Tall Tales

Life has been a bit wet on the farm lately.  We have had three inches plus at this time and it is still raining.  The gardens are soaked and once the sun and heat come back we should be watching things grow.  We have a few more things to transplant and seed and lots to weed and mulch.  We haven't been able to go into the gardens too much as clay soil when wet, gets hard like a rock if you walk on it too much.  Have been having to go through the peonies as they are slowly beginning to swell to the point they need to be cut.  At this time, once a day is good but in full production we often go through the peony patch several times a day and cut the buds once they reach the marshmallow stage.  The Sweet Williams are really coming along now and will have many buckets full, for the flower shops next week.

Max is starting to feel more and more comfortable with us and we are getting used to him.  He really needs lots of attention in the way of pets and grooming.  He sits patiently as we go over him checking for ticks and doesn't flinch a bit when we have to remove the embedded ones.  Really can't wait till the tick season is over with.  He does an excellent job of keeping the chicken predators out of the yard.

Ready for  a wiener roast.

As for the bird residents, it looks like we have a family of Cedar Waxwings already out and about foraging and exploring under the watchful eyes of the parents.  We had a Robin nesting in our eve trough on the house this year and after the rain this weekend it is no longer sitting on the nest.  Not sure if the rain drowned out the babies or if they fledged.  Also have a third Hummingbird at the feeders and it looks like it is a immature bird, so am assuming their baby fledged.  Hopefully they will produce another.  The Tree Swallows are all busy feeding their young, but have not seen any young ones flying yet.  This year the Northern Orioles were much braver and flew around the yard all day.  In previous years they were always a bit shy and did not hang around when we were in the gardens or yard.  Have not seen them for a few days so assuming they are now nesting.  Will see them again when the babies are flying.  The PeeWee's set up shop in the quonset this year and are feeding their young.  We can see fuzz ball heads sticking out above the nest.  There main diet is insects, and they really keep the fly population to a minimum.  As soon as they leave we always notice a huge increase in the flies again.  The Sparrows are always squawking at us when we get near a nest they have in the trees and the Wrens are busy, busy.  We are still seeing the Woodpeckers, they usually head north to breed, so maybe they are nesting here this year.  Unfortunately we do not have a pair of Bluebirds this year.  Early Spring we did have a pair that claimed a nest box, but the female bird was killed some how, (found the bird carcass in the pasture, by the nestbox they claimed).  The male Bluebird sang and sang for a couple of weeks but did not attract another female.  He eventually moved on.  Hopefully he will be back next year.
These are the tales we have for you this week.  The rain stopped, will head out to do a few things before it starts again.