The Rain Came.

9-10-25 SHORT HILLS: We finally got rain here. The gauge goes up to 1.75 inches, but the gauge was filled beyond that—at least 2 inches of rain. I had been running the sprinklers, but they deliver only 0.05 inches or so a night. They are turned off for now.

We both are seeing lots of docs, and Judy is doing dog visits. She is fretting that Blue will not pass her re-certifying test this weekend. She and Blue have been practicing all week, several weeks actually.

I am trying to get the pool cover pump to work. The outlet needed to be replaced, but the pump shorts the electric circuit every time it’s plugged in. I can’t find the service manual with the purchase receipt to get it replaced under warranty. It will probably end up on the pile of #$%&** pumps that don’t work, and I will have to buy yet another one that will work for a while and then fail.

We are having dinner with Alan and Nancy tonight, and Lynn and Bill Saturday night. They’re paving our road today, so I hope we can get out tonight. 

New blooms: white snake root.

On a hot, sunny day the dogs know to lay down in the shade.

Sunset from our dinner with Bette, Ellen, Lonnie and Bruce.

First day of school for Emmett, first of 20 or more years of 'first' days.

This bald cypress looks a lot like the dawn redwood, but the fruit visible at the tree top is different.

Here's a closer look at the cypress fruits.

The dawn redwood has fruit that look like odd little cones. [picture from a few years ago]

Back in NJ.

8-31-25 SHORT HILLS: We’ve been back here for a few days and are getting settled in. We each have many doctor visits in September. The weather is great except we need rain here just as we do in VT. 

Tennis is on the TV from early to quite late, and we’ve been watching a lot of it. We are having dinner with Bette, Lonnie and Ellen and Bruce at a certain country club in West Caldwell tonight. Tomorrow we host Lynn and Bill here. 

New blooms: VT-white star clematis, pink turtle head.

                      NJ-Rose-of-Sharon, caryopteris, crape 

                            myrtle, hydrangea, abelia.          

Raven and Peachez admiring the new pasture gate.

Pink turtle head getting started as we left VT.

Rose-of-Sharon. We have these all over the NJ yard, and I took a couple to VT last fall, and they are doing fine. Some years ago I did the same thing, but they died in the winter. Climate change?

New Gate.

8-23-25 VERMONT: We go back to NJ next week and are starting to close up. However, Alison and Dan are using the house for a friend’s, Dru’s, wedding breakfast on Labor Day weekend. Then we will be back for my reunion the end of September. That’s when all the outdoor stuff gets put away, except for the stuff that stays out all winter. 

I’ve been busy doing outside chores, filling holes that the dogs have created, watering dry plants, and planting a few new things. I put another blue lobelia, L. siphilitica, in the lobelia bed we started on the pond bank in July, a phlox, P. paniculata, Fancy Girl, in the phlox bed by the French doors, and a gas plant, Dictamnis alba, on the pond bank near the Japanese maple. The gas plant was a gift from neighbor Valerie, who has magnificent gardens. It is not a good idea to plant during the drought, especially late in the season, but with watering they will be okay for next year, I hope. 

We went to dinner at Cloudland Farm with Valerie and Fred, it was great as usual. Yesterday we went to Barnard to hear neighbor Steve’s band, Blind Squirrel, play for the Barnard Street Dance. Barnard is pretty little town with a beautiful, big lake with ducks and geese. I guess it’s a suburb of Bethel. 

Today I put up a new gate for the pasture road access. I had major help from Steve and Diana and from Tina’s friend Tasso. It took a couple hours and needed a new post to close the gap. 

New blooms: tree hydrangea, dentate ligularia.

Bane berry berries, quite striking and possibly poisonous.

Tina competing at the gymkhana in Canaan.

The gas plant gift from Valerie.

Barnard Dance poster.

Blind Squirrel at Barnard.

Dinner at Cloudland Farm.

Fencers.

Dry, Dry, Dry.

8-14-25 VERMONT: The sunny parts of the yard are getting quite brown from lack of rain. We did have a T-storm yesterday, a lot of wind and distant thunder and lightning, but only a drop of rain, 0.05 inches. That T-storm ended a heat wave of about four days curation that had temps in the nineties. The heat pumps did an excellent job of cooling us. The pond levels continue to drop, but the pond life doesn’t mind. 

Val and Steve have gone, and we are expecting Alan and Nancy tomorrow for a long weekend. 

The monarch caterpillars are gone, but I haven’t seen any chrysalises, but I did see a new monarch today.

New blooms: sedum, blue lobelia, goose-neck loosestrife. 

Sedum is a succulent, so it is drought tolerant. This seems early for it to flower, but it is mid-August.

Goose-neck loosestrife has a bend in the blossom head and a ton of tiny flowers.

Red lobelia, cardinal flower, has a white tipped stigma that deposits pollen on the bee that dives into that tunnel at the center of the three lower petals and the two upper ones in search of nectar. The next flower gets the pollen from the first flower, and on and on.

Blue lobelia looks superficially like the red lobelia, but is a larger flower with a less prominent stigma and a bigger pit for the pollinator.

The Flowers Keep Blooming.

8-8-25 VERMONT: We had a pop-up T-storm a few days ago that delivered 0.15 inches in about an hour. It was much welcome except I had to start the grill under the garage overhang. We were grilling salmon for Val and Steve, who had just arrived. 

Yesterday we ate at the Baited Hook on Lake Mascoma just after a T-storm there. Tonight we’ll be at Casa Brava, rain or shine.

We need several inches of rain to catch up for the summer. The grass is starting to brown in spots, and the ponds are down a few inches.

The monarch I saw, I only saw one a few times, but maybe there are more than one. She has laid eggs on the milkweed [Asclepius incarnata], and I have seen four large monarch caterpillars. Very exciting. I never saw the eggs or the tiny caterpillars. 

I have also seen one turtle several times, but it might different turtles.

New blooms: monkshood, mint, golden rod, Joe Pye weed, cardinal flower, aster.

A monarch caterpillar eating milkweed.

Two more caterpillars, one near the top and one at the bottom.

Here's the monarch hovering over the milkweed.

Monkshood, each intensely purple flower is shaped like a cowl.

Lobelia, called cardinal flower because of the color and shape like a flying bird. It also comes in blue and white. The blue should be along in a few days.

The first aster, known to crossword fans as fall bloomers, tells us that summer is aging.

Black-Eyed Susan. Wild ones have been open in the pasture for weeks, but the garden ones just appeared.

Lilies with a tiger swallowtail looking a bit worn.

August Begins.

8-3-25 VERMONT: Summer always seems to zoom by while winter lasts forever, and it’s cold. Alison and Dan were here for a few days, and Val and  Steve are due in a few days from now. Tonight we go to the Loch Lyme Inn for dinner and to hear neighbor Steve’s band play. We are going with Shari and Dave.

We went to Casa Brava Tapas restaurant with A & D, who were pleased as were we. I finished a temporary wheel for Judy’s pumpkin cart. Judy successfully bid on an old, small table at Smith’s Auction, and it has found a new home here.

The weather is not as hot anymore, but we have had very little rain, and the grass is starting to go brown in spots. The lower pond is down a few inches, but the upper pond is down more than a foot.

Chippers, the tree people, were here during the week and took down the last of the three white pines that bordered the road. it was about 120-130 feet tall and had started rotting in the center. If it had fallen toward the house, it would have been a disaster. They spent less than a day cutting it down in small pieces, any of which probably weighed a ton. There was very little damage to the shrubs growing at its base.

Hummingbirds are very active, they love the bee balm and the feeders, which I am refilling almost weekly. They are very territorial, but for the first time ever there were two on a feeder at the same time. They spend more time chasing each other away from the flowers as they do using them. 

We have red squirrels here, less, I think, than in prior years. Generally the bigger grey squirrels are driving them out of their habitat. I caught one enjoying the blueberries, but I’m OK sharing.

Red squirrel is a blueberry bandit.

The white pine beforehand.

The pine afterwards. I was appalled in a way at how fast it went down--a massive living thing turned to sawdust.

The daylilies are almost done, but the real lilies just started.

Here's a hummer working the bee balm.

Helenium, also called sneeze weed, is actually not especially allergenic, but appears with the ragweeds.

Fall anemone just opened, it seems early, but maybe the plants know more than we do.

Judy's new old table fits right in.

North Haverhill Fair.

7-28-25 VERMONT: They left yesterday, Emmett and his parents, in a car packed to the brim, while we started and finished the clean up. They were among the best guests we've ever had. Alison and Dan are due on Wednesday. 

Saturday we went to the North Haverhill Fair for a look at all the animals and a bit of Fair food, Bloomin’ Onion and pulled pork sandwich. We ate and watched the games and rides and saw heifers, oxen, sheep and goats, tractors, a horse pull and took a lot of pix.

In the garden we have fritillary butterflies and the first monarch of the season. The tiger swallowtails are still here.

There has only been 0.2 inches of rain in the past ten days.

New blooms: cone flower, cup plant, helenium.

Five fritillary butterflies on Cone flowers.

Emmett, Mom and Dad. The new chair was a gift from them.

Emmett on the bench.

Fritillary on filipendula.

Prize winning Swiss Brown cow, can you tell that the cow is pregnant.

Yoked oxen, these are on the small size, big ones are taller than this handler.

Horse pull.

Stuff 4 sale.

Pond bank in July.

We Visit the Birds.

7-18-25 VERMONT: The hot and humid ended today with a cool and windy post cold front and a T-storm. We only got 0.1 inch of rain, but there was 1.15 over the last week. Things still seem dry, and the tomatoes need watering.

Emmett has been to story time at libraries in Norwich and Hanover, but today we did a trip to VINS [Vermont Institute of Natural Science] for the bird show. We saw raptors including owls, hawks, eagles, harriers, and the show with a harrier flying through the audience was the hit of the day. We even got souvenir owls a the gift shop. 

Emmett also visited the alpacas in the neighborhood. 

New blooms: pickerel weed, hydrangea, summer azalea, astilbe, hollyhock, rocket ligularia, meadow rue.

At VINS, this harrier put on a show for us and a zillion other kids.

We saw bald eagles at VINS. VINS is worth many visits.

An almost black flower from a hollyhock.

Summer azalea has subtle color.

Mid-summer pond bank.

Emmett helps feed the alpacas.

Nice sunset a few evenings ago.