Went to a strawberry festival at St John's in the Wilderness church
in Harriman State Park today. A nice English style church. I grew up
Episcopal but not "high church". This church had a confessional! and
the Stations of the Cross! I've never seen that in an Episcopal
church before. For $5 you got stamped and could eat all the
strawberry shortcake you wanted, a good deal. The music turned out to
be two guys with guitars doing "bluegrass" and "mountain music". Both
were interesting and had a local point of view in their own songs
which made it very worthwhile. I didn't know locals were still upset
that the state flooded their villages when the land became Harriman
State Park. Maybe he only sang that song as a historical reference...

Saw this rabbit when I drove in the driveway. Always nice
to see wildlife here.

More primrose are blooming. The geraniums are surviving the wet soil
by the birdbath so far it seems though I will keep an eye on them. I
bet it will be too moist for them and hope I can remove them in time
if they start to die.

Haven't seen ants in the kitchen in a few days. Well, I saw one but
that won't count. Ever since I sprayed them with Fantastic and washed
the latest batch of dishes that usually sit in the sink, rinsed, for
many days, I haven't seen any others. None in the bathroom either.
Are they done? Let's hope.

I'm also hoping that my having sealed the tops of the storm windows
will prevent flying creatures from entering. I did have a lightning
bug by the window by my bed this morning but I figure he was caught
inside as I washed the windows there yesterday. I saw a ton of things
lined up on the other side of the window last night. Looks like the
small ones, gnats?, are going to get through regardless unless I can
figure out a way to discourage them too. Might spray something on the
screens but if I do something like that I would think it would have
only very short term effects.

Prairie Home Companion tonight. Morris practice tomorrow with more of
a turnout tomorrow.

More later if think of it and my fingers don't mind typing more.
(This is work!)

Oh, and the cat ate another pill covered with a Pill Pocket! I think
I like those things. What a relief! Thank you, Pill Pockets.

Thurs, 6/15

I find a tick (nymph? very small) crawling around my arm after
planing all those flowers today. I brush it off into the cat box
holding bucket outside. No sense in just brushing it off back into
the wild.

I'm also being merciless* to any and all ants I see crawling around
my kitchen sink/counter. When I go to Maine, if they are still around
they will get store bought chemicals used against them. The baking
soda and the Fantastick haven't eradicated them. This is the first
year they have appeared for more than a day. (It started March 13
when they appeared by the cat bowl. They haven't come back there
since I poured baking soda all along the baseboards. I also see some
spiders living nearby so they might be getting them too.)

The de-anting technique up until I go to Maine has been wiping them
up with a damp sponge and washing them down the drain. (Same thing in
the bathroom.) It took a long time before I stopped feeling bad that
I was murdering all these ants. Now I am just mad they keep coming
back.

This from a guy who escorts almost any other insect found in the
house, out. I haven't intentionally killed anything I am aware of. If
I know it's there I'll escort it outside. Now if I am stepping on
ants in the bathroom or kitchen, I am not concerned but I do avoid it
if I see them.

I'm hoping that my taping the top edges of the storm windows up will
prevent any or at least most of the bugs I get inside each summer. I
get way too many. At night when the lights are on, all kinds of
things glue themselves to the screens and storm windows, eventually
getting in. I want to have the non-sticky side face out so they don't
get stuck and die from that but that is too hard to do at this point
so I'm sure I'll find some bodies when I pull the tape off when it's
time to pull the storm windows down again.

Time for lunch.

Cat has eaten her pill wrapped in a Pill Pocket!! Let's hope this
will happen again!

A beautiful black and blue butterfly was seen briefly by my outdoor
table. Didn't have my camera and it flew away quickly towards Aldo's.
I may have seen one like it last year. I thought I saw baby Monarchs
in the grass yesterday as I cut it but I bet they were just moths.
Some definitely were.

Saw a woodchuck as I was planting the geraniums by the bird bath. He
saw me first and ran under the chicken coop/dog house. Later, as I
was planting I saw him poke his head out from underneath it. We
stared at each other for a awhile, me talking to it to reassure it.
Eventually he went back under and I didn't see him again but I heard
all kinds of poking noises from there for awhile.

Aldo's tortoise shell cat seen out front earlier. I took a pic from far away.

(Fri 6/16) 2 fawns seen behind hedge by road

On the way to pick up the mail I saw this bush has berries on it. Anyone know what bush this is? The wild rose next to it has interesting fading flower buds which I also took a picture of but it came out too blurred.


As I walked through Judi's yard, from the back to make sure everything's ok, I notice something move ahead of me. There are two fawns resting by the hedge which has the road on the other side of it. I back off so they don't run towards it. I then pass them from the other side. I see only one. I get the mail. On the way back I see the other one get up. I talk to them. "Hi deer" is all I say, repeatedly. Take some pics. I was far away, didn't want to get close because I didn't want to scare them into the street. These are probably the baby deer Judi was talking about earlier which I hadn't seen until now. I've seen young deer here but not this young.

Here is a pic of the cat taken last night. A black cat in a dark window. At least you can see her eyes. (The movie on tv is Waterland.)

I plant the rest of Judi's plants

I've planted the rest of the plants Judi gave me. 12 marigolds, 6
geraniums (3 red, 3 pink -ick), 1 dianthus, and 3 vinca vines. 6 of
the marigolds went to a section near her entrance path,

the other 6 ended up on either side of the mailbox. All of the geraniums ended up
around the bird bath in the back. Hope it's not too wet there. The
soil is pretty moist. The dianthus is by the corner of the shed. The
vinca vines are in a hanging planter by the corner of my house by my
car. I've moved the Bougainvillia to the other corner. They still
haven't quite adjusted to being outside. No new leaves but it still
has some old ones. No bracts yet. All the rain we've had started to
grey some leaves but that is gone now.

I've seen corn flowers(?) along the highway but the ones I transplanted from out front last year are not reappearing by the shed. Maybe later but probably not at all.

Primrose are blooming!

I had some yellow evening primrose with me when I lived in CT 4
summers ago. I guess got some new ones probably last year. I don't
think I transferred them. They didn't bloom last year. They probably
got eaten by the woodchuck(s) or covered by weeds. They are protected
this year and blooming as of today! I have one bloom and more coming.
Putting the wire screen over them as they were getting started was
what let them survive the woodchuck when they were budding earlier in
the spring.

The day lilies have buds too so they are going to bloom soon. That
has never happened here before too. The wire screen and keeping the
weeds from overshadowing them seems to be what worked this year.
Basic stuff. Don't let the woodchucks eat them and don't let the
weeds cover them.

I am amazed that they have survived all these years without being
tended to. There are a whole lot more day lilies right around the
woodchuck hole just beyond where these are. Maybe some day I'll
protect those too. It'd be nice to have them bloom. It will be hard
to keep the woodchuck out of them though. I'll need more screening...

These pics are so I can record that they really exist before someone
eats them. Woodchuck or deer.

I am also going to plant a bunch of marigolds and geraniums and one
other plant that already has flowers that Judi gave me. Pics to come
of that too.

Wild strawberries!

Wild strawberries are popping up all over. Two years ago there was a patch in the back where it hardly gets any sun. They didn't appear there last year. This year there are patches in several places in the lawn. Plenty to feed the woodchucks and birds if they are interested.

It's Johnny's birthday... (written 6/13)

Hi all,

I'm enjoying my birthday.

Shaver didn't burn much today. I'm getting used to it I guess.

Found a daddy long legs, the first one of many to be found indoors
for the season, in-between the kitchen windows that I cleaned and
sealed yesterday. I guess he got closed in there; hope he didn't find
a way in since I just tried to close off all the places insects can
get in...

Read the paper in the back yard in the sun after breakfast. That
could become a new habit in the summer. There's a sunny spot there
and I've put a chair there by some flowers that are blooming so it's
not bad. Grass needs to be cut though.

I'll probably finish up the Joe Ely transfers to DVD today and will
probably start the CDs.

Am hearing some mournful crow noises. Not sure if they are normal or
a sign of distress. Might capture the audio and post them in my Yahoo
Briefcase. Might not.

Newspaper delivered to end of driveway, not to my house. Hope this
doesn't start a trend.

Cat has eaten pill left in food overnight. Hope this is a way to do
it. Coated it with butter. She doesn't like people food but maybe
this will appeal to her.

Found another daddy long legs later that night. Where are they coming from?

6/14

I wake at 4:45 am. Feeling a little queasy. Some good friends gave me
a dinner BBQ last night, had boneless pork ribs, a burger and some
grilled corn on the cob. I did notice that one part of the pork was
uncooked enough but didn't think much of it. It was delicious. I'm
feeling better now, about an hour later.

Heard a cat moan a little after 5. It was Aldo's black cat. Saw it
walk along the wall in the back. Said hi to it. It stopped for a
second, then continued on. My cat wasn't interested.

Heard some "clops". I've heard them before. Not sure what they are.
Deer's hooves on pavement? Deer's mouth's closing shut as some form
of deer communication? Some other animal? I've never seen the animal
as it makes that noise.

Did see a deer about 5:45 am. The cat noticed it first but it got it
me out of bed to look at it. The newspaper got delivered just then as
well. The deer jumped back into the bushes but wasn't too alarmed. It
then wandered back towards the woods. I was hoping it wouldn't notice
my flowers and it didn't.

Cat hasn't eaten the pill I dabbed in butter and left in a small pile
of food last night. As I write, she knocked the calendar off the
stereo cabinet as an effort to get me to feed her. She'll do that as
well when she knocks the outdoor thermometer off the table by my bed.
So far, she hasn't done anything more destructive to get me to pay
attention to her.

I do feel a little bad that this may not be the best approach. She
is diabetic. Withholding food isn't a good approach for a diabetic
cat but it worked the previous night. Hasn't worked so far for last
night/today.

My writing isn't as interesting as the mental notes I make before I
write. There are several points I am forgetting altogether and I'm
writing about things I hadn't intended to write about. Getting the
balance right of what I want to write and what I actually write takes
some practice, discipline.

6 am.