The Fullness Of Springtime

The north country may seem as if it's all snow and cold, but springtime and summer are glorious. My PJM Rhododendron began to drop its flowers but the old fashioned Iris right behind it were getting ready to bloom:

I found these wonderful wildflowers, called Bird's-Eye Speedwell, in my lawn:

They are showy and hard to miss:

Growing all around it was its miniature relative, Thyme-Leaved Speedwell:

My red Flowering Crab, which is intertwined with a wild Golden Delicious apple, put forth buds:


So I clipped some off, put them in a vase and took them to church:

The Lilacs not only began to open, but also to perfume the yard. Some of them also went to church:

The little chickens are happy and healthy:

And very friendly:

The first apple in the grove to bloom was the tree in the corner, next to the power pole:

Apple blossoms are surely one of the greatest joys of life on the farm:

And then the whole grove began to bloom. I took this photo from inside the horses' corral. The farm house is on the other side of the grove:

Around The Farm In December

Winter arrived both suddenly and early this year. These Rugosa Rose buds were frozen before opening and look as if they might last all winter this way:

I had to begin putting hay bales out for the herd earlier than usual too:

Our early winter storms were uncomfortable but left a beautiful landscape. This is the view to the northwest from one of my second story windows:

And the view to the southwest:

The apple grove held their leaves longer than most other trees, and then they got coated with sticky snow. They looked beautiful, though:

Remy and Blue liked to eat the old hay which the cows have abandoned after I put out a new bale:

They are not afraid to eat at the bale feeder when they want to, though:

The little bantam hens have been safe from foxes and relatively warm (all things are relative) inside their own room in the barn. These are Barred Rock bantams:

These are Easter Egger bantams:

The fourth Easter Egger bantam. They come in all colors:

The white fantail pigeons have done quite well this year:

And I've been wanting a good quality portrait photo of them. I think this is one is probably the best I'm going to get:

A Visit From My Sister

My sister arrived for a visit, and that included a cookout by the apple grove and a bit of silliness with the bug zapper paddle:

And of course it included saying hello to Remy, the miniature horse with the giant personality:

Remy is very lovable (and also mischievous):

Blue is sweet, but not as personable as Remy. He does like affection, though:

My sister visited the pigeons and held one of the birds which had been newly hatched only three weeks earlier, when she was here last:

And no visit is complete without taking the dogs out to some forest for a bit of fun:

We drove down to a town park on the St. Regis River and the dogs got to play in the water, something they've gotten quite used to this summer:

We humans stayed out of the water and just walked along the shady trail:

The trail was adjacent to the river so we could watch the dogs as they played:

It was hot, and Seamus knew just how to take care of that problem:

Fergus got a bit silly:

Daphne and Fergus got so wet I thought they may have been in trouble, but they were just playing. This park is little used and only 3 miles from home, a handy resource for a quick bit of recreation: