Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Life is very entertaining

and they say that we'll have fun if it stops raining.

'Not complaining; just explaining.

I just changed my socks for the second time today. The first time, I actually changed all my clothing, as I'd done the morning rounds on the farm and walked through the tall grass, which is nearly up to my waist.

It was mercifully cool with light rain this morning, so I was able to do a little transplanting in the vegetable garden. If I didn't have to deal with arthritis, I'd have done a lot more. However, every day I plant something and it adds up.

The first daylily bloomed on our farm today. Multiflora rose is blooming, as are blackberries. Wild grapes are loaded with tiny grape clusters. Too bad they are inedible to most humans. It's great asparagus growing weather.

I picked a couple of nice sized "hands" of fennel, which I'll saute in some tasty dish -- perhaps Italian sausage and pasta.

When the humidity is high, I feel sick and can't do much physical labor. We are sliding into summer and this will be a consideration. I'm getting out earlier than in Winter and Spring and doing all I can manage while it's reasonably cool.

A huge snapping turtle greeted me at the goose yard. He turned and headed toward the pond, thankfully. I wouldn't want to tangle with him.

We need the rain, but also need to cut the majority of the hay, which requires about five dry days in a row. Only about a third of the big field got cut and baled this past weekend.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Boys With Puppies c. 1978

I originally made this movie with a Super 8 movie camera. Recently, I needed to learn to make digital movies for another project. I decided to learn to incorporate live movie footage. These are my sons interacting with our Akita puppies.

They are not just regular puppies, however. They are super duper shoelace-untying puppies -- which make it hard on a kid who had just recently mastered the art... Notice that they work in teams. One puppy distracts the mark and the other attacks the shoelaces, successfully untying them.