Goldfinch Feast

I was so glad that I was home, having my morning tea at the kitchen table when this goldfinch came along for his breakfast. I was hoping to catch him one day, because I could tell that he had been around picking the seeds out of the sunflowers. I had to take the photo through the window, so it is a little fuzzy, but there he is on top of the biggest flower. He was reaching down and having a great breakfast. Next, along came a hummingbird, and he is even harder to catch. He is in the bigger photo, but in this blog photo he is hard to see, on the right side, just before the sunflower, almost in a c shape againt the background of the grass.

I am enjoying some other end-of- summer blossoms. There is some lupine that has just gotten big enough to bloom, and roses again. I know that when what we call Brown-eyed Susans appear there is not much left to blossom. At that point in the year I begin to make plans for next year. "Let me think, next year I will try to move that plant over there, and I want a new plant here".. and on and on. The planning ahead begins so I can look forward to next year!

Another year has Begun

School opened on August 25 with workshop and all students began on the 27th. I have been a little busy since then, but it has been the normal begin-the-year stuff. After I took out many,many old books in the library, I have been adding in the new ones. I am not on many committees this year, since our accreditation study and visit are done. The school staff finds out the results of that later in the fall. Several extra things (yearbook, newspaper) I used to do I have passed on to newer younger members of staff, and I am not union president this year. In other words, I am beginning to have a life during work season. My daughter was home this past weekend, and her boyfriend too. It was so good to see them and have them here. Molly loved it, she had someone else to sleep with and watch over. Keely baked a bunch of cookies to take back to school. She also called her Dad today to find out how he makes his oyster stew. I think she misses our home cooking. I have baked more recently for my in-laws. Neither is very healthy or can move around a kitchen much, so they like cookies and quick breads and some meals we take to them. A flock of Canada geese have decided to take up residence on the high school soccer field. They are beautiful and fun to watch, but I don't envy the kids playing soccer and sliding around in their doo.

Summer Vacation Coming to a Close

We have been busy with appointments and day trips. In the meantime, it has been raining constantly, so there has not been much activity outside. We have to catch sunny weather when we can to mow the lawn or do the weeding. The flower garden hasn't cared and there are new blooms, so it looks nice, but some of them are end-of-season blooms. That means that work is in sight. Molly and I had a surprise the other day. A dog that we have never seen before came for a visit. Molly chased it off and it just about wore her out. She hasn't done that much running for quite a while. Her hips have been worse lately and I gave her a Tylenol that night. Now she thinks she needs to do guard duty on the deck to keep bad pooches away.

A few minutes of this and she is ready to come in. She's a lovely girl.

My husband left for Virginia today. He is going with a friend to pick up a truckload of computers for the local schools. The computers are donated and our students rebuild them in vocational class. Then the schools either use them or sell them.

The deer are constant visitors. We have left the fence up on the garden and a neighbor told us he saw a deer standing by the fence looking in at the garden. Must have been during a moment of wishful thinking. I usually see them in the field and noticed there are two Bambis with Mom. I haven't been able to get two babies in one photo yet. they won't stop runing and playing and hold still for a picture. Baby one is a little tan speck to the left.

Horses are There Too!

Since the last post I have made another visit to the farm. It was a day when my daughter would be working, and lots of family was going to be around. First, I took my Mom so she could see where my daughter works. She liked the ponies and I think everyone else did also. Six other family members visited at the farm shortly after us, and were given a tour by my daughter. The ponies were a favorite, but there are lots of other horses.
They all get lots of care and attention. 20 horses take a lot of work. All of the horses are beautiful. However, the ponies, being front and center, are noticed and appreciated by everyone, and probably get more than their share of luv.

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.