Cold Winter Touches The North Country

Of course I knew it was coming, yet still I was surprised to see the frost all over the Rugosa roses when I went out to do the morning chores:

 The leaves were frosted and the magenta buds were covered with icy crystals:

 Some of the flowers had wilted to the point of being unrecognizable:

 Fergus and Seamus watched me from their frosty yard as I began the morning chores:

There were only two open Daylilies left, and they were wilted and covered in ice:

 And the grass crunched underfoot as I walked to the barn:

 Sadly, the sunflowers, which had put on such a late season show, were done for the year:

 I walked the little horses out to their corral and discovered that their stock tank was covered in ice. Remy and Blue were not amused, but I figured it would melt once the sun was fully up:

The cattle were hungry and collected at the barn, demanding grain:

 I let them have some, then shooed them back outside as I carried hay to the horse corral. Most of the cattle followed me to the corral, hoping to steal that armload of hay. I guess they did not want to eat frozen grass:

 I tossed the hay in for the horses without giving the cattle any of it. Ruby knew what to do, and immediately went for a breakfast of warm milk:

The End Of Summer

The Red Poll cattle are looking happy and healthy:

 Little Ruby has not yet had her ear tattoos but she seems to know I'm a suspicious character so she hides behind her mother, Scarlett:

 And Scarlett usually hustles her away when I get too close:

 Blue and Remy are doing fine, but their Box Elder tree will drop its poisonous seeds any day now, and I will have to lock the horses in the barn until I get the seeds all cleaned up:

I walked into the barn one morning and found the two boys together in the hay, head to head and looking cute. It's apparent how attached they are to each other in spite of their quibbling and mischief:

 The sunflowers are almost finished. I've cut the tops out of many of them and others are going to seed already:

 Another photo of a Monarch butterfly in the Frans Hals Daylilies. It's ironic that the only place I can get a photo of a Monarch is on flowers of the same color:

 The littlest sunflowers, barely 6" tall:

I put the fantail pigeons on Craigslist, offering to sell 20 out of 43 of them. Alas, I've had no response, even after cutting the price in half:

 I took three vases of flowers to church, possibly the last of the season. This vase contained three colors of fragrant roses (orange, dark red and magenta), smallish sunflowers and red Mountain Maple leaves from the side of the road:

Blue and white wild Asters plus Birch leaves, all from the side of the road:

 Various colors of sunflowers plus red Mountain Maple leaves and Cattails from the side of the road:

Beauty As We Move Into Autumn

The little garden where I'd removed the giant stump (well, most of it anyway) was slowing down and the Yarrow appeared to be mostly finished blooming for the year:

 There were a few white flowered plants, but I feared they'd drop their seed and increase in number, so I cut off any remaining white flower stalks, leaving the fancier colors, which I prefer:

 The fantail pigeons have finished nesting and all the babies but one appeared to be on their own, no longer requiring their parents to feed them:

 Alas, they began to look kind of shopworn and unhealthy, so I put medication into their water:

The little hens still look plenty healthy, so I haven't given them any medication:

 Their egg laying has dropped to about one small egg per day. Soon it will be no eggs at all:

 Many flowers are still blooming, so I brought three more vases of them to church. This one included Frans Hals Daylilies, Tree Hydrangea and some of the very smallest sunflowers:

 Green sepals from former Rose Mallows, purple (wild) New England Asters, pink Rose Mallows, Tree Hydrangea and two colors of roses (magenta and orange):

All sunflowers, various sizes and colors:

 Far less attractive was the barn floor, soaked with horse urine and manure. I was able to scoop up most of it with the tractor, but had to fork it into the bucket as I got toward the end:

 A giant puffball appeared beneath the bottom wire of the electric fence alongside the gravel road. It grew rapidly. Last time one grew there, the Amish woman from down the road asked for it (many people love to eat them) but so far this year she hasn't asked. I don't find them edible at all. They look like Styrofoam and I found them to be just about as tasty as Styrofoam:

We've had a lot of Monarch butterflies this year. They are flying everywhere but don't generally hold still long enough for me to get a photo. This one landed on the Frans Hals Daylilies, and held still just long enough for me to get a picture:

September At Windswept Farm

Blue and Remy continue to spend their days in the outside corral and their nights in the barn. They now accept this as their life and are becoming much better behaved because they get so much handling. I lead them between the barn and corral twice each day and spray them with fly spray twice each day:

Remy is smart and playful, a mischievous troublemaker. I still have to keep an eye on him:

The Red Poll ladies are healthy and lead a life of leisure:

I began treating them to a bit of grain again so that I can get them into the barn when needed. Scarlett's calf needs her ears tattooed, Winston needs to be sold and Rosella needs to be artificially inseminated again. All these things require getting them into the barn:

The sunflowers and Daylilies are still going strong:

The plums ripened and I ate most of them, though there were only a few:

More flowers went to church. This vase contained yellow (wild) Goldenrod, Frans Hals Daylilies and various colors of sunflowers, including the "Teddy Bear" variety at the top:

Purple (wild) New England Aster, two varieties of roses and various colors of Yarrow:

Some years I have toads slipping into my mudroom when I open the door. This year I've had a tiny Spring Peeper. I carefully lift it and set it back outside in the garden:

The tallest sunflowers have reached about 14 feet tall and are branching to make a glorious display. I only recently learned that the flowers turn during the day to always face the sun. I've watched them facing east in the morning, then south midday and west later. It's really quite amazing:

But they also seemed about to fall over, so I hooked blue and yellow bungee cords together, then hooked them to the fence and around the stalks to keep them upright:

By contrast, the smallest sunflowers are only one to two feet tall. The one on the left is a Teddy Bear variety, but I have no idea what kind the others are:

Dogs And Cats, Living The Good Life

The kitchen corner is the favored spot for comfortable napping. This collection of pets included Fergus, Clover, Daphne and Seamus:

 Seamus watched me from behind the Daylilies. Clover was farther back, by the small maple tree:

 Daisy may be the most personable cat I've ever had. She is my shadow, and I have to be careful not to trip over her:

 A comfortable, cool, sunny day in the dog yard with Fergus, Clover and Daphne. You can see that their lawn was just mowed - and so was the north field across the gravel road:

Jack on his ramp, shaded by the Rugosa roses:

 The dogs watching me from behind the sunflowers:

 Caspar and Seamus, best buddies:

 Afternoon, when the house and cedar tree cast shadows on the dog yard:

Clover, Daphne and Fergus (wearing his absorbent belly-belt) on the big, green floor pillow:

 Sammy has never been trusting or friendly, but he was happy in his home. All was well until he was about 15 months old. Then he began spraying stinky urine all over the house and humping the other cats. His adoption papers said the vet concluded he must already have been neutered, even though he was a kitten at the time. Of course he turned out to be a cryptorchid, with undescended testicles. The shelter declined any help, so I paid my vet to operate on him. Then he got badly infected and sick. But he's now fine, and his personality has undergone a miraculous transformation. He's now calm, friendly and playful. He uses the litter box and does not stink. He's a happy boy: