glorious days and early nights

Where my day begins:

Just outside my door, facing East.

 

Where my day ends:

Just outside my door, facing West.

In between, there's usually some of this:

And a little bit of this:

And a whole lot of this:

It's been a long couple of weeks of combing goats,

and the end is not in sight. 

But I can see progress.

Here are Acer and Dara, demonstrating "After" and "Before:"

Acer had been combed three times at this point,
and Dara was going to have his first combing as soon as I could get a collar on him.

I hope your May is going beautifully!

~~~~~

now we are seven

It's hard to believe, but I double-checked:

the 6-month-old tykes in these pictures just had their 7th birthday.

Moxie on the 28th and Della today.

If you remember their arrival, 

we have known each other for a long time!

I remember it like it was last week.

Sometimes good things stay good.

~~~~~

rain

Nothing like a forecast of rain to make me think of cutting a few flowers for the house before they get plastered to the ground.

And nothing like a forecast of seven straight days of rain to make me think I might as well bring in most of the flowers.

It's a little too gloomy to get a sharp photograph, but this is pretty accurate for how muted they appear to me, across the room.

In contrast, the day before the rainy days:

I hope your day is just as sharp or as muted as you want it to be.

~~~~~

happening

I love the brief period each Spring when forested landscapes
 look a bit like pointillistic paintings.

Things start happening fast at this time of year, even when the weather is all over the place. It was 32F this morning but when I visited the terrace garden to ponder a redesign, I discovered that the raspberry canes which had appeared completely dormant a few days ago are now sprouting leaves in lush abundance. Since part of the garden redesign directly involves the raspberry plants, I'd better get on it right away. Like yesterday.

A couple of years ago, I decided to level a section of the very sloped terrace garden. The project began with creating a retaining barrier at the downslope end, about 18 feet long and a couple of feet high, just above the raspberry plants. I built it using salvaged saplings dragged across the paddocks and pinned into place with metal fenceposts. Then I moved some of the soil from the uphill end of the plot to the downhill end, and spread a barn's-worth of used goat bedding over the whole thing. The result was a thrillingly level plot of about 18 feet by 12 feet.

This part of the terrace garden is where I usually grow lots of pole beans, and last year I reduced the bean rows from three to two so I could plant tomatoes and Turkish peppers there as well. And of course, zinnias, planted in a single row just above the raspberries, at the very edge of the retaining barrier. I may have been a bit unrealistic about the amount of space required by some of these plants; getting in amongst the tomatoes without treading on any stems - or tomatoes - was quite a trick by August. And the poor zinnias were growing in all sorts of leggy directions to access the bits of sunlight not already occupied by either the waving stems of raspberries to the West or the shrubby jungle of tomatoes to the East. They tried so hard!

Revisiting the glorious zinnias of 2019

I really missed having a wide  row of colorful zinnias last summer, and will plan better this year. But I'm also hoping to level out more of the terrace area, because it's so much more relaxing to work in the garden when I'm not at frequent risk of tumbling over.

Speaking of which, has anyone else noticed that doctors have started asking, "have you had any falls recently?" The first time, I was startled that a doctor could tell how clumsy I am just from the way I walked into the exam room! But when the same question came up again at my next annual physical, I decided it's one of those "age" things. I always answer honestly, of course, and the answer is always the same: "Yes, but not for no reason."

~~~~~

random snapday

 

Last week we had, in no particular order, temps ranging from high 80s to below freezing. During one of the warmer days, the outdoor shower was unpacked again - huzzah! Shower Assembly Day is now right up there with Hose Installation Day (which also happened last week) as a celebratory seasonal event. Hose Day signals the seasonal end of carrying bucket after bucket of water from the house to the paddocks every day. Being able to clean and fill all the waterers "on the spot" is a thrill which does not get old.

 ~~~

The goldfinches are coloring up!

There is a small flock of goldfinches at the feeders every day. More than any other birds here, the goldfinches spend more time trying to scold each other away from the feeders than they spend actually eating, which is a pity because there is plenty of room and plenty of seed for all of them.

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From the "What A Difference A Week Makes" department...

sugar maple (Acer saccharum), 16 April (above) and today:

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The black flies are here. They began to roll in a couple of days ago, and apparently have now caught up on all their tiny housekeeping tasks, and can devote themselves to biting. Which means it's time for me to pull out all the spray bottles of herbal concoctions and check my notes from last year to see what worked best and what the goats hated least.

Wish me luck.

~~~

Are you planning some nice things to do this weekend? So far, the only plan I've come up with is "make a trip to the dump" so clearly advice is needed!

~~~~~