Back In Vermont.

9-29-20 VERMONT: We’ve been back here for a couple busy days. On arrival yesterday we were blown away by the maple colors—orange, red and yellow—and bright in the sun. The ash trees are also in fall purple and yellows. 

We unloaded the car, walked the pasture, newly mowed, took pix. It’s been warm, seventies, and humid yesterday and today. We drove to Plainfield, NH this morning to pick up Judy’s new rug, won at auction a few weeks ago. After getting back here and after taking a couple road pix, we were lifting and pushing the living room furniture around to lay the new rug. Then I needed a nap.

We took more pix today, picked out a quartz rock from an old wall in the pasture for Gus’ grave and moved it to the doggie cemetery, talked about bringing in the outdoor benches, and deferred action on that chore for now.

Late afternoon we had a visit from a quartet of mergansers who were exploring the pond until Kaley spotted them and chased them away. She almost caught a frog today—it would have been her first.

The drought has continued and the ground is dry and dusty, the big pond is down six inches, the pasture pond is dry, and the new pond is lower than ever, but tonight we are getting rain! More rain is predicted next week as well. 

We have many chores for the next few weeks, and Vermont is the place to be. Vermont is now the best state for avoiding Covid 19, with the lowest incidence, lowest per capita rate, best testing, and very good mask and social distance compliance. 

New blooms: toad lily, bottle gentian, red asters.

Common Merganser, one of four that hit the pond this evening.

All four mergansers, all female or immature.

Fall color in our pasture.

More maples.

Behind the big barn.

Maple color reflected in the pond.

Kaley came with an inch of catching her first frog after the stare down.

Local and distant mountains. 

A Flicker of Interest.

9-20-20 SHORT HILLS: The feeders have been out since we got back to NJ. In VT the feeders were all unfilled because of the bears patrolling the neighborhood. The grackles have been here since we got back and they, and the squirrels, have been draining the feeders practically every day. The grackles always stop here on their way south in the fall for a long visit. It seems early, but the birds seem to know when to move.

This morning I saw a couple of doves on the lawn, but one of them showed me a red flash, and I realized it wasn’t a dove and took a bunch of pix, see below.

The weather has been dry, too dry, and cold. Last night was in the forties and this morning I turned the heat on, a rarity in September. The house plants are all back inside. Most of the dead fall has been taken off the shrubs and some pruning and weeding done. We are still waiting for the tree people to take the huge, broken branch off a black walnut. I forgot to mention that hostas are also in bloom in the last post.

Google has changed the format for the blog, and I hate the new one. 

At first glance, I thought it was another dove, but the flash of red made me take a closer look and spot this Flicker.

He has spots on his breast and bars on his back and wings.

He has a black mustache and a black bib. 

There is a red 'Y' on the nape of the neck.

All of these make him a male Northern Flicker, yellow-shafted type usually found in the east of North America. Flickers are in the woodpecker family. I assume he has started migrating and is resting in our yard. The Grackles, below, have been here for a few weeks and have been mobbing the feeders.

 

Return to NJ.

9-12-20 SHORT HILLS: We’re back in NJ. The first few days here were hot and summery, but things are cooler now and will be for the next week—just as we are replacing the old AC unit that died. We may not get to try the new one this fall, but it will probably get hot again.

That last TS, Isaias, left us with a thousand branches scattered in the yard and one huge limb from a walnut tree that took out at least a pear tree and damaged a sycamore, forsythia and other shrubs. It is still hanging from the tree, as we have been waiting for the tree people to clear it. They promised to come next week. After it’s gone, I can fully assess the damage under it. Otherwise, I have been playing pickup-sticks.

Our copper beech is distressed with some bare branches, I thought from the early season drought, and I watered it a lot and, maybe, it has stabilized. We’re getting a consult on it. In spite of the sprinklers, the yard was very dry, and I have been maxing the watering.

The indoor plants are still on summer vaca in the yard and look good.

Gus died the day we got back here, at the vet’s office, as I had posted on FB—we are still struggling with our loss—the other dogs included. Judy notified a lot of the schools and hospitals that she used to visit with Gus. Newark Beth Israel posted a tribute to Gus on their FB page, and there were many, many comments and remembrances from the staff. There are no Pet Therapy visits happening now because of Covid, and not likely to be any again until everyone is vaccinated.

In bloom: roses, hydrangea, tree hydrangea, rose-of-Sharon, lamium, spirea, caryopteris, crape myrtle, white-star clematis, aster, white snakeroot, goldenrod, abelia.

Rose-of-Sharon grows all over our yard, it's a hibiscus, readily volunteers, but isn't hardy for VT.

Here it is in vanilla, strawberry above.

White snakeroot is a wild flower that has spread widely in this yard, some might call it a weed, but it has no thorns, stickers or burs, so I'm OK with it.

Caryopteris is a nice, late bloomer that I have growing in the yard after a few failed attempts.

Crape Myrtle is another late bloomer, that was also hard to establish, but this one seems to be good.

Lamium in this color blooms all summer and into the fall.

Aster, wild flower or weed?

White-Star Clematis is another volunteer here and grows in several spots.

From Val, in Brooklyn, the WTC light display.

Gus as a happy, young dog with four tennis balls, the fourth is inside his mouth.

Summer is Over.

9-7-20 VERMONT: We probably head back to NJ tomorrow to catch up with doctor appts and to get our mail-in ballots, check them off and mail them back. I know who I’m voting for, I know who I’m not voting for, ever, as of four years ago, or maybe five years ago, and I will be appalled if that candidate is re-elected—all clear? We will probably be back here for the fall leaves and longer depending on what Covid does this fall.

Speaking of Covid, we had a rarity, a bunch of family up for the weekend. Val and Steve stopped here on the way to Maine to see his fam a week or so ago, and Alison arrived the next day for the week. We went to the auction preview, McNamara Dairy in Plainfield, NH for maple, 5-star, ice cream, saw turkeys. Friday Anna, Gardner, and Lily arrived. They explored the area, and the big dinner on Sat night was on the deck with the firepit going and Judy’s duck, wild rice, special salad and peach pie ruling, except, possibly for the maple ice cream pie. Cousin John joined us for the dinner. Many wine bottles were opened.

After dinner there was a brief shower followed by the setting sun that gave us a spectacular rainbow, and then a double rainbow that got bright enough to be reflected in the pond, is that a triple?

Monarchs—I saw six today on the mint in the pasture.

Now the guests are all gone and we’re packing up.

New blooms: hardy hibiscus, pink turtlehead.

This saucer-sized Hardy Hibiscus is a late summer bloomer. We have one in all red also, but it's not open yet.

A couple more Hibiscus.

We were at our neighbors for pizza a few nights ago. They built a Bread Oven a two years ago, and it does pizza also.

Ready to eat, outside around the firepit.

After the pizza, they made bread for the week.

Alison spotted turkeys by the pond during the week, and I got some pix as they walked into the pasture and later across the road.

There seemed to be two broods, each with two adults in charge, or maybe it was four broods with two moms in charge of each group of two broods. Here's one with ten chicks and one adult in the field.

Here is the other group with six chicks and one mom.

Val took and pic of us with pretty good smiles and one dog.

These two rainbows and reflection in the pond were one of the high lights of Saturday dinner on the deck.

Missing only the photog, who couldn't get the timer delay to work, the Saturday night party on the deck featured duck legs and wild rice and maple ice cream pie among other delectables.

Pink turtlehead saves it until the end of the season.

Cold Nights.

9-1-20 VERMONT: The last week here has been cold. Daytime highs barely reaching the seventies, and over night lows below fifty. We have had fires almost every night. The cool nights have left the grass soaked with dew in the mornings. Treetops are starting to turn, birds are gathering in bunches, and it doesn’t feel like summer any more.

We had a nice rainy day courtesy of TS Laura and got about 0.75 inches with some aerial electricity. There were a few other showers without much accumulation.

Val and Steve were here for a day on Sunday on their way to Maine to see Steve’s mom and fam. They plan to see Maggie in Boston on the way home. Yesterday Alison came up for the week and Anna, Gardner and Lily come up for the holiday weekend. We will head back to NJ sometime after the weekend.

The bear has been seen around the neighborhood again, so the bird feeders remain empty and the garage gets closed at night. The great blue heron has been back to the pond a couple times.

Brady the horse has been wearing an overcoat on the cold and rainy nights. A few days ago the dogs were all barking away when they were first let out in the morning. They didn’t recognize Brady in disguise and had to sneak up to him to do a sniff-test ID.

This little bottle-brush of a caterpillar is a Milkweed Tussock Moth. Like the Monarch butterfly, they feed on milkweed and accumulate cardiac glycosides from the plant, which make them toxic for birds. They will over-winter in a cocoon and appear in the spring as adults. This is the same milkweed plant that I showed last week with Monarch caterpillars.

The dogs had me up early the other morning, and I caught this sunrise.

Asters--crossword puzzle answer to 'fall bloomer'.

Jonny Jump Up, a pansy/violet, has been blooming all summer.

Black-eyed Susan with a Daddy-Long-Legs.

Echinacea is an August favorite.