Monarchs Rule.

7-29-10 VERMONT: I mowed again yesterday cutting, or rather re-cutting, the paths in the pasture. I need another half day to finish. Last night we had a T-storm with lots of L & T, but no wind. The dogs were terrified, as usual, and become very cuddly. There was 0.8 inches in the gauge this morning. Let’s see—I put up a new hummingbird feeder, the old one started leaking, refilled the other feeders, weeded, snipped off a tent-caterpillar tent and fed them to the fish, picked tomatoes.

New blooms: black-eyed susan.




These guys will be Monarch Butterflies. They are presently stuffing themselves on milkweed leaves. I turned the leaf over to get the pic in the first two. The third pic is another plant with a different bug. The long horns indicate the front end, the three legs in front become the adults legs. I'll try to catch the cocoons when they happen. Nice color, huh?

BBQ Sunday in the Rain.

7-26-10 VERMONT: Yesterday we had scattered T-storms, but went to Windsor, VT for the Harpoon Brewery BBQ competition. There must have been 50 or 60 booths BBQing many species of animals plus lots of Harpoon brews. Adina and Craig and Adina’s giant puppy, Theo, who got a lot of attention, joined us. We all overate, got rained on, sampled the brews and had a great time. So did thousands of others. Many of the BBQers displayed their medals and awards.

One of the BBQ booths displayed their trophies. How many animals can you id?

Today, I was back at work, trying to burn off some of those calories. I mowed the tall grass in the pasture around the veggie garden, barns, some of the fence with the DR Trimmer. Before that there was weeding and pruning as always. Today was beautiful, 70’s with a breeze and dry and clear.

We saw two painted turtles sunning on the rock formation by the pond this afternoon.

New blooms: liatris, more phlox, more ligularia.


Pickerel Weed, a shallow water plant with arrowhead shaped leaves and bluish flowers.


Some of the crayfish in the pond have grown just enormous.

First Tomato Thrown Out. The Season Begins.

7-24-10 VERMONT: Today we’re back in the broiler with humidity and sun. Yesterday was cool, misty, drizzly late in the afternoon and over night. There was little measurable rain fall.

Before the rain yesterday, I did more work on the walkway under the deck replacing broken bricks with field stone.

When the culvert was cleaned out by the town a month of so ago, the road crew dumped the load of sand and dirt that came out of the culvert on a swampy area of the pasture. Today I started spreading it around with a rake and shovel which was a hot, sticky, sweaty job that I nearly finished, and it nearly finished me. I downed about three quarts of ice tea afterwards. I’ll let it get rained on and settle for a few weeks before I do the rest.

Before the shoveling, Judy and I picked wild blackberries and had the first few ripe tomatoes. The blue berries are almost gone.

New blooms: aster, rusty foxglove, pickerelweed in the pond. The last two have been out for about a week, but I forgot to mention them.


'Moulin Rouge' sunflower.

Aphrodite Fritillary Butterfly on Joe Pye Weed. Something took a bite out of one of the hind wings, but check out the tongue!

Digitalis ferruginea, Rusty Foxglove

Not 'Cat in a Hat', but 'Dog in a Boat'.

7-22-10 VERMONT: Yesterday we got the rain. We had 0.4 inches in the morning in a thunderless T-storm that lasted about an hour. I was happy with that, but in the evening it got dark about five PM after a bunch of distant lightening and thunder drifted by. Then came the wind, blowing small branches and leaves off the trees, and finally a downpour that delivered an inch more of rain. There was no hail, downed trees or power surges and only the briefest blackout.

Today was beautiful, breezy, sunny and cool, almost too cool. I would have killed for this cool a few weeks ago.

In between I did some pruning, trimming, weeding, and dead-headed the delphinium. Val et al move on to Steve’s family in Maine tomorrow. We will be child-, grandchild-, and guest-less for the first time since early June.

New blooms: golden rod, Casablanca lily, soap wort.


Will the dog tip the boat over? Will the other dog retrieve his ball? That dot in the water on the left near the ball is a turtle's head, and he's probably laughing.

Casablanca Lily. Gigantic and incredibly aromatic.

Stars, Rainbows and Moss.

7-20-10 VERMONT: We’re a month past the summer solstice and a month closer to fall. It has turned dry, and I may have to start watering. I did start the soaker hose for the veggies today. T-storms have been predicted every day, but we see them go crashing by to the north or south, but our rain gauge stays empty.

Yesterday faced with an all-day rain, that didn’t happen here, we went to St. J, that’s St. Johnsbury for you flatlanders, and the Fairbanks Museum. It’s a Victorian Era museum, natural history, in a brick Victorian building in a town filled with Victorian houses. It has lots of taxidermy, birds and mammals, minerals, cultural exhibits, and the "Eye on the Sky" weather broadcast that’s a staple of VPR. We went to the planetarium show and weighed our selves on a scale set for moon and Martian gravities. Throw in a slice of pizza, and it was a great afternoon. And they got a lot of rain. We had an evening rainbow.

Today we hiked the nearby brook, now reduced to a trickle. You can see pix of it in the March 23, 2010 post ‘Fast Water’ when it was more prosperous. Now it is easy to rock hop down the middle from mossy block to mossy log. Tonight we had another rainbow, ho hum.

New blooms: milk weed, goose-neck loosestrife.


I say hold the bow, just the rain, please.

Lots of places to cool your weary feet.

Camp Theater.

7-17-10 VERMONT: It has been hot, almost 90° every day with frequent, brief showers but only about 0.1 inches or rain in the gauge. It is also muggy with only an occasional breeze.

Val and Steve arrived last night for camp retrieval weekend. Judy and I went to see Lucy at Hive in “Beauty and the Beast”, she was Lefou. They saw Maggie in “Once Upon a Mattress” as Lady Larkin. Tonight we switch performances. It’s hard work being a grandparent.

New blooms: lilies and more day lilies.


Bodacious Lily. My favorite flower is whatever I'm looking at now.


Good Night to Lake Fairlee.

Back to Work.

7-14-10 VERMONT: We got another 0.6 inches of rain last night and had a brief shower today with distant thunder but no local electricity. I spent the day outside doing chores but am hard pressed to remember what. Let’s see—fixed a wall, staked flowers, trimmed and pruned, cleaned-up, admired my creations, took pix and probably other stuff.

New blooms: shasta daisy. [forget to mention yesterday]


Shasta Daisy. Great patterns in the center.

Echinacea and Friend.