Summer Is Here

Sorry no picture of the first cherry tomatoes. They were 'gone in 10 seconds' ;-).

Gone In 60 Seconds

Well, we sure needed the rain, but given a choice, we would never have traded some of our favorite trees for it. In a matter of under one minute, we lost the huge, old Bradford Pear (you seldom see those words strung together) that has shaded our house so well for at least 30 years, big chunks of two other trees in the yard and several big limbs from trees lining our road frontage. Two of the trees, the Bradford Pear included, were trees we worried about taking out portions of our house if they came down in the hopefully far, far distant future. Miraculously, they both fell in the best possible, and surprisingly opposite directions. Also surprising was the size of the "fence killer" limbs that came down just so to leave all our fences standing. Thank you.

While our loss of the big tree will be felt for years to come, the loss to the birds in our yard was immediate. Within minutes of the storm passing through, mommas and poppas were back to the never-ending job of bringing food to their babies, but there were no babies. The confusion on their faces as they flitted around the downed trees searching for their nests and little ones was just heartbreaking. Boo and I found several chicks hopping through the grass and were able to catch them and hide them under nearby shrubs, but the nests are gone.

We were not the only farm to be hit. Within 15 minutes chain saws were firing up all over the neighborhood. The county road crews were out quickly thereafter and as soon as the roads were passable, trucks and trailers filled with hardworking friends and neighbors came around to lend a hand. We all have a lot to clean up, but we are all okay, our houses are still standing, and our neighbor's sloppy joe's were not harmed ;-). So much to be thankful for.

So long good friend.

Hobbit House

While the rest of our little wrens are busy feeding babies, we have one couple that seems a bit behind and are still working to build the perfect house. I love to find tufts of our wool tucked into their nests and was even happier to see this house remodeling happening right outside my kitchen door. Hopefully the reason they are running so far behind is not due to a misfortune with one of our cats. They all wear bells so as to give the birds a bit of warning, but bad things still sometimes happen.

Notice our poor grass does not appear to be much different between this summer and last winter. We could sure use some rain.

Scrub-A-Dub-Dub

I just gave three dogs a bath in less than 30 minutes! Thanks to Iris' Aunt Debbie for the Ortho Dial N Spray. It attaches to your garden hose and shoots the shampoo straight through all of even Boo's hair, right down to the skin. Scrub away and then dial it back to plain water and rinse. Could not have been easier.

I realize Iris looks completely traumatized in this picture. Rest assured it is not bath related, but due to some thunder building up in the distance.

Working Even Hardlier

Brushy and Claire Bear. Normal daily routine.

Wait! I think they are getting up.

Briefly. In Claire Bear's defense, I have actually seen her catch a mouse or two at the barn. Seems a bit improbable now in light of this photo evidence. Why is Ewen's hay still on the porch even though he's been living in the barn for over 3 weeks? It would be easier to scrub "sucker" off my forehead.

Sigh.

Working Hardly

Well, you know what the boy's up to most of the day. What about those hard working Jacob sheep?

This is Miss Emily and her too-big-to-be-using-me-for-a-pillow-in-this-heat baby, Billy Belly.

Ewen On Safari

When Ewen and I get bored, we like to go out back and explore. Now, if you give McTeagle a choice between climbing up a tree to reach a single leaf and staying on the ground and eating clover free choice, he's going to climb the tree every time. Here he is bushwacking through the riparian strip we leave along the little creek.

Ewenice is all about the nature walks, too. Not that she's a big adventurer...no, she's in it for the food. But while she's not about to let her adopted baby out of her sight, she's sure not going into "the bush" after him.

Might muss her hair.

A Different Kind Of Dog

Meet Matt Dillon, guard dog extraordinaire. I think he's a Great Pyrenees/Anatolian Shepherd cross. There might have been one other breed crossed in there, but I was paying more attention to the dog than the tour guide. This is a big friendly dog (with a head the size of a bowling ball) who was happy to greet us as we walked into his area. I might not have been paying close attention to his breeding, but I sure listened up when his owner told us it was good we hadn't brought any dogs with us and that we shouldn't try to touch any of the stock - he'd turn on an instant! And, seeing how this is primarily a sheep blog, I bet you are thinking he was guarding sheep. Nope.

Did I bring one home? Surprise - nope. I did see some chickens I liked though. They were everywhere. All shapes, sizes and colors. Most running free, the babies in cages and some setting hens in pens. And all perfectly safe, guarded by Matt Dillon.

Seems Like...

...there would be something noteworthy happening around here, but no. In the immortal words of Tim's brother Schwinn, "I've got nothing."

Been working on several gallery orders. I thought this little needle felted ewe turned out nice and I like the presentation, sitting on the fence overlooking one of our sheep paddocks. That still somewhat green grass of a few days ago is now brown. We could sure use some rain.

Augusta Art in the Garden

We spent this past Saturday in Augusta, a beautiful northern Kentucky town right on the Ohio River. The weather was brutally hot, but we were quite comfortable set up under the most wonderful shade tree. We enjoyed looking out at the river, watching the ferry run and visiting with some of the nicest people. I brought my spinning wheel and Tim some fishing gear (no fish were harmed, although maybe a little scared ;-) and Augusta Art in the Garden will go down as one of our favorite shows. We look forward to returning next year.

On an interesting animal note, the geese in this photo apparently were protecting an injured bird. They might leave for a few minutes, but would come right back and encircled their friend. They know.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, Ewenice and Ewen were helping me clean horse stalls the other evening when a big storm blew in. Sheep apparently don’t appreciate thunder and lightning any more than Border Collies. I’m happy to report that while he’s gotten a bit hard to pick up, he will still fit on my lap :-).