I hope you’re not tired of seeing bear photos just yet. I do have to record them here on the blog when they come around.
Yesterday afternoon I tossed out some stale snack food, chips, and crackers that I had crumbled up for the squirrels. (My way of recycling!) I was typing away here in the office and the dogs were in here with me. I turned around to look out the window and there was Momma and the three cubs! The dogs had not seen her yet, and since the air conditioning was on (hurray!) the windows were closed. The cubs have grown since I first saw them two weeks ago and it’s hard to tell which one was the little one now. They settled in for a good snack.
hmm ... what’s that? ... oh look ... i found something interesting ...
a peanut! yum!
now just how did i find myself in this ridiculous position? is that my hind foot or my front foot?
Feeling comfy and just hanging out in this nice lady’s yard underneath this nice big tree.
I kept this photo in because it shows how large her leg and paw are! yikes.
Pretty soon the cubs got tired of munching and headed up the big oak tree. They settled themselves on branches high up in the tree (level with the top of my house’s roof) and fell sound asleep. I felt like I was hosting an afternoon sleep-over party! Momma Bear stayed below and patiently waited.
I went outside with the video camera and my digital camera to try and get some shots. I was pretty close to Momma Bear but on the opposite side of the fence from her. I took my time and gauged her reaction to my being so close. She looked up at me and made eye contact a few times but never budged. When we get the video put together I’ll be posting it here on the blog in the next few days or so.
I tried to get photos of the cubs in the tree but the branches were in the way. One cub literally hung himself on the branch with all his legs dangling down leaving only his body for balance. Sound asleep!
This one has its head propped up on the branch using it like a pillow while his two front legs hang off on either side.
When I took the photo above I didn’t realize that two cubs were cuddled up together. Can you see them both in this photo? The lighting conditions were not ideal since the sun was behind them.
They slept for about 45 minutes, sweet as can be. Finally one cub came down first and Bella’s barking finally got to Momma. She started off with the one cub. A second cub came down the tree so fast it was unbelievable and dropped from about 12 feet up to catch up with Mom. I heard the little cub that was left alone in the tree start crying as it came ever so slowly down. (Maybe it’s tree climbing skills aren’t quite as developed as its siblings.) Such a pathetic mewling noise! Momma immediately turned around and came back to the bottom of the tree to wait for it. Once the family was fully reunited, off they went.
Keep watching for the video to be posted!
Yesterday was the first distribution day for our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Above is what was in our box: a beautiful big head of romaine lettuce, a large bunch of spinach, a few garlic scapes, and the first of the peas.
CSAs are a great way to enjoy fresh, local, seasonal food directly from the farmer. “Shares” are purchased like a yearly subscription and each week throughout the growing season you receive a box of fresh produce. Each week the produce can change depending on what is being grown and ready for harvest that week. Think of it like a surprise package! Typically the boxes are small at the beginning of the season, but as summer gets into full swing your box may be overflowing.
This is the first year for our CSA; Bear Swamp Farm. Pedro is the farmer and he grows everything organically. This is turning out to be a challenging year for him with all the wet, rainy weather we’ve had. When I picked out my box yesterday and hefted that huge and beautiful head of romaine lettuce in my hand I looked at him and said “You grew this???” He grinned and proudly said “Yes, I did.” He told me how to use the garlic scapes (just use them as you would normal garlic) and we chatted a bit about how the peas were now going to take off with the warmer weather to come next week. He said to expect some different lettuces next week. How fun!
Our town of West Milford finally got its very own farmer’s market and last Wednesday was the first day. They had a really good turn-out and sold out of things very quickly. It’s a small market with not many vendors and some things were a bit pricey as farmer’s markets can tend to be. It’s not on the caliber of the Warwick market but at least it’s a start.
My favorite vendor, Pie-Eyed, had a big crowd in front of his booth. Mostly because he was cooking pizzas and giving away lots of free samples of their fresh mozzarella rolls, pizza, stuffed chicken dishes, etc. I bought a pizza which I think we’ll have tonight and a roll of fresh mozzarella stuffed with proscuitto and roasted red pepper. Okay, not exactly fresh farmer’s market produce, but fun.
Rick and I thought it would be fun to share what we get in our box each week and what we do with it. I made a caesar salad with the romaine last night and I’ll be passing that recipe on in another post. I think it will be fun to come up with different ways to use our weekly share of a farm! We haven’t decided yet whether Rick will write those posts over on his site, or if I will here on my blog, but if he ends up writing them I will add a link to his post.
As you already know, our nearly ten-month-old Berner Bella loves the water. She has gone in the pool once before but I was not smart enough with the video camera to actually turn it “on.” sigh. Okay, today was not perfect pool weather and the temperature has not increased any (still 70-ish degrees), but we had to dunk ourselves today in the tiny sunny window that we had. Hey, after nearly another inch of rain in the past two days I think we need to take advantage of any short sunlit opportunity that comes our way.
You can view Bella’s super cool movie one of three ways:
The best quality with a fast internet connection can be viewed here:
http://gallery.me.com/bmtndog/100200
You can view it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ15Nl61lZs
Or you can watch it here:
I was manning the video, but Rick did all the super editing of the movie and he is responsible for the end result.
I hope it makes you smile!
Since there is no blue, either now or predicted to be in my day today, I am posting this photo from San Miguel. I loved the color of this house. Somehow I don’t think it would look right here in New Jersey.
Gray. Dark. Damp. Soggy. Dreary. Wet. Rainy.
All these words describe our current weather situation. It’s been this way for weeks. Maybe one day out of the week the sun will come out for a while just to prove it’s still there ... somewhere. I actually love rainy days, I really do, but this is bordering on ridiculous. It’s not warm. Temperatures are mostly in the 60’s with very high humidity, which on the east coast means downright damp. uck! The dogs lay around the house in a funk and so do I. Why bother cleaning when I can’t see the dirt? That’s my excuse anyway.
So far this month we’ve only had two days that our weather station didn’t register any rain. We’ve had over five inches of rain since the start of June. One inch of that came within 30 minutes during a thunderstorm on Monday. Just since midnight we’ve had over 1/2 inch. Enough already! Let summer begin! Sadly, when the calendar registers the start of summer on Sunday I don’t think the weather gods will take much note. We’re stuck in a rut.
And the pool? Please! Don’t let’s talk about it. All it’s good for right now is collecting water.
This much rain makes things grow. Or rot. Let’s look on the brighter side for now and take a look at some of the things that are managing to grow in this weather. Yesterday’s weather offered a clear window with a little bit of sun so I took my camera out to see what I could find before I mowed the grass.
These tiny, tiny purple flowers growing in the grass.
Clover against the white fence.
A silvery white moth hanging on a blade of grass.
An assortment of flowers.
And inevitably with this much moisture: mushrooms!
One left behind on top of a rock like a discarded, half-nibbled apple core.
An ugly one with a face. (Can you see the face? Kind of a like moaning ghost wearing a sombrero.)
A gelatinous cup with the sun shining through it.
More gelatinous style fungi. They have the texture of rubber.
A puffball. My book says these are edible, but any mushroom that goes poof! in a big ball of brown powder when you step on it after it dries I just can’t make myself eat.
I liked how the dew was still clinging to the stem of this one.
I do have a few tomatoes that have set but we need the sun!
Some of my flowers in pots around the pool that don’t have drainage are rotting away. Literally. I kid you not! I know I shouldn’t be complaining. At least I don’t need to water them by hand every day. Our well is certainly replenished. Everything is green. Oh wait ... maybe it’s just mold.
I’ve been doing some of this:
more on the tea towels coming in another post ...
and this ...
an out of print book that I bought at a local church book sale.
I made this: (Blueberries and Cream Pie)
And Rick started some homemade limoncello to fortify us.
We’ll get through this damp patch, I know we will. Remind me later in the summer, will you, when I’m complaining about the hot & humid weather and having to run the air conditioning night and day? Today that seems like a pipe dream as I look out into the murky depths of the yard and watch the rain falling down.
