One morning walk...

I do love morning walks, although they are more erratic than they used to be as I have my husband's things to attend to before I can go. I don't get to hike out for morning sunrises any more. That was such a huge pleasure for me for many years.

An interesting result of that is I've noticed a tree/bush that I have missed somehow. 

It has the most amazing flowers and wonderful scents in the spring. How it came to be here is a mystery. Probably seeds spread from birds?

The flowers are tiny but profuse and the smell is heavenly. While I was trying to get a good shot of the tiny flowers I kept hearing a noise. I looked around for bees, then recognized the sound.
Humming birds, they were darting in and out of this bush like little bombers.

The best I can figure it to be is the Sweet Olive Bush  Autumn Olive.

 

I searched for other flowering shrubs along the gravel road and found that the Nanny Berry Bush was starting to show blossoms.

I have actually enjoyed following this bush through its phases last year. The hard part was being able to recognize the leaves and shape of the bush which is crowded in among other brush along the ditch on this dead end gravel road.

By September the berries form and are bright red against the green leaves. By fall, the leaves turn read and the berries turn black-purple.

Last September--->

Nanny Berry Bush when the berries turn black.

The Highbush Cranberry bush is slowly opening its flowers. It also is located in the ditch alongside the dead end drive.

Even the grasses are flowering.

And the Dandelions are fading away sending their seeds flying on the lightest of breezes.

A missed sunrise
new surprises...

Dandelion Wishes....

alive...

After a week of feeling like crap, I'm finally doing better.

I found out what it is like to be short of breath and feel as though I was wading through mud up to my shoulders. It is not a good feeling and I empathize with anyone who has experienced this.

This was a strange one for me. Sore throat for a day and then a fever for a day. Finally, the feeling of not being able to breath for days. I could breathe, but the feeling was horrible. 

I did get out last Friday early in the morning to see my friends the Orb Spiders and enjoy some quiet time before the tree guys came in with their machinery.

I don't think I will ever see this sort of scene without gasping. Just imagine if you were afraid of spiders, how would you react?

This is about 5 acres of meadow and it all looks like this when the Orb Weavers are busy. They actually are around in the spring, but they are tiny. They mature in the fall and the Females build large webs, the males sometimes build webs too.

More about Orbweavers here from the BugLady who writes for UWM Saukville, WI. Her site is full of cool information about insects. She actually has a featured blog for Bug of the Week.

A small Orbweaver according to the BugLady's latest news on Orbweavers, this could be a male...

Beautiful webs...

All I know is that I had to carefully poke my lens alongside one web to photograph this spider from the side. I was looking to get the dew drops on its body and the amazing maze of webs behind him/her.

This year has been pretty sad for butterflies. I saw one Monarch flutter by this week and am hoping that my Zinnias attract more! I spent one afternoon chasing a Swallowtail earlier this summer on the Bee Balm, but haven't seen one since late July.

When I look back on my archives on I noticed that I didn't get a lot of shots of Monarch until the start of September. So perhaps I need to be patient and keep an eye out for them. I had shots of Monarchs from September 1st through October 2nd.

A shot from last year:

In the meantime. I'm going to be grateful I can breathe much easier and I actually feel like making supper.

No more spiders today. Maybe I can find some awesome and cool looking fungi this weekend now that I feel like doing something again!

Wow...

Monday was such an incredible day. I woke up just before dawn. As is my routine, I go out to check the fence lines.

I've been trying to ID grasses so this bejeweled grass head caught my eye.

I don't know what grass type it is. I have to admit that I am horrible at ID'ing common grasses.

I spent about 10 minutes or so just trying to get a good shot of the droplets of dew. In the left side of the photo there is a mosquito that has had a meal sitting on the grass!

You might have to click on the photo to see it. This skeeter probably is the same one that was chewing on my forehead while I was trying to manually focus on the droplets.

I don't know what kind of bee this could be. I looked up 'tiny green bees' and ended up with an answer that ID'd it as a sweat bee. Apparently they also love nectar from flowers. I learned from an Entomology site that hunting for insects is best done in the early -- early mornings. Look for insects waiting on plants where the morning sun will shine and warm them up.
 

When Charlie and I got back from checking the forest fence, the sun was breaking up the fog over the neighbor's meadow. This is the view across the fence from us to the east. That tree was heavy last year with apples. 

This is one of my favorite wild apple trees.

Looks like I'll have lots of apples again this August to pick and juice up for jelly!

Another view through the fence line to the east. Monday was going to be hot and humid.

Not only did Monday feel hot and humid, it felt like ... as my Grandmother would say:

It is going to storm.

As is happened, the storm did edge around us and dump on a town about 10 miles away with heavy rain, wind, and hail.

We lucked out.

It was Tuesday that it was so 'stupid' hot, that I stayed inside and read a book.

After all that...

I have to admit that I lost a lot of sleep over the weekend with the unusual Northern Light Show. I will definitely never forget that first evening.

Our old mower had a sudden death and it was left up to me to mow the overgrown yard with my little mower. Thankfully, the mower guy, Mark, came out to pick up the rider and take it to his shop. We've done business with Mark for nearly 30 years. We've purchased all of our mowers from him and hubby has purchased his chain saws from him. He has been the only guy we go to for repairs on that equipment.

It took me 4 days of mowing at 2 hours a piece to get the yard done. If the big mower stays out of commission, I will be making temporary fencing for the mules. Most of the 'yard' was over 6 to 8 inches tall! How did it grow so fast???

I turned my flower beds over again and started planting seeds and finished off my rock-succulent garden in front of the porch.

It's cute and I know I'll enjoy it. It is a great spot for my fossil rocks to enjoy their days while the humming birds visit.
Over the years I've changed this area several times.

Work, work, work. I really was burning the candle at both ends and trying to get everything done at once. I got tired and cranky. And the other half was being a pill too since his mower was out of commission.

I however did get out to get some 'shutter time' on one of our very foggy mornings. You know, a walk to the mailbox on the ridge where I actually just wander around for a bit.

Dandelions in the yard make for interesting macros!

Dew dropped poplar leaves just emerging.

Oh so sweet smelling Honeysuckle and a much unloved plant in many forests as it is invasive.

I do love  Box Elders they have such interesting shapes. This tree is putting out it seeds. The seeds start out as red and turn green. Sort of Christmas-y in color.

The maple trees are filled out now. This was the star of the walk. A single water droplet on the tip of the leaf catching the morning sun.

This was a form of Forest Daydreaming for me. I just meander-er along and stop to peer at spiders, insects, study the light on the leaves, and listen to sounds around me. 

It is calming and satisfying. Each time I go out and investigate at my leisure, I feel like I learn something new.

To catch up on sleep, I tried to take a nap on Monday. It didn't really work. Instead I fell asleep while watch Brokenwood on Acorn TV. Hubby likes the show, it is amusing, not too dramatic, and they always get their guy. 

 Perhaps Charlie and I need to go out and do some Forest Daydreaming in the Reserve. I'd like to find some Trillium before they are all gone.

After Wednesday, it looks like we will have rain for a few days. I may as well take advantage of the good weather while I can!

Hot! Oh Hot oh and other farm stuff.

July 2023 has been one of the most unusual months in recent memory. Rarely did we have a beautiful sky in the mornings. The sunrises were orange or brown and once even a frightful red [without the rains!].

It makes me wonder how the wildfires and smoke are effecting

wonderful creatures like the Monarch Caterpillar..

 or my neighbor's crops... 
the drought, smoke, and hot days, cold nights??

What sort of strange times do we live in? 
Rhetorical Question.

Moving on.

Yesterday I spent some time with the fellow who came out to tune up our skid steer. It was having an issue. 

Caveat, I do dislike machinery. I don't like operating machinery -- farm machinery. Period. He replaced three thingies that make the lights, blower, and starter run properly. Fuses. That's what they were. He admired our nice skid steer. I did mention that I would be happy with one of the first ones we ever had. It was simple with no electronic fusies to fuss with. He offered to trade me for his older little one.

I learned a few things from him and he showed me how to check hydraulic fluid and other stuffs. He explained it nicely so that my eyes and brain didn't explode, shut down, nor did my eyes glaze over.

The gent that we have purchased large square bales called me back this morning. I said "Hey Darryl, bet you can't figure out what I called for!"

"Oh," he said, "I'm sure it was to talk about the weather or perhaps good books to read?"

He always jokes with me.

He'd been waiting for me to contact him. I gave him an estimate of the amount of hay I'd need to carry me through next year. 

I pared it down from last year. We've lost Fred and Mica won't make it through this winter. She is the grey mule we have. 

Her COPD/heart situation has been depleting her strength and condition. It would be cruel to let her hang on into the cold. 

Today she wouldn't even trot up to the next pasture rotation. She literally walked slow while struggling to take breaths. It would be cruel to keep letting her suffer like this. 

Anyway, Darryl said he'd make sure we get what we needed. I have it delivered all at once and stack it in the machine shed. I pay him on the spot.

He said he was turning down a lot of requests and was taking care of his regular customers first.

I get it. We are grateful that we've been faithful customers of his for the last 10 years.

Rain. It would be good to get some.

We mowed some of the yard yesterday. This morning I cleaned all the stock tanks and put out fresh cool water for everyone.

I even got out of making supper tonight! Ms. Olive invited us up to her place for homemade pizza.

Stay cool if you can.