Back in the Swing of Things

 Well, hello friends. My only post for the year was in March when I declared, "I'm Back." I really didn't go any place; I just didn't get around to posting again. I've taken to Instagram more and I post more regularly on Ann's Dollhouse Dreams since that's how I spend a lot of my time, but there are other things that take up a lot of time time, too, and as I look back on my long years of blogging, the Garden Spot has become a wonderful chronicle of my life since 2009, so I should keep it up. 

Here there is a pictorial recap of 2023 since March. One of my passions requires a camera. Mostly I use my iPhone, but I use my Nikon with a 79-300mm telephoto lens for birds, flowers, and insects. These two photos were taken on the National Pawnee Grasslands in Northern Colorado, east of where we live. On the left is our state bird, the lark bunting; on the right, his mate. I tried to prepare these two photos for a larger poster. 

 

Nathan, now 14 got a haircut--well a very good trim. When he came to stay during spring break, his mother informed me that I'd have to see to it that he got his hair cut, so we made an appointment with Barb, who has been cutting my hair for 40 years. Seriously. Nathan loves her and declared that no other hairdresser will ever touch his hair.

I made a new friend. As I poked around in the flower bed in early spring when most of the garden world was still sleeping, I found this little guy. May an immature ladybug? Michigan State University identifies it as an Asian Lady Bug that comes in a variety of shades, aka scientifically: Harmonia axyridis, quite possibly a pest in some areas.

 

The Spring Chicks have grown up and are producing a variety of colorful eggs from white to tan to chocolate brown, shades of green and a few blues. Yes, one is a rooster, a handsome fellow but a mean one.  He and his two hens are French Copper Morans. I'd refer to HIM as a moron. He's very aggressive and will slam himself into my leg if I turn my back on him. 

The second hand playhouse finally came down. It's been a part of the Garden Spot Landscape since we moved here. The kids all loved, but it was weathering away and had become a Dangerous Place for the little ones to play. 

We left the swings because swinging is a fun thing for kids to do. 

Three fattened piggies went to the County Fair and then to Market. All three granddaughters each showed a hog and for their first time in the show ring did okay.

  

Lucy's hog of the 3 brought top dollar. A local dairy sponsored her and bought her hog.

Lily is 11 now. What a girl! Takes after me: either can't find shoes or prefers to go barefoot--even the livestock barn at fair. I'd said she has a healthy immunity to most anything.

Lucy's little Alpine goat did well at Fair. No horses this year. Her mare Mariah went to live at a Rehabilitation center for disabled children. At 21, Lucy thought she was past her prime and sent her to do some community service. While the kids at the center loved her, Lucy brought her home at the end of the summer. We were all glad to see Mariah back home. Lucy turned 15 in August and has her driver's permit and works as a barista at local Home and Ranch store.

Elinore! Wow. Now 17. What a character. All three girls are in their second year of homeschool, and Elinore is moving forward quickly. She enrolled in the community college this fall to take the welding course and an accounting course, along side her high school work. She hopes to graduate high school in May. Right now she works at local feedlot and has a hog business going--one pregnant sow. 

Jacob is 21; he has completed his 2 year degree at a local community college where he studied finance. He works full time and has his own appartment.

Along with the happy moments of the year, there were the hard moments, too. We lost Pop, our pony. Well, he really wasn't "our" pony; he just lived here for the past 10 years. He came here June 13, 2013, when his girls had outgrown him and his family couldn't keep him any longer. This was the last time his girls came to see him in the spring. Though he was blind, he knew his girls by their voice and loved when they visited.

These were the last photos we took of him. 

He was beginning to fail, quit eating, started losing weight. The Head Gardener found him mid July out in the pasture when he simply laid down and didn't wake up. He was 36, a one time little girl's champion  show pony jumper. He was a registered POA--Pony of America, a mix of Shetland pony, Arabian, and Appaloosa, a sweet gentle boy.  

The biggest and probably the most important project for the summer, was one that I took on for my DAR chapter. In 2014 the chapter began the process to have a tiny 22x26 ft church located on the long stretch of highway between Ft. Collins, CO and the WY border dedicated as a Daughters of the American Revolution Historical Site. Over the years, the project had its challenges, so in May I raised my hand when our regent (my sister in law) asked who would like to finish the project to submit the application to the National DAR Historian. I then, with the help of others, spent the summer researching the 143 year old church to prove the statement that would be on the marker: Virginia Dale Community Church established in 1880, destroyed in 2003 by an arsonist's fire, and rebuild in 2004." A simple enough inscription, a very hard one to prove--which we did. Now we wait for National's approval. 

 

Our chapter's greeting card studio produced 128 Veterans Day cards and holiday cards that are being distributed among the vets living in the VA nursing home in Cheyenne, WY and military serving over seas though the chapter's Project Patriot project that sends care packages to the American patriots. We meet in my basement where beautiful cards are created, no two the same. 

As fall wains and winter takes its grip--we have old snow on the ground that likely will be here all winter--the indoor Christmas cactus and my little lemon tree that Jen grew from a seed, provide color and greenery while the outside garden sleeps.

And finally, a rare moment when I actually show myself as the Head Gardner and I celebrated 49 years of marriage in October.

As I look back through my photo album, I took so many photos of the birds and bees--literally--here at the Garden Spot, that I'll gladly share as I rededicate myself to disciplined writing--we'll see how that work out.

See you again next week. Thanks, for joining me today.

I'm Back

 Well hello there. I haven't posted since the last rose. It has been a long, cold winter and even now as Spring tries to make her Grand Entrance, it is still chilly, but the gardening will soon be back. Perhaps, then, I may be a bit more diligent in posting. 

I inspired to write today because I wanted to share with you our birdwatching adventure Sunday.

Friends had told us that sandhill cranes were migrating through, so we took a drive in pursuit of the big birds that migrate through Northern Colorado. Most birdwatchers will travel to Nebraska for the Sandhill Crane festival to see the birds where they spend time in the cornfields near the Colorado line or to southern Colorado communities that also host huge crane festivals as these giant birds make their way north, but here in Northern Colorado you don’t have to travel far to see cranes. These are the best of my dozens of photos I took, using my Nikon 3500 with a Takumar 70-300mm lens. The cranes will feed here in late March and early April as they migrate from their northern Mexico and New Mexico winter nesting areas. They are on their way to their summer nesting grounds in The Yellowstone where they will raise their young then make the trip back home in the fall. Visit the Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition  to learn more.

Because the cranes are on private property, birdwatchers have to photograph at a distance. In the foreground, Canada geese forage corn stubble, while the cranes hang out near the water's edge.

They are much easier to photograph in flight. Most birdwatchers agree that we generally hear the bird first and these giants, just as the geese, talk to each other as they fly. They have a sweet, soothing voice, almost a purr. 

This is my favorite photo of the cranes as they fly past the Rocky Mountains--Clark's Peak to exact. 

We found another flock in a farmer's pasture, but easily viewed from the road side.

On our way home from crane watching, we stopped by the neighbor’s farm pond where G takes Brody to run to see what we could see. As we approached the pond hundreds or more Canada geese lifted off the lake at shoreline, turning the horizon black. I was a little slow getting the photo for in seconds they had ascended in the blue sky. And then we spotted them: a trio of swans. I couldn’t believe it! We had been told that there was a pair of swans north of Greeley on the gravel pit ponds so one day we made the drive to see if we could find them and surely we did as they flew low right across the across the road in front of us, but we could never find where they "lived". We concluded that they must have been on the Poudre River because the gravel pit ponds were frozen solid all winter. And there they were half a mile away from us on our favorite bird watching pond with their nearly grown cygnet. We could tell that it was a younger bird by the gray coloring on its upper neck. Swans are rare here. We surmise that they migrate with geese. We've seen pairs before; once on a Greeley pond and once on the Poudre River, but not so close to home. What a thrill.

And we have birds of different feather. The Head Gardener brought home 6 chicks. Three Black Copper Morans will lay the really dark brown eggs. The light colored leghorns will lay white eggs. While it's not cheaper to feed laying hens than to buy eggs, we are certain of our supply.

We could say that Brody is the baby sitter, but in all honesty he is a bird dog, so he is bird watcher, too.

It's good to be back. There's more to share this time around as the granddaughters' 4-H projects have arrived: new pigs and 3 baby goats. Join me next time for more Garden Spot adventures.

Thanks for joining me today.