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:

On The Eastbound Rutland Trail - Part 2

My sister was visiting and we took the dogs out for a hike on the eastbound Rutland Trail (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

There were wetlands on both sides of the raised trail, an old railroad bed, but the biggest body of water was on our right - and it was enormous:

We began to see signs of a massive blow-down:

Furthermore, someone had cut down most of the sizeable White Pines along the trail. They left them where they fell, so I never did figure out what their intent had been:

More beaver activity:

We had walked farther than I'd ever gone before and my bad ankles were becoming painful, so we started back toward our parked car. By this time I was falling behind:

The two bridges which had been built, apparently for snowmobiles, were still intact although this one was rather skewed:

The dogs' feet and bellies were drenched with black water, colored with the dark stone base of the old railroad bed. It was hard, and the reason my ankles were so sore. I can walk on dirt trails, but flat concrete or asphalt is problematic - and this was more like the latter. And of course the dogs left a considerable mess in my car and, when we got home, on the house floors:

But they were happy pooches and not to be discouraged by a bit of black mud:

My sister and I posed for a photo:

And so did the dogs - well, sort of:

I saw this tiny patch of Frog-Bit, only the second time I've ever seen it. It is considered an invasive species but it sure hasn't caused much harm up here, at least not yet. To me it is like a miniature waterlily with cute, white flowers. The roots are free floating, not rooted in the ground. I like it so much that I have a hard time remembering that it's invasive. I suppose many felt the same way about Purple Loosestrife when it began conquering our native cattails. I don't know if it's a problem still, but up here the cattails are outperforming the Purple Loosestrife many times over:

We came to the last big water and stopped to reflect on its beauty. In just a week or two (I hope), these wetlands will be loud with the calls of Spring Peepers:

News From Around The Farm

As summer began to show signs of turning into autumn, the herd continued to live peacefully:

The summer had rained so much that the herd drank little water from the stock tank, apparently drinking from puddles in the field and/or getting most of what they needed from eating the wet grass. As things dried up, they began coming in to the stock tank more often:

Mostly, though, it was a quiet and peaceful life for Teddy and his harem of red cows:

But then it was time for Teddy to be moved to a new herd of cows who needed to be bred. Teddy's owner arrived and set up gates to channel him into the stock trailer. He dumped out some grain to lure him in:

Teddy was happy to eat the first pile of grain, but he knew full well that we were trying to trick him and refused to be fooled by our devious schemes. We dumped out more grain and also a bucket full of apples, all to no avail:

Finally the crowd of onlookers all went home and left Teddy's owner alone with him. It took nearly an hour, but Teddy finally stepped up into the stock trailer. His next herd was right across the road, so he didn't have far to travel. Assuming my cows are now pregnant, they should calve in April and May. I still have two cows, however, who might possibly have been already pregnant when Teddy arrived. If so, they are due in October and January. Time will tell:

Blue and Remy live charmed lives, with nothing much to do but eat, sleep and play. I gave them windfall apples a few times but then quit, figuring that all my animals were already too fat:

 Blue looked pretty spiffy, standing beneath the Box Elder tree:

Another pair of fantail pigeons has a baby. It is growing rapidly and looks exceedingly healthy and robust:

 And the Rose Mallow plants began to bud. The buds were bigger than any other plants I know of:

 And the flowers themselves were record breakers, easily 12" across - and maybe more:

 I began finding tiny tree frogs everywhere, including one in the house (which I put back outside). I got this one to hold still long enough for a photo and managed to identify him (by the X on his back) as a Spring Peeper. While doing so, I learned that Spring Peepers only live in the eastern half of the U.S. I would miss them if I ever moved out west:

Walking The Wetlands On The Rutland Trail - Part 2

The dogs and I were walking the Rutland Trail east from Hallahan Road and enjoying the songs of the spring peepers (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

Little Daphne kicked up her heels and raced ahead of gigantic Seamus:


There are wetlands all along this section of the trail:

And the dogs were thrilled to be on an outing:

We didn't go far before we turned back toward our parked car. That was fine with the dogs. They're happy as long as they are moving:


Even though it looks like it's all woods here, there was water on both sides of the trail:

We stopped again at the beaver lodge. I suspect that there are no longer any beavers living here. It is also possible that someone tore down a beaver dam elsewhere and dumped the wood here:


The water on the other side of the trail looked inviting, so three of the dogs went down for a closer look. None of them went in, I'm glad to report, not even Seamus:

As for me, I enjoyed the long vistas across the water and the sounds of spring peepers and honking geese:

We were nearing our parked car:

But Fergus took a detour to check out the water's edge. He looked a little sheepish when he returned, as if he thought he might have done something bad (he hadn't):

Little Jack spotted our car ahead and bolted, and Seamus watched him go. But I called, and Jack returned, so I put a leash on him and told the other dogs to heal for the final stretch to the road. The other dogs know that heel means to stay about two feet from me, either side is OK. With five dogs, I can't be too picky:

Walking The Wetlands On The Rutland Trail - Part 1

There was a light rain and it was kind of chilly, but that didn't stop us. This trail is only 5 miles from home and I decided to go hear the spring peepers, which had begun singing only one day earlier. The dogs hit the trail running:

There is water on both sides of the trail, which is beautiful and ideal for hearing spring peepers. It also keeps people on the trail. There's no wandering when on this section of the Rutland Trail:

I began by letting the dogs run and not hollering at them when they went too far. I figured that they surely must know the limits by now. I was wrong. We hadn't gone far before I began calling them back every few minutes. But they love running back as much as they love running forward, so they were still happy:

Daphne, Clover and Jack walked down the water's edge to explore:

Then, of course, they all ran ahead. When I called, they all ran back. Oh, to be so young and energetic:

We stopped at a trailside beaver lodge but the dogs didn't seem to smell anything interesting:

And they explored the water's edge on the other side of the trail:

Little Clover, always the adventurer, climbed up on a rock:

It was a grand time to be near the water:

The trail is where the Rutland railroad tracks used to be and is therefore level and straight:

My ankles were hurting, so I knew we wouldn't go very far. But that was OK because we all enjoyed a quick jaunt out and back:

The scenery was lovely but there were no green leaves or flowers yet. I made a mental note to return here soon to see the plant life come alive. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: