Perspective

To give you some perspective on what the river normally looks like, I thought I'd add this picture taken back in April. Notice how dull the landscape was compared to now.

The grass begins to grow in April. If it was a good year our cows were let out to pasture around the third week in April. We miss seeing them out in the meadows since we sold our dairy herd back in 2000.

The poor farmers are having a terrible time trying to get their haying done this year.

Build an Ark?

Our creek is usually a peaceful, meandering stream but it's not at the moment. The water was still pouring through the culvert yesterday.



On the lower side of the culvert the roadside is badly washed out. The county has lots of fixing to do all over the area.



I walked down to look at the flooded river and this is as far as I could go. I usually walk around the bend and follow the river bank.



From the hill above our farm you can see how high the river is.



I took this further along our valley yesterday as I drove back from a dentist appointment.



My husband's brother very graciously vulunteered to fix our driveway yesterday.



He did a great job!



Last night we had a thunder storm and more rain, but not so heavy this time.

Alice has inspired me to look up! I find myself looking at clouds a lot these days, and sunsets, but our sunsets are not as spectacular as hers in Canberra. Not yet, anyway. We'll get some beauties as the weather gets warmer.

I'm very happy to report sunshine this morning, but the forecast says there's a chance of showers. We had clouds and a few sprinkles early this morning.

My heart goes out to all those people who have been adversely affected by the extensive flooding in several northeastern states, and I pray for those families who have lost loved ones.



Kitten fix!

Wet Feet!

These pictures were supposed to be part of the post below, but 'Hello' had other ideas. It often uploads the pictures to my blog before I'm finished queuing them. Very annoying, to say the least.



Our driveway is pretty badly washed out.



Kittens don't like to get their paws wet!


And they don't much like wet grass.



But these things don't deter them from their play.

Flooding!

This is what I woke up to this morning.

There's extensive flooding in upstate NY due to very heavy rains which began on Sunday afternoon. We couldn't believe we could get even more rain than we've already had in the past several weeks, but rain, it did! The water just kept pouring out of the sky!



The road was blocked off by a fire truck.

The creek that runs through our meadow beside the house was flooding and pouring water over the road.

My husband leaves about 5:00AM for work. I thought about him driving through all that water and called to see if he'd made it OK. He said he had to drive through flooded spots in the road at least 4 times, but he got there eventually. All the county roads around Cooperstown, where he works, were now closed. He said he'd never seen rain come down as hard as it did during his drive.

The river below our farm is way up over its banks. We usually can't see the water from our yard.

By 9:30AM the waters had receded and the road was reopened.

The rain stopped falling here about 9:00AM and later the sun came out and shone brightly all day. We had high humidity, but oh, it was wonderful to see that sun again! I did some tidying up in the gardens late this afternoon. The weeds were very easy to pull...that's probably the only good thing I can think of to say about all this rain!

And guess what the weather is doing tonight? Yes, raining again! How can there be that much water up there?

Tree Swallows

A pair of tree swallows is nesting in our bluebird box. Ross put it on a pole of the grape arbor last year but this is the first time it's been occupied.



This little lady lets me get really close with my camera. I chat with her and she seems to listen intently (unlike my husband :)



She diligently lined the box with wisps of hay and other bits and pieces.





The man of the house has a beautiful iridescent blue back and head. I don't know if he helped with the nest making or not. I've only ever seen her go into the box. He sits on the grape arbor and watches over the proceedings.

He lets me get close too. They seem remarkably unafraid of me.



Last week I was lucky to have my camera ready at just the right moment to catch the female buzzing Cleo. She came a little too close for everyone's comfort that time.

Both birds are very protective of the nest.

I don't know if the eggs have hatched yet or not. The top is not hinged so we can't see into the box. I guess we'll know when we see babies poking their heads out the hole.

Bluebells, Cockleshells.....

Pretty maids all in a row.

I dug up these wild bluebells (harebell or campanula) years ago and planted them in my garden. Yes, I know, you're not supposed to do that!

There's a huge patch of them on a bank by the roadside not far from here and they make a lovely display. There are a few whites scattered in between the blues.

They combine well with the yellow lilies. You can see that lovely peony bush in the background, with Sweet William behind it. We've had heavy rains again for the past couple of days and they're not looking as good now....you know how rain ruins peonies. We're sick, sick SICK of it! The lawn is shaggy and the gardens are soggy. There's flooding in some areas of the eastern side of the US. I think Washington DC had about 6 inches in a short time. Texas had wicked rains last week. Last night we'd had almost 3 inches since Sunday night. And it's still raining!!

We went to a lovely picnic on Sunday which a wonderful friend puts on annually and invites our whole church family. We all bring a dish to pass. For the past several years she's had rain and some cold temperatures...not ideal picnic weather. Sunday's weather was lovely, not much sun, but mild temperatures. The rain didn't start until Sunday evening. What a break!



Grady likes to lie on the crushed stone to keep cool. He doesn't do too much damage, usually only crushes a couple of flowers. Mothballs don't seem to discourage him at all. He just lies right on top of them :)



Annabelle says, "Oh look what Grady did to your flowers Mom!"

Bountiful Blooms!

The oriental poppies I planted last year gave us such pleasure with their magnificent blooms this spring. They've finished blooming now, but we'll look forward to seeing their huge flowers again next year.



The Johnny jump ups went crazy in this garden. I pulled most of them out last week, but they gave us plenty of early color. I love 'volunteers'...most of the time, and these flowers are always eager little volunteers.



The two plants I bought last year were unmarked, so we were pleasantly surprised to see 2 different colors blooming. I love this shade of pink!



The crepe paper-like blooms remind me of a crinoline dress my mum made for me out of pink crepe paper when I was about 6. The skirt was tiered. It was for the annual school fancy dress ball. I played dress-up with that wonderful creation until I finally outgrew it. Mum was a talented seamstress.



Cranesbill geranium. Sigrun has a large and wonderful collection of these delicate perennials. A friend recently gave me a lovely purple one, so now I have two! While the flower is delicate, the plant is not! It spreads like mad and must be divided often.



Heuchera or coral bells...a very dainty bloom.



This dark iris was a surprise. A friend gave me several iris a few years ago and this is the first time this one has bloomed. I don't know the name of it.



This one is called Beverly Sills. I love that soft peach shade.



I don't know the name of this one either, but the combination of two shades of purple is lovely.



Sweet William blooms in so many pretty colors. This soft pink is my favorite I think. Can you tell I love pink?



The white bleeding heart flower is so beautifully delicate. This bush never grows as big as the pink and blooms later.

For Zoey

Zoey, here's the promised weed picture (finally!).

I think this might be the one you have. It's oenothera, the one Kathy guessed yours might be.

Here's the root.



This is the "tame" oenothera (evening primrose...I think this one is cinaeus, but I'm not sure). It spreads quite rapidly and can sometimes become invasive. However, it's very easy to pull, and easy to give away too, because it's so bright and pretty. I have it all over the place and move it around often.





It does well here by the back door, where not much else will grow because the rain drops straight down from the high peak of the roof. There's no gutter...too high up. My husband refuses to mess with anything that high! I don't blame him.



hello...here's a little surprise! I wonder will there be kitten pictures popping up in every post?

I'll try to control myself :)