The intruder

For the past several days, a beautiful male Cardinal has been protecting his turf around the house from an intruder.  No, the intruder isn't the two barn cats, nor the Redtail and Cooper Hawks that soar over the fields.

Mr. Cardinal sits atop the shepherd's crook holding a blooming petunia just off the corner of the front porch and sings at the top of his voice, his repetitive song/warning, then flies to land on either of the two sideview mirrors of hubby's SUV to repeat the warning.  He will lean over the mirror, flutter to the window frame and attack the intruder again and again, but he just won't leave his turf.

Cardinals may be beautiful, but not bright.  The intruder is his own image in the mirror.

Tuesday shots

Seven year old grandson, borrowed for a few weeks with his new friend.

Surprise, the first batch of bush beans are yellow.  Bet they turn green when they steam.

First of the shallot harvest, curing on the back deck in the sun.

Sunday Thankfulness

  First, we are greatful that the medical scare my stepmom experienced this weekend
that resulted in an 8 hour ER visit is not serious and should resolve itself in the next couple of weeks.

  We have had a delightful weekend visiting with them, in spite of the ER visit, and celebrating one of our granddaughter's first birthday with a whole flock of 1 to 5 year olds and their Mom's at the Botanical Garden's WOW center.

 We are now preparing for another leg of the trip to pick up our 7 year old grandson for a 3 week visit with us.

The travel has allowed me to finish the socks I have been working on for the past few weeks.  The yarn is Trekking, the pattern is Olympian designed by a friend, but modified for an after thought heel as I  am so hard on the toes and heels of my socks.

It has been a delightful, though scorching week and I am looking forward to more time with grandkids in the next few weeks and picking up my new German Shepherd puppy on July 11.

Thursday morning delight

Yesterday actually reached 90 up here in the mountains, not a usual state of affairs, especially this early in the summer.  Our A/C has only been on a handful of days since we moved here and then generally only when we have house guests.

Because the humidity is beginning to buckle the newly laid bamboo floor in the basement, we are running a dehumidifier down there, but also turned on the air last evening when it seemed too hot to sleep.

This morning, it was cooler outside than in,  but like the past few days, we were socked in.

It is beginning to warm up, predicting another scorching day ahead and clearing the morning fog.

Last winter, my love purchased a Flower share from one of our local organic farmer friends as an anniversary gift. At the time, I posted a photo of the dried bouquet that started it off and yesterday, we picked up the first of 10 lovely bouquets of fresh flowers for the summer. Each bouquet to choose from, was prettier than the next and I actually chose a soft pastel one that is not my usual choice of colors, but I know that there will be sunflowers and other bright spots later in the season.

Tuesday shots

9 lb cat and 90 lb puppy enjoying the front porch shade while I knit socks out of Trekking with a forgotten heel modification of Olympian pattern.

And why I love living here, emerald fields, hazy mountain view, lots of land and look at all the hay!

Sunday Thankfulness {7}

This has been the most glorious week with nights in the mid 50's, great sleeping weather, and days in the mid 70's. It doesn't get better than that.  The woods flowers are beautiful.

The basement staircase is getting pine siding to carry the wood look from the main floor of the house, where every wall is log or wood siding to the basement that is log siding and pine siding.  This project is being done by our neighbor primarily with some aid by his son or me.

The garden has reached the point where it isn't just work, it is providing.  We have several meals with peas and or greens from it and today, I picked, shelled and froze 2 1/2 quarts for the winter meals when there is no garden.  There are little green tomatoes, blossoms on the peppers and bush beans.  We have lined up the purchase of half a beef and half a pig for stocking the freezer come fall.

The blackberries are thick with fruit that should be ripe in about a month, my raspberries are providing their first fruits, they are only 2 years old, so I'm not expecting too many and I need to go check the wild raspberry thicket, though I have hesitated because of the extreme tick population this year.

We are well, continuing to improve our health with exercise and good living.  This is the most delightful place in the world to live.

Late spring beauty

   
Rhododendron

Indian Pipes fungi with young oak

Wood fern

Wintergreen in bloom with wild ginger

All shots taken in local woods on one of our walks with the pup.

Then and now

Our 30 acres had belonged to the Porterfield family for generations, we are still surrounded by this family, our plot the only part sold off in their midst.  Adjacent to this property is the Hoge family property, my grandfather's family.  He was born not 4 miles from our home about 120 years ago and there are still a few of his family up here, still owning more acreage than I can comprehend.  My mother sold off her share to her family when I was a very small child.  Though I was born up here, I was raised across the state on the coast.

When we purchased this property, it had an old barn and tucked into the back corner of one of the bays, was some old farm equipment.  Today with the help of our neighbor and his son, both Porterfields, we cleared the bay, took down a couple of old gates and removed the equipment from where it has been stored for decades.


Horse drawn Corn plow

Horse drawn Hay rake

Equipment wheel of some sort

Cross cut saw driven by a belt to an old tractor flywheel ( this piece was in the brush that was cleared last summer and we dragged it to it's present location with our tractor)

Our plan for these pieces is purely decorative, clean the rust, oil the wood, possibly paint the metal and use them for display.

We also found the old yoke that attached these piece to the horses and it will be cleaned, oiled and hung under the shelter of our front porch.

It is amazing after watching the haying to think of the labor that was involved using the old equipment.

Modern equipment makes the job so much faster and easier like other modern conveniences, but it too varies.  Below is our 28 hp tractor with bucket and brush hog that accomplishes most of the work we do on the farm.

And this is the behemoth that was used to pull the mower and baler that made 82 large round bales of hay in less than 24 hours.

Tuesday shots

Saturday was solo flying lessons for the Swift family, today it is group lessons for the Bluebird clan. hThe 4 fledglings are lined up on the deck rail being fed before the next lesson. They must have had a couple already because the nest box is in the middle of the garden.

 The deck rail must be the landing strip, they fly off, then back, get fed, fly off again. Quite fun to watch.

Then out the front, we have the case of the reappearing mountain. About 30 minutes separate these two shots fro the same vantage point.  Mountain fog.

Sunday Thankfulness {6}

This week, I am thankful for the beautiful weather that has allowed us to finish mowing the parts of the farm that can not be used for hay and for the haying process now in progress.  The baling is being done as I write with about 42 bales done and most of the big hayfield still to do.  These aren't little Lowe's style square bales, they are 4 X 5 1/2' round bales that weight half a ton each.  You can see a couple in the background.

The the bounty of the garden in greens, lettuce, peas, turnips and radishes and enjoying watching the tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, alliums, beans, squash and cukes growing and thriving.

The red Gerber daisies and lantana on the deck that are attracting daily hummingbirds, tiny and glittering as they flit around.

The beauty of this mountain community we chose, such a great place to live.

I am indeed a lucky woman.

Flying lessons

Just above the exhaust vent outlet to our bathroom is a Swift nest, built and populated before I realized it was there.  I try to keep them knocked down as they aren't good for the logs.  This is on the south side of the house, so it is 3 stories up.

Today it was time for flying lessons for the little guy(s) or gal(s) and after what I can only imagine was some sort of bird conversation that went something like this:
Mom: OK, jump off the edge and flap your wings like we have been practicing.
Junior:  Are you crazy, do you see how far down it is?
Mom:  Come on, you can do it, I wouldn't let you do anything that would hurt you.
Junior: (under his breath) Oh, shit.  OK Mom, I trust you.

Leap of faith, no control and slam, right into the glass French doors one story down leading out on the deck.  Junior is now dazed, fortunately he did not break his neck and Mom and Dad, sitting on the deck rail are alternately fluttering down to encourage the little guy to try again.  He is just panting and wondering why he couldn't just continue to live in the cozy nest and be fed by his parents.  After about the 6th attempt to get him to move, Mom flutters down and raps him on his head with her beak, a kind of scolding?

Finally the little guy fluttered off with his parents, probably nursing a headache or concussion.

(Wish I could have gotten a picture of them trying to coax him to move again.)

Tuesday shots [3]

Haying season, we are next on the list after tomorrow's rain.  First spring rhodendron. Hubby and his "puppy" on the newly mowed yard.

The Deck

 When we built our log home, the walk-in front has a full width covered porch 8 feet deep with a view I have often used on my blog at various seasons.  This porch is north facing and has two ceiling fans for those very few days when it is both hot and still.  Our home sits in a hollow on the flank of a mountain that soars another 2000+ feet to the north of us and a gap to the south that is probably 1000 feet lower than us.  This makes for a delightful climate that has a breeze to a strong wind nearly every day.  Last fall after the house was restained and passed the final certificate of occupancy, we had a temporary one for several years, we landscaped the front and east sides of the house, including a deep set back where the utility room joins the garage.

This porch has often been used to sit with morning coffee, to take a sheltered break from yard work or to just sit and read.  The view from this porch includes our old barn and the flank of Salt Pond Mountain, atop which sits Mountain Lake Hotel, the site of the film "Dirty Dancing."

Also as the house shell was being turned over to us for our son, his partner, and who ever else he could recruit to finish the inside, he also tackled a south facing deck.  Our dining room on the back side of the house opened out above a walkout basement and boy was that a big first step.  We either had to have steps or a deck.  He designed and built an awesome retaining wall from the field stone on the property and build a deck with an 8 X 12' walk the french doors open onto, leading to a 16 X 12' foot deck with steps leading down onto the lawn.  This deck was furnished only with a standing swing bench and a huge treated lumber picnic table and was grossly under used.

This deck because of it's exposure has not held stain very well and is too hot to enjoy in the evenings until the sun is low over the west hillside.  It became our spring project, now that the basement project is over, and with the help of a neighbor, it was powerwashed to strip it of the old peeling stain, new ballusters installed, and the whole thing restained with a penetrating oil stain.  As the spring warmed, I planted the planters with red gerber daisies and lantana to attract the hummingbirds and they were placed on the newly finished deck with the herb pots and two large rosemary bushes in pots.

Today, we decided to complete its look and make it more user friendly, moving a glass topped outdoor dining table back there to replace the warped peeling picnic table, restained the porch swing and replaced it on the deck, and purchased 4 outdoor dining chairs with cushions and a matching umbrella.  The deck looks so inviting, that we dined outdoors enjoying the gorgeous eve and the delightful breeze.

Sunday Thankfulness {5}

 Thankful for the completed deck maintenance, new ballusters, fresh stain, and a neighbor we like who wanted the work to do it.

The beautiful spring flowers, planted and wild.

A healthy pup, who handled his neutering early this week and was "graduated" from puppy high school this weekend ;-)

Continued beautiful weather, inspite of one day of torrential rain and wind.