Days Mill Road, Hopkinton NY - Part 3

I was approaching the end of my driving tour of Days Mill Road (see also Parts 1 and 2, posted previously), and stopped at this country home with outbuildings:

There was a bird house in the top of that old tree and a tire swing hanging below. The outbuilding on the right was in the style which always causes me to think it was once the main residence on this farm:

Lots of firewood and a hay field:

An old style country home:

This wonderful barn had an orange and white cat grooming itself in the open hayloft door. If you click to enlarge the picture, you can see it:

A large, well maintained home with an enclosed porch and several outbuildings:

A tiny cottage behind the trees, possibly someone's weekend getaway:

New England Asters and Goldenrod between the road and the forest:

Tall Red Pines along the road:

A large and elaborate home in a woodsy style, with a brook right behind it:

I turned off of Days Mill Road onto the state road, which was lined with corn fields:

And across from the corn fields were old apple trees, apparently untended and dropping their copious fruit all over the ground. It was all wondrous autumn scenery. But this was the end of my driving tour and I had dogs at home who were anxious for me to return. I put my camera away and headed homeward:

F-F-F-F-F-F-F-Frozen F-F-F-F-F-Farm

As I wrote yesterday, our winter has been rugged thus far, both frigid and snowy. The animals seem to handle it well, or at least better than I do:

I snapped this picture through my window one brutally cold day, showing the view outside and across the county road. I didn't want to go out there:

Doing the morning chores, I saw these fox tracks leading from the barn. I've also seen fox tracks inside the barn. I'm not happy about that but haven't been able to stop it. I've tried live traps but they are not fooled by them:

The fantail pigeons are well and protected from the worst of winter:

The same is true for the bantam hens, though their room is smaller and is building up a lot of poop:

One of these two brown Easter Egger bantams is laying a pinkish egg every few days, just right for my needs:


But one day our temperatures dropped to nearly -20 and we received 2 to 3 feet of snow:

I'd intended to stop feeding the birds, but they were obviously so hungry that I relented. The small birds cluster in the nearby Lilac bush and wait for a moment when the bully birds, Cowbirds and Bluejays, are not at the feeders. In this picture are a Chickadee (top right), a Chipping Sparrow (bottom right) and an unknown bird (left), most likely a House Sparrow. I finally got a pair of Cardinals, but they are afraid of the Bluejays so I don't see them often:


The apple grove during the blizzard:

About 30" of snow atop the trash bins:

My car, with snow piled to within about 8" of the door handles. Our last few winters have been relatively mild and I came to expect that. This winter has been a trial, and I often wonder why I'm not sipping a mint julep in Florida somewhere like so many retired people:

Apple Blossom Beauty

The cherry tree bloomed early and profusely, promising perhaps the second big cherry crop I've seen since I moved to the farm. The blossoms almost hid the farm sign:

About ten days later, all the apple trees burst into bloom on the same morning:

I was thrilled, walking from tree to tree in the orchard, looking for differences in the flowers. Notice the cattle, clustered together under a Box Elder tree in the background:

The tree in the foreground produces huge crops every year:

My trees have less pink in them than some apples, so I like to snap a picture when I see a particularly pink set of blossoms:

All in all, a glorious display. It's over quickly, though, which is all the more reason to exult in it while it lasts:

More pink tinged flowers:

I was standing inside the pasture when I shot this photo of the apple orchard, with my house and car in the background:

There are two nice trees, probably wild seedlings, on the other side of the house - and they too were blooming wildly:

These two trees may be wild seeded, but they produce abundant and tasty crops:

I knew that this exuberant exhibition would soon be over, so I spent the morning taking pictures:

This is one of the wild seeded trees, arching out over the road and the Amish "Horse Shoeing" sign. It drops apples everywhere in early autumn:

Surprise Snowstorm, Wondrous Beauty

I awoke yesterday morning to find a beautiful snowfall had coated everything overnight. The apple orchard was frosted in white:

Looking out my driveway, past the Lilac and Cedar, to the fields across the county road:

After I did the morning chores, I took a drive down the gravel road which bisects my property. I wanted to get pictures of the lovely snow before it was gone. It is spring, even here, despite the appearances to the contrary:

The brushy woodlands, former farm fields, along the road:

A gate into a field which is still fairly open, even though it hasn't been used in many years:

The remains of a giant maple along the road, possibly the mother of many of the maples growing up in the adjoining forest:

And the young maples are being tapped right now, producing maple syrup:

Red Pines had a unique beauty:

And Beech trees continued to hold on to their leaves:

More Red Pines, recently thinned by logging:

My Amish neighbor's farm, carved out of the forest and built by himself:

I continued on, knowing I had enough photos but unable to quit because it was so lovely:

Beech, Birch, Red Pine - my favorite photo of the day:

I finally did turn around and returned home, passing my cattle and horses, scarfing down hay. That reminded me that I needed to give them a new bale before the day was over:

I pulled onto the county road so that I could park facing eastward. I snapped a photo of my own house and barn before I turned in to the driveway: