Road Trip

We set off tomorrow morning on our drive west.  We are armed with maps, good binoculars, bird books, food, good beer, preps for asian food, books, hiking poles, and other comforts needed in a western mountain tour.  Our friend Anne is joining us.  She is a veteran of many treks and has written a book about one of these:   https://www.facebook.com/ButterfieldJakobsweg

We are headed to Bisbee Arizona for a few days of R & R then off to the canyon tour of northern AZ an UT.

Stay tuned....

Summer is about over

While mowing a pasture by headlights the other evening I realized that I worked away the summer with little "time off".  My summer was largely consumed by a labor of love (and periodic head scratching) restoring an old house in the historic district in Morgantown.  But while reading my friend Bob's blog this am I realized he was taking time for himself to reflect and now even paint!  http://naturesblog.blogspot.com/   I am pausing to reassess my activities, as we all need to do from time to time.

I do enjoy reading about ones adventures and reflections, but feel some regret that my life has been mundane in many ways. But an upcoming camping trip to Southern Arizona for some R and R and R (rest, recreation, and reflection) should provide a chance to reload this blog and my brain.

Fall is my favorite time of year.  October in Arizona provides some of the best weather one can experience.  The days are warm and dry while the nights are cool.  It is perfect camping and backpacking weather.  When I return to the farm it will be time to finish organizing the firewood and sipping coffee by the woodstove.

The Wren

Some weeks ago a Carolina Wren built a nest in the glove box of our John Deere Gator.  It sits in an old shed and is not used much in the spring.  So we carefully relocated the nest to a shelf just above the Gator and Ms. Wren accepted the relocation.  She sat on that nest for weeks but when we checked at one point she was gone and it appeared that the eggs were not hatched.  

We were very disappointed. Maybe the black snake (we have many) scared her off.  Who knows?  

We are deep in the wet summer here.  The weather has cooled making for nice evenings and good sleep with the whole house fan (that is when the ferrel neighbors aren't burning plastic).  

I have not heard the crickets durning the day yet so am not thinking fall is near.  

Fire Fly Light Show

       Motion activated lights are a curse during firefly light show season.  But once the lights time out then one can see the show 3' above the turf.  It is a sea of twinkling flashes, big singles bar with everyone displaying the maximum flash.

       You just have to suck in a big breath at the sight of this show in the darkness.  In the 50s I could run around my small yard in a Cleveland suburb and catch "lightning bugs" easily.  The air was loaded with them.  But no more.  Is it Chem Lawn or just the general nuking of living things in cities and suburbs now. All bark mulch and pavers.

       So glad to be 62.  So sorry for those who haven't (or won't) get to experience these wonders.

The Wren

Recently we went to get the Gator out of its shed and discovered that a wren had built a nest in the glove box.  My wife did not move the Gator she just shut the door and left.  But it is the season when we need the Gator for farm work.  So I found a cardboard box about the same size as the Gator glove box.  I went to the Gator shed and the wren hopped out and took off.  She started scolding me as loudly as she could.  I carefully scooped up the soft nest in my hands and transferred it into the cardboard box directly above the glove box.  I weighted it down with the same clippers that were in the glove box and closed up the garage.

Today I checked and Ms. Wren was in the relocated nest.

We have phoebes nesting out by our hot tub on the back porch.  When we were soaking this am they were reluctant, at first, to come in to feed there babies.  But they overcame their fears and continued their work.

We love our birds and the privilege it is to live with them so close.

Drones

     We have unmanned arial surveillance going on here at the farm.  The blue herons fly over the pond and the creek looking for fish and other morsels.  Occasionally we are surveilled by a duck or two.  They often land in one of the ponds for a closer look.

     On a walk we the other day we observed a water snake surveilling the front pond.  He was keeping watch under the surface and on the bank.

     Plans are in place to build drone hangars.  In our case it will be 3 kestrel boxes.  They will be part of a study to see how many kestrel pairs a particular piece of land can support.  I welcome this type of aerial surveillance.

     One good thing is our "drones" have no ground control.

Tadpoles

     The frogs eggs hatched and the wetland is teeming with tadpoles.  They seem to not have a predator as their population appears stable from day to day.  I used to see tadpoles all the time as a child along with honey bees on the white clover in our yard.  But both species seem to be harder to find.  It is great to have both here on the farm.  Our hives wintered well and the bees are active.