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:

What's Happening Around Here

Summer was going well and the herd was happy on pasture:

 But then we endured a heat wave and a drought, which turned most grass, both in the lawn and pasture, brown and crunchy. It finally began raining again, though, and slowly things began growing:

 The tractor went back to the shop for maintenance, an expense I didn't need but which hopefully will prevent a bigger expense in the future:

 I tried the bug zapper on the giant wasps, but they were wise to my tricks. I did get one fly, though, and it popped so loudly that I jumped. Apparently I'd never before really zapped one:

 Since the chickens can't go outdoors anymore and scratch, their toenails had grown long and ugly. I used the dogs' nail clippers to cut them back. The Barred Rock bantams' legs and feet are yellow:

 And the Easter Egger bantams' legs and feet are sort of black. They all needed trimming:

 More Frans Hals Day lilies bloomed. In fact, they began blooming profusely:

 And several sunflowers bloomed near the bird feeders. I may plant some next year because they are such a pleasure to see:

 The wild Bouncing Bet flowers, however, were fading. Their season was drawing to a close:

 One Sunday morning I was amazed to find the church looking like this. I learned that Vacation Bible School began the next day and the theme involved camping, boating, hiking, etc. - a natural fit for this part of the country. They had set up an amazing display with artificial rocks, campfire, river, waterfall, etc:

 And as if that wasn't enough, I found a hallway filled with life-sized trees made of balloons downstairs:

 And upstairs, in another room, a full campsite was set up, complete with tents, trees, river and bridge. My church joins with a number of other local churches to put on Vacation Bible School each year, and by all accounts it was a big success:

Scenes From Summertime

When she was here visiting, my sister took this photo of the farm from the county road:

 And she stayed after church because they serve a meal each Sunday:

 I showed her the Blue Sea Holly and Asiatic Lilies, both of which were putting on real show at that time:

 We found a few branches on a couple of trees which were producing apples:

 And the plums were growing rapidly:

 I showed her the two nearly fledged baby fantail pigeons:


And then she found several nests with babies which I had not even seen. This one was on the floor:

 And this one was up on a shelf:

 Later, I brought in a pan of water for the pigeons because they love to bathe and play in water. I brought in two pans but one had a leak. I'll buy another pan the next time I'm at the feed store:

 My sister also gave me a bug zapper paddle, a battery operated swatter which zaps them when they hit the wire mesh. It's fun, but I have to swing it fast to get the flies and then I can't see if it worked or not. I didn't have it turned on when I took this photo and only saw the fly on the mesh when I downloaded it. If only I'd noticed at the time, I could have pushed the button!

 After my sister left, I cleaned out the barn. With the horses spending each night there, the hay and manure builds up quickly:

 It took about six tractor buckets to haul it away to the manure/compost pile. The barn sure smelled better after I'd finished: