Summertime Stories

A new Daylily began to bloom among last year's plantings. I checked what I'd ordered and no such color was included. I emailed the supplier to identify it, enthusiastically telling them how happy I was with everything lest they think I was complaining. Alas, they never answered. I was angry until I remembered my own working days, when our tech manager forwarded many customer inquiries to me. I was already feeling overwhelmed with tasks and resented his forwards, so didn't answer many of the emails. That memory helped me to feel less irritation. Nonetheless, I like the Daylily:

 The fantail pigeons are becoming more numerous and more of their nests and attempts at parenting attempts have been successful this year:

 It has been hot, so I put two pans of water in for them to bathe in. Of course I was hoping for photos, but they all ignored the water until I gave up:

 When I went back later, the water was dirty and had feathers in it - but the pigeons all acted like they hadn't noticed any bathing water. "Who, us? We saw no water. Must have been some other birds who bathed." So I got no photos of them splashing and having fun:

Another Daylily began to bloom. This one I had a record of ordering and was called Paradise Pink:

 The wild Bouncing Bet mixed with the Rugosa roses and they both continued blooming extravagantly:

 In front of the house, along the county road, my new, hardy baby roses continued to bloom - and the Tree Hydrangea, a gift from a friend some years ago, outdid itself with blossoms:

And the Sunflowers began to accelerate their blooming. This was a variety called Cherry Rose:

 And a very dark maroon Sunflower, called Red Wave:

 One quiet day I was on my hands and knees, pulling weeds in the new flower garden by the gravel road. The dogs were in their fenced yard and were barking wildly. This is common for them and sometimes spurs me to holler at them. But this time I stayed calm, telling them they were being silly and barking at nothing. But I heard something beside me and looked up, over my shoulder, to see a big, brown llama regarding me with curiosity. A neighbor and I found her owner but she was at the fair, showing goats at the time. So we spent an hour following the llama and trying to put a rope lead around her neck. She finally eluded us and we had to quit. I found out later that the llama had traveled to an Amish farm and jumped over the fence into a pen full of goats (she normally lives with a herd of goats), where she was picked up and trucked back home:

A Second Visit To The Miniature Horses:

I visited the miniature horses again while waiting for them to be delivered. I arrived on a warm enough day for all the animals to be outdoors, and walking into the pasture was like an animal lover's dream come true:

 I knelt down to say hello to the affectionate little Remington. He's the one who loves to cuddle:

 The Llama came over to smell my face. She'd already done so numerous times, but her owner said she never tires of it. Apparently, it's important to her and she "reads" some sort of information from doing so:

The black Llama was more standoffish and even got a little huffy when one of the colts became a little too pushy:

Coyote Blue, hereafter referred to as just Blue, trotted over to see his father. Because he was a stallion, the father had to stay in a separate enclosure:

Then the colts' current owner called Blue over for a kiss. I had noted that Blue was a mischievous imp, bouncing around the pasture and seemingly trying to get a rise out of someone, so I think his owner wanted to show me that he too was affectionate:

 And then, of course, Remington (who I'll call Remy from here on) wanted a kiss too. Blue, on the left, was not about to get left out. He wanted attention too:

 I began constructing two stalls for Blue and Remy as soon as I got home. The calves had really made a mess of things when they were locked in the barn before they left for their new homes. I began by tying some mesh gates between and at the ends of the stalls:

 Then I hung two gates, front and back, on the second stall to keep its occupant in place. I wanted a board to brace beneath the ends of the two gates but was unable to drill the concrete to use masonry anchors. Instead, I had to use construction adhesive. As yet, I have not been able to tell if it will last or not:

Their current owner sent me a photo of Blue when he was one day old, already a "lap dog" with hooves. They should be here soon and I am looking forward to featuring them in blog posts:

St. Lawrence County Fair - Part 1

It was a lovely Friday and I was in no mood to be doing chores, so I drove to the village of Gouverneur to see the St. Lawrence County Fair. It was a fifty mile drive to Gouverneur, where I turned down a pleasant neighborhood road and and continued on it until I saw the fairgrounds:

I paid my admission, parked my car and walked toward the action. When I saw the words, "Free Petting Zoo," however, I made it my first stop:

There were Ring-Tailed Lemurs and screeching parrots:

Camels, sheep and goats:

A kangaroo:

And spotted Llamas:

Zebu miniature cattle:

Miniature horses and these partial albino, miniature donkeys. Unsurprisingly, the donkeys were the friendliest of all the animals:

This is dairy country and I toured several barns filled with cattle of various breeds:

And, of course, lots of Holsteins:

I arrived early, before the big crowds arrived, so the barns were busy with people cleaning their animals and stalls:

This woman was washing her Holstein heifer. But I still had lots to see at the fair, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: