Summer On The Farm

There are ten little bantam hens now, seven Barred Rocks and three Easter Eggers. They aren't laying many eggs, but there are still more than I can use:

A pair of fantail pigeons successfully hatched two babies in their cubbyhole nest:

The babies were doing well for several days:

And then one morning, I found one dead and the other missing. I'm afraid this is a common occurrence and I've become accustomed to dealing with it:

I'm glad to say, however, that there are some successful nests in which parents raise healthy babies to help make up for the sad losses. These two are so close to adulthood that I feel confident they'll make it now:

They are growing rapidly and don't mind being held:

Flowers have been blooming in abundance and I collected two colors of roses and three colors of lilies into one vase to bring to church on Sunday:

I also collected an armload of Elderberry blossoms and put them in a vase, then stuck a couple of Ninebark branches in for color variety. Alas, by the time I arrived at church, the Elderberry stems had wilted so badly that I had to dump them in the weeds by the church parking lot. I know now that Elderberries, like Oriental Poppies, should not be used as cut flowers:

A new color of Asiatic Lilies, planted just this year, have been blooming copiously:

You may remember the photo of baby apricots in a previous post. There is now only one marble-sized apricot left and I don't expect it to last. But at least I now know that the tree can produce fruit:

The always productive plum tree is producing nice looking plums, but the other plum tree has lost its fruit:

I planted a whole row of seeds in an area where other seeds didn't take. I now have lots of baby Lupines emerging. They're awfully close together, but I think I'll leave them alone and let nature take its course:

The Drive Home From The Farm

As always, my weekend at the farm was over all too soon and I began the long trip home through the Adirondacks. I pulled off the road to give the dogs a rest stop at the Cascade Lakes. It was even more beautiful than usual and the dogs were thrilled to go exploring:

Little Clover went chugging through the grass as if she was on a mission:

Fergus and Clover explored the shoreline beneath the stony cliff of a mountain:

I got the dogs back into the car and we continued on our way. But I just had to stop when I saw this filed of wild Lupines. I've read that these were garden flowers which had escaped and gone wild. I don't imagine that anyone is complaining, though:

We stopped for one last rest stop along the Ausable River:

I took a different path through the woods here, passing by some large boulders. I suppose these would be considered glacial erratics::

Fergus always keeps a close watch on me. He aims to please:

I don't often get a photo of the youngest and oldest dogs all together, but that's what happened here. I had probably just turned back toward the car and that resulted in the fastest dogs joining up once again with the slowest. Fergus and Seamus were nearby:

We all trotted back to the car, officially ending that trip up to the farm - well, all except for the final one hour and forty-five minutes of high speed highway driving. That's my least favorite part:

At Last, A Bit Of Civilization!

I drove for many miles without seeing any building, any other vehicle or any other person. But at long last, my car tires hit blacktop and I began to see Adirondack camps along a lake. Still no people or vehicles, though:

This beautiful farm house had a yard filled with wild lupines which, by the way, were in bloom through much of the Adirondacks:

It was nice to see some signs of civilization, but still the population was sparse and, in fact, I only saw one person all the time I was on those back roads. And still there were plenty of wilderness areas to ogle:

This is the sort of old barn whose photo I'd love to put in a calendar some day. I love old barns:

And this old farm house with its yard full of Lupines went with the barn. It was unoccupied and had piles of junk on the porch, possibly a victim of foreclosure. But it was absolutely, gorgeously picturesque - an example of old fashioned summertime in the Adirondacks:

And in spite of finding some homes and tiny settlements, the Adirondack wilderness was everywhere present. I was mighty glad I'd dared to attempt this back road journey:

I'll end with a brief video of the dogs and I walking along a forest path. They stayed together better this time than they did last time: