Cold Winter Touches The North Country

Of course I knew it was coming, yet still I was surprised to see the frost all over the Rugosa roses when I went out to do the morning chores:

 The leaves were frosted and the magenta buds were covered with icy crystals:

 Some of the flowers had wilted to the point of being unrecognizable:

 Fergus and Seamus watched me from their frosty yard as I began the morning chores:

There were only two open Daylilies left, and they were wilted and covered in ice:

 And the grass crunched underfoot as I walked to the barn:

 Sadly, the sunflowers, which had put on such a late season show, were done for the year:

 I walked the little horses out to their corral and discovered that their stock tank was covered in ice. Remy and Blue were not amused, but I figured it would melt once the sun was fully up:

The cattle were hungry and collected at the barn, demanding grain:

 I let them have some, then shooed them back outside as I carried hay to the horse corral. Most of the cattle followed me to the corral, hoping to steal that armload of hay. I guess they did not want to eat frozen grass:

 I tossed the hay in for the horses without giving the cattle any of it. Ruby knew what to do, and immediately went for a breakfast of warm milk:

The Little Horsey Guys

Blue and Remy have quit their rebellious ways and become perfect (well, almost perfect) gentlemen:

They seem to have decided that their new lives of corral by day, barn by night, are good things:

They do look longingly out at the pasture sometimes, but they'll get their chance as soon as the grass stops growing:

The Box Elder tree is covered with poisonous seeds, so as soon as they drop, I'll have to keep the horses inside the barn until I get them all raked up:

Keeping the boys supplied with good hay is part of my defense against them eating Box Elder seeds. They'll be less tempted if they're not hungry:

Remy goes out first in the mornings and gets tied to the tree while I bring Blue out:

Then I return to the barn, turn on the electric fence and grab a big armload of hay for their breakfast:

When it's hot and not rainy, the boys get covered with fly spray twice each day, morning and night:

I use a sponge to wipe it on their head and ears, then spray the rest of their body. In the evenings, I scrape off any bot fly eggs which have appeared on their legs or sides during the day. Using fly spray in the morning helps reduce the bot fly eggs a lot:

Always the trouble maker, Remy often tries to nip Blue while he's tied up for his fly spray:

It's been a good summer for the horsey boys, and soon they'll have six months of freedom in the south pasture:

A Peaceful Time Of Year

Our temperatures have been gradually getting cooler and we've had more rain. The Cliff Swallows and Redwing Blackbirds have disappeared, the Starlings are flocking and the Goldfinches suddenly seem to be everywhere. Blue and Remy continue to spend their days in the corral. I dare not let them out until almost all the green grass is gone lest they get laminitis (founder) again:

But they seem content, and all the extra handling they've gotten has them behaving beautifully:

The cattle are fat and contented, though the flies are a persistent problem:

Little Ruby is growing rapidly but Scarlett, her mom, is still swollen with more milk than the little one can drink. That won't last, though, as Ruby grows and wants more milk:

I planted Armenian Basket Flower seeds this spring but none came up. I waited a long time for them, then bought some half price Red Hot Poker roots to replace them. The four Red Hot Pokers came up, although I worried that they weren't hardy enough to endure our winters. Then one day I said, "Wait a minute - those aren't Red Hot Poker leaves." I looked online and discovered they were Armenian Basket Flower (AKA Giant Yellow Knapweed) leaves after all. Four of them were growing and one now seems to be sending up a flower stalk:

Some neighbors came to collect all my windfall apples (that 55 gallon drum was almost full, as were a number of pails and coolers). They will feed them to their pigs:

Flowers are almost done for the year, but I managed to put together three vases full to bring to church on Sunday. This one included mini-sunflowers, pink Rose Mallows and Tree Hydrangeas:

All sunflowers, but various colors. Someone from church had a death in the family the previous night, so these flowers went to him after the service:

Peony leaves (turning autumn red), various colors of Yarrow, blue Delphinium and Rugosa roses:

These baby fantail pigeons were not siblings, but they had found each other, established a friendship and slept together in a nest. I found it heart warming:

The flock is now so large that I will have to sell some as soon as the babies are all on their own:

It's A Girl!

Scarlett went one and a half days past her due date, then calved during the night. I went out early in the morning, while the grass was wet with dew and the rosy light of dawn made photography difficult, and found Scarlett and her brand new baby girl:

 Winston and Rosella, his mom, came over to see what the excitement was about:

 And then all of them began to move to a sunnier spot:

 Also, Scarlett was uncomfortable with me getting so close to her new baby:

On the second day, I found them on the other side of the field. The baby was already running and jumping:

 And again on the second day, Scarlett took her baby and walked away from me. I named the little heifer Ruby:

 Scarlett has a couple of extra big teats, but her calves grow so quickly that they soon are able to drink from all four teats:

 Scarlett is my only cow who hides her babies in the manner of deer, and I've spent many hours trying to find her babies because she's hidden them in the grass. But on the next day, a neighbor called to tell me that the baby was with the herd. When I got out there, I found them next to the horses' corral:

 I walked around to get closer and found little Ruby already tasting grass and learning about electric fence. Blue stood inside his corral and watched the activity (Remy ignored us all):

 With her baby three days old, Scarlett decided I was OK to get close, so I moved in to take more pictures:

 Little Ruby followed all the cows, not just her mother, and kept her eye on me:

 And then she walked behind a tall thistle plant. I snapped one last photo and then went back inside the house:

Cattle, Horses, Flowers

Autumn seems to be in the air some days, and it feels like summer on other days. The Red Polls enjoyed the idyllic weather this day, spreading farther apart than they do when the flies are more pesky:

And they often come to the stock tank as a group to get a drink of water:

The pasture has lots to eat in it, so the red haired ladies have much spare time for snoozing and lounging around:

Winston sniffed the air when I came near. Should I be insulted?

I find a scene like this each morning when I bring the horses out to their corral for the day:

Remy and Blue seem fairly happy in their corral and accustomed with their new routine:

I had to begin spraying both little horses with fly spray each morning before taking them outside. At first, that prevented the bot flies from laying eggs on their legs and sides, but after a few weeks, the bot fly eggs began to appear again. I now have to scrape them off carefully each time I bring them into the barn and also spray them with more fly repellent:

Blue likes to lie down and then bobs his head up and down. I was worried at first that something might be wrong, but apparently it's just something he likes to do:

And both horses love to roll on the ground:

The first Rose Mallow to bloom was this giant pink one. Notice the abundance of buds behind it - and that's only one of many shoots which will be blooming. I think it will be a good year for Rose Mallows:

I began snapping photos of the various colors and color combinations in the Yarrow patch but there were just too many of them. Instead, I put the photos together to make one big picture of SOME of the color varieties. I find these plants amazing: