Fred postponed our shoeing appointment to Monday. Bad news for Stone, whose shoes were barely hanging on. Now he has lost his left front shoe and his foot is a mess. Life with horses…
We needed the rain, and it brought some cooler weather with it. It won’t be cool for long, but it was a perfect morning for riding. The ring was well watered.
Derry points out puddles to Bart
After we rode, we decided to do some trail work while the weather was tolerable. With chainsaw and loppers, we made a new cut through to Jane’s house. I forgot to get a picture.
Harry ventured out for groceries, and we had a delicious lunch of tomato sandwiches, thanks to Reckamp’s ripe tomatoes picked just a mile from here this morning.
There was plenty of bird action on the back porch today. It started this morning with a complaint from the pileated woodpecker at the lack of suet.
Where is the suet!?
Once the suet was put out, the summer tanager showed up.
And there were plenty of the usual characters about.
Goldfinches and cardinal 
Black capped chickadee in the apple tree
Out in the garden, those damnable tomato hornworms are terribly hard to find, and they are ruining the tomato plants!
Easy to see in this picture, but not so easy in real life
The flowers make up for disappointment with the vegetables (and having Reckamp’s nearby helps).
Perennial hibiscus 
New day lily blooming 
First zinnias from this year’s seeds 
The perennial hibiscus plants
Roscoe mugged for the camera this afternoon.
Out of the blue, our neighbors, Al and Diane Herter, texted to see if we would like some corn that they had just brought back from Alton, Illinois. Since corn is Harry’s favorite food, we were delighted. We had corn for supper, and it is the best corn ever! What a nice ending to the day. We are lucky indeed to have such good neighbors! And there will be more corn feasting tomorrow, hooray!
Fresh from the river bottomland field
And finally, here are horses out for the night. Later, Oisin and Bart were scratching each other, but the light was gone, so no picture. Stone’s foot is wrapped, but it will be a long four days until he gets a shoe.
Bart and Stone (Oisin is still in the shed – there are flies!)
Stay safe, stay well, wear a mask, wash your hands, and keep your distance.
There are some great captions for the gathering of the birds on the feed box. One Goldfinch looks a though he’s singing an operatic solo with falseto bravado. His mate to the right looks as if he’s thinking, “Really?” While the Cardinal appears almost ashamed for him, or perhaps trying his best to appear as though, “This isn’t really happening.” Meanwhile the female Goldfinch thinks, “Oh dear, there he goes again, poor darling.” For me, ah, I can almost here him trill. I love the photo, and the operatic Goldfinch! Who knows what’s going on in nature, all those metaphysical waves of what we call thought. Connection, beautiful, ongoing, connection. Love on!!
I love this! How wonderful, and creative, Jane! Right side of the brain at work, eh?