sometimes nick manages to drag us away from the house...
Monday, June 15, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
calendulas
sunflowers are my favorite but calendulas are a close second. i love their color variety and bright, cheerful faces.
the seed heads and seeds are pretty interesting too. there are still a few fresh blooms coming on but most of them have set seed and are getting ready to retire now that the summer heat has started.
i've always thought the seeds look like some kind of strange little sea creatures.
i'll have plenty of seeds to plant for fall.
the seed heads and seeds are pretty interesting too. there are still a few fresh blooms coming on but most of them have set seed and are getting ready to retire now that the summer heat has started.
i've always thought the seeds look like some kind of strange little sea creatures.
i'll have plenty of seeds to plant for fall.
Monday, June 8, 2015
praying westward
it seems to me
especially after a long day
tending the gardens and animals
under the burning sun
that the west
and the paling light
are as worthy
of receiving one's prayer
as any other direction
especially after a long day
tending the gardens and animals
under the burning sun
that the west
and the paling light
are as worthy
of receiving one's prayer
as any other direction
Sunday, June 7, 2015
the carpenter bee
the carpenter bee
is the largest bee i know
everything about it
is heavy
there is weight
in the deep black of its body
in the sound of its droning flight
and the way its glossy, metallic abdomen
seems to pull downward
against its powerful wings
as it busies itself amongst
the graceful flower stalks of the plantain
each bowing under its weight
nodding toward the ground
as it circles the cylindrical blossoms
raising a cloud of pollen
the flexible stalks gently springing upward
as it hefts itself off
to visit the next flower
is the largest bee i know
everything about it
is heavy
there is weight
in the deep black of its body
in the sound of its droning flight
and the way its glossy, metallic abdomen
seems to pull downward
against its powerful wings
as it busies itself amongst
the graceful flower stalks of the plantain
each bowing under its weight
nodding toward the ground
as it circles the cylindrical blossoms
raising a cloud of pollen
the flexible stalks gently springing upward
as it hefts itself off
to visit the next flower
close call
on the way out to the orchard garden zane took off to clear some turkeys out of the brush on the east side of the property and came back shaking his head and sneezing wildly---never good.
there was only an 1/8" showing (just barely enough to get a grip on it), the rest was up his snout. i'm happy he's such a cooperative pup.
 |
| the tail ends at the middle of my third finger---happy it didn't break off while i was pulling it out. |
there was only an 1/8" showing (just barely enough to get a grip on it), the rest was up his snout. i'm happy he's such a cooperative pup.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
raccoon
we've had a raccoon hanging about the last few nights. zane has been on night duty (in the house patrolling the windows and doors) and has gotten me up a few times to go and check things out. one night i got up and turned on the light out to the kitchen garden and got a good look at the critter. it stood up on its hind legs and gave me an annoyed look over its shoulder before plodding off to whatever marauding it had planned for the night. it's been in the compost and the trash can and pulled some cat food cans out of the recycling bin but hasn't been anything more than a mild nuisance. until lastnight.
i was reading in bed around 9:45pm and i heard a couple of thumps and some screaming coming from the chicken tractor (chickens do not squawk when being attacked in the dark, they wail. it's a sound i heard once in the middle of the night in catheys valley---i went out and found a raccoon hauling a dead chicken up a post and into an overhanging oak tree). i stumbled into pants on my way out the door as staal was handing me a flashlight and following me out with a shillelagh in hand (i made zane stay inside). it was quiet by the time we got out and i took that as a bad sign.
i shone the light around the chicken tractor and i did a head count---two on the roost and one on the ground. thankfully, standing and mostly unharmed. the larger of the two australorps had been pulled off the roost, spooked into a corner as she tried to flee, and then had hunks of feathers pulled out through the wire as the raccoon tried to get hold of her. she's a big, strong bird with lots of feathers and fluff. being so well-feathered is probably what saved her.
i looked around with the flashlight a little more and then shone it up the slope, northward and somewhat towards the creek bed. i immediately caught on two glowing dots in the low crotch of an oak tree. it stared for a few seconds and then took off. staal and i walked up the slope a ways and made sure it had gone.
i figured it would be back later so i rounded up the fiberglass panels for the sides of the chicken tractor and staal brought out a lantern and helped hold the panels as i screwed them into place.
i went out early this morning and took the panels off so the birds wouldn't get too hot as the sun came up. i gave them breakfast and they all seemed well.
zane was upset about not being allowed out to join us lastnight (i don't want him tangling with raccoons). he did some thorough sniffing about this morning when i went out to remove the panels, checking around the tractor and out in the woods near the oak tree where we saw the glowing eyes.
she lost a lot of feathers but you can't tell by looking at her.
raccoon has forfeit his safety.
i was reading in bed around 9:45pm and i heard a couple of thumps and some screaming coming from the chicken tractor (chickens do not squawk when being attacked in the dark, they wail. it's a sound i heard once in the middle of the night in catheys valley---i went out and found a raccoon hauling a dead chicken up a post and into an overhanging oak tree). i stumbled into pants on my way out the door as staal was handing me a flashlight and following me out with a shillelagh in hand (i made zane stay inside). it was quiet by the time we got out and i took that as a bad sign.
i shone the light around the chicken tractor and i did a head count---two on the roost and one on the ground. thankfully, standing and mostly unharmed. the larger of the two australorps had been pulled off the roost, spooked into a corner as she tried to flee, and then had hunks of feathers pulled out through the wire as the raccoon tried to get hold of her. she's a big, strong bird with lots of feathers and fluff. being so well-feathered is probably what saved her.
i looked around with the flashlight a little more and then shone it up the slope, northward and somewhat towards the creek bed. i immediately caught on two glowing dots in the low crotch of an oak tree. it stared for a few seconds and then took off. staal and i walked up the slope a ways and made sure it had gone.
i figured it would be back later so i rounded up the fiberglass panels for the sides of the chicken tractor and staal brought out a lantern and helped hold the panels as i screwed them into place.
i went out early this morning and took the panels off so the birds wouldn't get too hot as the sun came up. i gave them breakfast and they all seemed well.
 |
| fully-armored tractor |
zane was upset about not being allowed out to join us lastnight (i don't want him tangling with raccoons). he did some thorough sniffing about this morning when i went out to remove the panels, checking around the tractor and out in the woods near the oak tree where we saw the glowing eyes.
 |
| hefty hunk of feathers |
she lost a lot of feathers but you can't tell by looking at her.
 |
| lucky chicky |
raccoon has forfeit his safety.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)