A Day At Home With My Sister

My sister arrived on a Monday and on Tuesday we'd hiked up to The Pinnacle and onto the floating peat bog at Slush Pond. Wednesday morning dawned clear and beautiful, and she wanted to help do some work around the farm. I thought that was a great idea:

I noticed, on the way out to the barn, that the Wild Cucumbers which had been so lovely in bloom, had all gone to seed. There'll be plenty of new plants next year:

Inside the barn, we began blowing away the dust with an air compressor, but soon discovered that an old fashioned broom was more effective and less messy:

We pulled nails, cleaned around beams and windows, hung an old oxen yoke on the wall and cauked around windows and doors:

At lunch time, we drove into the little village of North Lawrence and ate at the Pit Stop Diner. We ordered the daily specials and even got dessert since it was homemade. I had maple cream pie, a novel but scrumptious take on a popular local product. The restaurant reminded us both of our childhoods, when our mother drove across the country, from Ohio to Oregon every other year. We used to stop at little diners such as this, and also at nearly every tourist trap and national park along the way:

When we got back, we let the dogs back out into their yard. Alas, two of them discovered how to squeeze out beneath the gate and we had to put flat rocks there to prevent any further escapes. Then my sister and I got back to work:

I showed her how to drive the tractor and we went out into the south field to remove some old rocks, lumber and concrete:

When the bucket was full, she drove it around the barn, across the road and the length of the north field to be dumped:

By the time we returned from dumping, she was feeling confident and having fun:

My sister spotted this Praying Mantis alongside the barn and I stopped for a photo:

And then, work over, we let the dogs out into the field. I had a moment of extreme puppy-love:

After dinner, in the setting sun, my talented sister dug out her juggling equipment and gave me a demonstration of the different techniques. She was quite good:

After juggling 3 and 4 balls, she put them down and showed me how to juggle Indian Clubs. She travels all over the country, attending and participating in juggling meets. She even sometimes does so while riding a unicycle. And that's not to mention running in a marathon. Well, you can tell who is the athletic one in the family, can't you?:

Scenes From Around The Farm

Daybreak as I looked across the road at my neighbors' fields:

And daybreak with the rising sun lighting up my neighbors' barn. Their animals were still sleeping in the barn:

I was working on the fence line shortly after the north field had been hayed and captured this glimpse of the new bales with the barn and house in the background:

Wild grapes grew everywhere, causing much trouble with my brush clearing. They were beautiful, but terribly, terribly bitter:

I was working hard but enjoying it greatly:

I said "Howdy" to a Praying Mantis:

I'd sprayed the perimeter of the field to kill the weeds but they hadn't fallen down, so I had to weed-whack the entire perimeter of both fields. The entire operation from brush clearing, fence repairs, two sprayings, weed-whacking and hanging warning signs took nearly the whole summer:

Another view of the north field, this time from the woods:

The chickens finally began coming out and going back in on their own, but spent most of each day on that step. Well, you can imagine what happened when walking in and out of that door and the messy, poopy shoes which resulted. I got three sections of garden fence at Home Depot and solved the problem:

I netted 35 bales for feeding my cattle this winter. Of course they won't arrive until later this autumn, but I'll be ready for them when they get here:

I got to know a bit more about grasshoppers this year. This one, I believe, was a male although I don't know what species:

And this lovely creature seemed to be keeping me company in the field as I worked. I later looked it up on the internet and submitted photos to the Butterflies And Moths Of North America site. It was identified as a Bronze Copper, Lycaena hyllus:

And here's the page redording my sighting:

And lastly, a short video of my Bantam Barred Rocks waking up and coming outdoors for the morning: