Friday’s Farm Fotos

Another week has slipped right by.  Spring is in residence most of the time, although old man winter rousts her out now and then for a light frost or some nippy weather.  But flowers are blooming and birds are nesting and the peacocks are screaming, so it must really be spring!

I saw the first iris blooming in the flowerbed around a big oak tree in our front yard. . .

And the Solomon Seal is starting to put out little dainty bells of bloom . . .

The Farmer saw some of the pond denizens out enjoying the warmer weather . . .

The frogs are also hopping all over the place.  I guess they’re just hoppy!

Another day I saw a bunch of the chickens congregating in the evening.  I’m not sure if it was a chicken conversation or a conversation of chickens.

It’s not exactly a hen party, because too many roosters are attending this event.

They’re not the only ones who hand out together. Here’s a line-up of the happy hoofers. . .

And now I must get back to work.  I am determined to finish up this book project!

It’s been a hail of a week. . .

Once upon a midnight dreary,

While I pondered weak and weary,

Came a knocking on the house,

Much too loud to be a mouse.

The hail bounced around on the sidewalk.  .  .

It covered the sidewalks and filled up the rosebed. . .

It fell noisily from the sky and bounced on the roof and sidewalk.

.

Yep, it’s been a hail of a week!

Frost Fracas

For a few days there, we were enjoying temperatures up to 80 degrees F. 

All that warm weather jump-started spring blooms.  In the flower gardens, the hosta plants have broke dormacy and starting to send up shoots.

In the woods the ferns are doing the same thing.

There are huge patches of green plants coming up here and there in the woods.

Even the moss looks greener!

One of my spring favorites, trillium, is also popping up all over the wooded areas.

.

In the pasture and backyard, there are violets and white wildflowers blooming around the ubiquitous sweetgum balls.

And while I love ALL signs of spring, my very favorite is when the lilac bush starts to bloom.

I love the smell of lilacs in bloom.  Why, even our Maremma sheep dog likes it!

Unfortunately, it is too early for it to get so warm and STAY so warm.  Last night The Farmer was watching the news, and the weather man said the dirty “F” word.  (No, not THAT one!)  He said, “FROST tonight.”

What!!

Well, The Farmer being the sweet guy that he is, offered to help me go out in the dark, find a stepladder and tarp, and try to cover up as much of our lilac bush as possible.   Now, it really is too bad there was no one around that could have taken our pictures as we struggled to get a tarp over the top of that big ole bush in the dark.  (Tarp… too small.  Bush… too tall!)  But we figured even though we couldn’t cover the entire bush, if it really did frost, at least some of the blooms would be saved.

I took a picture of our covered up bush this morning before taking the tarp off. . .

Did you notice the weights on the corners to hold the tarp down?

The Farmer is nothing, if not inventive!

We did get a light frost, but it didn’t hurt the uncovered blooms.

So now I’ve got 4 big vases of lilacs in the house that I really didn’t have to harvest quite so soon.  (Well, actually only three… I gave one away.)

But the house sure smells good!

Quince Bush And Honeybees

The quince bush down by the pond is in full bloom now.

They are a pretty single-petal type bloom.  And right now, they are one of the few sources of pollen.

The honeybees have found them and are gathering the pollen.

Wonder what quince bush honey tastes like?

More Rain, More Floods

We’ve had a lot of rain lately, and it rained pretty much all last night and on into the morning.  Anytime we get very much rain, it means the creek bordering one side of our property is going to flood.  Fortunately, it floods the road AFTER you get past our driveway!

The water had receded somewhat by the time Toby and I went out to the mailbox, so this isn’t as bad as it got.  Otherwise we might not have gotten cheeky enough to walk through the flood waters to get to the bridge.

I figured if Toby could make it, so could I, and off we went.  I stopped mid-way and took a picture of the water going off the edge of the road. . .

 And here’s the same section of the road, and more, taken from off to the side.

The cat-who-thinks-he’s-a-dog was still enough of a cat that he declined to join the party and frolic in the water.

We took our crazy selves and walked towards the top of the bridge.   I took this picture right before we got there.  It’s the side of the creek flowing to and under the bridge.

There are actually TWO culverts, but you can’t see the one closest to the front of the picture.  It’s completely submerged in the flood waters. 

.
The water really rushes out of the submerged culvert!

After we got our exercise walking around in the flood waters, we headed back home.  I noticed we have a new little reflecting pond in the back of the The Farmer’s pick-up truck:

And that’s the way it is, on another rainy day of the monsoon season in the south.