During our visit to see our daughter, we visited the farm where she works. There are about 30 cows there and several calves.

We watched as the milk cows came in from outside at milking time and knowing nothing about cows, were amazed that each cow knows which stall is hers. Sure enough, they walk in and go to their own milking stall, except for one. I guess it's like every group - there's one in every crowd.

Boss Cow, "Come on! It''s time for milking. Open the gate!"
Going to my stall, going to my stall....
Wish she would move her butt and go to her own stall.

So glad it's milking time!

They also have horses at the farm. I'm saving them for another post.

I do Have a Job

Like most people in the world, unfortunately, I have to work. I do have a job. I am a librarian and in my library new carpet was installed this summer. That is good, but the bad part is that every single item in the library had to be removed to do it. That means 10,000 books, 8 large tables, a laptop computer charging cart with 15 laptops, 11 desktop PCs, 36 chairs, 2 circulation desks, 1 display unit, 1 magazine rack, 23 bookcases, 3 TVs/DVD and carts and I am sure I left out a few items. I did have help removing it all. Now, if you know anything about library work, you know it means I am spending some time putting everything back, now that the carpet is in, and in spite of a system to remove things in order, I will be a while getting it all in the right place again. I couldn't have done this without my husband's help. We have been working at it for a week, and have more to do. At least it has been raining all week (much needed) and I am not missing being outside.

Molly has had Quite a Day

Molly started the day with a bang, or a bark I should say. I let her out first thing and didn't notice the deer in the field. Molly started up the hill barking after the deer and I called her back. She was so excited about the deer she didn't even notice the huge truck unloading mulch. How she missed a dump truck by the garden I will never guess. Later Molly and I went out to weed the garden. I weeded and Molly ate strawberries. Later, I picked peas. While I shucked the peas my trusty helper assisted by keeping the floor clean. Any peas that popped beyond the bowl and rolled to the floor, she chased and ate.

That's the Molly nose on the left edge.

Later still, we went to visit Grammy. Molly decided it was necessary to "do her duty" in Grammy's yard, and then proceeded to eat strawberries from her patch. I do tease my daughter sometimes, but I hate it when my other "child" embarrasses me in front of my Mom.

Busy Bees

We finally got some rain! Once the sun came out it was back to work. The bees have been going strong and I couldn't help bothering a few (carefully) as I weeded. They were the busiest on the thyme, two or three in close range. The day before the rain my husband and I took a road trip. We stopped every now and then, for lunch, to stretch. We wanted to see the new bridge over the Penobscot and it is impressive. He drove over 230 miles that day and it was, as you can see, a beautiful day.
Another purpose for this blog was sewing projects. Most sewing is on hold because of the nice weather, but mainly because I have sent the machine in for service. Nothing was broken or even malfunctioning, but it was time for a service check. That means four to six weeks without the sewing machine. What else will I do in the meantime?

Time to Pull out all the Stops

Every night more disappears from the vegetable garden. The deer even pulled three tomato plants out of the ground in their eagerness to chew up those tender leaves. More tomatoes, more beans. So, I brought out the fencing, put up a roll around two sides and waited a night to see what would happen. It spooked them off the tomatoes, but more beans, and even the tops of the carrots were eaten. I enlisted my husband's help to the cause, and he helped me put more fence around the rest of it. Now my garden is surrounded by orange snow fence.

We celebrated with our daughter on her birthday -- she turned 22! We went to dinner with her at a place where the wait staff sings when they bring out a birthday cake. It is simple to alert staff on the way to the RR so there is a surprise for the honoree! Nothing like being embarrassed by your parents in public on your birthday.

We are moving into our second week without much rain, so I am facing having to water the flower garden if there is no rain soon. For now I have a few new features.

Bambi and Mom

The deer have been visiting the vegetable garden for the past few nights. They have eaten the tops of the tomato plants, stepped on two squash plants and eaten the tops of the beans. The first time deer ate anything in this garden spot was one October two years ago. This must be one of the younger ones from that time, back with her baby. Wish she had waited until September or October to bring Bambi.

We have been watering this garden in the evening for about half an hour because there has been no rain for more than a week. The deer came after several evenings of watering. Before this, they have stayed in the surrounding field. It must have been the nice new juicy bits that were irresistible.

The Strawberry Patch

Any idea what is going on here? This is a strawberry patch. This is Molly in my strawberry patch. Molly thinks that strawberries are better than Purina Lamb and Rice dog biscuits. No kidding. The food stays in the dish until said dog is satisfied that either no strawberries will be available or strawberries are eaten. Thus, no one in my family is enjoying the strawberries from the strawberry patch this year except Molly, unless I get there first. Actually, it is a race to see who gets the berries first. This was a new section I added last year and I was surprised at how well it produced. This year, well, ..... you see.

Changing Blooms

I have been investigating social bookmarking this week for class and have a couple likely sites to join. One is for librarians, and provides feedback on books and reviews. Should be good.
On the holiday, we went to see my daughter. Yeah! We visited and went to dinner together, with my sister and her family. It was a fun day.
While I did all that, my garden was changing. It has changed colors in spots as some blooms faded and other plants began their display. I have a few new plants this year so it made the seasonal evolution more interesting. I will include the photos of the new growth for viewing.