~
Saturday, June 30, 2007 8:30 a.m.
58 degrees, breezy, sunny
What a beautiful fresh cool start to the weekend ! Long
sleeves are in order,
and a jacket against the wind, but otherwise the sun
feels just fine. Rain is in the
forecast for later, but I’ll believe it when I see
it. Wells on Tug Hill are starting to
dry up, and the Black River is as low as I have ever seen
it. Horsey Creek has
one thin trickle that barely wets the shale it flows
over, and normally muddy log-
ging roads are bone dry. This makes for excellent off-road
bicycle riding, but is
a severe weather trial for crops all over the area. We
passed cornfields yester-
day that are curled up tight and beginning to parch
around the tips. We have
managed to water our sweet corn, and it is already
sending up bloom spikes,
but farmers who are counting on acres of field corn as
winter fodder for their
herds have no way to give it even a minimal drenching.
Perhaps the weather
spirits will take pity on us and bestow some gentle
showers as a special
gift. Let’s all keep a good thought for some rain,
and don’t forget
to sing out songs of gratitude when it does finally fall.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
~
Friday, June 29, 2007 9:00 a.m.
64 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
It is an absolutely beautiful morning, sunny and breezy
and just right for
a hike or bike ride or any outdoor activity that doesn’t
include gardening or
home repairs. At 4:20 this morning, I watched an
incredible rosy glow fill the
sky to the east, and declared a holiday from hard work
just for just this one
day. Our tasks are overwhelming and will still be there
tomorrow. Critters
have encroached on the new strawberry bed, nipping off
most of the runners
that were to supply next year’s berries. Every bean
plant has been trimmed of
new growth, and lily buds have been pulled right off the
stems. On the plus side,
tomatoes and cucumbers are covered with blossoms and
humming with honey-
bees, the apple tree bears not only fruit but all four
little bluebirds were spotted
there yesterday, and five young tree swallows safely
exited their nest yesterday.
So, in spite of wood rot and ravenous wildlife there is
still much to be grateful
for. Watch for a nearly full moon to rise tonight, just a
little before sunset.
It should be awesome !
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Thursday, June 28, 2007 7:30 a.m.
65 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
The threat of a storm yesterday afternoon sent me
scurrying all over the
place putting away power tools and other effects that
follow a renovation
project around. For all my frantic effort, we were
rewarded with perhaps
fifty drops of rain, not enough to even dampen the dust.
I think areas south
of here may have received quite a bit of rain, but up
here, nada. We did get
to enjoy a beautiful rainbow arching over the entire
Black River Valley for a
couple of minutes. At least today is cooler, and any
watering we do won’t
be immediately evaporated back into the water cycle. I
haven’t been out
yet to see if the deer have respected the new warning
devices strategically
placed around the crops; I am almost afraid to look. It
is a perfect morn-
ing to pull a few weeds and thin out the second planting
of carrots and
beets. There is a tiny chance of a sprinkle or two, but
no real rain in
the forecast for the next week. Time to shake the rain
stick !
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 7:30 a.m.
72 degrees, windy, hazy sunshine
We are so lucky to live atop Tug Hill, where the breeze
nearly always blows.
This is especially nice on hot days such as yesterday and
today. I hung out laundry
and the first towel was dry by the time I put the last
one on the line. It was a humid
day, but I believe the ambient moisture never had time to
stick to anything, it was
merely swept away by stiff gusts from the west. I went to
pick the last of the spinach
yesterday and deer had eaten it all, plus they had chewed
the tops off of most of our
beets and uprooted several of the little red globes. At
least they left the beans alone
I thought to myself. And then while I was at work,
they came and sheared the tops off
of several bean plants. So I refreshed the Coast soap
shavings border and tied several
old CDs to poles and hung them around the garden along
with an obnoxiously loud
set of wind chimes. With all of the tender yummy hay that
surrounds the gardens,
one would think they had enough wild fodder to keep them
satisfied. Guess not.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 7:30 a.m.
71 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
We have already had a pretty good hike this morning,
rising with the sun
and following the meadow paths accompanied by a flock of
friendly crows.
There was dew at dawn, but it has dried quickly in the
hot morning sun and
balmy breeze. We watched the male bluebird try to herd
his flock; they were
hidden in the tall grass, but he would fly back and
forth, at times hovering like
a flycatcher to chirp fatherly advice into the weeds. So
far they have not started
to build another nest; it is possible that they will
raise only one batch this year.
Cedar waxwings have devoured our twelve strawberries, and
the plants are
starting to put out runners that will increase the size
of the bed tenfold for next
summer. We usually don’t start completely over with
strawberries, but both
old beds had become overrun with witchgrass, clover, and
chickweed, so it
was best to till it all under after moving some young
plants to a different area.
We have been snacking on the tiny sweet wild strawberries
that grow in the
meadows. The best part of those is the lingering scent on
my pink-stained
fingers, sweet as cotton candy at the state fair. It’s
going to be a very hot
day; drink plenty of water and find some easy jobs for
the afternoon.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
Monday, June 25, 2007 8:00 a.m.
69 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
Heavy dew has put a real shine on the green meadow
grasses this morning.
Buttercups, daisies, red clover and purple cow vetch form
hundreds of lovely
bouquets everywhere we walk along the paths mown through
the fields. The hay
isn’t very tall due to scant rainfall, but it is
swaying like ocean waves in the morning
breeze, a constant rolling and tumbling of bright summery
colors. A huge flock of gold-
finches has invaded the big trees around the yard, and
every time a person or pet passes
underneath hundreds of birds take flight at once, make a
mad dash through the blue sky
and then return to the same tree. Awesome! I have never
seen this many goldfinches in
one spot before; I hope there is enough room for them all
to find nesting sites. They won’t
actually begin mating or building nests until late July;
this has to be the longest foreplay ritual
in the history of the animal kingdom! Meanwhile, a black
bear has been spotted very near
to our home by a neighbor walking his little dog. It was
behind a rockpile, and when they
passed by it stood up and looked at them. That’s a
little too close for comfort; now I
feel a little wary of walking up that old farm road. If
the bear is truly wild, it should
be no problem. But if it has been visiting local bird
feeders, barn silage troughs,
and compost piles, it may be habituated to humans and
thus more unpredictable.
That’s what I love about living on Tug Hill; there
is such a rich variety of animal
life, we never know what to expect next. It keeps us on
our toes, that’s for sure !
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Sunday, June 24, 2007 8:30 a.m.
52 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
The only sunny spots in the meadow this morning are
dozens of male goldfinches
swooping around in a crazy mating dance. A few females
are perched atop beanpoles
and trellis posts; hell-o boys! is written all
over their little dun-colored bodies as they
watch the show and choose a partner. A female oriole sat
on the clothesline outside
my window for quite a while before flying back into the
maple tree where she has her
nest. We hear the beautiful songs of the orioles every
morning, but seldom see either
the adults or the young, so it was a treat to view the
lovely warm brown plumage of
this pretty bird; I have seen males but this was my first
look at a female. Yesterday
morning I checked the bluebird box to see if the babies
had left yet, and as I watch-
ed the last one flew out the hole into the tall meadow
grass. That is the last we will
see of this brood until they come around in September for
one last goodbye. I have
never seen young bluebirds around the property after they
leave their nest; they must
be good at concealing themselves, especially on a farm
that has three cats. Sometimes
there will be as many as twenty adult bluebirds gathered
near our birdbath before they
take off in the fall for warmer climes. Cedar waxwings
have begun to gather, out of
habit I guess, as we have no strawberry crop to tempt
them this year. We tilled un-
der the old beds and have started a hundred new plants,
very few of which will
have berries this year. There are plenty of wild
strawberries beginning to ripen,
tiny field berries as well as plump fraises du bois of
the forest and hedges.
Raspberry canes are covered with flowers and humming with
honeybees;
it looks like there will be a bumper crop of those for
sure. Things are
bopping right along after such a late start; business as
usual at last !
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Saturday, June 23, 2007 9:30 a.m.
58 degrees, breezy, sunny
Yikes ! Last night’s low temperature was 43; this
could be trouble for
our pepper plants. When it gets too chilly, blossoms drop
and if that happens,
no peppers. We already have several small hot peppers
coming along, but the
sweet ones are just beginning to bloom. I was walking
around the gardens checking
the progress of things and saw that one of our red
cabbages has been chewed down
to the ground. Just one, and no deer footprints in the
soft soil, so I thought it might be
a woodchuck’s handiwork. Sure enough, I went behind
the barn and there, bold as
brass, sat a young woodchuck atop the compost heap,
nibbling away at the spinach
leaves and stems that I had discarded earlier in the day.
I got really close to it, and he
turned slowly around, stared me in the eye for a few
seconds, and then scurried under
the barn. I gave him a good talking to, pointing out the
acres of tender alfalfa and clover
he could be eating, gave him permission to visit the
compost and eat any of the goodies
in the hayfields, and politely asked him to leave our
garden crops alone. Any passing
motorist might have noticed me delivering a lecture to
the barn; perhaps that is how
reputations are born. But in my opinion, the first line
of defense against critters is
to tell them exactly what is expected of them. This
little guy (and I am sure it
was a male, just from the way he looked at me) now knows
the rules, and
if he keeps up his end of the deal he is welcome at our
farm. I haven’t
seen the white skunk that used to visit our compost for
quite some
time; perhaps this little woodchuck has taken over her
duties.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Friday, June 22, 2007 8:30 a.m.
50 degrees, windy, cloudy
This is certainly a change from the earlier part of the
week ! A fire
burns in our kitchen range and it feels darned good on
this chilly damp
morning. Welcome to the first full day of summer, eh ? We
had some good
rain late yesterday accompanied by close lightning
strikes and loud thunder that
has made the gardens wet enough that working in them
today is out of the question.
Tuesday’s rain brought out the weeds in great
profusion, so we put in a lot of time
bashing, hoeing and yanking; it was perfect weather for
it yesterday morning, sunny
and cool with enough of a breeze to keep bugs at bay.
Bean plants are forming little
tight buds that will soon be actual beans in several
colors and shapes, the best veggie
of all in my opinion. Potatoes are in full blossom, and I
found a couple of adult potato
beetles doing the wild thing, with a few clusters of eggs
clinging to the undersides of
leaves; so far we have been spared a huge swarm of the
pests. But, where there are
two, there are legions in hiding waiting for us to turn
our backs. It won’t be long be-
fore we can snatch a few small new spuds from the side of
the row, like miners
searching for rare gems. If we are lucky, the first beans
and little potatoes will
be ready at the same time, a feast no matter what the
main course.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Thursday, June 21, 2007 7:30 a.m.
61 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
Summer officially arrives this afternoon at 2:06 EDST,
give or take a few
minutes depending on your spot. This is my least favorite
of the four season’s
markers, as it means that the days will gradually begin
to shorten as we head
towards the autumnal equinox. Likewise, the winter
solstice is my favorite, giving
us hope of the return of summer. Big wheel keep on
turnin’... As much as I enjoy
winter and the long well-deserved rest it affords, on
this day we are reminded that
the earth is retreating from the sun’s strongest
energy as sure as shootin’, a notice of
our all too brief run on the planet as another cycle
begins. It is interesting that summer
solstice is considered the beginning of a season, when it
seems more like the middle
to me. We have a lovely day afoot, with a hint of rain in
the forecast, perfect growing
weather during the day with cooler temps at night to help
facilitate great dreams.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, June 20, 2007 7:00 a.m.
54 degrees, windy, partly sunny
The morning air is as fresh as tomorrow, slightly chilly
and clean as a whistle.
We finally got some rain, one brief hard downpour late in
the day followed by
a few hours of gentle showers during the night. A few
flashes of lightning and
far-off thunder accompanied the rain, but no damaging
winds or hail invaded
our neck of the woods. The gardens look great, with all
of our crops in straight
clean rows surrounded by dark moist soil. Garlic is
getting ready early this year,
sending up long curly flower stalks and starting to turn
a little brown around the
edges. We will have to pull up a couple of bulbs to see
their true ripeness; if the
individual cloves are starting to separate, they are dead
ready. Last night we en-
joyed some of the scapes (flower stalks) sautéed with
tender grass-fed beef,
sweet red peppers, and pineapple. They are spicy hot when
eaten raw, but
cooking tames them somewhat and adds a hint of garlicky
goodness plus a
firm snappy texture to any dish. I believe I will blanch
some briefly in boiling
water and see if they will hold their allure after being
frozen for a while. Too
bad the season for scapes lasts only a week or two. We
may try putting some
in brine with dill seeds, a variation of dilly beans
without the beans. Might as well
experiment; we have hundreds of scapes to harvest over
the next couple of days.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, June 19, 2007 9:00 a.m.
75 degrees, breezy, hazy sunshine
Thank goodness for the breeze !
It would be pretty steamy out there if not for that.
I just came from the bluebird box, and the little birds
look like they might make a break for it today. Mom is
hanging out on top of the house, no space in there for
her;
there is barely room for the four young’uns. The
male has been
perched on my weather stick outside the office window for
days,
keeping an eye out for our three cats. He won’t
divebomb them like
the swallows do; instead he goes directly to his nest and
(I guess) tells
everyone that there is danger afoot. Late last night we
were walking the
paths close to the barn and two plovers came at us, one
flying and one running,
piping at the tops of their lungs; must be we were nearly
on top of their brood.
We never saw any plover eggs this year; sometimes they
plop them right in the
middle of a bare garden patch and we have to work around
them until the babies
emerge, fully feathered and ready to hide in the tall
grass. I wasn’t even aware there
was a pair of adults hanging around until last night.
There is a chance of rain later today,
which would be a most welcome thing in our neighborhood
Our garden crops would
have turned to dust if not for the daily watering we are
fortunate to be able to provide;
it is time-consuming but utterly necessary. Potatoes are
at the critical point in their
development where they need an inch of water a week to
produce tubers of any
size. Corn leaves are beginning to curl into tight
lances,but until ears begin to
develop they can stand the drought for a bit longer.
Spinach is starting to
bolt to seed, but we are pretty much done with the early
row anyway.
Tomatoes and peppers are loving the heat, and have been
easy to
drench in the evening. Cucumbers are full of blossoms,
and yes-
terday I saw several honeybees gathering nectar and
spreading
pollen from plant to plant. Our roses are full of bees as
well,
and I always take a moment in passing to thank them for
visiting our area. Red clover blossoms in the meadows
are humming with bumblebees, and the air is filled
with the sweet fragrance of clover and alfalfa as
the day’s heat coaxes the essential oils out.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
Monday, June 18, 2007 8:00 a.m.
73 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
We have a rare calm morning on Gomer Hill; not a whisper
of breeze stirs the
leaves or sweeps the bugs away from the back porch. Big
black flies with red
eyes are a recent arrival, and many local folks believe
that the DEC has released
them as natural predators for the tent caterpillars that
have shown up lately in parts
of our area. This is simply not true. The flies are here
because of the tent caterpillars,
a natural predator/prey phenomenon, simply coming to
where their food source
is located. Even though we have very few of the nasty
webworms on our pro-
perty, I have seen them here and there on the Hill, not
nearly as prevalent as
at lower elevations. To read more about the friendly
flies, visit this link.
As
it turns out, these big galoots are harmful only to tent
caterpillars, and do
not bite people or animals, nor do they spread disease.
Now you know
a little bit more about Sarcophaga aldrichi than
you did yesterday.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Sunday, June 17, 2007 9:00 a.m.
68 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
We may be kissed by a few little sprinkles this morning
as a front blows through
slightly north of here. We saw about ten minutes of rain
just before dawn, not really
enough to even take the sharp edges off our crispy lawn,
but at least the dust has settled
a bit. Tuesday may bring some much-needed watering to the
fields and forests of Tug Hill.
Along with the benefits of a good soaking will come the
added boost to weeds as well, so
I had better get a few photos of ourperfectly groomed
gardens while the drought permits.
I spent yesterday in Amsterdam, and the drive to and from
there was absolutely beautiful.
I took Route 28 to 5 east, avoiding the NYS thruway in
favor of more rustic routes. The
view of the Mohawk Valley was spectacular, green and lush
from recent rain in that neck
of the woods. Roadside stands featured strawberries and
young beets, and baked goods
at several Amish farms tempted me but I passed them by. I
shared the road with only
a handful of other vehicles, but most of them were
hauling boats, campers, or both.
Several SUVs were headed north with Kayaks and off-road
bicycles perched
on top, evidence that the summer tourist season is in
full swing. I am headed
down to the valley again today, and expect another great
ride.
Enjoy your day wherever you are,
Daisy
~
Saturday, June 16, 2007 5:20 a.m.
68 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
The sun has just come up, and I am off to Amsterdam for
the day.
The sky is filled with salmon colored clouds, with enough
space between
them and the mountains to give a full view of the giant
flaming ball as it slowly
revealed itself, perfect! We strolled through the near
paths before sunrise,
hoping to catch a glimpse of some of our nocturnal
visitors, but they are
all safely in hiding for the day. It’s a heck of a
day to spend in the city,
but who knows what wonderful sights I will see on the way
to and fro.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Friday, June 15, 2007 8:30 a.m.
72 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
We have a beautiful morning following a perfect night for
sleeping.
A gentle breeze wafted cool air through open windows, and
dreams
came quickly and were sweet. Dawn comes very early these
days, with
the early glow beginning at about 4:20, awakening birds
to summer song.
We heard robins teaching their young the various calls
this morning, warbling
familiar phrases with the lesson repeated in higher
pitched fragments. We have
been seeing young speckled birds for the past two days;
it is cool to watch them
grow up. Goldfinches returned to Tug Hill yesterday,
hundreds of them aloft in
a crazy glitter of bright yellow as the males compete for
the attention of a hand-
ful of females. These birds are the most frequent
visitors to the birdbath; often
a dozen or more splash and flutter at the same time,
dashing water about with
wild abandon. We need to top it off three or four times a
day when the gold-
finches come to town. Some folks will say this is for
the birds as a dispara-
ging remark; I say it with great joy, a day such as this
is for the birds !
Have a tweet day,
Daisy
~
Thursday, June 14, 2007 8:00 a.m.
58 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
We have moved from mostly sunny to partly sunny in just
an hour’s time.
There were a few clouds along the edges of the horizon at
sunrise, enhancing
dawn’s early light with a shimmering blanket of neon
pink and tangerine. Now
the clouds have begun to close in, allowing for some
sunny breaks but also plenty
of shade. We went outside early to transport another
raccoon into the outback,
but when we got to the Havahart we realized it was empty.
I heard the metallic
thunk of the door slamming shut just after
midnight, and the bait is missing, so
I can only imagine that the critter reached in through
the side of the cage and
dragged the apple over and ate it through the grates,
tripping the door in the
process. Smart! We discovered a whole other bunch of
droppings atop some
cherry boards that are stacked in the rafters of our
garage, beautiful lumber that
we cut ourselves from a neighbor’s woodlot now all
stained with black stinky poo.
We are beginning to feel like the groundskeeper in Caddyshack
who was foiled by
one wily gopher. I am amazed that we have never seen any
actual raccoons around,
just lots of yucky evidence. There have been several deer
hanging out at the edges
of the meadow. I suppose there are young’uns as
well, hidden by the tall meadow
grasses. We saw one spotted fawn by the edge of an old
potato patch, wobbly-
legged and pretty new. The doe was browsing some nearby
greenery, and
hustled the fawn off into the woods at first whiff of us.
Our little bluebirds
are really filling the nest, and it will be only a few
more days before they
are ready to head out on their own. There is new life and
growth all
over Tug Hill, and it is wonder-full to be able to watch
it all unfold.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 8:00 a.m.
66 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
There are some clouds up there that could possibly be
carrying rain our way,
and the wind is kicking the leaves around to show their
light green flip sides, so
I say bring it on ! We haven’t had any real
soaking rain in a long time, and every-
thing could sure use a good drink. We have been watering
the gardens daily, hauling
the runoff from our spring in a 500 gallon tank, and
slowly letting it out through a soak-
er hose. With the size of our gardens, this is pretty
much a full time job during dry spells,
but it makes the difference between a successful harvest
and stunted puny crops. The plus
side is, weeds haven’t been growing between the
rows, and our gardens have never looked
better. Our corn will be taller than knee-high by the
fourth of July, and peppers have started
to put on creamy white blossoms. We will continue to
plant short-term crops like lettuce,
beets, and spinach so we will have fresh greens well into
October. Some flowers will go
in later too, more sunflowers and the last of the
gladiolas, so they don’t all bloom at the
same time; we can extend the cut-flower season by at
least a month with careful plan-
ning. We caught another raccoon, and will continue to set
our no-kill trap until we
run out of critters. We don’t mind if they frolic in
the nearby forest, but we draw
the line at strolling through our yard every night as if
they owned the place. They
are cute, but not in our barn, where they leave their
foul droppings on every rafter.
Live and let live, on our terms...
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 8:00 a.m.
72 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
What a gorgeous morning ! These are the days I hold in my
heart to
examine in the dead of winter, when the snow flies past
the windows at
fifty mph and the stoves struggle to heat the house. The
sun is at its strongest
point of the year, and a breeze swept the bugs away as we
made our way around
the meadow paths just after sunrise. The combination of
hot sun and cool breeze
is glorious in the same way a hot grilled cheese sandwich
is enhanced by a cool
slab of home-grown tomato perched on top. And this is no
ordinary sandwich
kind of day; it is aged cheddar pumped up with a bit of
gorgonzola between
two slices of homemade ten-grain bread, kissed with
butter and heated slowly
so the cheese is melty but not oozing out into the heavy
cast iron pan that is
used to cook this savory entree. And the tomato: so big
and meaty that one
slice covers the whole top of the sandwich, a half inch
of summery good-
ness that drips up one’s wrists halfway through the
meal. Although our
tomatoes are nowhere near being ready, I believe the
sandwich itself
will be on the menu for today’s lunch, with last
year’s pickled
dill beans taking the place of fresh tomato for now.
Feast your eyes on the beauties of this day,
Daisy
~
Monday, June 11, 2007 8:00 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
I have just returned from checking the nesting boxes, and
am happy to report
that all four little bluebirds are doing quite well in
their cozy nest. They are starting
to develop feathers, and both adult birds have been kept
very busy transporting food
to the little ones. In another week or so they will be
big enough to take off on their own.
In two or three days I will have begin to check the nest
daily for blowfly larvae. The adults
are attracted to fecal matter that will accumulate in the
nest as the birds get bigger, and lay
their eggs under the nest. I have seen entire broods
wiped out by these ugly maggots, who
will suck the life’s blood right out of the young
birds. We have two pairs of bluebirds in the
neighborhood, but only one has taken up residency in a
box; the others must be using one
of the natural hollows in a nearby tree. I was clearing
woodbine from our privet hedge and
discovered a robins nest with five pretty blue eggs in
the middle of it all, so that task has been
put on hold for a while. We have been visited by an
abundance of birds of all types this season,
and many have been attracted to nest in our yard with its
wealth of shrubbery and coniferous
trees. It won’t be long before the lawn is filled
with speckle-breasted young robins and blue-
birds, and shiny silver-flecked grackles. I heard a hen
turkey clucking to her brood at first light,
down in the apple grove by the springbox. It won’t
be long before we see her herding her flock
along the meadow paths, single file and totally under her
command. Meanwhile, we may receive
some much-needed rain this afternoon, so we are going to
sow another row of greens and
plant the main crop of carrots. This is a busy time of
year, but there is still a little time to
enjoy watching the morning unfold with a steaming cup of
fresh-ground coffee.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Sunday, June 10, 2007 8:00 a.m.
68 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
What a beautiful morning, soon to be an awesome summer
day. Spring was so
long in arriving and passed so swiftly, it hardly seems
possible that we are nearing
the middle of June already. There was much going on in
our neighborhood last night,
beginning with legions of fireflies appearing shortly
after true dark fell. While on a late
walk, we heard the call of a barred owl coming from not
too far off in the forest, so I
called back, and we kept up a conversation for several
minutes before he tired of the
game. Or maybe I said something rude, it’s hard to
tell with owls. I am sure it is like
any other language, different inflections can change the
meaning of the phrase. While I
may have thought I was calling who cooks for you, for
yooouuuu I may in fact have
been saying you smell like poo, like poooooooo...
So far, there is no Berlitz course
for Bird (that I know of). Meanwhile, we retired late and
were awakened several
times by the big feral cat that has been stalking our
property, uttering an unearthly
sound that is a cross between a loud purr and a howl. I
got a good look at this
animal one early morning; it is HUGE with a head the size
of one of our entire
tame cats, and a mostly white body with dark splotches
here and there. It
seems to be well-fed and healthy; it sure is loud. There
were a few roving
bands of quad riders in the wee hours. Perhaps their
mufflers had fallen
off earlier; they will surely suffer some hearing loss if
they don’t do
something about the chain-saw screech that comes out of
their pipes.
At least their noise woke me in time to realize that
three mosquitoes
were circling my head, so I sent them off to the next
life with a quick
swat. Finally, some peace and quiet fell over the Hill
just before dawn.
I was awakened once more by our little dog, standing in
the open window,
snarling and growling as he stared at the ladder propped
up against the house.
By the time I got there and looked out, I could see
nothing, but it is a sure bet
that pesky raccoon has returned to prowl about our roof
once more. Since we
hadn’t caught any coons in the live trap for over a
week, we figured it was safe
to put the ladder back up, which we keep in place for
fire control. All creatures
have a place on this earth, but I don’t think our
roof is part of that deal.
Have an interesting day,
Daisy
~
Saturday, June 9, 2007 7:30 a.m.
56 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
All is relatively calm and fresh after last night’s
rain swept across Gomer
Hill like a freight train. We took a short walk as the
storm approached; we
were under clear sky while lightning struck north and
west of us, and rumbles
of thunder indicated they were pretty far off. The wind
came up suddenly, send-
ing my hair straight up and sweeping the dog’s ears
back like a ball cap worn
backwards. We took the long way round the buildings to
the back door so we
didn’t have to walk under any big trees; after
getting smacked in the face with a
high-speed maple leaf it seemed the prudent thing to do.
Suddenly the storm was
on top of us, with all of the elements one would expect,
including a few really loud
cracks of thunder with simultaneous lightning strikes,
thrilling and a little scary. The
air is chilly and damp this morning, but as soon as the
sun emerges from behind
the clouds we should see a perfect summer day unfold. The
corn we planted
yesterday is probably already swelling in the furrows,
and crops that have
emerged are drinking in the rain like nectar from the
gods.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Friday, June 8, 2007 8:30 a.m.
73 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
The temperature has gone up thirty degrees since sunrise,
and the
combination of still air, warm ambient temp, and bright
sun drove us in
from the back porch a little early this morning. We have
spent the past two
cooler days sprucing up the vegetable gardens, and they
are picture-perfect
for now, all weed-free and tilled to perfection. Mulch
has been applied where
necessary, either wood shavings or old hay, and now is
the time that the aerial
photography guys should make a few passes over the farm.
The last time some-
one tried to sell us some shots he had already taken, it
was mid-October; the trees
were bare, and the gardens a weedy mess of old cornstalks
and frost-ruined vines.
We politely declined his offer to let us have the proofs
for a mere hundred bucks
and sent him back to Get-a-clueville. The breeze has
picked up a bit, and there
is a chance of thunderstorms with hearty gusts later in
the day. We will plant
more seeds out, lettuce, spinach, beans, sunflowers and
squash, plus our
main crop of carrots and cukes, and leave tender
seedlings under cover
until the weather settles over the weekend. It looks like
clear sailing after
tonight, perfect for all living things in both the plant
and animal kingdoms.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
Thursday, June 7, 2007 8:00 a.m.
48 degrees, calm, mostly cloudy
We had another close call last night, with a low
temperature of 36. I heard on the
radio that parts of Ontario had snow flurries in the air
Wednesday morning. Tomorrow
we are having more summery temperatures, probably
accompanied by high winds and
thunderstorms. I think our pepper plants just might have
to spend a few more days under-
cover on the porch. Our tender crops seemed to make it
through Tuesday’s strong winds
and biting cold air, bouncing back during yesterday’s
sunny disposition. It was a pleasure
to pull weeds and thin young greens without any pesky
insects diving at us. The air was
so clear that every rogue weed popped out at me, as if
seen through a magnifying glass. I
think today will be a little warmer than yesterday, but
still cool enough to keep the bugs
away. It is a bit odd to do summer’s tasks during
what feels like autumn’s weather.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, June 6, 2007 8:00 a.m.
40 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
Well, that was certainly an interesting little
front that swept through our area yesterday !
Rain fell off and on all day long, and late in the
afternoon the temperature dropped and
the wind picked up to a steady 25 mph with gale force
gusts of 40+. Our home weather
station showed a windchill of 28 degrees at one point,
and our overnight actual low temp
was 37. I don’t know if windchill affects plants the
same way it does bare skin, but I can
tell from here that our cucumber plants don’t look
very perky. When I got home from
work late in the day it was all I could do to cross the
yard, head down and sweater
tails flapping wildly. The kitchen range had a nice fire
blazing away, a most welcome
and comforting sight. The wind had calmed to a breeze by
the time we took our late
night walk, but I had to don my winter coat and hat for
the trek, and the dog wasn’t
anxious to go farther from home than necessary for his
needs. There were no fireflies,
no stars, no frogs, just the damp chill left behind from
that rogue storm front. We
dragged our flannel pjs out of storage and slept snug
beneath an extra quilt,
something we will look back on fondly when summer’s
swelter returns.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, June 5, 2007 8:00 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
The Hill has received a good drink of rain, not nearly
enough for the long run,
but it will do for now. More would be welcome, and the
clouds do indeed look
like they are laden with moisture; hopefully they will
release their cargo gently and
steadily over the course of the day. It is fortunate that
we haven’t yet put our pepper
plants into the ground, as temps are predicted to drop
into the low forties tonight, and
maybe even the thirties. A cold spell like that would set
back peppers in a major way,
delaying the formation of blossoms and dropping the ones
that have already begun to
form. The broccoli and cabbage plants are loving this
cool moist environment, and have
doubled in size over the past three days. The thick mulch
that covers the asparagus bed is
dotted with clusters of small fragile purple parasol
mushrooms, which appeared overnight.
Four bluebirds hatched yesterday; when I checked their
box Sunday night, the eggs were
just beginning to show a fine network of cracks. Pipping
could be faintly heard from within
the eggs, a sure sign that hatching was imminent. This
morning there are four naked tiny
birds huddled together in the nest. Both adult birds
watched me carefully from nearby
beanpoles, and the female returned to the box as soon as
I left. I will not look in the
box during the next week, but then must check for
parasites such as blowfly larvae.
By then the little birds should have some of their
feathers and look a little less like
aliens. A tree swallow has begun to set on her clutch of
six eggs in another of
our boxes, so we will watch for those little ones to
emerge from their shells
in about twelve days. So far those are the only two sites
with any real
activity; perhaps today’s inspection will reveal a
few more tenants.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
Monday, June 4, 2007 8:00 a.m.
57 degrees, windy, cloudy
After wishing really hard for rain, it was granted mid-afternoon,
complete with
thunder, lightning, and gusty wind that sent us scurrying
inside. That little downpour
lasted only about fifteen minutes. “Better than
nothing”, we said to each other. The road
was dry an hour later; the temperature had fallen a bit,
but the air was still stiflingly humid.
A late walk after dark showed some heat lightning to the
south, with stars flashing through
intermittent clouds. Frogs still sang, but their frenzy
was winding down a bit and the night was
extremely quiet when their trills and harrumphs ceased
with our passing. I’ll bet the Tug Hill
Lesser Wilderness Plateau is one of the few places left
in this country where utter silence is
still an option. Sometimes we hear the traffic from
nearby route 12 as big trucks haul their
wares, or loud music from the kids up the road. Sometimes
there are dogs woofing, owls
who-ing, and coyotes calling. Later this summer there
will be the locusts and crickets filling
the nights with susurrations. But last night, for several
minutes at a stretch, the only sound
was the crunch of my sandals on the gravel at the side of
the road, and then nothing more
when I stood stock still and listened. Real rain started
to fall after we turned in for the night,
blowing in from the south, hammering against the windows
as well as pummeling the tin
roof. It was a noisy night once the rain started, a
lovely steady downpour that lasted
until just before dawn. The roses are fully in bloom
since they were properly watered,
and already the green plants of our straight garden rows
are twice as big as yesterday.
Although I picked asparagus late in the day, there are
more spears ready; some
grew more than a half a foot overnight. It looks like
more rain is on the way
for a couple of days, then perfect growing weather, not
too hot, not too cool.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Sunday, June 3, 2007 9:00 a.m.
76 degrees, breezy, hazy sunshine
After a cool and peaceful night, the morning has become
sultry once again,
with a nice breeze to make the heat and humidity more
bearable. We are in
dire need of rain; watering our vegetables, berries, and
flowers by hand helps
but is a barely adequate substitute for the real thing.
Today we will attempt to
draw down the rain by some of the oldest and most time-tested
means known to
man (and woman). Clotheslines are sagging under their
load of freshly laundered
garments, sheets, and towels, the windows of our home
sparkle in the early morning
sunshine, and in a bit we will wash our cars. We should
not have to resort to inviting
a couple of dozen people up for an outdoor cocktail party
(a number that won’t fit
comfortably inside our small farmhouse) but if it comes
to that, I suppose we could
resurrect the old come-as-you–are gatherings
of the fifties and assemble a last-
minute crowd in hopes of attracting the rain’s
attention. I hesitate to shake
the rain stick; remember the Valentine’s Day
blizzard earlier this year ?
Okay, off to work some more practical magic; even if it
doesn’t
bring on the rain, at least we will have spruced up our
stuff.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Saturday, June 2, 2007 8:00 a.m.
64 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
One single rugosa rose is abloom on this fine
morning, with scads of buds just
waiting for a good soaking rain to coax them out as well.
We could smell the rose
from thirty feet away, it’s fresh old-fashioned
scent overpowering the cloying sweet-
ness of white coral bells that line the flower bed.
Peonies are swelling on their stalks as
well, and the first irises stand stately and straight,
bursting with purply goodness. Rain is
sorely needed; we have been watering things for a couple
of weeks, but one inch a week
is necessary for crops to thrive. hand watering is better
than nothing, but natural rainfall is
(naturally) preferred. There is a pretty good chance of
rain for tomorrow; let’s hope it does
not pass us by. Last night’s moonrise was beautiful,
big and hazy orange, hovering over the
horizon flanked by brilliant stars and planets. Lightning
bugs have arrived on Tug Hill, a little
earlier than usual, winking on in legions until it was
difficult to tell where their flashing beacons
ended and the glittering stars began. deep in the night
an otherworldly snarling scream erupted,
repeating over and over, stopping for awhile and then
resuming. It lasted until just before dawn,
and as I watched from a window, a squat white cat
strolled into view, and that unholy noise
was coming from it. Perhaps we should bait our Havahart
with tuna tonight, and relocate
this critter somewhere far from here. The last thing we
need is an aggressive tomcat
scrapping with our pets for dominance, or worse, a fecund
feral female giving birth
to a half dozen irresistibly cute kittens in our barn. No
more room at the inn, sorry...
Have a purrfect day,
Daisy
~
Friday, June 1, 2007 8:00 a.m.
71 degrees, windy, hazy sunshine
Things cooled off after suppertime last night, but what a
swelter of a day !
We topped out at 84 humid degrees, and worked slowly at
moving firewood
from the woodlot into long straight rows next to the east
meadow. Horseflies and
deerflies made an appearance as we worked; we slapped
ourselves silly and the bugs
just fell off, only stunned, and soon divebombing our
exposed skin once again. We didn’t
suffer any bites, but I swear I can still see handprints
on my forearms from my inept attempts
at fly-icide. There is apparently no energy crisis at our
little farmstead. We use the energy stored
in our bodies to fell, buck, split, and haul the trees,
which in turn have used the sun’s energy to
grow tall and dense. When we burn the wood to heat our
house on chilly days and cook our
food on frosty nights, the energy is released into the
living space and also is used to bake
bread, much of which is stored in the freezer to be
consumed to provide energy for
felling, bucking, splitting, stacking, and so on and so
on, and scoobie doobie doo...
one big cycle, energy being consumed, stored, released
and reused according
to plan. The law of conservation of energy states that
energy can not be
created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one
form to another,
how simple is that ? Ponder the ways that energy shifts
during today’s
routine activities. There will not be a quiz, but
homework does count.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
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