Fleet Reduction, Camera Issues, Storms and Chores

We added two new UTV's a couple weeks ago.  In order to keep the barn space manageable, we found a new home for some of our original farm equipment.  My nephew Dave has his own place up in Michigan and he was happy to have my 23 year-old Ranger and ATV. He and Dawn came out this weekend for the load out.

We backed the truck up to a hill and got the ATV in the bed without too much drama.  Dave borrowed this cool tip up trailer and drove the Ranger right on it.

Lots of history with those two machines - kinda sorry to see them go.

While they were here, we did a little touring in one of the new machines.

We spooked a doe and ran into 3 hens with broods of poults.  I wasn't quick enough to video them but I ran into a different group later.

Dave had a good eye for fungus - we saw several interesting muchrooms.

I noticed that the gazebo has become home to several types of wasps.

They looked mean.

I came back the next morning and persuaded them that it wasn't a good place to live.

This was Joan and me last week in the other new machine.

We've been using it to make the camera tour.  It has GPS and traces our path.

Speaking of cameras, I kneel here to swap SD cards. 

And I happened to notice that I've been kneeling in poison ivy.  No rashes so far.

I've been having issues with broken out sensor covers on my cameras.  I've trashed a couple already and there's two still in service with the problem.

I think that there are birds pecking at them.

Could this be the culprit?

Or maybe this one (swooping along the ground).

Van (my handyman) had been out this week and he popped out one of the apple tree stumps.

While he was there, he spotted this polyphemus moth on the barn door.  7" wingspan.

I decided to try out the new tracks on the bobcat so I popped out the other apple tree stump.  The tracks seem great.

I got rid of apple tree debris and a ton of accumulated cardboard.  After the rain, it seemed like a good time to burn.

My early row of pumpkins is just getting to the stage where the vines are running.

The ones that I planted a week ago are starting to sprout thanks to the recent rain showers. I'm only going with 3 rows this year.

And I got the tape up to try to keep the deer out.  They don't bother the plants much but they eat the blooms and nibble the pumpkins.  Both are a detriment to successful crops. Hopefully they will respect the tape this year...

On my travels I did run into another hen and brood of poults.  You can just see them between those cedar trees.  Here's a video of them. Turkey Poults

The butterflies are also now active.  Here's a swallowtail and a video of it hovering. Swallowtail.

This photo shows common milkweed and butterfly milkweed.  These are two favorite butterfly hosts. We have a lot of both.

Some of the other meadow wildflowers currently in bloom.

I found this moth in the barn.  Not as big or fancy as the one Van found.

We had storms on both Friday and Saturday evenings.  1/2" of rain both times. In a very short time.

This is the Saturday night storm rolling in.  Here's a couple videos that give you the flavor. Storm Coming In and  Storm In Process

We've had a wet June.

The deer don't seem to mind.

But I keep getting the zero-turn stuck in wet tractor ruts. Here I am yanking it out last week.

I did eventually get the orchard mowed.

This week I had to hit the area under the electric fence with roundup again.  If the weeds get tall and contact the fence, they bleed off the electrical current.

There is some evidence of sunflowers coming up in some places.  Along with a ton of grass and weeds.

This is an interesting sequence of photos.  Coyote #1 running past a camera.

Followed by coyote #2.

And then a deer.  Wonder what spooked them - I don't think that the deer was chasing the coyotes.

This is a fun deer action shot.

I suspect that this is an owl.

Interesting that the deer and the turkeys tolerate this proximity.

And the Tom turkeys are still strutting.

We have a lot of fawns.

Including multiple sets of twins.

These three fawns show up every week at this spot.  But I don't think that they are triplets - there's always a second doe around (she's behind the bush).

Dave asked if the deer visit my licking branches - they do - even when they're to high.

For some reason, the coyote population seems down this year (that's ok with me).

And turkeys seem up.