Father’s Day Weekend

We were getting ready for the weekend with a lot of farming.  I planted quite a few starts and seeds in the garden after Tom rototilled the unplanted portions for a second time.

I had to admire Wally lying on our bed.

And the blooming laurel.

And our house.  It is pretty now with the flowers blooming around it.

They are logging on the other side of the prairie from us.  I am concerned that our view will change.

And then there’s Roscoe enjoying the chair and a sunbeam.

But we did get the farm stuff done, packed and headed out.  Here is our rig in Cle Elum en route on Thursday.  Lots of machines involved.

And we arrived at our Boles Aero trailer.  The view has changed as Dad moved the motorhome out of it.  I had the World Cup on our 12-volt TV.  It gets reception from an antenna so when the local FOX network didn’t carry the game, I switched to Telemundo.  I was able to hear Andrés Cantor’s famous goal call several times which was fun.

I took the beagle on lots of walks, enjoying the views.

Tom and Dad went on an evening ride which was supposed to be quick, but they ended up at Lion’s Rock with this gorgeous sunset view.

I got to enjoy the sunset with a crescent moon over Dad’s cabin.

On Friday morning, Tom put up Dad’s repaired wind mill.  It worked great and survived high winds this weekend.

I tried hard not to take photos of all the flowers on my walks with the beagle.  But I couldn’t help it completely.  Here are some pretty wild roses.

The view from the front of the cabin without the motorhome.

Here’s a pretty iris near the creek.

And some other pretty flowers peaking out around the rocks.

Russ, Jay, William and Piper arrived on Friday afternoon as well as Thomas and Diana.  Here is Piper checking out one of the quads.  Unfortunately her quad wouldn’t run right.  We are wondering if it is the altitude.

She did enjoy reading a book to us.  She is quite the reader.

On Saturday morning a herd of elk with calves were coming up the mountain by the cabin.  Unfortunately they got spooked and headed back down.  The cows have been calving near the bottom of the mountain by a water source.

 

In the afternoon we went on a ride.  Unfortunately William’s quad lost power.  While they were looking at it, Piper was picking some wildflowers.  Here is her collection when we got going again without his quad.

I went to pee in the woods near our next stop and found all these flowers in the woods there.

This is the view.

And a gorgeous group photo.

Our next stop was by a pretty creek.  The kids really enjoy exploring the woods.

When we got back to the cabin, Piper decorated Steve’s gravestone there with the flowers.

On Sunday morning Dad, Ryeleigh and I walked to the waterfall on the creek on his property.  This is the upper end of it.  It is not flowing very much now, but the flowers were pretty.  There were quite a few marmots in the area.

Piper decorated Steve’s grave more with rocks, seashells and a pine bough.

Everyone left except Tom, Ryeleigh and I.  We hung out by the picnic table for a bit relaxing.

Then I went into the trailer, knitting in from of the Telemundo World Cup coverage.

Tom and I went on a quick quad ride in the evening.  We saw some deer.

We watched the sun going down.

And enjoyed the view.  It was really beautiful and made a profound impression on me.

 

P.S. I finished another audiobook.  This one was This Land Is Your Land by Beverly Gage.  She is a historian who went on roadtrips exploring our country’s historic sites as a tourist gathering experiences in anticipation of our 250th anniversary.  I really enjoyed the book, learned some amazing history and have more places on my bucket list.

 

 

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Wildlife

We are seeing wildlife on our Arlo camera along the back fence line to our pastures.  Here is a coyote peeing.

And a deer.

I caught this barn swallow hanging out on the fence.

And a butterfly fluttering in front of the barn.

Our beagle got quite excited the other day.  She was quietly barking on the back porch.  I let Tom know, and they walked out to the back yard near the garden.  Ryeleigh’s hair stood up on her back, and she was pointing and quietly growling.  I have never seen all of this behavior together before.  She was showing Tom where to go.  There he found deer hoof prints.  I was impressed by our beagle’s skills.

But know I now I need to face deer as well as the usual suspects in eating my garden this year.  I am think I will put a higher wire up on the garden fence.  Not sure if it is enough though.

But the wildlife are a constant threat to our domesticated animals.  And on Thursday when I was at work Tom found one of our geese dead behind the barn. The killer had got the goose in what we call the alleyway and then progressively drug her body further away in the alleyway.  You can see the initial pile of feathers behind the goats.

The next photo if gruesome so those that do not want to see ugly dead animals should leave this post now.  But I am posting it to try to gather information from other farmers as to what predator might have cause this damage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom thinks it was an owl.  I am suspecting an eagle.  But I am not sure since there were two other male geese with her, and they have vicariously attacked eagles in the past.  But a larger animal like a coyote or bobcat would have drug the body away farther and eaten more of it in my opinion. What do you think?

In much better news, I have been enjoying a book I bought called “Drink Your Garden”.  I made a Sparkling Rosé Wine Spritzer. I used the Lilac Cordial I had made previously.  But I also have been growing edible flowers for the first time so included a nasturtium.  It was refreshing and pretty.

Posted in Farm, Recipes- farm | 4 Comments

William’s Visit

William wanted to visit grampa this weekend.  I was at work yesterday so it was some time for the two of them.  William got to ride the Evel bike for the first time since it was renovated.

This was his first motorcycle.  Here are photos of him on it in March and July of 2019.  Unfortunately it was a little too powerful for him then, and he crashed in the brush.  He is a much better rider now.

 

William did help with the farm chores, feeding Jameson and collecting chicken eggs.

Wally made sure Piper’s quad seat was warm.

Today Tom’s kids, partners and Piper came over for a BBQ and riding.  Piper made this incredible artwork for me.

She rode her quad for the second time ever.  She was cautious at first but got quicker as the afternoon continued.

We went out back which was quite overgrown.  The grass is 8 feet tall.  Piper did well given it is her first time on her quad out back.  Here is William on the fence line with their dog Pips running behind him.

William ended up stuck in a ditch, and Tom had to pull him out.  Part of the issue is that he needs new tires on his quad which are going to be put on soon.

Here’s the view of the farm from there.  Sometimes I feel like I need to pinch myself that I get to live here.

Jaylene was admiring the bees on our laurel blooms.  We planted this after we moved here.  It is the size of a tree now, and the bees love it this time of year.

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