Lucky comes into the barn most mornings with the cows and usually goes into a small pen for a bowl of grain. When it's time to sell him, I plan to close the door to the pen so I can trap him inside the barn. It worked with Rocket:

 But for now, life is good - a leisurely mix of grazing, cud chewing and sleeping:

 The herd includes the two miniature horses. Much of the time they move as a unit:

 There are two more Box Elders on the east side of the barn which provide shade and a place to scratch an itch:

 When the flies are numerous, the herd often moves in a tightly packed group. I theorize that they are rubbing the flies off on each other:

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Summer Around The Farm

Our recent heat wave stopped the grass from growing and, in many places, it turned brown and brittle. Walking over it shattered it and sounded crunchy. I was truly worried, though it was nice to not have to mow the lawn:

 But the little rock garden produced flowers abundantly. Yellow and orange Asiatic Lilies competed with the Blue Sea Holly:

 A black striped Garter Snake of rather impressive length (about 30") began living somewhere around my biggest lilac bush. I previously had a smaller, melanistic Garter Snake living near the barn and I reckon they are likely related. Looking at this photo now, I wonder if this is the same snake, just moved to a slightly new location:

 The two baby fantail pigeons are doing quite well:

 The baby pears are also doing quite well:

 They're getting big now and I am amazed at how many there are:

One morning before it got too hot, I took pruners and weed-whacker out into the pasture and began taking down the Burdock along the fence:

 I did not cut the White Sweet Clover, which I was happy to have growing:

 But I made a special effort to take down all the Bull Thistles I could find. They were not along the fence line but scattered around both fields:

 And the Canada Thistles. They were smaller and easier to miss, but just as prickly and invasive:

 Some places are filling up with Lady's-Thumb Smartweed. I didn't try to fight that. The animals don't eat it at first, but if they get hungry they will eat it:

 Near the house, at the base of the Rugosa Roses, the wild Bouncing Bet (in the Pink family) is blooming as it does every year. Now that's a "weed" I can truly appreciate!:

Friday, July 27, 2018

Blue And Remy

Remy and Blue are wearing their grass muzzles most of the time now, though they are also getting skilled in slipping out of them. I didn't make them wear the muzzles during our heat wave:

They seem to me to be able to eat grass as fast with the muzzle as without, but I'm trusting in the manufacturer's promise and the obviously small size of the opening through which they must get the grass:

They now seem to enjoy coming into the barn each night about 5:00, when I take off their muzzles and give them each a 1/4 cup of grain. They then eat only hay for the rest of the night, but they also get respite from the flies while in the barn and, in hot weather, relief from the excessive heat:

They still usually come to me when I walk out into the field and, surprisingly, let me put the muzzles back on after they have slipped out of them. They just wait patiently until I'm finished and back at the house before they begin working at getting rid of them once again:

They both look healthy with shiny, lovely coats. I think Remy has lost weight, but I'm not so sure about Blue:

Remy was trotting playfully when I took this photo:

I put down hay in three places to keep them from fighting over it at night:

And the yellow flagging ribbon is usually visible from far away, enough so I can stand on my porch, look out on the pasture and tell if they are still wearing their muzzles or not:

The farrier said their founder (laminitis) is not yet bad, but Blue often walks as if his feet hurt in the mornings. He was always stiff and sore in the morning, so the founder may not be the sole cause of his limping. Any limping goes away after he's up and moving around in the field:

Yes, Remy had shucked his muzzle once again. I sometimes have to get on the tractor and drive around the pasture to find it:

See that red thing on his muzzle? It's a small dog collar with a quick release in case of emergency. I usually use them to tie the muzzle to the cow collar, though they break them regularly. Sometimes I tie them together with baling twine but I prefer to know they could escape if they caught them on something:

This time, Remy managed to shuck both his cow collar and his muzzle. He was quite proud of himself:

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Dogs And Cats

It's been a hot summer, but the dogs know where to find shade when they need it. Jack was smiling when I took this photo, but Daphne looked quite serious:

Daisy likes Bramble's old bed. It's one of her favorite spots:

The dogs prefer the kitchen corner, with its collection of beds and floor pillows:

Outdoors, the ramp is a favorite place for the dogs to lounge:

This photo was taken in the farm house kitchen. I was cooking dinner and the dogs were hoping I'd give them some. I have begun giving them hard boiled eggs each night and they were hoping for more:

I never thought I'd see this day come, and was delighted to see Georgette and Bugsy sharing a yoga mat and square of sunshine:

Out in the back yard, Seamus watched me from beside the maple tree. I keep the tree cut down because it's too close to the house, so it's more of a maple bush:

Clover and Daphne found the shade from the dog house to be a cool place to lounge:

Fergus, Jack and Daphne used the shade of the Rugosa Roses:

I put another pet bed on a rocking chair, so now the computer room has two cat beds. Daisy uses one and Georgette uses the other (she's abandoned her former bed in the kitchen):

Clover and Bugsy shared the big, green floor pillow:

And Bugsy shared a yoga mat with Seamus. Bugsy sure does sleep around: