The Red Poll Girls

The cows were fat and happy, lazily grazing on the short grass in the south field:

Life was good, but they were bored:

Their thick, winter coats were shedding and they did their best to rub off the extra hair on the Box Elder tree:

Then I opened up the far south field for them, just about the time the Shadbush tree blossoms were fading. There was longer grass there:

Gracie and Amy were so full of grass that they could only stand and burp up their cuds:



Then, on the same day the apple trees burst into bloom, I walked into the barnyard with bowls of grain and began ringing the cowbell. They knew that meant to follow me out the gate and across the gravel road - and that's just what they did:

And the reason for the move was to get them into the north field before the grass became so long that the weeds would take over. It looked to me that my years of fighting weeds had begun to pay off. All I could see across the field was grass, clover and dandelions:

Fat and happy:

A big thunderstorm was predicted for that night, but it never happened - just a mild rain to help the grass grow even faster:

I followed the cows around for a while, snapping pictures:

And then I exited through the gate, taking one look back:

Later on in the day, I snapped a photo from across the road, just as some of the cows were coming in for a drink of cool water. I have a pipe running under the gravel road, through which I can pump water to the their stock tank:

Wildflowers Around The Farm

The yard around the house is big, but far from manicured. There are weedy sections everywhere and I delight in them, for they display amazing wildflowers all summer long. So one day I took my camera and recorded a few of the wildflowers which beautify the wild patches. The first is Deptford Pink:

And Sundrops, a day blooming relative of Evening Primrose:

Common St. Johnswort:

Cow Vetch:

A white Aster, species unknown. Feel free to add a comment if you can identify it:

Orange Hawkweed:

Queen Anne's Lace, or Wild Carrot:

Rough-Fruited Cinquefoil:

Yellow Goats-Beard:

White Clover:

Bouncing Bet:

Red Clover:

Bladder Campion. This bloomed profusely all over the property earlier in the season, but there were only a few, sad looking specimens left this late in the summer:

A Bedstraw, species unknown. Do you see those amazing brown seed pods near it? I don't know what they are, but they are fascinating:

Early Goldenrod:

Common Milkweed:

Butter-and-Eggs:

This plant is extremely common and looks to be in the mint family, but I can't identify it. You'd think it would be easy because of its square stems and distinctive leaves, but I've been unable to find it online or in my field guide. If you know what it is, please leave me a comment:

A Snapshot Of Two Buddies

I caught this friendly scene one morning and just had to snap a picture. Bramble and Clover are two buddies sharing a dog bed. That's a great way to start a morning:

Introducing The New Puppy, Clover

If you've been a reader of this blog for a while, you've surely noticed by now that I am quite thrilled with my 6 month old Papillon pup, Daphne. She's perhaps the smartest, cuddliest and most athletic dog I've ever known and I've consequently been searching for another Papillon puppy. I found one in Pennsylvania, 6 hours away from Albany, with 20 champions in her pedigree. So I purchased her and drove to meet the seller half way, near Scranton, Pennsylvania to pick her up.

She is 8 weeks old and named Clover. I brought Daphne with me as company for both me and for the new puppy. It's also good socialization for Daphne. They made friends rather quickly and slept together on the seat next to me for most of the drive home. This is a photo of little Clover provided to me by her breeder:

When I arrived back at home, the next step was to let all the dogs out into the back yard to meet the new puppy:

Seamus is so gentle that he immediately liked little Clover. When he's lying down, she can climb on his head and play with his ears. After all, he's already used to such antics from Daphne:

The older dogs (Wren, Winky and Wally) were neither impressed nor offended. Another dog in the house is just normal life for them. Several of the cats, however, wanted an immediate introduction. This is Bramble checking out Clover, the new puppy:

Many of the dogs and cats crowded into my computer room to join the fun, but Clover and Daphne were mostly just wrestling and not paying much attention to anyone else:

Clover may be only 8 weeks old, but she is no shrinking violet. She wrestles with Daphne and often gets the best of her. If Daphne becomes too pushy, Clover gives her a loud bark and air snap. She is a girl who knows how to set limits:

Let the wrestling begin:

Rocky the cat wanted to be close to the action but not to get into it directly. So he pretended not to be paying attention while the puppies played:

And outside in the back yard, the Papillon buddies explored together. Both seem to be determined hunters of insects. Perhaps that's a Papillon trait:

Clover is quite taken with big ol' Seamus and likes to be with him (when Daphne allows it). You can tell in this picture that the older dogs just hang out by the back door and avoid the silly puppy games:

Clover, Daphne and Fergus - all young and playful:

Little Clover explores the world:

And Daphne encourages her to play:

I got a shot of myself holding both puppies:

Well, now you've met Clover, the new puppy. There's some blog posts scheduled in the next week or so which are about activities which actually happened before Daphne arrived, but soon enough you'll begin seeing her in the family adventures. I'll close this post with two videos of puppies at play: