The first day of Memorial Day Weekend, “the unofficial start of summer”, has lived up to that image. It definitely feels like summer today. But apart from the heat, there isn’t much to blog about. Now that Harry is healed, I have no reason to report on his progress, and with the pandemic, there aren’t many adventures in the offing.
But for the discipline of it, here is today’s offering.
Jane and I rode mid morning, and decided that it is time to invoke summer hours, so tomorrow we will ride before breakfast. The horses were good, we jumped a very little bit, missing Kris, but still inspired.
I had to get back on the mower, alas. Now it is pretty much all done, though I need to get out with the chainsaw and clear a couple of places. I had a number of ticks, which freaks me out, after my brush with tick fever. I’m hoping there is some residual effect from the course of doxycycline.
Turnout is now late. Yesterday, the horses went crazy from the bugs after I turned them out early in the rain. Once the rain stopped, the bugs came out, and I thought we were going to have injuries! So now we are really on the summer schedule. The horses were very happy to be out in the south pasture this evening, for a change.
Strawberries are peaking with the heat – we had a delicious dessert straight from the garden today. Which was good, because I did fix lunch, and it was AWFUL. Harry was nice about it, but it was an epic fail. Thank goodness for strawberries!
The fringe tree and the mock orange are spectacular the past couple of days. I wish I could include the glorious fragrances!
Weedy and mock orange 
Harry, as always, has been hard at work in the studio (after doing over an hour of daily exercises). It’s time for another haircut! Maybe a real one is in order.
Evening at the the barn, there are cats galore.
Tom Morris 
Cora 
Rosie
Tom Morris appeared here about a year ago, a young, wild scaredy cat. We trapped him, tested him, neutered and vaccinated him, and he settled into the group of then seven barn cats. It’s never easy to incorporate a new cat, but he was undeterred. In a while, a friendship developed between Tom Morris and Twizzler, the much older, much weirder cat. Last night, they were watching evening descend, sitting side by side on the mounting block. I didn’t have my camera, but it was a beautiful picture. Tonight, they were not as picturesque, but they are definitely good pals.
It is a privilege to live with animals and witness the relationships of different species. We are so lucky. I heard on the radio today that snakes form friendships with certain individuals, not something I had expected in reptiles. It just shows how narrow even my view of the world has been. Anyway, here are two friends this evening.
And finally, no Montana mule picture, but the catmint (Nepeta) in full bloom next to the mounting block.
Stay safe, stay well, and cherish friendships.
The horses, cats, and Harry look happy, the strawberries look yummy, I can still imagine the intoxicating aroma of mock orange, the fringe tree is spectacular, and my mint blooms are kind of a grayish white; not at pretty as yours but I didn’t have to shop for it or go to the trouble of planting and feeding it, it grows wild here—everywhere 😂 Happy to hear you and Jane are riding and all is well at BFF. Except for the pesky ticks! Stay safe and be well.
My strawberries are my only source of garden pleasure. I completely removed most of the healthy ones last year and redid the rows and ridded myself of the wild strawberries that had invaded over the years. Then I fertilized and heavily laid down straw this Spring to the point that maybe even the strawberries wouldn’t grow but they did. Weeding the rows in the middle ofJuly is not on my list. The asparagus are drowning as usual.
Do you make your weed killer too strong for your Sunday yard work?. Kathy Orthwein Snowden wants Patrick CClark to do a segment on a sin most Sunday Capitalists in the suburbs are guilty of , inadvertently poisoning bunnies and bees, by overuse of amine 400 without enough water in pursuit of the perfecto lawn. You would not believe the number of lawns regularly subjected to this poisoning nor how a change in mixing proportions at one thee acre spot and than another and then the 5 acres around the corner could change a world into something helpful instead of deadly and save a zillion endangered honeybeess.
How did Worm turn into a warrior about this prob? Found a mysteriously dead nestling group of baby buns on the front lawn of the mansion on Fordyce five years ago. Did research has been at this ever since. I think it might make a good piece. What do you think? Got any hard fact questions like how does suburban acreage amounts compare to cropland amounts. (Farmers are not the big sinners of overmixing, Suburbanitesare.) Send word about what would make this article/ video more appealing.