Quick Stop in the Rain

Joan and I rendezvoused at the farm on Tuesday, dropped off her car, and drove on to DC to visit our grand-daughter, Lucy.  She's two months old now.

Grandma kept dressing her up and putting bows in her hair.

Two of us might have dozed off for a short nap.

Anyway, on Sunday we drove back and I stopped at the farm before heading back to Lexington. I had hoped for a couple hours of daylight for chores but, of course, it rained.

For the last couple weeks there have been deer standing on their hind legs in front of a camera.  For some reason, they had been extremely interested in a certain branch.  Today I looked at that branch and this is what I found.  Apparently the deer find the maple helicopters to be somewhat tasty.

This doe showed up with all kinds of stuff on the back of her ears.  I'm not sure what it is but I'm guessing that it is insect related - ticks, flies, maggots, etc.  Otherwise, she looks healthy.

This picture is a little blury but I believe that it is a coyote with something in its mouth - a rabbit?

Last weekend I mowed this clover field.

It had been quite overgrown and mowing helps with the weed control.

A couple hours after mowing and the deer were already after it again.

The bucks are starting to sprout their antlers.  It's still too soon to tell how big they will get.  This guy looks good though.

The other critters are still out and about too.

When we drove in tonight, 3 turkeys were in the vicinity of the orchard.  I suspect that they were eating newly planted soybeans.

Now is prime time for antler growing so we must keep the minerals stocked.

The rain on the evening I had hoped to work in the fields.

June 1 - A Weekend for Planting

What can possibly be so interesting in this tree?

The bucks have started on their annual antler growth.  I'm wondering if this one is the mutant who has been showing up for a couple of years.

Lots of turkeys on camera this week.  The first one in line has a very nice beard.

 It turns out that the second one does too.

Another nice gobbler.

Turkey and deer in the same shot.

If you look closely at this shot, there are two deer and two turkeys.  The grass is getting a little overgrown.

Another gobbler.

More birds.

And more birds.  How observant were you?

The last shot expanded - can you see the arrow and fletching sticking out of the back of this turkey?

One of the earlier shots blown up.  This turkey is walking around with an arrow sticking thru its back.  This is one of the real down sides to archery hunting - the probability of wounding is much higher. No one (that I know of) was archery hunting on my property - this bird could have traveled quite a ways.

A nice shot of a doe surveying the clover field.

And a turkey on the prowl in the same spot.

Another test to see if you were paying attention.

This is the clover planted in the driveway field.  It's spotty but quite thick where it did come in.

There are some weeds in there so I sprayed it this week.

The sunflowers are up but it was a little spotty too.  I threw some more seed out in the bare spots.

The couple rows that I had previously planted in the pumpkin patch were already up (along with some weeds).

The cherry trees are in a sad state.

But there were a few ripe cherries up there at about 20' off the ground.  I had no time to try to pick them and I don't think there was even one pie worth.

Sunflowers also planted by the fire pit.

Some soybeans in this new plot by the high-rise stand.

Soybeans also planted in this plot by the orchard.  I ran out of deer exclusion tape so I guess we'll see how much difference it makes in this field where only one end is protected.

A couple hours after I threw seeds out in the barespots of the sunflowers, this turkey was out there sucking them up. He didn't seem at all concerned by the deer exclusion tape.

Mainfield clover looking ok.  Basically all the clover plots look good but it's a battle with the grass and weeds.

We had a significant thunderstorm.  I was racing first to get the planting done and then to get the equipment in ahead of it - and I lost the race.  The last machine that I moved in was the John Deere with the canvas sun canopy.  It collected about 3 gallons of water and dumped it down my back as soon as I moved the tractor.

This was another attention test.  This photo is not at the farm.  This is my nephew Tom Balough's unit somewhere in Afganistan.  We're thinking of you guys - come home safe.

Following are some bucks that are just starting to grow antlers.

Another attention test.

And another.

I am definitely behind the curve on mowing...

My sun hat that I wear for field work.

I see you.