Dogs And Cats At Home

The dogs were in their fenced yard when my sister arrived for a visit and they were overjoyed to see her. Remy, far out in the field, recognized her vehicle immediately and came running to the gate, whinnying his excitement:

 But before she got to see the dogs any closer, I showed her the flowers and a Canadian Swallowtail Butterfly. The dogs watched, hoping they'd be included soon:

 Inside the house, Daisy had begun using Bramble's old bed - when she's in the mood, that is:

 And Clover often cuddles with Bramble in the kitchen corner:

 Daphne likes the big green floor pillow:

 Georgette keeps changing her preferred napping spot. On this day, she was trying out an old chair in the kitchen:

 Fergus chose a blue fleecy dog bed:

Clover, Daphne and Fergus shared the green floor pillow while Jack napped separately:

 Fergus and Jack in the computer room. They were keeping an eye on me:

 All five dogs employing the shade of the Rugosa roses:

 Jack, lounging comfortably:

 At bedtime each day, I send the dogs up the stairs with Bugsy and Daisy and close the door at the foot of the stairs. Then I give Georgette a third of a can of canned cat food to enjoy in peace while everyone else is upstairs. So when I go to bed, I have a lot of animals waiting for me:

A Hot Summer, Full Of Life

The Rugosa Roses had few blossoms on them as July began drawing to a close, but the wildflower called Bouncing Bet burst into bloom beneath them to make up for it:

 Our drought became so severe that the few Rugosa Rose buds we had shriveled and dried. This clump reminded me of the scene I imagined when I read of Miss Havisham's decades old wedding celebration, locked in time, from the book, "Great Expectations:"

 The two baby pigeons forsook any semblance of a nest and just lived on the floor - but they grew at an astounding rate:

 Both parents were excellent, rushing to feed them whenever they peeped:

 Two more babies hatched, each in a separate nest with different parents, and lived through their first few days. That made me hopeful they'd grow to maturity, though what I'll do with more pigeons is a question I haven't yet answered:

 The newly planted baby Day Lilies did well and continued to bloom in spite of the drought because I watered them every morning. The first to bloom was this variety, called "Chicago Arnie's Choice:"

 The wildflowers are accustomed to droughts and other natural calamities, and they continued to bloom with abandon. The Black-Eyed Susans began to flower in mid-July:

 And my property was filled with white and yellow butterflies. I had a hard time getting any photos because they seldom held still, and identification was also difficult because there were three common and nearly indistinguishable species for each color. These butterflies, I decided, were called Cabbage Whites:

 It make take a second or two to notice the yellow butterfly in this photo. I decided that this species was Clouded Sulfur:

 But the Canadian Swallowtails which loved my orange Asiatic Lilies were easy to identify and nearly impossible to miss:

 Scenes such as these make summer, even a hot and dry one, a treasure to remember:

 My sister visited and came to church with me on Sunday morning because I would be singing in a duet. This photo reminded me of photos of the two of us as children out in front of our childhood home, all ready for church on a Sunday morning. It also reminded me of photos of my parents as children, taken similarly on summer days with their siblings. Once children, now adults, and things haven't really changed that much except for the natural aging process:

Lilac And Flowering Crab Season

Our spring came late, but it came with gusto. A beef farmer up the road purchased my leftover 18 bales of hay, leaving me a rutted place where last year's 88 bales had spent the winter. I used the tractor bucket to smooth it out for next year. The grass and weeds will just be getting started when I cover it all again with a new winter's supply of hay bales:

And then the Lilacs reached full bloom, with seemingly every rural property boasting many historic old bushes:

 They fill the air with their perfume, so much so that one can often smell while driving down a country road. My front and side yards were filled with the wonderful, old fashioned aroma:

I was surprised by what seemed to me to be the early arrival of Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies:

I was indeed surprised, but also thoroughly thrilled by their arrival:

And of course Swallowtails love Lilacs in bloom:

This butterfly preferred the topmost flowers, so I used the zoom lens. I was pleased with the picture which included a substantial amount of blue sky:

My flowering crab trees were hit by a fungus last year and didn't bloom very prolifically this spring, but they did make an effort:

The darker red flowers bloomed earlier than the other variety, and I almost missed getting a good photo of them. I was just in time:

The Prairie Rose, named for obvious reasons if you look at the buds, bloomed sparingly:

But there were a few branches, higher up, which did quite well:

One last spring photo, taken on the highway to Massena, New York. Every time I drive up this hill, I am amused by the big tree on the left because it always looks like a dinosaur. That's my comical version of a leafy Tyrannosaurus Rex. It looks to me like Barney, eating a tree or telephone pole:

The Glories Of Summer

The fantail pigeons never go outdoors anymore. I've opened the window for them but they ignore it. They are happy inside:

 The pigeons have paired off, built nests and laid eggs, but so far none have hatched:

 The old fashioned rose and the Mock Orange bloomed about the same time and put on an amazing show:


 And the white Peonies got started shortly thereafter:


 The Mock Orange bush drew Swallowtails in great numbers. That included one Giant Swallowtail, but it kept away from me and I never got a photo. I did, however, think I saw it fighting with the smaller Swallowtails:

 The Mock Orange blossoms are all gone now, but that makes these photos mean all the more to me. I won't see such a sight again until next summer:

 In the upper branches, the Swallowtails were set against the blue sky and white clouds. Oh, the glories of summer!:

The white Peonies opened spectacularly, at least the old established plantings. The new bed, the ones I split up and replanted (mixed with new, colored Peonies) was struggling to get started:

 A pair of swallows built a mud nest under the eave of the milk room. I knew they weren't Barn Swallows, so I looked them up in my field guide. The nest was the identifier. They were Cliff Swallows. They seemed to disappear shortly after building the nest, though, so I'm not sure if there will be babies this year or not:

 The hens seem content in their room. They like to go outdoors, but only because they don't understand the horrible death the local foxes intend for them:

 The Rugosa Roses put on a spectacular display this year, the best I've ever seen. They're still blooming, though not as prolifically as they were earlier:

 I belatedly decided I wanted to raise a couple of tomato plants. I planned to put them in the bare ground where the hay bales had been. Then I remembered that new hay bales were due any day, so I planted my new tomatoes in the lawn, just outside the south field gate and stock tank. In case you are wondering, that stripe of dead grass is from when I filled the sprayer with weed killer and drove away, not noticing that the drain valve was open. I quickly corrected my error, but not before I left that awful stripe:

Glorious June!

When our daytime temperatures slipped into the 80s, it was time to put the air conditioner into my bedroom window:

 But first I had to move the house plants to the guest bedroom. They live there every summer and seem to like it just fine:

 Apparently all the yellow Iris died over the winter, but the purple Iris outdid themselves. This was the last rush of flowers, as seen from my kitchen window:

 Just about the time the Iris stopped blooming, the Rugosa Roses started:

 Two days later, the Mock Orange flowers began opening:

 And that same day, Swallowtail Butterflies were drawn to the Mock Orange. Oddly, I can't smell any fragrance from them, but apparently the butterflies can:

 The bush was alive with Swallowtails:

 And with gorgeous flowers:

 They are so spectacular that I felt I had to take another photo. Several years ago, when I was renting the house, the tenants chopped this bush to the ground (they just thought it was a weed). I told them to let it grow back and it sure did. As with the Spirea, I think the severe pruning helped instead of hindered:


 More Rugosa Rose photos. I may not be able to smell the Mock Orange, but these roses perfumed the whole area around the house:

 Even when I stood on the porch, my view was bordered by Rugosa Roses:

And just so this post isn't entirely about plants, I also nailed up two bird houses which someone at church was selling as part of a fund raiser. I'm not sure the birds will be interested because they have so many other nesting sites, but the birdhouses look good there anyway: