~
Thursday, June 30, 2005 7:00 a.m.
67 degrees, calm, foggy
A young robin is trying out his wings, flying from branch
to branch in the aspen tree
outside my window. His landings are a little tipsy, and
once he didn’t exactly connect
with the branch he was aiming for so just kept on going,
letting momentum carry him to
one lower down. I meant to do that... There are
young birds all over the Hill. Last even-
ing three hen turkeys herded about twenty little chicks
across the road, hurrying them along
as best they could. For every stately long stride the
mommas took, the little guys took ten,
legs all a-blur like in a Roadrunner cartoon. Since our
hay has been cut we get a good view of
everything going on in the meadows that surround our
house. I haven’t seen any of our newest
tree swallows, but every time we walk towards the cluster
of trees by the spring we get harassed
by a half dozen adult birds, clacking their bills and
coming closer to our heads with every pass. A
pair of bluebirds has moved into a nesting box across the
road but hasn’t laid any eggs yet. Mean-
while, with the recent showers the gardens are keeping us
busy. Snap peas double in size on a daily
basis, and the rain that has been so good for the crops
has also brought zillions of dormant weeds to
life. They pull easily from the damp soil, and care must
be taken not to disturb the roots of nearby
vegetable plants. We can’t weed the beans until the
foliage dries off, lest we spread soilborne dis-
ease. Strawberries continue to bear tasty fruit, even if
they aren’t as large as the first few pickings,
they are wonderfully sweet and juicy. Raspberry canes are
loaded with green drupelets, and the
combination of heat and rain should ripen them early this
year. Today will be a hot one with
100% humidity likely giving way to more storms later. We
are looking forward to a
walk in the morning fog before tackling some more weeds.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, June 29, 2005 8:00 a.m.
68 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
It is nice to be a little bit chilly for a change. I just
finished picking some strawberries; without
the added attractions of blistering hot sun and swarms of
deerflies, it hardly seemed like berry
picking at all. The crop has been abundant this year,
plump, sweet and juicy. Rain that fell over-
night has already been dried off by a steady breeze. A
noisy thunderstorm swept across the Hill
just after bedtime; our evening walk was cut short by
rapidly advancing lightning, pretty to behold
but a little scary when one is out in the open. Even the
fireflies scurried for cover. Yesterday we
descended into the gorge across the road to have a picnic
by the little creek that flows towards
the Black River. The sides are very steep, and we secured
a rope to a stout tree to give us a little
more security on the way down. Because it has been such a
dry season the water level is low in all
of the local streams. We took advantage of this to build
a rock dam at the low end of a natural pool,
hoping to make it a little deeper. Big flat rocks were
dropped with a huge splash! and the heat of the
day was soon forgotten. A few inquisitive frogs watched
our efforts from the creek’s edge, plopping
into the water when we got too close for comfort. We were
also joined by swarms of mosquitoes, the
first I have seen this year in such quantity. The banks
of the creek are lined with stinging nettle plants;
unfortunately, we discovered this the hard way. Cool
water eased the burn, and we were extra care-
ful where we trod. Tiny crayfishes skittered across flat
submerged rocks, and when examined closely
resembled little red lobsters. A few bigger crawdaddies
were also captured by the braver souls among
us, claws snatching thin air and antennae waving about.
Many of the rocks we piled onto the dam con-
tained fossil remains, mostly crinoids and crinoid
columnals. Ancient spongiform impressions were also
embedded in the rock. We could have happily played in the
creek until dark, but alas, I had a late after-
noon commitment, so we hauled our squishy sneakers one at
a time up the sheer gorge wall, using roots
and small trees as handholds. We exited the cool forest
into a blast furnace of a day, happy to collapse
in the shade of the big grandmother tree in the yard for
a little while before dispersing to our various
tasks. After a few rain showers we will have to return
and see if our dam holds water.
Have a dam good day !
Daisy
Tuesday, June 28, 2005 9:15 a.m.
82 degrees, a little breeze, hazy sunshine, clouds
The sky is washed out blue, nearly the same color as the
high clouds that are slowly moving in
from the west. We just returned from a last walk around
the meadow paths; a friend will be up
later to mow the tall hay and bale it up for his cows.
Alpine strawberries all along the way never
quite made it to plump juicy ripeness due to the drought,
but are tasty anyway, little crimson raisins
full of intense flavor. The first wild black-eyed susans
of the season are blooming in the middle of
our steepest field, the same place they have been since
we first moved to Gomer Hill. Back when
we harvested our own hay I used to get off the tractor
and pick a bunch to stick in my water bottle,
rather than send them through the mowing machine. We
checked the nesting boxes along the route;
one has a house wren sitting on tiny eggs placed in the
middle of a mish-mash of twigs. Another has
a new nest, probably that of a bluebird, as it is not
lined with feathers. I cleared out three cocoons
from that box, stuck fast to the wood inside the door. In
a few days the color of the eggs will tell me
what kind of tenant has moved in. Last night we had some
exciting weather. At around 7:00 a heavy
downpour came out of nowhere and lasted all of two
minutes. I drove a mile down the hill to deliver
some berries, and it was dry as a bone there. A little
while later we enjoyed watching a storm move
down the Black River Valley, distant thunder rumbles and
lots of bright orange lightning strikes.
Suddenly a huge thunderbolt struck down at the corner of
our property, with a deafening crack !
and flash of light occurring simultaneously. That was
a close one! We didn’t get one drop of
rain with that event; it was all talk and no action.
There is a good chance for showers the
next few days, which should bring a little relief from
the heat and humidity.
Have a cool day,
Daisy
~
Monday, June 27, 2005 7:00 a.m.
76 degrees, a little breeze, hazy sunshine
As I checked the aspen leaves for the little
twitch that would indicate a breeze, I noticed a football
balanced on one of the larger branches. The sun was
behind it, and when the silhouette moved its head,
I could tell it was a large bird of some kind. It flew to
the ground and soon two little birds appeared from
the privet tangle. One big grouse and two small grice; it
is very unusual to see them this close to the house.
Folks around here refer to them as partridge, but
it seems that all small brown game birds are called that
locally, even though the true partridge is a foreign
import and not too common in these parts. Earlier in the
month I mentioned a profusion of fireflies, more than I
had ever seen in one place. Last night I saw more
lightning bugs than there were stars in the sky, millions
of them, some flashing on and off from one spot,
many of them displaying long slow arcs of luminescence,
flying high, flying low, in the meadows, trees,
and even in the dust of the road. I walked with my lips
pressed tightly together lest I breathe in one of
the swarm that surrounded me, keeping pace as I walked.
The stars above, fireflies below, it was as
close to a perfect moment of natural beauty as I will
ever find. Along with the beautiful bugs, the very
air was dancing with warm and cold currents, with no
discernable pattern. The yard was hot, with the
heat of the day reflecting back from the crushed stone of
the driveway. As I walked along, an occa-
sional icy breeze settled in for a while; a couple of
times I wondered if I should have grabbed a jacket.
Just when the chill started to sink in, it was as if
someone had opened an oven door, a blast of hot
breath from Mother Night herself. This happened the whole
time I was walking, air streaming alter-
nately hot and cold, not just subtle changes of one or
two degrees; it was (literally) very cool ! I urge
you to walk at night sometime, especially if you happen
to be in a beautiful place like Tug Hill.
It has been too hot to walk during the day, but I believe
I will continue with the occasional
nighttime stroll even after the weather cools off.
Have a great day and night,
Daisy
~
Sunday, June 26, 2005 8:00 a.m.
80 degrees, breezy, hazy sunshine
It is eighty degrees in the shade, and our thermometer
that hangs in the sun reads an even
one hundred. Yikes! I delayed bedtime until way after the
moon rose at midnight, and was
rewarded by the sound of a barred owl calling from a
nearby woodlot. The neighbor’s dog
was restless as well, adding a mournful wail to the night
air. Sleeping wasn’t too bad, however,
as there was a nice breeze blowing through the house and
we have switched over to cotton per-
cale sheets, which feel cool to the touch even on a hot
night. Typically, flannel sheets enrobe a
north country bed for eleven months of the year; this
summer, that statistic is certain to change.
All this hot weather makes me wish I had planted more
lima beans. I sow a short row every year,
but this heat-loving crop hardly ever matures into beany
goodness. Yesterday I trimmed the long
curly flower stalks from one row of garlic plants. These
are called scapes and are one of the most
expensive seasonal vegetables on the market, due to the
short time of availability and the fact that
each garlic plant will only produce one scape for the
season. I used to trim them off and toss them
into the compost (it helps the garlic bulbs grow bigger),
but last year some tv chef used them in a
few recipes and I became hooked on their subtle garlicky
taste and crispy texture. Yesterday we
stir-fried some with fresh snow peas, mushrooms, and
sweet red pepper slices, spiced up with a
dollop of hoisin sauce and a little hot pepper jelly. Yum!
For many other delicious ways to use
this unusual vegetable check out http://www.dakotagarlic.com/garlic_scape_recipes.htm.
Soon you may find yourself growing hardneck garlic just
for the prunings.
Have a tasty little day,
Daisy
~
Saturday, June 25, 2005 9:00 a.m.
82 degrees, windy, hazy sunshine
Hey, only six months until Christmas! Meanwhile, it is
already pretty darned hot outside,
but the breeze is at least keeping insects at arm’s
length. There are so many goldfinches in
the birdbath that it is standing room only in the pool.
Maybe it’s time to invest in another birdbath.
Three adult bluebirds are looking in the window at me
from their perch on the clothesline. I think
there is a nest in an old woodpecker cavity in the tree
the line is tied to. I have never actually seen
bluebirds entering the hole, but there must be a reason
these birds are sticking so close to the house.
The nearest nesting box that had bluebirds is two hundred
yards away. Our four little tree swallows
left their box yesterday; three were gone when I checked
on them in the morning, with the last little
guy sitting all alone in the nest. I closed the door, and
he flew out to a nearby apple tree just after
I turned my back to walk away. Now all of our boxes are
vacant. It is possible there will be
another brood or two started, so we will keep checking
them until the end of July.
And now, off to the strawberry patch !
Have a berry nice day,
Daisy
~
Friday, June 24, 2005 7:30 a.m.
66 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
Cool temperatures and a nice breeze that seems to be
coming from every direction
at once make us wonder if the day will really become as
hot and humid as predicted.
At any rate, it seems to be a good idea to get most of
the outdoor work done during
these pleasant cooler hours, and see what actually
develops before making plans for the
afternoon. Last night’s sunset was one of the
prettiest I have ever seen, with a very unusual
sky preceding it. While driving home from Boonville on
route 12D at around 8:00, I pulled
over to take a good look at what was transpiring over the
Hill, seemingly right above our house.
Every kind of cloud imaginable was perched, skittering,
or smeared across a pale milky-blue sky.
The sun was lowering and streamed through the breaks. In
several places the clouds were overlain
by big patches of ocean-blue mist, like fog only the
color of the sea right before a big storm. I have
never seen this color in the sky before, it looked
unnatural and otherworldly. Meanwhile, a golden
rosy glow was beginning to paint the edges of all the
clouds, except for a few that were solid stone
grey. There was a lot going on all at the same time, that’s
for sure. While the clouds continued to
shift shape and change color, the blue patches of mist
didn’t move or change in any way. I slowly
drove home, thankful that there was no traffic and I
could grab a few more glances at the show
overhead. By the time I pulled into the yard, the eerie
happenings had given way to a spectacular
(if ordinary) beautiful sunset. The next time someone
says, “There’s nothing new under the sun,”
I believe I would disagree after seeing what I saw.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Thursday, June 23, 2005 8:00 a.m.
72 degrees, breezy, sunny
If you caught last night’s moonrise you are probably
still a little awed at the sight. It came up
slowly over the valley, rays of moonbeams reaching up
before it even began to show its face.
When it finally appeared, it looked like it was on fire,
a great big flaming tangerine of a moon !
It will still be nearly full tonight when it rises at 10:52.
Tonight is Midsummer Night’s Eve, also
called Saint John’s Eve. Saint John is the patron
saint of beekeepers, so the full moon in June is
called the honey moon, and you can guess what
common term arose from that. It was chilly last
night but things are warming up nicely in the bright
morning sun. One of our old potato fields has
sprouted a thick patch of daisies, a rectangular sea of
yellow and white surrounded by tall hay on
all sides. Everybody should stand in the middle of a half
acre of daisies at least one time in their life;
it is impossible to feel anything but joy when bathed in
pure daisy essence. The foliage underneath
the flowers is hidden by the large flat blossoms, and it
reminds me of hippie sundresses of the early
seventies, daisies in all kinds of colors massed against
a pink or green background. Life, imitating art...
Have an awesome day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, June 22, 2005 8:00 a.m.
61 degrees, windy, overcast
The sky filled in with clouds late yesterday so we missed
the sunset/moonrise show.
Tonight’s full moon will appear at about 10:00, and
even though it will be rather cold outdoors
it will be worth taking a stroll to watch it come up. We
hilled our potatoes yesterday; for those
folks that are unfamiliar with the way of the spud, this
means we moved dirt from between the rows
to cover the plants halfway up. Otherwise, the potatoes
would grow straight out from the original piece
of potato that was planted, be exposed to sunlight, turn
green, and become toxic. Some gardeners cover
their potato rows with light mulch such as straw or
leaves to achieve the same result, but if the summer
is rainier than usual, mildew can occur, so we stick with
good old dirt. Each potato is connected to
the base if the plant by a rhizome, much the way an
infant is hooked up to its mother by its umbilical
cord. According to wikipedia.org, “A tuber is a thickened part of a rhizome
that has been enlarged
for use as a storage organ.
They are typically high in starch. An example is
the common potato.” It
is amazing how one old sprouted potato can be cut into
four or five pieces, planted, hilled up, and
soon each piece will have generated ten or twelve brand
new yummy tubers. We planted a row
in April that is nearly ready to harvest; nothing is
better than the first new potatoes of the season,
no Atkins diet ‘lowed ‘round here !
Have a delicious day,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, June 21, 2005 7:30 a.m.
73 degrees, breezy, sunny
Summer officially began at 2:46 this morning; today will
be the perfect summery day, with hot sun,
low humidity, and a lovely breeze. It is possible a
thunderstorm may blow through during the night,
setting the stage for a beauty of a week to follow. Today
is the longest day of the year, and an added
bonus is that the almost-full moon will rise tonight just
twelve minutes after the sun has set. Be sure to be
outdoors for this awesome event beginning at 8:46 EST.
Even though tomorrow’s daylight will be five
seconds shorter than today’s, it will not be an
earlier sunset; our latest sunset this year will be on
June 27th.
To find out the time of sunrise and sunset in your neck
of the woods, visit this link. Of course, it doesn’t
get truly dark until long after the sun goes down,
allowing us to enjoy backroad walks in the cooler even-
ing hours, free of deerflies and traffic. The firefly
show seems to have slowed down a bit, but there has
been an increase in moth activity. This is the time of
year to watch for beautiful large pale green luna
moths; they will frequently hang out under an eave during
the day and gather around a yard light
at night. So far we haven’t seen one this year; it
is a memorable sight, so keep a lookout.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
Monday, June 20, 2005 7:30 a.m.
74 degrees, calm, sunny
What an awesome morning ! Hundreds of goldfinches are
still hanging around, and have been
joined by swarms of beautiful tiger swallowtail
butterflies. When I start down a meadow path,
it is uncertain what all of the bright yellow splashes of
color are until I draw near; birds and
butterflies explode in a flurry and swoop, and the yellow
that stays put is either birdfoot trefoil
or sow thistle blossoms. Buttercups have mostly dropped
their petals in the recent hard rain,
but all in all the meadows are aglow with yellow and
green. Accents of purple and pink appear
in the form of cow vetch and clover, and bright red wild
strawberries at ground level catch us
by surprise. Domestic berries are ripening slowly, and
are too dirty to eat right from the patch,
covered with garden soil splashed upwards in Thursday’s
deluge. I could probably find a quart
or two today; by Friday I will wonder how I can possibly
keep up. We took a nice walk up the
Smith Road yesterday afternoon and found a baby woodchuck
by the side of the road, uninjured
but freaked out by something. It sat trembling and
silent, and my companion suggested I take it in
and try to hand-raise it. I thought that was a bad idea
in a house that already has three cats and a
dog, not to mention all of our tender garden plants that
would appeal to a growing woodchuck.
We walked a few miles, and when we returned, it was still
there, cute as a button, looking for all
the world like a Disney creation. I was still thinking
about that cute little guy after dinner, so I
walked up to where it has last been spotted, and it was
gone. Thank goodness. I like to
think its momma came and collected it, and will teach it
to nibble only wild greens
and avoid places frequented by humans, like our gardens.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Sunday, June 19, 2005 8:00 a.m.
54 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
We have a beautiful cool dry morning here on Gomer Hill.
The temperature dipped into the
forties but the night was calm, and I don’t think
our heat-loving crops were set back too badly.
With the return of sunshine, we will see warmer daytime
highs, but nights will still be comfortable
for sleeping. A doe and her tiny fawn are wandering along
our east meadow path this morning,
stopping frequently to graze on the lush greenery that
has been refreshed by recent rain. We were
walking in the woods yesterday and scared up a pair of
deer, who bounded away with thundering
hooves. Their speed was remarkable in the dense growth of
trees; some internal radar must have
kept them from colliding with objects or each other. The
woodlands are loaded with different mush-
rooms of all shapes and sizes, and tall ferns line the
trail in many places. The creek at the bottom
of the gorge rushes musically along towards the Black
River, and raindrops pinging from leaf to
leaf filled in the melody. Our showers are over for a
little while; take advantage of the wet
soil to pull some weeds, and take time to enjoy this
lovely June day.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Saturday, June 18, 2005 8:30 a.m.
52 degrees, breezy, misty fog
A small fire is crackling away in the kitchen
range to take the dampness out of the house
on this wet foggy morning. Exactly one week ago we were
wondering how to make it through
the day without melting completely away like butter left
in a sunny window. Today we are wrap-
ped in sweaters and pausing by the stove now and then to
warm our hands. That’s Tug Hill for you,
many climates in one convenient package. Yesterday we
walked the meadow paths to check all of
the birdhouses. The bluebirds have flown the coop, and
were safely out of sight in the nearby forest.
We hardly ever see juvenile bluebirds; they will all
reappear in a month or so when they have their
adult plumage, lining the rim of the birdbath for a quick
sip and splash under the watchful eye of
both parents. Our boxful of swallows was infested with
blowfly larvae; fortunately I had some dry
grass clippings stashed in the barn, just in case. I
rebuilt the nest quickly so the tiny birds didn’t
have
to be out in the dampness for more than thirty seconds.
Baby swallows have little barbs on the ends
of their feet, so placing each tiny critter in the new
nest was somewhat like peeling a burr off a wool
sock. They were a lively little cluster, and they are in
fine shape this morning, huddled together in their
clean new digs. While we walked yesterday we put hundreds
of male goldfinches into flight; I have
never seen such a huge flock! Usually there are only a
few dozen of these beautiful bright yellow and
black birds. I don’t know what has caused them to
choose our east meadow as a rallying place. There
are also a lot of purple finches around this season, with
several nesting in the spruce trees next to the
garden. Now the fog is really rolling in, thick and
mysterious... anything could be lurking just out of sight.
I think I’ll go have a little look-see before
starting the indoor chores. Don’t let the weather
keep you
inside today, get out and pretend you are vacationing in
the Orkney Islands. Ta-rah,
wish you were here,
Daisy
~
Friday, June 17, 2005 8:30 a.m.
57 degrees, breezy, cloudy, drizzling
Darker grey clouds sweep across an overcast sky, bright
light coming from behind but not
enough to cast shadows. Gentle rain fell for most of the
night, and the whole Hill is saturated
and squishy at last. Temps will be on the cool side
today, and downright chilly in the forties
tomorrow night, setting back any pepper plants that may
have started to blossom. At least it
is early enough in their growth cycle that they can make
more flowers to replace those that will
probably drop off. Heat-loving crops may have a little
rest for a few days, but the spinach, lettuce,
onions, peas, beets, carrots and spuds are just about
doubling in size on a daily basis. Peas are full
of pink and white blooms and soon will set plump green
pods, snappy and fresh additions to salads
and stir-fried sides. Strawberries are one hot day away
from sweet juicy ripeness, and the birds are
keeping a close eye on them while we try to keep track of
the birds. I can practically taste that first
warm berry, but for now we will make do with last year’s
jam spread thick on ten-grain toast,
nuthin’ like a good sugar buzz to jumpstart the
morning.
Have a sweet day,
Daisy
~
Thursday, June 16, 2005 7:30 a.m.
59 degrees, , breezy, mostly cloudy
There are several areas of blue sky that show themselves
briefly before hiding behind
gathering clouds. Several rain showers passed through
yesterday and last night, some of
them really intense. When we walked before bedtime,
however, the sky was clear and a
waxing moon surrounded by stars lit our way along the
back roads. Yesterday we paid
another visit to Chaumont Barrens, just north of
Watertown. It had been nearly a week
since our last trip, and much has changed at that unusual
place. The prairie smoke is in its
last glory days, and what was left had raindrops trapped
within its crazy wild-haired seed-
heads; when they all sparkled in the sunlight it was
stunning. Beautiful red-orange wood lilies
rose above masses of daisies and purple harebell leant
beautiful accent colors to the giant
bouquet. During last Thursday’s visit the
temperature was nudging ninety, but yesterday a
cold front was sweeping across the grassland bringing
much cooler temperatures and re-
freshing clear dry air. An occasional bumblebee droned
across our path, but most of the
pesky biting insects were swept away by wind. Everything
was in motion, and it was a per-
fect day at the Barrens. We arrived home to big puddles
and dripping eaves, grateful for
evidence of rain that had been missing in action for so
long. Thunder and lightning spiced up
our dinner, and we will see a few more rainy spells
before it all clears out again Saturday
afternoon. The weekend looks good, and we should begin to
see some ripe strawberries soon.
-
And now for an important message:
If you have ever enjoyed watching silly British Comedies
on PBS, or your kids learned
their ABCs from Sesame Street, or you look forward
to NPR’s informative broadcasts
and wacky shows like Car Talk, please click on the
following link to see what you can
do to prevent the horrendous budget cuts that Congress is
proposing for PBS and NPR:
http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/ .
Today, the House Appropriations Committee will decide
whether to approve these
severe cuts to NPR and PBS. We can stop the cuts—and
save public TV and radio—
with a strong show of public outrage.
Please take a moment to show your support for Public
Broadcasting.
Thanks,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, June 15, 2005 7:30 a.m.
67 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
A very loud thunderstorm blew across Gomer Hill last
night and gave the land another good drink.
I guess our dry spell is officially over for a while.
Buttercrunch lettuce has nearly doubled in size in
one day’s time; there is nothing like a good fresh
green salad, is there? Fog moved across Tug Hill
after yesterday’s rain and the temperature remained
below 70 degrees for most of the day. When I
arrived in Boonville late in the day, the sun was very
bright down on the flats, causing steam to rise
visibly from the pavement, hot and sticky outdoors but
still more comfortable than the oppressive
heat of recent weeks. We have a few cooler days in store,
and a little more rain before the sun
comes back for a beautiful weekend. We walked at 9:30
last night, and there was still enough
of a twilight glow to cast our faint shadows on the road.
A perfect half-moon was centered
between pale jet contrails that dispersed quickly, and
stars appeared one at a time. In about
a week we will see the longest day of the year; summer is
nigh, although it certainly seems
like it has already been here for weeks. Take some time
today to enjoy this moderate
weather, with its comfortable temperature, low pollen
count, and lovely fresh breeze.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 8:00 a.m.
68 degrees, breezy, raining !
What a beautiful sight! Sheets of gentle rain sweep
across the meadows and send streams
running from the roof into full catch-buckets. Last night
we took a walk to admire all of the
lightning bugs doing their thing in the hot heavy night
air. There was lightning all around, what we
used to call heat lightning when I was a girl. It
seemed to be all around us, and we couldn’t hear
any thunder, so we figured it would be just another dry
storm for us. Between the fireflies and the
lightning, it was an amazing light show! It was a
wonderful mosquito-free night for a walk and the
air was fragrant with new-mown hay. Shortly after bedtime
we heard the first rumbles of distant
thunder and the lightning changed from all-over fat
flashes to frequent single vertical strikes. A few
heavy raindrops pinged off the tin roof, then they picked
up speed; soon we were engulfed in a
wonderful rainstorm with all the bells and whistles.
Several lesser showers passed through all night
long, and will continue to be in the area for most of the
morning before the sun breaks through and
turns it all into a big steambath. Of course, there have
been showers in the forecast for the past three
weeks; we just haven’t seen any of them on Gomer
Hill. Already the lawn has greened up nicely,
and the gardens look pretty darned happy. Now I’m
going to go take a hike in the rain and
get soaked to the skin on purpose, just because I can.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Monday, June 13, 2005 8:00 a.m.
71 degrees, breezy, overcast
Thee is practically no view from Gomer Hill this morning,
as fog engulfs everything from
our property line on down. Sometimes living on top of a
hill has its advantages. Dew is extra
heavy and seems to be part of the very air we breathe,
not exactly fog, just really thick wet air.
There is a little breeze but it comes and goes. We have a
60% chance of rain today, but a glance
at the radar map doesn’t support that prediction at
all; it looks like it will all pass north of here, once
again leaving us high and dry. A friend whose yard was
just washed away by downpours to our south
suggested I be careful what I wish for; specifically, I
would like a day of gentle soaking rain, an inch or
two spread out over time, not all at once. That seems
like a safe request, but the water spirits are a fickle
bunch, and prone to their little jokes and games. We will
just have to wait and see what develops. Mean-
while, the bluebirds are about ready to leave their nest;
they are crammed into the box so tightly they look
like one big bird with five heads. Their feathers are all
in, and both parents have been kept busy flying to
and fro with tidbits for their voracious offspring.
Sadly, something got into the nesting box nearest our gar-
den and disposed of all the baby tree swallows but one,
who lay small and forgotten in the remnants of the
nest. I filled in the gaps with some soft dry grass, but
the little guy was dead this morning. Whatever did the
damage did not open the door and there is a baffle on the
hole to prevent any mammal from reaching in
with its paw, so I guess it was probably either a snake
or an english sparrow. Sparrows can be quite
destructive for such little birds. Our other batch of
swallows is doing well, all tiny bodies and huge
gaping mouths waiting for their breakfast. With all of
this humidity, I can practically guarantee that
in a couple of days that nest will be invaded by blowfly
larvae, so we will be extra vigilant in
monitoring that particular box. Ah, here comes the sun
peeking down through the haze !
Have a beautiful day,
Daisy
~
Sunday, June 12, 2005 10:00 a.m.
77 degrees, breezy, overcast
Humidity is at 100+ % this morning, with heavy dew
bejeweling every blade of grass and leaf
edge. A potted tomato plant on the back porch appears to
be wearing several strands of pearls,
a graceful draping of droplets providing much-needed
moisture as well as a visual treat for the
morning porch-sitters. A thunderstorm raced through our
area late yesterday afternoon, with all
kinds of loud thunder and close lightning strikes,
knocking the power off for a brief time. Unfortun-
ately, not one mote of rain accompanied all that bluster.
While I watered corn yesterday I noticed
that our native ladybugs are all over the bare ground,
not even close to any plant material. Some of
them were mating, but most of them were just ambling
along, making slow progress over the dry
clumps of soil. I wonder, if they had somewhere they had
to be, why didn’t they just fly ? Maybe
the lumpy arid terrain of our garden is the ladybug
equivalent of a singles bar. These are the beau-
tiful bright red bugs with black shiny spots, not the
dull orange asian beetles that overwinter in our
window sashes and clapboards. I never see the imports
outdoors any time of year; apparently they
hang out in trees more than near the ground, only making
their presence known when warm spring
sunshine brings them out of the woodwork... literally.
All varieties of the ladybug beetle are benefi-
cial, eating aphids that are harmful to plants. For more
information on the asian ladybug, visit this link.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Saturday, June 11, 2005 8:30 a.m.
80 degrees, breezy, hazy sunshine
Soft sunshine is already hot and stickily oppressive even
at this early hour. I can’t see the
valley at all, and friends traveling on the flats at dawn
reported some of the worst blinding fog
ever experienced. Another friend from sixty miles to our
south phoned last night to tell us the little
creek that runs through his property had risen three feet
and was flooding his yard, drowning his
garden and heading towards the house like a mini-tsunami.
Meanwhile, we have had no real rain
in our neck of the woods since the middle of May. Our
last good prolonged soaking was April 27th,
and of course the two days of snow that fell in the
beginning of May doesn’t really count. We have
watched storm clouds dump their load all around us; the
Adirondacks have received more than their
share of rain, probably our portion just goes along for
the ride, forgetting to step off the cloud as it
passes over Gomer Hill. We are fortunate to have an
everlasting spring and a good way to move
water 500 gallons at a time, but it is still tedious
making the rounds of all the gardens with soaker
hoses and hand-held spray nozzles. There is, however,
some enjoyment gained from moving slowly
between lush green strawberry beds with a hose, watching
the small hard berries plump up and show
the first blush of color. I doubt that I would otherwise
voluntarily stand for an hour and contemplate
our berry patch, recalling the first harvest twenty five
years ago from only three plants, grandmother
many times over to our current bounty of fruit. So many
memories: Our kids eating warm sweet foam
skimmed from a double batch of jam; all their friends who
grazed their way from one end of the bed
to the other, picking only the easiest berries that grew
along the edges; throwing rotten or slug-chewed
berries at each other, strawberry wars complete with Star
Wars sound effects; the day we baled hay
from sunup ‘til sundown and then picked twenty
quarts of berries for the freezer (coincidentally, that
same night discovering how yummy frozen strawberry
daiquiris can be...); fresh berry pie, berries on
Cheerios, on vanilla ice cream, stirred into yogurt; the
way my hands smell after an hour of picking
and the rash on my arms that comes and goes at a whim;
gathering runners for basket-weaving
projects; on, and on and on... And now, off to soak the
corn; mmmmmm, fresh buttery ears,
corn pudding, corn chowder, cornsilk tea...
Have a berry nice day,
Daisy
~
Friday, June 10, 2005 7:30 a.m.
70 degrees, breezy, high thin clouds
Morning sunshine is filtered through high thin clouds
with very few patches of pale
blue here and there. A large flock of geese just flew by
in a perfect migratory vee formation,
headed towards the Black River. Goldfinches are in crazy
mating mode, dozens of bright yellow
males noisily playing full-contact space tag,
incidentally covering lots of females during their time-
outs. Storms moved all around us late yesterday; we could
hear thunder and see lightning strikes but
not one drop of rain fell. Nexrad radar shows a storm
front over Lake Ontario right now, and it looks
like it is headed our way later today. Yesterday we
traveled off The Hill and hiked at Chaumont Barrens,
a Nature Conservancy preserve north of Watertown. The
Barrens is an example of an alvar landform,
scoured and shaped by melting glaciers 10,000 years ago.
A combination of vast expanses of limestone
rock and shallow soil intensified the extreme heat of the
day, and a steady breeze was our best friend.
We saw many rare and unusual plants, including prairie
smoke (geum triflorum) and yellow lady’s slip-
per (cypripedium calceolus). The prairie smoke is in two
stages of life right now, lovely nodding pink
flowers as well as long dusky rose plumes formed by the
seedheads which give the flower its name.
They literally carpeted much of the area, the only place
in the northeastern United States where it
grows. The most amazing thing about the Barrens is the
many different little microbiomes contained
within the 2000+ acres. One minute we were trekking along
a sandy rubble-strewn grassland, and the
next we found ourselves in a dark eerie woodland crammed
full of twisted trees, subsisting on the soil
found deep within fissures in the limestone. Stumble
through the surreal forest for awhile and all of a
sudden you stand on bare rock crisscrossed with deep
cracks and strewn with cephalopod fossils left
behind 450 million (million! ) years ago. It took
us three hours to walk two miles, as there was always
something unusual to stop and examine. On a cooler day, I
can imagine spending sunup ‘til sundown
checking out every plant and tree, listening to the
birds, and taking some fossil rubbings. For more
information about Chaumont Barrens, visit this link. Take plenty of water, and
prepare to be amazed.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Thursday, June 9, 2005 7:30 a.m.
80 degrees, breezy, hazy sunshine
A wonderful breeze is turning all of the leaves skyward,
showing the pale underside
of the foliage and creating interesting shadowplay all
along the treeline. It is hot already,
but so far it doesn’t seem as humid as yesterday.
Yesterday’s fish story has been solved;
my spouse confessed that he had watched a great blue
heron pass overhead with the big
trout in its mouth, and it lost its grip; thus the
fish landed on our meadow path. He waited a
while to see if I could figure it out, then told me what
had happened. A friend in town says that
a heron frequently pulls big fish out of the stream that
runs behind her house. The water level is
so low in the creek now that I am surprised it can
sustain any fish at all. Meanwhile, big news in
our nesting boxes. Yesterday both batches of tree
swallows hatched. I watched one little guy strug-
gle out of the shell; for a while all that he could
manage was to stick one spindly wing out, then finally
the entire tiny bird emerged. Momma popped in to remove
the shell pieces and waited on a nearby
branch for the rest of her babies to make an entrance.
Last I checked, four eggs had hatched and
one remained intact. The bluebirds are just a week old.
When I made a routine bedcheck yesterday
I discovered dozens of fat blowfly maggots underneath the
crowded nest, waiting for nightfall to crawl
up through the dry grass and feed on the little birds. I
used a putty knife to remove the befouled nest
with all the birds still in it and placed it in a deep
pail, then built a new one out of lawn clippings. Each
young’un was gently placed in the new grassy cup and
both parent birds watched the whole thing from
a nearby tree. I checked them this morning, and they all
look comfy and healthy. During humid weather
it is common for blowflies to lay their eggs under nests,
which is why it is important to monitor all of the
houses on a daily basis. The adults don’t mind, and
if you check every day they get used to you. Song-
birds don’t have a sense of smell, and will not
reject their young if handled by humans the way many
mammals would. Our reward is the sight of many beautiful
bluebirds hanging around all summer,
and tree swallows galore that eat tons of mosquitoes and
other pesky insects.
Have a tweet day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, June 8, 2005 8:30 a.m.
72 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
It is a lovely summer morning, never mind that summer is
still officially a week and a
half away. The air is warm and sweet and full of sunshiny
goodness; what a beauty of a day!
Yesterday brought some crazy winds with it, and while
mosquitoes and black flies were held at
bay in the gale, horseflies and deerflies seemed to
thrive. Ever notice that no matter how hard you
smack a deerfly it still flies away unharmed, leaving (if
you are lucky enough to avoid being bitten)
a huge pink handprint on your leg/ arm/ friend’s
back. They are almost indestructible and never give
up. Meanwhile, what follows is a strange little tale that
even I have trouble believing, and I am an eye-
witness. I had a busy day and didn’t return home
until nearly dark. My spouse suggested a little walk
along the meadow paths, and we grabbed some flashlights
and headed out in the starry night. He said
there was something I absolutely must see, something very
odd even for Tug Hill. We walked a short
distance from the house, and soon came upon a big fat
trout in the middle of the path. It looked like a
brown trout, lots of speckles and nice pink flesh, stone-cold
dead and missing a few bites. I have caught
several fish just like it in a stream two miles from here.
Did a neighbor have a good day of fishing and
have part of his catch stolen by a coyote, coon, or one
of his own dogs? Why wasn’t it fully consumed,
just nibbled a little bit; is it too rank for a dog but
not yet rotten enough for a vulture? We haven’t been
on this particular path for a couple of days; no telling
how long it has been there. Could it be a practical
joke from a friend with a strange sense of humor? (If so,
haha!) Did it fall from an airplane? Or has it
come from some other reality, the Donnie Darko of
the piscine universe. I love a good mystery,
don’t you? But this one just seems more than a
little fishy...
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, June 7, 2005 8:30 a.m.
77 degrees, windy, partly sunny
It is hard to say whether it is partly sunny or partly
cloudy, as there seems to be an equal
amount of both. When in doubt, choose sunshine. We
finally received some much-needed
rain yesterday, several showers delivering enough so that
puddles actually formed in the drive-
way. We don’t have a rain gauge, but our catchpails
are full from roof runoff and water in the
birdbath is nearly up to the top. Everything in the
garden is happy, and if I don’t pull every other
spinach plant soon they will become spindly from
overcrowding. I can finally pop some cucumber
seeds into the ground today, now that rain has driven
flea beetles back into hiding for awhile. They
leave all of our other seedlings alone, but as soon as
the first true leaves form on a cucumber plant
they become black with these little pests who suck them
dry in no time. The yard is full of speckled
young robins being herded about by their parents this
morning. It looks like there are three broods
foraging for worms in the wet grass, watchful adults
chirping an alarm when a cat gets too close,
and they all fly into the spruce trees. It is a perfect
morning for working outdoors, no bugs
allowed on such a windy day. Weeds will pull easily and
any seeds that haven’t yet been
planted will get a great start in the warm damp soil.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Monday, June 6, 2005 7:30 a.m.
76 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
A fresh west wind wafts lilac scented air through the
open windows, mixing nicely with the Monday
morning aromas of fresh coffee and leftover Sunday ham.
Lily-of-the-valley adds its exotic fragrance
to the mix, and peonies are heavy with fat buds that will
soon burst into huge deep pink blooms, their
spicysweet aura so intense it seems almost visible. The rosa
rugosa hedge will soon be covered with
big flat roses adding their distinctive old-fashioned
perfume to our scene. Late spring is definitely the
season for sensory overload; everywhere we turn there is
lush birdsong, bright colorful blossoms,
sweet floral sachets, pungent spicy nibbles of mint and
sorrel, and soft grass to sink down into when
it all becomes too much. Last night I went for a
walk with the dog at 9:30. A faint dusky afterglow
allowed us to see the road, even with no moonlight. It
was warm enough to step out without a sweater,
and the breeze carried the smell of new mown grass. We
walked for about ten minutes and then fireflies
started to appear, just one at first, flashing its
greeting every five seconds like clockwork. Then there
were two, perched atop the tall grass next to the road,
on, off, on, off, perfectly timed. All at once
hundreds of them sparkled across the meadows. Maple trees
became festive with them, christmas
lights in June, thousands of lightning bugs all perched
or swooping about like earthly meteors. I have
never seen them in trees before, and I have never seen
them in such great numbers. I may have been
witness to a massive mating ritual; the males are the
ones that fly around signaling their intentions,
and the females stay pretty much in one place and
indicate their availability. For some illuminating
information about fireflies, check out this link.
Shine your light,
Daisy
~
Sunday, June 5, 2005 8:00 a.m.
62 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
It is a dampish and humid morning, with a strong sense of
impending rain about it.
The forecast shows a chance for thunderstorms later
today, and for once I can believe
it may actually happen. All of our vegetable plants are
planted in the garden, and even though
daily watering has helped considerably, nothing can
replace good old natural rainfall. Of course,
we must be careful what we wish for; an inch or so of
rain over the course of an afternoon would
be good, but a torrential cloud-bursting gully-washer
could be disastrous. Along with the storm
front, high temperature in the eighties is expected. It
is best to get out and complete our hardest
jobs during the coolth of early hours. There is just
enough breeze to keep the bugs at bay,
what a perfect chance to thin out the carrots and weed
the corn.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Saturday, June 4, 2005 7:00 a.m.
63 degrees, breezy, sunny
We are drenched with soft sunshine on Tug Hill, but parts
of the valley are obscured by fog,
and the Adirondack Mountains are barely visible through
atmospheric haze. A slight breeze
flutters leaves around but not meadow grasses, still and
dew-laden. The tree outside my win-
dow is filled with cedar waxwings, keeping an eye on the
strawberry beds to grab bites of the
first fruit, still weeks away from juicy perfection.
Hummingbirds have shown up in the past few
days, sipping nectar from the myrtle that carpets our
wildflower garden. Often they will stop dead
in front of me, hovering and buzzing, to check out my
colorful tie-dyed shirt, wondering what kind
of crazy flower it is. I checked all of our nesting birds
yesterday, and found one box of swallows
trashed by a predator. The nest was scattered on the
ground, there was no sign of the eggs, and
all that was left of the mother bird was one bloody
cluster of wing feathers. The door was open
and the nail that secured it was missing; it had to be a
raccoon, as no other critter is clever enough
to figure out how to open the door. This is the first
time in all our years of birdhouse tending that
this has happened. None of our other swallows have
hatched yet, and the five bluebirds are start-
ing to fill out with little pinfeathers. The robins
on our old tractor have all fledged, leaving behind
one infertile bright blue egg. Barn swallows have given
up the idea of building a nest on our back
porch, and have settled in above the woodshed door
instead. Elsewhere on the property, bobo-
links and redwing blackbirds are fashioning soft grassy
cups in tall meadow weeds, startling us
as we pass by with a flurry of wings and sharp cries of
warning. Turkeys are still involved in their
complicated and rather lengthy courtship, small flocks of
hens herded around by the tom, who
stops his loud boasting only to cover each hen briefly.
This has been going on for weeks;
surely they must be ready to begin incubating their large
clutches of eggs by now. There
is still not much chance of rain in the forecast; make
sure you check your plantings and
do whatever it takes to keep things hydrated. Maybe a
little rain dance is in order.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Friday, June 3, 2005 7:30 a.m.
60 degrees, calm, high clouds, hazy sunshine
It is a very still morning, not a whisper of a breeze
anywhere. There is no rain in the forecast
until Sunday, but the air is logy with humidity and we
need sweaters for personal comfort. Our
usual calm morning activities (porch-sitting and coffee
drinking) have been made much more inter-
esting by the addition of half a dozen barn swallows, who
are determined to build a nest on top
of the carriage light by the door. They have been
swooping about with great concentration, paus-
ing now and then to strafe the cats, who are trying to
mind their own business. We finally put a
flamingo gumby on top of the lamp; originally intended to
secure tall plants to a trellis, this garish
little accessory now has assumed the job of scare-swallow.
If that doesn’t do the trick, I will sus-
pend a couple of AOL start-up discs nearby; that is their
best use, we have found. They also keep
deer away from lily buds, and create an interesting light
show when viewed from the bottom of the
meadow on a sunny day. Any compact disc will do the
trick, and if hung on an old ski pole,
the combination of glare and noise frightens most
pests except for raccoons, who have been
spotted admiring their own reflections in the shiny
surface while dancing to the beat.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
~
Thursday, June 2, 2005 8:00 a.m.
70 degrees, breezy, sunny
The thermometer that is in direct sun reads 92 degrees,
22 degrees warmer
than the ambient air. This is kind of like windchill,
only in reverse. It would seem wise
to do the hardest work early in the day, leaving easier
jobs for those hours when the sun
is directly overhead. It was hot in the city yesterday;
all that concrete bounced the heat around
and magnified it considerably by the time it reached our
skin. On the way home there were huge
clouds all around, and we could see rain falling in
several locations. Along the West Road between
Lowville and Houseville we noticed huge swarms of insects
surrounding the tops of tall maple trees,
flowing and swirling like smoke from a chimney full of
green wood. When we arrived home a few drops
of rain teased us, but it didn’t amount to enough to
even settle the dust. Meanwhile, our bluebirds have
hatched out, five tiny fuzzy babies that are all mouth,
beaks open wide in a silent search for food. Both
parents are busily going in and out with offerings for
the youngsters, who will look more like birds in
a few days. Right now they resemble creatures from outer
space, spindly little naked wings and gig-
antic gaping maws. A big fat doe waddled out of the woods
yesterday and plopped herself down
in the lower meadow, rising occasionally to lick her
nether regions. She finally walked tentatively
back into the woods, stopping twice to pant and shudder,
apparently in the throes of labor. We
will keep a lookout for her, not wanting to surprise
either her or her fawn(s). One spring I was
walking in the forest across the road and our dog started
to bark excitedly; he had found a
brand new fawn, still covered with birth fluids, and was
urging it to get up and play. We
hightailed it out of there, no harm done. We watched that
fawn grow into a fine young
deer, eventually chasing it out of the garden along with
its mother. What a wonderful
time of year, full of new beginnings and renewed energy !
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, June 1, 2005 8:00 a.m.
70 degrees, calm, sunny
Tug Hill is bathed in rich pure sunlight this morning,
while our friends in the valley seem to be
trapped under a dense layer of fog, a thick milky stream
that exactly follows the contour of the
Black River. Two bluebirds are peeking in the window at
me from their perch on a clothesline
that is so old its original knot is buried deep in tree
bark. We used this line when we renovated
the house many years ago; now I would have to wear stilts
to reach it. I have been noticing how
much of the view has changed since we moved here in the
mid-seventies. Maple saplings that we
planted are now sturdy tall trees, full of lush green
leaves and birds of every description. The hedges
and shrubs we placed to attract wildlife are now
threatening to overrun the lawn in several places,
and annual whacking has only made them thicker and more
determined to spread out. A few trees
have bit the dust during fierce winter storms, and the
rest of them have a definite lean to the east,
adapting to the prevailing winds in this neck of the
woods. The handful of violets I planted under-
neath an ash tree is now a lovely carpet of purple
covering most of the front lawn, even more beau-
tiful than in the backyard of my childhood, where they
originated. One single sprig of peppermint
stuck into the muck by our springbox nearly thirty years
ago has multiplied to form a springy fragrant
walkway, making annual maintenance chores at the pump a
little more pleasant. Certain things that
we tried (blueberry bushes, mountain laurel, azaleas)
were not able to survive the icy blast of winter.
Forsythia, wild roses, quince, potentilla, and privet are
flourishing and provide scads of color during
the fair months and sanctuary for small critters when the
weather is foul. We tried out a lot of things,
and it is astounding how the passage of time has
compounded our successes and eradicated the fail-
ures from memory... in landscaping, at any rate. We revel
in the first magenta rugosa rose, never
giving a thought to the azalea that long ago turned into
dry twigs. While we inhale handfuls of sweet raspberries
from the twenty-five year old tangle, we don’t
lament the passing of the blueberry patch
of long ago; the wild ones taste better anyway. We are
content to appreciate what has worked out,
and let go of the failures.
Happy June !
Daisy
~
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