Predator and prey

Since there are no Acme company crates, this coyote is on his/her own.

I don't think it caught the deer this time.

Hummingbirds and rainbows

With the heavy subjects in my most recent posts, it's time for something on the lighter side (pun intended.)

After the storms over the past week, the rainbows are a welcome sight. The top picture has a faint rainbow to the left of one in the middle. It runs through the smudge on the windshield.

With fall here, there is an abundance of hummingbirds filling up before their migration. This one is taking a break but the deep buzz of its wings soon filled the air.

I hope this brightens up your day, if for just a little while.

Quotes - Victor Hugo

Attributed to Victor Hugo:

“He was fond of books, for they are cool and sure friends” 

“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.” 

“A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is invisible labor.”

"Love is like a tree, it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots into our whole being."

"The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves."

Regarding his signature work, Les Misérables, he is quoted:

I don't know whether it will be read by everyone, but it is meant for everyone. It addresses England as well as Spain, Italy as well as France, Germany as well as Ireland, the republics that harbour slaves as well as empires that have serfs. Social problems go beyond frontiers. Humankind's wounds, those huge sores that litter the world, do not stop at the blue and red lines drawn on maps. Wherever men go in ignorance or despair, wherever women sell themselves for bread, wherever children lack a book to learn from or a warm hearth, Les Misérables knocks at the door and says: "open up, I am here for you".

Maybe it's time to reread Les Misérables.

Harvesting in the rain

We were late to pick our middling aronia harvest this year by about a week to 10 days. I was on-call last weekend with my paying job and was needed there. As with the previous post, yes, I was all wet this past Sunday.

It seems that as the planting season was wet, it is fitting that the harvest season be rainy as well.

Aronia berries are about the same size as blueberries and we use them as a substitute for blueberries and raisins in recipes. The health benefits of aronias are reported to be higher than other berries as well. While tart right off the vine, the cooking process takes that out of them. Mixing uncooked aronias with other berries in a blender and you don't notice.

We made a few bottles of wine from last year's harvest and it produced a dry port.

Here's a close up of a few berries:

Yep, all wet.

Day off - Catiri's Art Oasis

With it raining most of the day, we decided to take a couple of hours and head over to Amana, Iowa,  and visit Catiri's Art Oasis to look over some of the artists' work.

We found some interesting 3-D works by Deda Happel and Doug Adams.

Deda creates raised block works and we found a print of one of her creations. See more of her works here. Our pick was a print titled "Comforter." It reminds me of one of the views to the north at the acreage.

Doug creates trees using wire and often uses various native Iowa lumber pieces as foundations to his "trees."  It makes out to be a very interesting combination of walnut, maple, oaks and other woods with black, silver and copper colors of twisted wire. While we didn't purchase any of his interesting works, I appreciate the name of his website, The Twisted Tree Gallery, based in Fairfield, Iowa.

We also found a print of a photo from Steven Hunter. Our pick was view from a covered bridge to hills of fall foliage of reds, orange and yellows. http://www.stephenhunterart.com/home for more information and other works.

This visit has given us some ideas of combining the different creative talents that our family members have. It was our first visit and we intend to go back as there was much more to see. Maybe we won't have to wait for another rainy day but as you all know, work needs to be done.


(Out of respect to the artists, we did not take pictures of their works. Please click on the links for more information.)

All wet

I'm looking forward to a weekend getting some work done at the farm except a forecast of a wet weekend means it's a little harder to get much outside work done at the acreage. We have to see if parting clouds will allow a chance to finish a few lingering projects or repairs.

I'm used to storm clouds rolling in and the trail cameras feature a few good examples. I've been lucky enough to avoid some of the major storms that hit locally and stupid enough to drive through a few of them.

I could end up being all wet, like in the bottom picture. You never know what nature will bring.

Here's hoping all my readers have a good, and dry, weekend, otherwise here is Weathers by Thomas Hardy:

Weathers

This is the weather the cuckoo likes,
And so do I;
When showers betumble the chestnut spikes,
And nestlings fly;
And the little brown nightingale bills his best,
And they sit outside at 'The Traveller's Rest,'
And maids come forth sprig-muslin drest,
And citizens dream of the south and west,
And so do I.

This is the weather the shepherd shuns,
And so do I;
When beeches drip in browns and duns,
And thresh and ply;
And hill-hid tides throb, throe on throe,
And meadow rivulets overflow,
And drops on gate bars hang in a row,
And rooks in families homeward go,
And so do I.

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/weathers/

Webs, spiders and thoughts

Keeping with a spider theme, I pulled this from the library. It interested me as I walked by one morning, so with camera in hand, I snapped a quick picture of an interesting spider web with the morning dew beading along the threads.

I didn't notice the spider in the middle of the web until I got a closer look:

It's a reminder to look at things closer once in a while because you just might miss something along the way. If I had taken a bit more time, I would have had the chance for a better pic of the spider.

I go through life that way sometimes. I can really be obtuse and mess things up and the lack of detail can have unfortunate consequences.

As I've been trying to combine my words with pictures from the farm, this quote came to my attention this week: “Don’t forget - NO one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.” - Charles de Lint.

I have a few stories to share but this might not be the right venue. With some of the positive feedback I've received, I'm searching for the right place where the pictures and words can come to life. Maybe make a nickel or two and I can quit my day job? We shall see.

I encourage all of us to tell our stories. As de Lint says, no one else can share the magic that is inside and bring those words to the world. Set the words free. Set your worlds free.

I'll add this from Charles Dickens, words that I need to take to heart: “The most important thing in life is to stop saying 'I wish' and start saying 'I will.' Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities.” 

I doubt that the spider had wishes but made its web with an instinct similar to "I will." As the web strained against the weight of the dew, I'm betting that spider got a meal in the end and all its work was worth the difficulties of that day.

Some good advice from a couple of guys named Charles.

Northern Waterthrush

I think I'll call him Thud because that was the sound he made as he flew into the side window of my truck.

I was gassing up the weed trimmer and heard the thud sound behind me. This poor guy was on the ground, stunned and breathing heavily in the hot sun. Picking him up, I carried him to the shade of a small cherry tree (taking this picture first.)

It took a few minutes for him to recover but he flew away with a headache, I'm sure.

More info:
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/northern-waterthrush#

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Waterthrush/id

https://www.birdsofiowa.com/birds/62%20Parulidae/northern%20waterthrush/northern%20waterthrush.htm

With a diet of insects like mosquitoes we'd like to see more. Unfortunately, Iowa is just a migration route for them.

Thunder in the valley

As lightning strikes in the distance, the thunder rolls in (at ~20 sec) and rolls on for over 40 seconds.
Echoing across the valley seems forever as it bounces to us and beyond.



Taken at the homestead as the camera is pointed to our red maple tree. Thunder gives contrast as light rain washes against the leaves.

Take a break

I wear protection to try to save as much of my hearing that I have left. Mowing, running the tractor, or operating power tools like a saw, I wear something to soften the sound. On this day, I hung the earmuffs on the post by the gate.

I don't know why it struck me when I noticed this but I took a quick pic.

Taken on a sunny but cold day in February. A post that is wired tightly to a second post and braced to hang the gate. The one post is hollowed out top but not occupied by any birds.

Just a couple of lonely posts with a little bit of moss growing and my blue earmuffs giving it some more color. A blue sky with just a wisp of clouds, the neighbor's farm on the crest of the hill a mile or so away.

I see some interesting things when I take a brief pause to give a chance to look at the acreage. Sometimes taking the earmuffs off, I can hear the beauty of the land as well

So, I guess this reminds myself to take a break, look around and listen, deeply listen to the land.

There might be something that can be easily missed.

Deer profiles

Almost like they know the camera is there:

Tuesday Triumph - saying goodbye (probably)

It's been about two months since we've had any sightings of our three-legged deer. At this point we are thinking the worst. With the numbers of coyotes that have appeared, it's most likely that we lost her.

She was a good addition to the library of pictures from the farm.

We were hoping for more.

Monday moms - eat up

Eat up and then catch up with mom:

Friday is buck day - bucks at night

We've had many visits during August from three different whitetail bucks.

One example is this large buck:

Maximilian sunflower

This ubiquitous flower (or weed in some agricultural opinions) in fields, ditches and pastures is a Maximilian sunflower.

If these plants will do a better job of "choking" out noxious plant species, I may take a closer look at planting them instead of waiting for them to naturally spread.

Monday moms - dawn and dusk

At dawn:

And at dusk:

Cicadas 2019

Cicadas in the cottonwood trees.



More information.

Many of the North American species are the annual or jarfly or dog-day cicadas, members of the Neotibicen, Megatibicen, or Hadoa genera, so named because they emerge in late July and August