Cleaning and Haying In June

The north field (in the background) was filled with tall grass, all ready to be hayed, so when I decided to clean up the cedar branches and old, rotten lumber from my wall repair, I drove to the wood pile along the outside of the fence. That way I didn't knock down any of the soon-to-be hay. It took two bucket loads to clear it all away:

I was wrong about there not being any baby fantail pigeons. I discovered this one high up on a shelf nest where I just hadn't noticed it before. It's a quiet, inactive bird and quite unlike some of the loud, hyperactive babies which have gotten themselves into trouble in the past. Maybe the parents are just keeping it so well fed it only lies there and burps all day:

Yellow Day Lilies began blooming amid a clump of Peonies. They appear every year without any assistance from me except to mow around the clump:

Out in the pasture, I saw these Common Fleabane flowers. There used to be more of them when I first moved here:

 

 We were predicted to have nearly a week of idyllic weather, and one day my neighbor began lining up his haying equipment on my lawn:

Meanwhile, I began brush hogging the pasture. The tall weeds were hiding the horses' heads when I tried to see if they still had their muzzles on. Furthermore, I was spending several hours each day searching for lost muzzles. It took about six hours over two days to get it all bush hogged:

The wildflowers were pretty, but Buttercups were taking over. They are inedible and increasing because they kept dropping seed. You can see here the uncut portion on the left, and a mowed section on the right. The bush hog cuts rather high, so I am hoping it didn't disturb many bird nests:

But let's face it - a wildflower meadow is a beautiful thing. I wanted a photo of it before I chopped off all those flower heads:

Meanwhile, my two neighbors (a nephew and his uncle) began haying, then tedding. Tedding is when they turn over the cut hay to help it dry in the sun. They had to ted it multiple times before they began baling:

And then they attached the baler, followed by a hay wagon. This year he had a brand new kicker, which tosses the finished bales up in the air and into the wagon, where the uncle caught it and stacked it neatly. I had to take a number of photos to get one which showed an airborne bale, but you can see it in this picture, just entering the front of the hay wagon. Click on the photo if you want to enlarge it:

The horses and cattle ignored all the activity and lounged and grazed peacefully in the south field pasture:

The fantail pigeons were enjoying life in the barn. They are sociable birds with each other and also, in their own way, with me. They know where their food, water and bedding comes from:

Whitehill Wild Forest - Part 3

My sister and I were hiking with my dogs in the White Hill Wild Forest (see previous two posts). We'd passed Little Rock Pond and were continuing on, hoping to arrive at Long Pond. I'd been there before and remembered it as the site of the biggest, most astounding beaver dam I've ever seen anywhere. So we kept trekking in spite of the heat:

I was just telling her about the bright red mushrooms I used to see so often when we came upon two of them, each as red as an apple:

We crossed several small streams. They were a mixed blessing of cooling water for the dogs but difficult walking for me in my braces as well as direct sunshine in that oppressive heat:

But the dogs got a refreshing drink and cool, wet feet at each water crossing. Seamus, beginning to suffer from the heat, lay down in one and appeared as if he might not go any farther. But of course he did, so we kept hiking:

But eventually the heat and humidity wore us all down and we turned back toward the trail head:

And we saw this lovely example of Beechdrops, a parasitic plant without leaves or chlorophyll. Not surprisingly, it was growing with a small Beech seedling:

We were hot and tired, even though we really hadn't hiked very far. It was a particularly welcome blessing when we returned to the shores of Clear Pond. Seamus, who had been most affected by the heat, was the first to go in:

And all the dogs still had enough energy for a bit of play:

A bit of romping in the wildflower meadow by the shore:

Every dog sniffed everything thoroughly

My sister waded out to cool off also, but only Seamus lay right down in the water. It was an exceedingly hot day. We got back into the car and stopped for takeout pizza on our way home. This was an adventure and fun outing, a nice start to her visit:

Happy Dogs At Clear Pond - Part 3

The dogs and I were on the trail, headed back to our parked car in the White Hill Wild Forest:

The alternating sunlight and shade was lovely but difficult for a camera. The dogs didn't care. It was all fun for them:

Of course we returned to the edge of Clear Pond at every opportunity. Daphne considered going into the water again, but did not:

Instead, all the dogs romped in the wildflower meadow along the shoreline:

This was pure heaven:

Happy dogs:

But our time at the water's edge eventually came to an end, and we all headed back to the trail:

The trail took us uphill to a meadow, and then back into the forest:

Jack continued to run in broad circles, but Seamus was tired:

We arrived at the gravel road and parking area, where all the dogs but Seamus continued to run:

What Seamus wanted was to get back into the car and relax:

Even the three smallest, most energetic dogs were exhausted by the time they were back in the car: