Rainbows and Butterflies.

8-19-19 VERMONT: We’re finally getting rain, almost every day for the past few days, and we’ve gotten more than an inch of the several inches we need. On the way to the movies the other night we saw a great rainbow between T-storms.

In the pasture the mint is as high as my eye and is in bloom. It’s covered with pollinators, a variety of bees, other insects, and butterflies. Here are a few pix that I caught recently. Goldenrod is also in bloom, but doesn’t seem to be as popular as the mint.

There are lots of Monarch butterflies and every patch of milkweed has caterpillars. I counted twenty on one large milkweed, but only one chrysalis so far.

New blooms: white-star clematis.


Rainbow between T-storms, in Lebanon, NH, on the way to see Blinded by the Light. We loved the rainbow and the movie.

Monarch on milkweed. There are lots of butterflies this year.

Three Monarch caterpillars of about twenty on this large clump of swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata.

A Monarch Chrysalis on the same plant, the first one I've seen this year.

When the caterpillars decide to metamorphose, they fasten onto the underside of a leaf and form a hook shape like this one to become a Chrysalis.

Painted Lady on mint.

White Admiral also on mint.

Also on the mint, another Monarch?? No, it's a Viceroy. The chief difference is that line on the hindwing that intersects all the other lines. It's an example of mimicry as a survival advantage. the Monarchs are toxic to birds, who avoid them, so the Viceroys get that protective benefit by looking like the Monarchs without having to develop the protective toxicity mechanism.

The Red Maple Is Gone.

8-15-19 VERMONT: We had a nice dinner in Canaan with Gretchen and John, Laura-Beth and Denny and hosts Julie and Dudley. Their place on the lake is beautiful, dinner was wonderful and the conversation interesting. That was Tuesday, tonight we were back at Candela Tapas with Shari and Dave. Tomorrow we go to Cloudland Farm for our 58th Anniversary.

Chippers, our tree people, were here yesterday to take down the dying red maple behind the pond. It used to have spectacular fall color, but the color faded as the tree was dying. This summer it dropped a huge branch that could have done damage to the other nearby trees. Joey and I cut that branch up for firewood. Chippers took the maple down, as well as a couple of crab apples, without damaging the nearby specimen trees. They ground down the stumps, graded and seeded the spots where the trees had been. I have some firewood to split and a load of chips in the pasture to rake out. I always feel a loss when an important tree dies. They will have to come back for one or two other trees that are dying.

Today I watered the newly seeded spots and used the string trimmer around the small barn and around the roses.

The big barn floor repair has started, but won’t finish until sometime in September.

New blooms: helenium, Casablanca lily, red sedum, mint.


Cedar Waxwing looking elegant even if his true identity is secret.

Mint in flower with a monarch who has a sweet tooth, or tongue.

The big red maple is gone. It should be in the center of this pic, but has been turned into chips and firewood. It wasn't completely dead, but had dropped major branches and was something of a hazard. At one time its red fall color was so vivid that people driving by stopped to take its picture, but it had stopped showing that dramatic pigment as it dwindled.

These Casablanca lilies have a perfume that fills the air. They appear just as the daylilies are finished.

Helenium.

Sedum. the first of several that will last into November.

Cold Day.

8-10-19 VERMONT: Today is chilly, in the sixties and partly cloudy. We have had some rain, brief showers with a total accumulation of 0.25 inches—we need more rain.

The garden is threatening to go wild with weeds and over growth, an annual August hazard. I did open up the path between the driveway and new house, the hydrangea and azaleas had closed it. Weeds are everywhere, and I have pulled them from some of the beds. I’m glad the plants and shrubs are healthy and prospering, but they need to be disciplined.

We had dinner with cousin John at Candela Tapas Lounge.

We had a short visit from newly retired friend Bill, and the three of us went to an almost surprise party for old friend Gail given by husband Dave. It was a warm event and was nice to see a bunch of people that we hadn’t seen for a long time.

New blooms: potentilla, monkshood, white turtlehead, Indian pipe.


Ruby-throated hummingbird, male, the females are all green.

Eastern towhee, immature, the mature males are pretty dramatic looking.

Aphrodite fritillary on milkweed.

Eastern phoebe looks a lot like the other flycatchers.

White turtlehead, the pink ones won't open for a few weeks.

One of several crawfish eating algae from the edge of the pond.

Monarch caterpillar on milkweed. There are several caterpillars of varying sizes on the native plants and the garden varieties of milkweed.

Portsmouth and Kittery.

8-6-19 VERMONT: Yesterday we did a day trip to Portsmouth, NH. We drove south to Concord and followed the signs to Portsmouth, which put us on Rt. 4, a two-lane road with traffic lights and construction delays. On the way back, we used Rt. 101 and saved an hour! We were supposed to go to visit Ken and Carol in Southwest Harbor, ME, this week, but canceled because of concerns for Gus’ health.

Portsmouth was settled in the early 1600’s and is named for Portsmouth, England, which is in Hampshire County. The first settlement, Strawberry Banke, named for the wild strawberries growing there, is a block from the water. The Strawberry Banke Museum now consists of about thirty buildings, most original to the site and dating from 1600’s for the earliest. The structures are in various states of restoration. We spent a couple hours seeing most of what was open yesterday. A block to the east is Water Street and the harbor. A couple blocks to the northwest is Market Square with shops and eateries and North Church, built, approximately, two hundred years ago and two hundred years after the first settlement.

We crossed the Piscataqua River to Kittery Maine and Bob’s Clam Hut, a fav, for lunch before heading back to VT.

Back in the pasture, while exercising the dogs, I noticed several Monarch butterfly caterpillars on one patch of milkweed.


Weathervane at Portsmouth Harbor.

Strawberry  Banke, Chase House above and below.

Fancy bedroom, Chase House.

Jefferson Street. The flags indicate which buildings are open today.

Aldrich House arbor with chairs in the shade.

Street corner of Jefferson and Atkinson. The flag is the 'Grand Union Flag', first USA flag, from 1775-1777.

Portsmouth Harbor.

Market Square, North Church, from early 1800's.

Back in Thetford, Monarch caterpillars are grazing on milkweed, I counted 7 on juct one patch.

August Begins.

8-3-19 VERMONT: It has been very dry here, the grass is brown in spots, the pond is down a couple of inches, all the wet spots have dried up, and I have been watering the new plantings. We did have two brief T-storms that give us a total of 0.25 inches, not much, but better than nothing. The weather has been hot, regular, old summer days, but the nights are cool.

We had pizza for dinner earlier this week, made in the new bread oven, by the neighbors across the street, Diana and Steve. Andy and Katie were there also. Everybody had a chance to roll the dough and apply the toppings. The oven temperature was 500°. They cooked in about five minutes. Domino’s might be in trouble.

The next night we had dinner with Dave and Gail at Elixir in White River Junction during one of those T-storms.

Anna and Gardner are here this weekend. He has been interviewing students for an internship, and she arrived by air yesterday. We picked her up in Lebanon and had dinner at Tuckerbox in WRJ. Tonight we are grilling here.

The barn is sick. The floor is uplifted in a couple of spots from frost heaves that have not subsided with the warm weather. It also has rotted floorboards, and there is rot in the platform under the floor. We discovered the rot when we took up a couple of the uplifted boards. Apparently, too much water under the barn can cause the pilings to get pushed up when it freezes, but the pilings don’t drop back down in place because dirt and debris fill the hole under the piling as the ice melts. It will need to be fixed and drainage pathways will need to be created. The entire barn above the floor is fine.

We have picked 6 quarts of blueberries with more to be picked. I noticed in town that they were selling for $5 a pint. Do the math.

I planted a bunch of vinca vines, annuals, in spots that the dogs dug up while looking for cool places to lie down, a practice I try to discourage. The vines were left over from the wedding, ornaments that never got used and had been set aside and forgotten. I saw them growing out from under a bush and thought, ‘what are those?’ and then remembered them. They are planted next to the foundation, so have an opportunity to survive the winter.

New blooms: blue clematis, gooseneck loosestrife, cup plant, more phlox.


The fox caught again at night near the small pond.

Flycatcher. There are several species that all look pretty much the same. This one might be the Least Flycatcher or the Willow Flycatcher, according to the bird ID apps.

Savanah Sparrow is very similar to the Song Sparrow.

Cup plant. Where the leaves meet at the stalk they form a cup that holds rain water. I don't think it does anything for the plant, but the bugs like it.

Catbird, definite ID.

I thought this clematis was a no show this year, but this late appearance is a nice surprise.

Common wood nymph, anyone?

White admiral on pasture milkweed. This patch of milkweed was mowed earlier in the summer, but has recovered and bloomed a bit later than the un-mowed milkweed.

Monarch displayed on swamp milkweed, A. incarnata, in the garden.

Haverhill Fair.

7-29-19 VERMONT: Saturday we went to the Haverhill Fair with Shari, Kay and Dave. We got there in the late morning, it was not crowded, which is good when you stand in line for food, but less exciting over-all. And there were lots of overalls in view.

After fortifying myself with a bloomin’ onion, we watched the end of a horse pull, using two horse teams. The winners towed more than three tons of stone on a sled-like platform called a stone boat. The horses are decked out in fancy harnesses.

Dave and I went to see an antique tractor pull and saw several runs. There were many competitors, but we left after about a dozen.

Between events Judy had a pulled pork sandwich while I had a sausage with peppers and onions. We all watched a ‘powder puff’ horse pull, one horse and one horsewoman per team. After a few rounds we went to the livestock pavilions to see sheep and goats, oxen and cows and a bunch of ‘4-H’ kids, all very proud of their animals.

We left mid-afternoon as the fairgrounds were starting to fill up. Somewhere in there we had a funnel cake also. It’s a pretty drive up and back.

New blooms: first phlox.


The midway Saturday morning, it'll be packed later. Many prizes to be won.

Horse teams pulling a heavy stone boat near the end of this competition.

Tractor pull. This one is from 1939. I'm a year older and have a little less rust, but it's clearly stronger.

Single horse pulling, horsewomen only.

In the livestock pavilions--long eared goats.

Young oxen teams. Notice the coloring of the spots, black with blue borders.

Grafton Pond.

7-28-19 VERMONT: Friday we took the canoe to Grafton Pond in New Hampshire for our first paddling of the season. The parking area was packed with cars, but we hardly noticed the people after we got out on the water. The pond is beautiful, the water clear and dotted with small islands, some only big enough for a couple of trees. Our favorite spot is an island toward the south end with a big, flat granite slab that is perfect for a picnic.

When we got there, there were a couple folks already there, but we shared the spot. They pointed out a big snapping turtle in the shallow water. I estimated the shell size at two feet long. They gave him/her a couple of grapes that he snapped up. We all left after a half hour or so and paddled back to the dam area and parking lot. The pond is famous for loons. We did see one for a few moments between dives, but got no pix.

New blooms: purple salvia, pickerel weed, ligularia stenocephala.


Grafton Pond is dotted with little islands of granite, pine and blueberries.

A good sized snapper waiting to be fed.

Check out the claws.

Another hybrid daylily, this one in white.

Tiger Swallowtail on Obedient Plant flowers. You can count all six legs, two antennas and the tongue.