Mom Visits the Farm!

 I got a special visitor for my birthday this year.  

Not everyone gets a visit from their Mom for their 71st birthday.

98 years old and still frisky enough for cross country travel and farm explorations.

We checked out some of the wild flowers - this is rose pink.

Butterfly milkweed.

I think this is coneflower.

Swallowtail butterfly.

We have continued to have rain and the weeds are prospering in the pumpkin patch.

Zucchinis are competing with the weeds pretty well.

This regal moth showed up in the barn.

And we had some rather large creatures at the bird feeder.

Her fawn stayed down in the weeds.

I think that there is a fungus (or something) affecting some of the white oaks on the property.

I found this bird carcass in the middle of the driveway - I think that it is a crow.

Who would eat a crow?  Owl? Bobcat?

One of my chores was to wax up a new pair of hunting boots.  I'm going back to Kennetreks.

I've been using Schnee's Timberland (?).  They are a little lighter and less rigid.  I may be back to this lightweight one.

Can you believe that there are still survivors in this wasp nest on the gazebo?  I've attacked it twice before.

After spraying the main field, the soybeans did emerge from the weeds.

Some touring photos.

We got about 1/2 the tour done before the thunder and rain chased us in.

After we got back from the farm, we had dinner at Montgomery Inn with Dave and family.

I think Mom isn't minding our dogs too much.

Last week spraying a weedy food plot right before a rain storm.

This week hitting it again to get the spots that I missed.

I think that the electric fence is working pretty well for the orchard so far.

They are curious about it though.

It's confirmed - we do have at least one group of triplets.

Deer vs skunk.

Coyote.

Not a great photo but there is a coyote in the field with the deer here.

And the usual deer activity.

A fox.

And the turkeys.

My sciatica is improved but still there.  MRI showed a ruptured disk at L4/5.  I'm functional - it mostly just affects my sleep. I may end up getting a steroid injection - Ugh.