Riding back roads

I finally have been able to cruse the back roads of Preston County on my KLR 650.  It is a quiet bike that can negotiate rough pavement or dirt roads.  It is a nice way to see the real back side of my county.  I used to bicycle around Northern West Virginia but riding uphill on gravel roads is not my cup of tea these days.
You are going slow enough to have the face shield up and drink in the smells of the countryside.  That second hay cut or barnyard smell cuts in and out as I ride.

Today I heard a red tail hawk overhead.  I looked up and the hawk was very high overhead.  I was impressed that it could see to the ground.  I love the screech of the red tail.

We heard the yipping of the coyotes early this morning. I was wondering what they were cheering about?

The dry weather is taking its toll.  Some of the trees look quite stressed.  Seems to me like the climate is changing.  It has been a very long dry spell here where we are used to regular rains.

Fall is coming and it is time to get to the woods and get in the last of the firewood.  I don't want to be cutting it in the snow like last winter.

Deer repellant

As we live on a farm deer are our close neighbors.  They will work in toward the house to browse and lust over the netted blueberry bushes.  My wife will spot them and run from the house in their direction making a noise which is a cross between a loud grackle and the Wicked Witch of the West.  The deer run off and I get a good laugh every time.

Whirring Frogs

When walking out on the farm a few weeks ago the whirring frogs were in full force.  There was one in the old bath tub waiting to be a watering trough that was deafening and bold (stood right next to it). But now the heat of summer is here and it is dry.  The nights are silent but still lit by fireflies.  This time of year I wait for the telltale song of the crickets.  Once you hear them you know fall is on the way.  Still a few weeks left to enjoy summer.

Followed by a Blackbird

While jogging recently in Stockton, California I was followed by a blackbird.  He/she flew overhead but was not aggressive.  At one point I looked down and saw a dead adolescent blackbird on the pavement.  Was the bird thinking I was responsible?

A week or so later I was driving in the Sierras and noticed a crow following the truck in front of my car.  It stayed with us for a minute or so on a windy road.  It was not aggressive but was definitely interested in something on or in that truck.

I think that sometimes one can be so focused on work and tasks they don't take time to look around and observe how animals are silently interacting or reacting to our movements.  Perhaps these incidents are not so rare in occurrence just in observation.

Where are my bluebirds?

In years past, we had many eastern bluebirds on the farm. But this year they are conspicuously absent.  We have two nesting boxes but no bluebirds nesting.  I looked on Google, but no information on a decline in bluebird populations in West Virginia.  I really miss these birds as they used to hang out near the house.   Hopefully their absence is temporary.

Not the year for the Killdeer

When the CSA was up and running we used have a fenced half acre under cultivation.  The unplanted areas were favorites for nesting killdeers.  They would dig a shallow depression and lay their eggs. When we approached they would kick up a fuss and feign injury to lead us away from the nest.  The fence kept the predators away and we soon would have little killdeers running behind the adults.

This year a killdeer dug their nest in our gravel driveway. Unfortunately the depression was empty when I checked the other day.  Too bad, as those little ones are really cute:  run, run, run, stop...run, run, run, stop...repeat.....

Orange galls

Today we spied an attachment to our juniper bush that looked like an undersea monster.  We found out that they it was an Orange Gall. Susan cut them off and we wrapped and threw them in the chiminea.

Pretty, but scary looking.

Galls On Leaves; Branch Tips Die Back because of Rust.   A disfiguring disease caused by the cedar apple rust fungus sometimes covers juniper branches with bright orange galls. These swellings, an inch or more in diameter, appear on junipers that are near infected apple or crabapple trees (the disease needs both junipers and apple trees to complete its life cycle). Leaves are infected during the summer, and by the following June they develop green swellings. By fall, the swellings have turned into chocolate-brown circular galls. The next spring the galls form many long, yellow to orange "horns", especially during warm, rainy weather.
Spores released from these horns infect apple leaves, which fall prematurely. Infected juniper branch tips die, but the shrubs are usually not seriously affected. Prune out galls in early April before the horns develop. On apple trees, as many as six sprays of wettable sulfur at 10 day intervals are needed to obtain control. Begin when leaves first emerge. Plant varieties that are resistant such as: Columnar, Chinese (Pfizer), Prostrate or Andorra junipers.

Oil Spill

Wednesday I walked a beach in Pensacola, Florida.  Beautiful white sand and a bay teeming with fish, wildlife and birds.   All that is in the path of an ever expanding oil slick.  Returning to Pittsburgh I sat next to a charter boat captain who is looking at a loss of his livelyhood.  But the roads and skies are full of fossil fuel dependent machines.  Some travel needed and some not. 

What kind of world do we want?   Are cheaper fossil fuels worth dead miners and ecosystems?  Where is the political will to overrule the guys with the bad haircuts and get a sustainable energy policy?  

A new coal fired power plant is coming on line next the old one down wind from the farm.  When will I have to limit the intake of fish from my pond and creek due to mercury? 

Crazy stuff.

The River Town

Portsmouth, Ohio must have once been a prosperous town along the main artery of the Ohio River.  But now its economy is in shambles and drugs and property crime is rampant.  On the tip of Ohio, and it must have hosted many a river boat in its day.  There is still some remnant of the substantial downtown.  It looks as though community leaders are doing there best to try to revitalize and save it.  We heard from a local that only 15% of the housing is owner occupied.  Much is vacant or rentals.  Oxycontin strikes again.

Beautiful weather here today.  Once you are out away from the crumbling buildings the river valley opens up and it is quite pleasant.

CAFO

The last couple of days working in Mansfield, Ohio the wind carried a distinct smell.  That of a Confined Animal Feeding Operation.  Normally the wind will carry a gentle smell of manure from a farm where animals are allowed to graze on adequate pasture.  But confined the manure smell becomes strong and sour.  CAFOs produce animals full of antibiotics which are given to prevent the diseases passed through them living and standing in their and their neighbors excrement.

So look for locally raised and grazed meat.  You will find the source at your farmers market.  Keep the air smelling sweet and keep yourself happy and healthy.  

The Bees

The other day Dr. Tom came out to work on the bee hives.  In the end he took two hives away that did not survive the harsh winter.  But I still am seeing honey bees on flowers.  I hope Tom will bring some the hives back with new queens.

We are still enjoying the honey from last year even though it was lean.

Burying the "Goodies"

Nothing like some warm weather to bring out the little dog's urge to find nasty aged things aged over the winter and bury them in the soft spring soil.  Pretty entertaining as this dog has plenty to eat but likes to hide "goodies" for a lean time (which will never come around here for her).  She hates for us to watch so she goes to the very end of the leash.

Daffodils are up all over, the tulip shoots will soon bud.  It is supposed to be in the 80s soon, but all the college kids are out of town on spring break.  Soon the peace and quiet will be over but the energy will be back.  

With this weather we should be tilling in a week or so.

The Bulb Surprise

Walking around the Morgantown neighborhood I am surprised by all the bulbs sending really green shoots.  Some of these yards look pretty plain other times of the year, but with the brown of winter still lingering the  deep green shoots are exciting.  The grass is really starting to green up as well and buds are on the trees and shrubs.  The forsythia should be coming along soon.

The little dog dug a world class hole on the farm today.  It wore her out which is a good thing.

Ohio Peepers

A peasant drive through the Pike County hills along the swollen Scioto River on a sunny cool day is a nice way to pass time with my 103 year old dad and the little dog.  We stayed on 2 lane roads as much as possible.  Two evening little dog walks were serenaded by spring peepers (Pseudacris cucifer see: http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/spring_peeper.htm).  I heard peepers in WV a week or so ago, but it was fleeting.  This was a good chorus.  The gibbous moon was bright, but I forgot to look for Mars which is close right now (Mars in in Cancer).  The phoebe was making a nest the other day on the back porch.  Spring is progressing nicely.

Time for a fire

A front moved in and it is time for a fire.  Thus I need to warm myself twice, once by cutting some wood and once by burning it.   It is nice to start a fire in a clean stove.  The draft is good and plenty of room for stoking.   The warm sunny days dried out the wood pile so the task should be easy.  No more digging the snow off of the wood.

It seems like the dog knows it is too cold to do much so she is curled up in one of her beds.

Doesn't look like it will be dreary for long.  I hear talk of planting.......

Spreading snowdrops

Glorious weather day after day here in the Allegheny Uplands.  We notice how the crocus and snowdrops spread each year.  The birds are busy and the two geese are lingering on the pond.  A long layover before the trip north.

The springs are running fresh and fast.  The little dog just can't seem to drink in the smells fast enough. The seed order arrived from Fedco today with CR Lawn's end of the ordering season newsletter.  Spring is here and let the games begin.

Spring on, winter gone

Winter left the farm like turning off a light switch. The days are warm, sunny and dry (well not the ground which is still pretty squishy. I asked about tilling today and set about seeing if the tiller I took in last fall for a tune up is ready. The snow drops are up and blooming at home and Crocus Island is blooming away in our South Park neighborhood. Many weeks with little sun stores up a lot of energy. It is coming out in good ways.

A couple of geese stopped off in our pond on their way north. They gave me and the little dog a lot of honks as though they had leased the spot.