Rural Elmer Road, Town Of Lawrence NY

One morning I was in the mood for a driving tour, so I grabbed my camera, got into the car and headed to Elmer Road, where I knew I could find much rural beauty. The first farm I passed was this classic pair of barns, with a silo and hay bale elevator:

Farm equipment, a red barn and baleage stacked up for the winter:

In my mind, Elmer Road should be called "Elbow Road" because of the sharp turn it makes - and right at the turn is this log home:

They had two horses in the field, though I only managed to get one of them in the photo:

Two outbuildings, one apparently in use and the other not:

I have photographed this woodsy home before, set back in the pines like a forest hideaway. This, however, may be the first time I've seen it in the winter. It still looked woodsy and welcoming:

A series of outbuildings, apparently leading to someone's home, mostly hidden by trees:

I came to this ambitious and prosperous looking Amish farm, with its twin barns and twin silos:

I got a closer view of the silos and one of the barns as I passed by:

Another barn, this one with a traditional buggy parked outside:

The same Amish farm had a roadside stand and another barn beside the house:

And the house had laundry drying on the porch, a tree swing and a children's sled:

Still the same farm, I passed this workshop and windmill:

They also had a busy, prosperous looking sawmill. But that was the end of Elmer Road. I then turned right on Alburg Road, but I'll post those photos tomorrow:

The Last Days Of Summer

As our nights got cooler, the morning mists and dew grew heavier. This morning view is looking from the dog yard out over the Ninebark bushes, gravel road, north field and the trees beyond:

One pair of pigeons produced another baby. I feared it wouldn't make it, but it's been doing just fine:

The Wild Cucumber vines bloomed everywhere but were especially dramatic atop the old-fashioned rose bush. Alas, no photo of the combination turned out and I had to settle for just a photo of the Wild Cucumber blossoms:

Goldenrod, Burdock and Cattails abound along the fence line:

The New England Asters began to bloom. I hope they'll attract masses of butterflies like they did last year. There are a number of Monarch butterflies around but they won't hold still for photos:

One day I found half of my north field mowed:


And the next day my neighbor began tedding the mowed hay. Tedding is turning it over so it will dry thoroughly in the sun:

There was so much dew that he had to ted the mowed hay repeatedly:

And then, just before rain was expected, he and his uncle came to bale the hay. There were only 54 bales because the drought had kept it from growing for a month, but it was beautiful hay:

The best part for me was standing around afterwards and chatting:

The pink Rose Mallows began to bloom. They produce all their buds at the top of a big stalk which displays nicely outdoors, but renders them unusable for cut flowers, at least until the end of the season when there are just a few left. As you can see, the opening buds are gigantic like the flowers:

With the neighbors' barn and horse across the road, I thought they made a great late summer picture. You can see a red Rose Mallow bud on the top left, just about to open and add to the color:

From The County Fair Back To The 1950s

My sister was visiting, and we were attending the Franklin County Fair in Malone, New York (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). We'd already seen the goats, cattle, horses and most of the poultry. This white turkey was our last stop before exiting the poultry barn:

We ambled over to the midway, but it was too early and too rainy to find much excitement there:

Next we headed to the 4H Barn, where we saw a sleeping pig named Legend. The sign said he was a registered Berkshire boar, four years old. It appeared to me that Legend didn't care about anything but getting his sleep and food:

There were lambs and baby chicks and honey bee exhibits:


We treated ourselves to a maple milkshake and I liked this egg size display. We walked through the commercial barn, stopping to look closely at a leather working booth where I bought a new wallet:

Then we walked out to the arena and grandstands, where there appeared to be some kind of horse competition. Like the children with goats we saw earlier, though, this turned out to be a practice session for the real judging yet to come:

It was lunchtime by then, so we left the fair and headed to Bokie's Diner, just up the road a couple of miles from the fairgrounds. Bokie's is a pink and chrome recreation of a 1950s drive-in, a favorite summertime stop:

Even the parking lot was fun. My sister tried out being Marilyn Monroe:

And we both joined in as ice cream scoops, though my head didn't fit into the hole:

My sister as Betty Boop:

We headed for the door to see what the menu had to offer:

Inside was decorated in 1950s style, with period music playing on the jukebox. The menu was big on hamburgers, fried shrimp, etc:

The tabletops were covered with 1950s newspaper clippings, postcards and old class photos:

We enjoyed our lunch and left for home, but first I wanted to try being Marilyn Monroe. Perhaps this was my true self:

The Franklin County Fair - Part 1

On the second day of my sister's visit, we took a drive to Malone, New York in order to see the Franklin County Fair. We began in the goat barn and with this friendly face:

I used to have dairy goats and still think they're one of the best animals there is. They're certainly about the friendliest:

  This sign was on a pen full of youngsters. It was clever and I got a chuckle out of it:

  Goats love people and they begged for attention:

We walked across the lane to visit the horse barn, stopping along the way to greet this friendly cat with giant feet and extra toes:

This warning caused me to be careful. I think this horse was like Remy - friendly, but inclined to explore with his mouth:

Next stop was the cow barn. It was all dairy cattle on that day. Beef cattle would be exhibited later in the week:

Lots of people stayed right there with their livestock:

And they kept them immaculately clean. I figured they must have to pick up manure every 15 minutes or so to keep them so clean. Cleaning up urine soaked bedding might be more difficult:

These cows are obviously well cared for and accustomed to much handling:

We walked over to the arena and saw what at first appeared to be children showing their goats in front of a judge. We watched for awhile and learned that the actual competition was the next day but the judge was giving pointers to the children, explaining what to do and what not to do. It was fun to watch:

Next was the poultry barn, where we found these Guinea Fowl:

And Buff Laced Polish chickens:

And quite a few Peacocks. But there was still much to see at the fair. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: