Season's First Ticks

There was an afternoon break in today's cold rain and a perimeter walk was in order.  The lane provides a clear path and views of the changes that are happening daily.  The red maple buds are showing red color and are swollen.  Soon the trees will be covered with beautiful open flowers.  They are small in size but their masses are impressive to see.  Our neighbor was not pleased with the state of the buds.  Their condition marks the end of his sap season.  For the second consecutive year, unusual weather negatively impacted syrup production.  Nights with below freezing temperatures followed by warm days move the sap up the trees and into collection buckets.  That has not been our local conditions.  Days of below freezing temperatures produce no sap.  Nights of above freezing temperatures produce no sap.  By today all of his collecting buckets have been removed.  There is no market for syrup made from bitter cloudy sap.

Garlic planted near the back woods is up and looking good.  My shredded leaf mulch is a little thin and will have no impact on controlling weed growth.  Now that I have discovered that my hand mower has a collecting bag, I can easily make shredded leaves by the bucket.  Next year my garlic will push up through a proper layer of leaf mulch.

When I came indoors after my walk, two deer ticks were discovered walking on my ungloved hands.  This marks the beginning of the full body check season at the close of every day spent outside.  Lyme disease is nothing to treat lightly.  A former student was forced into disability retirement in his mid thirties by this disease.  Our college librarian daughter worked with a student recently blinded by this disease.  We continue to enjoy our time spent outside but undergo full body inspections daily.  Ticks have been found attached to the most personal body parts possible.  We did not include any tick photos with this post.  You're welcome.

We drove to the top of the ridge for this picture.  For the past several years a pair of geese have used this spot to raise their family.  A sizable man made pond can be seen at the top of the photo but the geese nest amid the brush and trees.  We have no way of knowing if this pair is the same pair that nested here in the past.  We do know that these two have been on this water for the past several weeks.  Once they were seen floating in a small patch of open water that was surrounded by ice.  Soon only one goose will be easily seen as the other will be sitting on their clutch of eggs.

This is the season for an important period of March madness that is more useful than basketball.  Breeding time is here for the wild animals.  While I was walking the lane, two gray squirrels came charging in my direction.  One was close behind the other and neither noticed me standing in the center of the lane.  At the last possible moment one veered left up a tree while the other went right into the bushes.  It is highly likely that after I had passed, they found one another and finished their business.  Moments later two birds flying beak to tail passed very close to my head.  The turn to avoid me was just a brief moment in their aerial dance.  Spring might be officially a week away, but things are definitely heating up here!

Iced Over Early

The monster storm that buried Buffalo with lake effect snow brought us days of cold weather.  Our Unadilla River is sporting an unusually early appearance of ice.  Taken from the bridge in Rockdale, this picture shows ice on the still water near shore.  In our long ago younger days we dug the aquatic larval stage of the Dobson fly to use as bass bait in the channel to the left of the small islands.  That was a two person job.  One held a wire mesh wood framed screen nearly perpendicular to the flow of the water while the upstream person overturned stones with a stone fork.  Dobson larvae would wash onto the screen.  Many happy hours were spent securing bait and catching the elusive smallmouth bass.

Here the Unadilla River flows past the bottom land to the left that was part of the former farm that includes our homestead.  Becky's father had a boat chained to a nearby tree.  This is where we turned the Dobson larvae into bass.  Rapidly moving water midstream will remain unfrozen for most of the winter.  Prolonged severe cold is necessary to freeze this part of the river from bank to bank.

Deep still water has already frozen across the width of the river.  In days long past, the New York Ontario and Western Railway tracks ran just behind the pine grove centered in the photo.  Passengers left the trains to picnic and enjoy the river here.  In the distant left center of the picture, outlined against the sky, the row of pines rising above the ridge belongs to us.  We usually feature photos that show what is happening at home but today we took a short drive.

 Here skin ice is trapped in the swirling currents upstream from the remains of a mill dam.  Part of the stone mill building is now used as a restaurant.  Not surprisingly, it is named The Old Mill.  A family group of five ducks flew from the open water in response to my presence.  My focus was on not slipping down the bank into the cold water so there is no picture of the flying ducks.

This  pond was scraped by enlarging a shallow depression cut by a small stream.  Beavers raised the level of the natural outlet considerably increasing the size of the pond soon after the bulldozer left.  Apparently the Department of Environmental Conservation could not take issue with the actions of the beavers so this artificial/natural pond persists.  Geese recently gathered here in impressive numbers as they organized themselves for migration.  Not ready to fly south just yet, the ice has moved them into nearby manure rich corn fields.  All of this ice may soon be gone when 60 degree air temperatures and falling rain leave their mark on the landscape.

Gardening, Isn't That Over By Now?

The reaction of the average person around here this week when I said that Ed stays home on nice days to work in the garden was one of disbelief.  "Gardening, isn't that all over by now? "  Indeed for most people it is over.  The weather is closing in on us more quickly every day.  We still have a few lovely flowers blooming like this Sedum sieboldi.
 

One or two plants of Ingeborg's mallow still have their lovely pink flowers.

Elle's Gloriosa Daisies have been fantastic this year, and despite numerous frosts, they haven't all given up yet.

The Emperor of China chrysanthemums are finally starting to bloom.  It would be a shame not to visit  and appreciate this end of the season beauty.

A beautiful hawk was seen perching in the big cherry tree.  It had a dark head and brown speckles on its white chest  like a lace necklace.  All day the Canada geese make their  trial flights over our head. Their honking and wing beats break the quiet until they settle back down on the river or into a cornfield with pungent freshly spread manure. The slate gray juncos have returned.  Still in a large group they fly away when approached flashing the white stripes on their tails as they go. They will spend the winter here with the chickadees.

There are weeds to pull. Old enemies and new unknown plants would love to have the whole winter to establish better roots.  It is our goal to leave as many of the garden beds clean and looking good as possible.  The pictured weeds here are now working to make compost.  Cutworms, Japanese beetle larva and slugs are squished when they are discovered and added to the bucket of weeds. Gloves worn because of the cool weather make this a fun activity.

This lemon verbena was not selected for a spot on the basement windowsill because there was no more space available.  Rather than leave it in the ground to die of neglect when the weather really turns cold, it was moved to compost while still green.  In a couple of years its unmistakable scent will be encountered once again as compost is sifted.  The cycle just keeps moving forward.

This snow sled was purchased at an end of season sale.  Becky felt it might serve as a stone boat.  Freshly fallen leaves make a slick surface to slide the stone over.  It was moved downhill despite the fact that the distance to the driveway was greater that way.  The pull was easy and once it nearly overtook me.  A smooth pull behind the Ranger delivered this beauty close to the developing rock garden.

We expect the frost to enter the ground here in about two weeks.  If the rain moves away, a real start can be made now on the next gardening season.

Geese

On Monday, while I was driving near the mighty muddy Unadilla River, a sizable group of Canada Geese were spotted flying fairly low over the ice choked water.  It seemed that they are here early as much of the river is presently still frozen solid.  Where fast current flows in the shallows no ice is found but any goose in that water will have to paddle furiously just to hold its position. The need to claim a good nesting site has clouded their better judgement but food is in generous supply since the farmers have begun to spread their brown gold on the fields.  Seeing the geese made me feel better because the season must be heading for a change. 

My two pots of Easter Lilies require twice daily turning to keep the stems straight.  Little is expected in the way of flowers since the planted bulbs were all rather small.  Growing plants at this time of year are a much needed promise of things soon to come.  What to do when these forced plants finish their growth cycle wildly out of season remains a question looking for an answer.  Perhaps a second growing season can be activated if the bulbs get some time in the refrigerator.

My initial plan was to purchase new bulbs this spring.  McClure and Zimmerman have listed L.Longiflorum bulbs in their catalog for the past several years.  The current catalog does not feature these bulbs and I can find no source for the uncrossed natural bulbs.  If new plants are purchased at the grocery store around Easter, then we can begin again.

This morning a mature bald eagle was spotted flying above our other muddy river the Susquehanna.  At this time of year nesting eagles should be close to having eggs in their nest.  Here is another unmistakable sign that this winter will soon end.  Time to place another seed order.  

November Snow

Yesterday was a pleasant work outside in the soil day.  Time was spent removing quack grass runners from underneath the cut grass mulch cover.  Now this soil is ready for new plants early next spring.  Plans to continue this task were abandoned in response to the snow and very cold north wind.

The distant dead level field borders the Unadilla River.  Three different ridges can be seen in the distance.  The bottom land field is rich and productive but it is prone to flood.  We wanted to be on higher ground not knowing that deep gravel deposits form the higher ground.

This view in the opposite direction shows our lumpy topography.  The distant bedrock ridge was scraped clean by the last glacier.  It would appear that gardening activities have ended for this season but temperatures in the fifties are forecast for the coming weekend.

We enjoy this view looking west.  Falling snow blots out the distant ridge but looks great coating the tips of the pine branches.

Many geese are still spending time on the river.  Daily training flights are common at both ends of the day now.  The noise is loud and close as these geese work to organize themselves into an energy efficient vee formation.  Agreements are rare as small groups head off in all directions with no clear leader in sight.  I have often wondered if these come back from near extinction geese were duller than the geese watched in the 1950s.  As a child I saw flocks of high flying geese arranged in symmetrical
smooth vees and compared that memory with the current disarray.  What I failed to factor in was my location then as compared to now.  The child was 10 miles south of Cayuga Lake and geese rising from that distant water had time to sort themselves out before coming into view.  These geese in apparent disarray have just made the transition from floaters to flyers.  With the strong cold wind from the north, these geese may just decide to hitch a ride to warmer places.

Early Spring Stroll, The Things I See

I was going to do a predictable early spring post with pictures taken yesterday.  I had a colorful picture of my indoor tulips and of course a picture of snow drops.  Ed took a wonderful shot  of snow remaining in the shadow of the corral fence.  It was a dramatic picture, definitely worth posting, but for some reason I just couldn't get the photo upload to work properly for pictures taken yesterday.

Today the temperature in the fifties sent us outside with the new camera.  The sky was a beautiful blue. Several large flocks of  Canada geese flew over high above our heads.  It was fun to hear their distant squawking and then search for the characteristic formations of tiny dots heading North.

The new camera works like a charm.  Clearly over time the old one had become worn and developed poor eyesight like an old lady.  I was delighted with this picture of my French tarragon coming to life.  You can see the fuzz on the tiny new leaves. The promise of new growth and fresh tarragon for cooking is exciting!

I passed by this wooley bear caterpillar several times before I took his picture.  He never moved.  In truth he looks kind of bent and broken like a body that fell from a high place that gets traced with a white chalk outline.  Perhaps he is not dead, just cold, but I have my doubts.

These interesting patches are growing on the vertical surface of one of the top stones on Ed's stone square that is the centerpiece of our garden.  Perhaps they have been there for some time, but today was the first time I ever noticed them.  I find them fascinating!

Mosses of all kinds grow here.  No longer covered with snow they look fresh, green and ready for spring.  I thought this acorn landed in the perfect place for a photo. You can almost see how soft that moss would feel on your bare toes.  More went on in the garden today.  Perhaps it will be worth another post, if Blogger cooperates!