The week in-between Christmas and New Year’s is always an odd one. Rick used to get the whole week off back when he worked for HP/Agilent but it was mostly because they were trying to be cheap and it was without pay. I always loved having him home, watching movies and playing video games that we’d gotten for Christmas. This week he is working but shorter days.

This week also, without fail, includes my birthday which was yesterday. Having a birthday at this time of year is not always easy or fun. Everything comes at once. But, after all these years I am used to it. I never get stinted for gifts on my birthday. My Mom made sure of that, and my dear husband is the same way. I got an iPad 2! I’ve had an iPad for about a year and a half now and just love it. I’ve been drooling over the “2” since they came out. It has features that the first one didn’t have. And just look at it’s super cute folding cover!

Also for my birthday my two neighbors pretty much kidnapped me and took me out to lunch. I didn’t even know where we were going! The restaurant was great and one I had never been to before. We sat and shared a glass of wine and all our food choices were excellent. On top of buying my lunch they also gave me gifts! What a treat! Part of my gift from neighbor Aileen was this sweet package of fresh eggs from her chickens. The blue-green ones are from her new araucana chickens that just started laying. Almost too pretty to eat!

It hardly seems possible that just one week ago I picked my sister and her hubby up at the train station. Time flies by, doesn’t it? We had a good Christmas. We ate and tried out some new and quite delicious recipes. We drank (but not too much). We played video games and my sister beat us all at bowling with a grand score of 195. We all enjoyed each other’s company.

Also in-between is our weather. Winter has yet to arrive in our part of the country. Just the other day we had nearly two inches of rain. Again. Enough with the rain! It hasn’t really been cold enough to freeze the ground either so everything comes up muddy. Today I think it’s supposed to struggle to get above freezing which will be a welcome change to our 40’s and 50’s. C’mon Mother Nature! I have a new coat that I’m dying to wear and it needs to be cold!

By the way, remember this fox? Neighbor Kim pointed out to me yesterday at lunch that she thinks it was not in fact a fox but a coyote. She said there was an article in the paper about how many coyotes were around now and how to identify them. The more I thought about it and the more I looked at the photos again, I realized she was right. It just might be a coyote. I’m just not used to seeing them around here although we did have one a a few years ago. To see it, follow this link.  Tell me what you think!

Anyway, no real news to impart here, just wanted to catch up.

Living in the country as we do we see a variety of wildlife. We have possums, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, turkeys, and the occasional bear. Poor bears. They are being hunted once again this year. It’s too sad to even talk about.

A few weeks ago I looked out the window and saw a beautiful buck deer standing up by the top of our driveway, his rack of antlers held proudly. With a flick of his tail he was off up into our neighbor Kim’s yard. I see a small band of about five or six deer pretty often just outside the fenced part of our yard in the woods. The dogs just lie on the deck and watch them.

Lately we’ve had a mangy looking fox hanging around. I first saw him sitting in our driveway grooming himself like a cat. He looked up from his ritual and saw me watching him through the window. It was weird making direct eye contact with a fox. I went to grab the camera as quietly as I could but he ran off. Here’s the shot I got of him then.

Then the other day he was back again to take advantage of the bird seed and stale bread I had thrown out at the bird feeding area in the front yard for the squirrels (so they’ll leave my bird feeder and suet feeder in the back yard alone!). I think he must have mange although I have never seen it to identify it in a wild animal. He is scary looking! I do admire his black legs though. The rest is pretty darned ugly.

I’ve seen him down the road at neighbor Luke’s house too. A few years back I remember seeing another scroungy looking fox and I have to wonder if it’s the same one?

Another visitor to our yard and woods behind the house has been the pileated woodpecker. Every time I run for the camera he spooks and flies off to a different tree farther away. Do you remember when I was able to get photos of him a few years back? Follow this link to see them. We can hear him sometimes and don’t see him. When he flies he looks like no other bird: big black wings with a white streak. You don’t even notice his head until he lands. Twice in the past week I have caught him out of the corner of my eye in flight. He’s elusive that’s for sure.

I haven’t seen any cardinals for a long time. I wonder where they go? We are overrun with titmice, chickadees and white-breasted nuthatches. We have a few juncos now too and yesterday we saw a rosy finch.

The woodpeckers seem to really be taking off this year in numbers as well. We have downy woodpeckers and a red-bellied woodpecker that have always been visitors. But this year we also have the downy’s bigger cousin, the hairy woodpecker too. Here he is:

He looks just like a downy only considerably bigger.

Yesterday I looked out at the suet feeder and something about the bird on it didn’t look quite right to me. At first glance I thought it was a downy woodpecker, but it had a dark chest, not a white one. Hmmm. I got out the binoculars and saw that it had a red spot under the chin as well as one on top of its head. The markings around the eye were different too. Off to get the bird identification book! I am proud to present our very first Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker!

The light was not good since it was late in the afternoon but I think the shot is decent enough to see the bird fairly well. I hope he comes back!

We didn’t have any acorns from the oaks this year. It’s odd, but I guess they do have years when they don’t produce. Maybe that has something to do with the increase of woodpecker activity? Maybe they produce more sap when they don’t produce acorns?

I like having all my back and front yard buddies around. Well, maybe not so much that fox ...

My wet driveway early last evening.

If you are reading this then you are a newly minted member to my blog site! Welcome, and thanks for joining! To have my blog become membership only has long been a wish of mine. I know you’ve heard me say it time and time again. Now thanks to computer guru (and husband) Rick, my wish has been granted. No more waking up to ten comments left by people whose sentences are mere gibberish with links to who-knows-what kind of web sites embedded within them. Hurray! And I doubt that anyone noticed, but our entire web site was transferred off an old and aging server over the weekend to a new one by our provider. All went smoothly thank goodness.

If only all things were going that smoothly. Last week I noticed that our 15 year old Maytag Neptune washer was not spinning the clothes anymore. This weekend we went shopping for a replacement and were surprised to hear that our particular Maytag model basically put the Maytag people out of business because it was such an unreliable machine! For us it was just the opposite. We chose a sleek new wave action LG steam washer and steam dryer. Delivery date was set for today. Last night we got a call that our delivery date had been pushed out to next Wednesday due to blah, blah, blah (you’d be bored if I explained). So, next Wednesday just happens to be the day before we leave for our cabin in Colorado. And, as you can imagine, I have loads and loads of laundry to do before then. Thank goodness I washed all the cabin bedding and towels before the washer quit on me. At least that’s done.  We don’t have a laundromat in our town either, can you believe it? Neighbor Kim offered her washer to me but she said hers doesn’t spin all the time either and she has to reset it to spin. I told her she needs a new machine as well!

In the past 24 hours we’ve had another three inches of rain. Good grief, not what we need at all! I’m glad we managed to get the lawn mowed this past weekend. What a soggy mess! Hopefully the flooding will be minimal down the mountain from us. They already have enough to deal with.

The trees are stressed from all the rain and are dropping leaves like crazy. Some even look like they are starting to turn which is way too early. I don’t think the color is going to be very good this fall.

Along with the rain comes interesting mushrooms. These were growing by our neighbors’ stone wall. I don’t know what they are but they were gorgeous. Maybe a type of chanterelle. We weren’t sure so we didn’t try them out!

 

A visiting fawn from last week.

On Monday we took the dogs for a walk down to Green Turtle Pond. The road leading down there had been closed off due to water damage from Irene, so we knew we’d have a nice quiet walk. It was pretty soggy through the wooded trail section and we had to detour off the path several times to avoid downed trees. Somehow both Rick and I managed to get stung by wasps: for Rick it was on his arm, and for me, on my knee. The road was full of deeply carved gullies but no major wash-outs like we had envisioned.  When we reached the pond we were the only ones there. I don’t think that’s ever happened before. It was so quiet and peaceful. The dogs got a much deserved drink and of course Bella had to go wading.

Alex shows off his silly side while Hailey looks on. Thank goodness the dogs are booked at the groomer’s this week!

Bella’s “spin-dry” cycle works better than the one on my washing machine at the moment!

I know it’s kind of a lame post but that’s all I have for you today. Again, my heartfelt thanks for sticking with me and continuing to read! Somebody please leave a comment so we can see if that’s working too!

 

Like I mentioned in my previous blog entry, Rick took Friday off and we went to the Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, NY.  We had planned this day weeks ahead. A very wise choice as it turned out, because they cancelled the fair for Saturday and Sunday—their biggest days— due to Hurricane Irene. So sad.

The fairgrounds are also home to the Sheep & Wool Festival that we’ve gone to for the past two years that takes place in October. And, for those of you that don’t know, I spent my childhood years growing up in Dutchess County, New York. My sister tells me that we used to go to the fair but I honestly don’t remember! This is the first time Rick and I have ever gone.

The fair’s grounds and buildings don’t change but instead of barns filled with sheep, wool and everything to do with wool, they are full of cows,

 

 

pigs,

 

 

 

chickens,

 

 

 

Note the name of this one: Fluffy Pants

photo by Rick

 

photo by Rick

 

photo by Rick

rabbits,

Poor bunny! (Read the sign above him.)

photo by Rick

and of course 4-H projects.

There are many more food vendors, in fact it’s hard to decide what and where to eat and drink.

 

 

 

 

photo by Rick

But the heart of any fair is the midway with its games, silly side show attractions and rides.

 

You could see the world’s smallest horse or the largest: you choose!

 

Or how about these oddities? Rick did go into this one and paid $3.00. I wouldn’t go in. He said some of the things were real (poor animals) and some were just stuffed versions. He said it was pretty sad.

Rick took this photo too which I absolutely love!

Even the cloud seems to be asking why? as it forms a question mark over this ride! Does this look like *fun* to you?

Or how about this one?

Here it is in action.

 

This little boy was in an attraction called The Hampster Cage—plastic tubes that you could roll around while inside them. I loved the surrealism of the way the photos came out.

 

We took the back roads home and found a way to get there with Mia without going on the interstate even though at one point it takes a lot of zigging and zagging in the towns. We fell in love with the historic Rondout and Stockade districts in Kingston (which we stumbled on by taking a slight detour that we didn’t mean to) with its old stone houses and also the beautiful countryside and charm of the town of New Paltz. Sadly, the area around New Paltz had a lot of flooding with Irene. We’ll be headed back before too long because I want to take a walking tour in Kingston and explore New Paltz.

All in all, a delightful day!

 

Really, I do. I need something or someone to kick start me back to blogging on a more regular basis. Every time I sit down to compose the entry on the Panama Canal I end up staring at my brand new HD computer screen. No words come. I end up playing one of my “hidden object” games instead and zone out for an hour or so. What is wrong with me? Summertime blues? Sheer laziness? Maybe a little of both. To quote one of the blogs I read every now and then, her excuse for not blogging was that “I guess I am living the life instead of blogging about it.” That about sums it up for me, but mine is pretty boring.

My camera is gathering dust. I did go to the Botanical Gardens a week or so ago and what you see in this entry is the result of that visit. But there wasn’t much to aim the camera at and I threw away all but a few of the photos that I did take. I am in a rut there too.

Yesterday I read a book. One whole book in one whole day. (It was a light read.)

Let’s see ... what else have I done?

Last week Rick and I went to a “gala” reception at the Lincoln Center in New York City. We got dressed up, had a nice dinner and then went to the event. A lovely night! Going in to the city is always exciting and fun. Such energy in those sidewalks filled with people!

At home we’ve been enjoying the pool which is now above 80 degrees and very comfortable. It’s not even the weather that is making me lazy as the days have been sunny and warm. Delightful. Our last rain/thunderstorm was a week ago.

The fireflies are far and few between now but the cicadas have started up ever so slowly. In fact, as I type there are two going out there now. Ah, the sound of summer.

We have at least three bats in our winnowed-down bat population. They swoop and dip over our heads when we take our nighttime swims. It’s good to see them.

The turkeys bring their cute little babies around almost every day—the end result of all that turkey sex in my front yard this spring. Sometimes just one of the hens with her brood will show up, while other times it looks more like a turkey day care center and all ten or so of the babies.

I also went with neighbor Kim this week to see a litter of six week old Irish Terrier puppies that they will getting a new puppy from. The breeder was halfway out on Long Island and I have to tell you that it’s a nasty drive! Yikes, I won’t be going out there again anytime soon. The traffic! The puppies were adorable though and it was nice to breathe in puppy breath and talk dogs again.

We also had a six o’clock a.m. visitor yesterday. We were still asleep when Alex started barking downstairs. It is not his norm to bark for no reason, so I got out of bed and looked out the front window. Nothing. Rick got up and took a look around too but he also didn’t see anything. After laying there for a fitful twenty minutes more I got up and went down to feed the dogs and cats. I looked out on the back deck and saw that one of the planter boxes that was on our deck railing had been knocked down and the poor petunias were out of their pots, the nearly indestructible Squirrel Buster Plus bird feeder pulled around in an abnormal position, the iron hanger it was on slightly bent. Okay, a bear for sure. A pretty brazen one too to come onto our high deck. It’s only happened twice before in our five years here that we’ve had bears on the deck. It’s not a good feeling. I have to say that I am more than impressed with this bird feeder. Not only do the squirrels not bother it but it held up to the bear mauling with not a scratch!

So, I go to feed the cats and eBay is nowhere to be found. I call her, searching high and low but I can’t find her. She is always ready to to eat so I figure something must be wrong. Finally I hear a tiny mew coming from the laundry room. When I pull out the washer, there she is. She ventures out very tentatively into the kitchen. She peeks around the corner into the sun room and out to the deck where the bear was with her eyes wide and her tail all puffed up. Aha! She saw the bear too and it scared her so badly she was hiding from it. Poor kitty! So, the bird feeder comes in at night and when I am not at home.

One of my daily routines is to water all the outside plants before taking a shower, check on the pool temperature and add chlorine every other day. I slip on a pair of shorts and t-shirt and head out with the watering can. It’s a nice way to start the day, especially with the weather we’ve been having. I don’t even mind if the humidity is high that time of the day. Bella usually helps me with this particular job. Every other day or so I’ll tip all the water out of her wading pool and refresh it. She loves this! The minute I start adding fresh water she’s in there wading around, scooping up mouthfuls of the cold water straight from the well.  I’ve also gotten into the habit of letting one of the dogs come with me out in the front as a special treat for them. No leash, just hanging out with mom while she waters. I check on the progress of the figs daily and I have to say I can’t wait until we can eat them.

You never know what you might see while watering. The little clearwing hummingbird moths have started hovering around as I water. I just love them! While I was watering the deck flowers the other day I found this moth clinging to the petunias. Isn’t it pretty? I have never seen this particular kind of moth before so I looked him up. I think it’s some kind of Sphinx moth—possibly a Virginia (hog) Creeper Sphinx Moth. No matter what it’s name is, it’s beautiful.

For those of you that I’ve talked to over the past week, I apologize for re-hashing all this boring, trivial stuff about my life again. Ho hum. Which brings me to another topic of conversation. I have no idea who is reading this blog anymore other than family members and a few close friends and those of you that comment from time to time (thank you Debra, Maggie & Joyce!). I get numerous “junk” comments every single day that I have to delete which is very disheartening. You should read some of them! They always include a link to whatever website selling some garbage. I am so very tired of them. It’s long been in my mind to make this blog private and if Rick can figure out how to do that without too much trouble on the part of anyone then we will do so. If you still want to read all you will have to do is sign up to be a member. You don’t have to comment, you can still continue to read as you’ve always done. The only change will be that not all those crazies out there will be able to read things about my private life anymore. Because this blog really is about my daily life. But, that’s all in the future and hopefully we can make it happen.

Okay, so I’ve sat here long enough this morning filling this entry up with boring tidbits, neglecting my watering duties which are calling me, so I will close this entry now. If you are still awake after reading this, bless you. Hopefully this will kick start me to finish my vacation blogging. Check back in a day or so to find out!