Monday, June 29, 2015

The Long Monday

And stressful for the dogs! 



There are fields being mowed all around us.  Ramona reminded me why I keep seeing crows and vultures in the freshly-mowed fields.... the animals that were dead (or dying), killed by the mower as it went over the field.  

I don't wanna know. 


They're everywhere! 


I went ahead and put a feeder on the railing of the porch, to try to save a little feed. 
The birds are getting used to it. 



This is the hen spa yard one month after the cochins were removed.  It's a jungle. 
There are two Brahma hens still living there, but they sleep in the dog house just out of sight, though the pophole to the henhouse is open all the time. 

I used the Worx weedeater on it this morning to try to knock down some of the 
growth because the two girls will not come out from under the hen spa. 

I need to catch them and take them across the yard to the red hens in the old hen house, where there is a lot of room for everyone. 


I went into the hen spa yesterday for something, and noticed that the top two rows of nest boxes were empty of straw!  


I still have a 3 step stool in there, so I got it down and climbed up... and found this 
big nest on top of the nesting box.  The only thing I really saw was mouse poop around it, but would mice build a nest this big, and move that much straw? 

I am finding the water bowl for these two hens full of food every morning, indicating possums are visiting them at night. 

They have a 2 gallon water inside the henspa with good water, don't worry. 


The first green pepper is almost there! 



Tomatoes are coming along, too.  I took the Worx to all these boxes, cleaning up around them. 


Pretty soon, I looked around for Lilly, because I realized I had not seen her for 30 minutes.  At this point, I am not letting her in the pasture, it is so overgrown and she comes out covered in seeds (and ticks). 

Before I could call her, she came walking by me very slowly.  

She was wet everywhere but her topline. 

She had been swimming at Troy's, and had come home! 

I went over to check the walk gate, and sure enough, it was open, and will not close now, because the hook won't hook.  I'm going to tie it shut in the morning with some baling string. 

That's the very first time Lil has gotten out and not gotten "lost" and couldn't figure out how to get home. 


We did not have a good end to our morning.  I had to drop something off at the food pantry, so 
went down to town.  About two blocks from the pantry, I heard a wheel make a funny noise. 
By the time I pulled into their alley, it was flat as could be. 

I took the donation in, and asked a friend from church if I could call a tire company... 
and she told me her husband was there volunteering this morning. 
(the man in red). 

I'm going to stop here and tell you a prayer that Keith and I have been praying lately.  It is a prayer that singer Amy Grant says daily: 


“Lord, lead me to the ones I need.
And, to the ones who need me.”

Keith has been saying this prayer daily now for a week. 
You see... the young man who is helping Jim.... is a young man who came there for food. His wife was waiting in the truck.  He could have walked by and left, but instead, turned around, and got down and dirty to help Jim change the tire and put the spare on. 

Out of sight to the left was another old truck, and in it were waiting a young woman and her daughter. 
They also had come for food. 

They saw the problem, and the young mother brought her jack over and handed it to Jim and 
said "Here, try this one".  

Lord, lead me to the ones I need.... 

And some of the eggs we took there Saturday and the donation 
we made this morning were probably in the sacks these young people had carried out.... 

"the ones who need me". 

So you see. 

Here's a short video of Jester being silly to end this post... 

I used the old Canon camera almost all today. 


(Car is now fixed with a new tire... but was a long day!) 


Sunday, June 28, 2015

Saturday and Sunday Pictures


This little female dickcissel was chipping her heart out as I drove to the old place Saturday. 

She doesn't have a beard, it's a piece of the plant behind her! 



I'm starting to see the red-tails again.  This one almost looks suspended in the air in front of the tree. 

I missed the great shot a few minutes before, a red tail swooped down on something, talons extended, about ten feet from the car just as I turned a corner.  I was so dumbfounded I couldn't stop and grab the camera in time! 

Then I saw this one going across a pasture to the tree, and stopped and caught it.  This is 
much-cropped, of course. 


I am having so much fun feeding the birds on the back yard deck rail.  
Today, I saw a dove eating there that had a hurt leg... she hops on the good leg... 
I don't know how long she will be able to last. 


I did not know until last week that there are six kinds of bumblebees around here. 
I love to watch them. 


They love the catmint that has invaded the old gardens. 


This ... thing... is blooming under the feeding station at the old house. 
Look at the thorns! 


Here they are growing under the flat feeder. 

The suet feeders are empty out there, and I think I may take them 
down.  Then again, I saw a woodpecker fly to them yesterday, so 
they may stay up for a while. 


This is a very small daylilly, and it's coming here.  I'm going to get 
it ready to move tomorrow or Tuesday. 

You see the catmint to the left of it?  Invasive! 


Here's a better look at the Virginia Creeper growing up the old walnut tree. 


The red hens are really starting to look good! 


Our green apple tree out there does not look good at all.  We planted these five years ago, but 
we did not really LEARN about them.  We have never sprayed them, as should be obvious. 
This is the worst it has ever looked, it has something. 
Something bad. 

The red apple does not look like this. 


I have shown you this little girl several times before.   She stays in a specific area that
I pass through every day.  She is not afraid, and it scares me. 

As Keith says, she must have been orphaned and not taught by her mother to be afraid



She stood there calmly while I dickered around with the camera. 

She's the little doe with the ticks by her eye that I showed you a few weeks ago. 


On my way OVER to the old house, I saw eight or nine vultures in the sky, circling above this freshly-mown field. 

When we came back there were eight there. 


The ninth flew in, and took off again. 

I love these big birds. 




This girl is the first turkey I've seen in the open in a month! 

She was getting a drink from the standing water there in the yard. 

Tomorrow I'll show you the standing water in OUR yard, and tell you what we 
are going to do about it! 


Friday, June 26, 2015

A Swim in the Sun

Yesterday morning was hot and humid early. 

After we did chores, I took the dogs over to 
Troy's to have a swim. 


The water was cool after the dogs had run around for 40 minutes. 



She does not go far out into the pond, but she loves to get wet. 


Someone else wasn't so sure, but he had a good time running around the edges, 



The calves are getting the hang of it! 


Turtle removal goes on. 

This was an unusual one, shell-wise.  I think she would have made it across on her own, but I don't trust people. 


Daylilies.  


I'm just having a blast watching the finches on the back deck. 


Studly. 


We had a terrible storm during the night, and there was widespread damage and 
thousands of homes across the metro Kansas City area without power today. 

I really expected to see the old walnut, or the big maple down. 

Not a branch! 

You see the walnut is so dead now that vines are 
growing all over it. 

It had no walnuts last year. 


This is part of the garden outside the front door of the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame, where I volunteer on Fridays.  It's maintained by the Master Gardeners of 
Wyandotte County (Kansas). 


Bumblebees were working hard. 


The bees from our beehives were busy amongst the flowers. 


It is easy to see the pollen on the bumblebee's posterior, and on his legs. 


Now that I know a little more about bees from volunteering at the Ag Hall, I find them so very fascinating.  They are so necessary to agriculture, and we are losing hives by the hundreds to the varroa mite. 


Another perky little lady finch! 

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Hot! Hot! Hot!



Second day of Joe Pye weed, it's so much brighter in the sun! 


And so was this little girl, just behind it. 

Getting ready for her second hatch, I think. 

These little birds are so fascinating to watch, bouncing on the top of the plants. 


There was a new dragonfly today... and if you click on this picture and 
biggify it, you'll see that those gossamer wings are shot with gold. 


An admin with whom I worked at Bayer Animal Health has passed away this morning due to Parkinson's disease.  She was my age... and this is so very sad to me.  She was a very nice lady, who adored her husband and family. 

Rest in peace, Linda. 


This (haying) has finally started here... and now we are expecting severe storms tomorrow night. 


Big bales are starting to appear in the fields. 


I had to laugh as we drove home in the heat... because look who has joined the tail swinging line in the pond! 


The other babies were sleeping in the high grass in the shade. 


Here's another crop that's doing well all around us. 


And I leave you with a mystery I am still trying to figure out.  

About five days ago, a garden appeared out of no where on a piece of flat ground by the road that I drive down several times a day.  That is a high hedge behind it... and the house sits back there at the end of a drive.  I THINK the person tilled rows in the grass... I saw a little tiller standing there one day. 

However... these plants you see and about a hundred others (it's BIG) appeared one day where there were none before.  Are the back rows trees?  I thought at first it was tomatoes and peppers, but I think now I am wrong.  I am hoping to see the person whom I saw once tending to them, and I am going to stop and ask because I'm NOSY.