Notes From Here And There

The pigeon parents with the cubbyhole nest raised a healthy baby:

The baby did so well that one day I found it on the floor, attempting to begin its adult life. It was, however, being bullied:

I put it back in the nest, but it jumped right back out again. It's doing fine, though, and already indistinguishable from the adult pigeons:

Another pair picked an awful place to nest, crowded under a beam and full of poop:

But so far they've been excellent parents and their two babies are growing rapidly:

Both parents take turns keeping the babies warm and feeding them:

The little hens would like to get outside, but I can't let them because the foxes would eat the hens and the hens would eat my seedlings:

I get a few green and pink eggs each evening:

A friend from choir is an artist and, after visiting the farm, painted this for me to hang on my wall:

The Mock Orange finished its blooming season and began dropping petals so fast that it looked like it had been snowing:

Apparently this bi-colored Iris was the last Iris of the season:

The Morden Sunrise rose began to bloom:

Fabulous Flowers

I cut back the Rugosa roses almost to the ground this spring, and my efforts began to be rewarded with this, the first Rugosa blossom of the year:

The Ninebark buds began to open:

And the giant Iris, which I planted two years ago, blossomed. This was a bi-colored flower, and the small, yellow one behind it is the old fashioned type which came with the farm:

A giant purple Iris, so heavy the stem fell over:

And a giant pink Iris:

And my old fashioned white Peonies started blooming abundantly:

They are having their best year ever:

 The old fashioned rose which I rescued got cut down to the ground this spring and hasn't bloomed yet this year, but its offspring, started by putting a cutting in the ground with a bottle over it, is blooming nicely:

A close-up:

One of the two Morden roses I planted last year is already putting on a show. This is the Morden Blush variety. The other variety is budding, so should bloom soon:

The Mock Orange bush burst into bloom:

I collected some of the flowers in a vase and took them to church. Alas, I learned that Oriental Poppies wilt quickly when cut. Besides the Poppy, I included Peonies, three varieties of Iris, Mock Orange and Ninebark:

The Beauty Of Summer

It seems bold of me to type the word "summer," for it has seemed that spring would never end and we'd move right into autumn and winter again. We had to heat our houses at night right through most of June, but at last I can safely say it is summer now. The baby fantail pigeon is doing extraordinarily well:

 And most of the adults are nesting or quibbling over prime mates or nesting sites:

 The bantam hens have reduced their egg laying to a just a few per day:

 And they seem comfortable and happy with their lives:

The offspring of the old fashioned rose began to flower:

 And the damn Canada Thistles and Bull Thistles crowded the fence line:

 I took a weed-whacker to them and things began to look better:

 With longer days, I began going out to do the chores at earlier times, with exquisite sights such as this dawn sky being my reward:

I planted Iris several years ago and this giant purple one began to flower. It is huge!

 Baby apricots (I think - it's hard to remember which tree is which), the first time I've had fruit since I planted the tree:

 And baby plums on the always productive tree. The nonproductive tree looks to be carrying on its nonproductive tradition:

 I planted a hardy Blue Moon Wisteria 3 or 4 years ago, but it never grew an inch. This year it appeared to have died, and even when it produced leaves, I held no hope for it. Then suddenly it began to send up vines as if it was finally going to thrive. Well, better late than never:

Random Shots Around The Farm

The Sunflower seeds were the first to come up although the bed had a big bare spot where nothing came up:

 The new Day Lily roots began to grow, but the reason I took this photo was to illustrate how fast the weeds grow here. This bed was weeded less than 24 hours earlier, and just look at all the new weeds coming up!

 The new baby fantail pigeon is looking good!

 And many other adults are nesting:

Out in the pasture, Buttercups and Common Fleabane are in bloom:

 A close-up of Common Fleabane:

 The shoot I rooted from the old fashioned rose I saved is blooming, though the parent plant is not yet flowering because I cut it back to about one foot high this year (as I also did the Rugosa Roses):

 I thought my little Magnolia died over the winter, but it has slowly come back to life and even produced one flower - a month or so late, but I'm still happy to see it:

The bigger of the two Ninebarks began to bud and put on quite a colorful show. I remember thinking last year that the buds were prettier than the flowers:

 I cut a vase full of Buttercups from the pasture and a vase full of purple Iris from beside the door and brought them to church:

 The little hens seem busy and enjoying life. They may not get out anymore, but life is otherwise very good for them:

 I planted the six new roses along the road and they are not yet growing much - but this one, called Carefree Beauty, has already bloomed. Apparently it really is carefree and that's a good thing, for I'm not much for providing a lot of care:

Flowers And Birds

The Snowball Bushes which were given to me by a friend, now deceased, were blooming up a storm this year. That's the neighbors' barn across the county road:

And they were incredibly beautiful, a fitting memorial to a beloved friend:

And the old fashioned yellow Iris, always later than the purple, began to bloom. These plants were on the old farm when I bought it, though I've moved them around and added compost to their soil:

The little bantam hens seem content and comfortable:

And their egg production is low this season, a blessing for me because I can't use them all, and not many people want small bantam eggs:

The Bridalveil Spirea in front of the house began blooming:

These too were part of the farm when I bought it, but were overgrown and not blooming heavily. I cut them back almost to the ground one year and, though it took several years, they rebounded in dramatic style:

This is the front of the old farm house, showing two of the Spirea and one Snowball bush. The funny looking ladder thing on the left is for the Mandarin Honeysuckle to climb on and the big bush on the right is a small part of the giant Lilac bush at the edge of the driveway:

The fantail pigeons are doing well although the one female who tried to make a nest on a narrow shelf below other nesting pairs still shows the poop stains she received for her poor choice of location. She's now nesting on the floor beneath a table, where she is mostly safe from the poop-storms:

And these couples made nests in cubbyhole near where I keep the egg cartons:

I've had three dead babies this year, but this one is doing well. I caught a parent feeding it one day:

They both became self-conscious at being photographed and stopped their feeding, turning their eyes on me: