Critters, the Good, the Bad, and the Lazy!

Everywhere you look, there is something else crawling around. I found a website that explains spiders and it had some good information, the reason I was looking was because i have seen some monsters around here, that I thought were only in Science Fiction movies!

But to offset them, there are also little fluffy things that are fun to watch. LIke the Barn Swallows little squawkers, this is one of three, that are in the nest. The major problem for them, is that I also inhabit the garage, and they don't trust me, yet. I try to stay away from their side of the garage, especially when they are feeding. Basically it takes both the parent birds running a constant "supply train" for them to get fed, and my presence makes them circle and make a "go round", essentially passing up a feeding opportunity. The peeps really squawk when they are missed on a feeding run. Now I am working on " the place not mentioned" (till the next page as promised). And I only bring it up because the Barn Swallows have had to make some major adjustments to their flight patterns, due to closing up the open end of the structure. They are zooming in and out a two foot by one foot opening, and not liking it one bit. But I am trying to leave them options, and consider them as work progresses, being as they have their peeps in my rafters. But they won't be back next year as they won't have even that option. They can move to the machine shed without any hindrance, if they like to, next year.

 

This is a picture, at dusk, of the fog rolling in, over the hill, across the street.

Though there have been regular sightings of rabbits and ground hogs, we still see no deer. I've watched a really well fed raccoon,as he tipped over one of my trash cans, to get in it. No harm, just a mess to clean up, later in the day, as I saw him at about 4 am.

 

 

 

 

The flower garden and it's bird feeder was a real attraction to the birds, which I previously mentioned were trying to remove all the paint from the sides of my cars. That seems to have changed, as I have held off on filling the feeder, making the birds work for their keep has helped in getting them off the cars. They are now forced to forage, to eat the bugs in the garden and in the trees, rather than just flip the free seeds all over the ground. A microcosm of "the free ride" showing how it is bad for the recipients, as it destroys any incentive to get out and work for a living. And because the birds were on the dole, the bugs were free to damage as much of the garden as they wanted. Now that there is a question as to whether the free meals are available, the birds are doing better at keeping the garden vermin under control. Except for the Japanese Beetles which are trying to decimate two Red Japanese trees, we have been told we are lucky to have, well at least the beetles are thrilled about them. So we tried some internet chemistry to spray the trees, we'll see how that works!

 

 

 

Ryan has been busy though, he found a plethora of spiders. Yeeeech! There was a mud dobber nest on a broken hoe head in a bucket in the chicken coop. Now I brought the bucket from Akron so it was a recent nest. Well we needed the hoe head to clear out a drainage ditch, so I broke the nest off it and what a freaky discovery!

 

There were four Maggoty looking things, obviously the stage of a wasp in the mud casing... and 59 different spiders, all seemingly alive and stunned to serve as food for the larva. The larva are at the bottom of the picture to the left, and the spiders are lined up, by type, in rows toward the top. Now here's the weird twist. The larva crawled up the pan, and started eating the spiders anyway! At this point two of the larva are surviving, and the spiders are not waking up. We'll see what develops after the long weekend, by the time Ryan returns we should have an updated picture. Weird and cool, but definately icky!

 

 

 

If a Farm Wife were an Artist

I never wanted to be a Farm Wife. An artist or a writer maybe. A fine art photographer, certainly, with galleries filled to overflowing with gorgeous, thought-provoking, inspiring photographs! But here I am, a farm wife with a camera—when it’s working, that is.

A friend sent me a link to an intriguing photo web site; beautiful photographs described dramatically and eloquently by the artist. At least it seemed that way for the first few pictures. Then I began to question the extraordinary significance he found in absolutely every little detail, the melodramatic way he presented his impression of the complex, intimate thoughts of people he’d never even met. To me, he became the embodiment of all artists who take themselves too seriously, leading me to wonder…

If an aspiring artist, temporarily engaged as a farm wife, desired her work to be taken seriously, could she present it in such a way that other artists, critics and art aficionados would perceive its profoundity? My mind reeling at the possibilities, I examined my pictures with a fresh eye.

Welcome to Adventures in Art 101...

[To be read out loud slowly, in the thoughtful, yet highly emotional voice of a true artiste]

On my right the sloping banks led to the river, flowing swiftly past the outcroppings of rocks and piers. On the other side the walls rose far over my head, broad vertical fields sprinkled with splashes of color. How had the artist reached such towering heights? How had he controlled the thin, delicate brushes? As I pondered the colors and shapes in front of me, I was struck by the depth of the shadows, the fish leaping off the wall. How was it done? What did it mean? Was the fish striving to reach the river? What message was the artist seeking to convey?

 

The fish was just the beginning of the mysteries on the textured surfaces. Studying the lines and shadows, I wondered, did the artist see himself as outside the circle of humanity? Lost and alone, as separated and different from those around him as I felt, struggling to stay upright in the cold wind.

 

 

 

 

 

Turning the corner, I was confronted by an astounding sight: textures, yes, but as I'd never seen them before. A smoother background this time, with scattered bumps amid rough patches. Instead of bold colors and shadows, a delicate lavender hue, stretching far into the sky and across the river. I felt the passion of these unknown engineers and artists as they worked together to create this architectural vision.

Their spirits stirred within me as I viewed their soaring triumph.

 

 

Each time I returned to the river, I found something new to capture my imagination. On this trip, it was a mural with incredibly vibrant hues, warm, welcoming, inviting me to look even closer, to examine the artist's rough brush strokes, to run my fingers over the wall in front of me. The light that day, harsh and unforgiving, showed each nick in the woodwork, each scuff on the windowsill. I longed to know what lingered in the shadows beyond the door.

 

 

That's it for now. Writing this way is quite exhausting when my initial reaction to the murals was more along the lines of, "Wow...Cool."

 

Farm Wife

Aspiring Artist

Writer Extraordinaire

None of the Above

 

 

Man, are we happy out here!

 

The Chores, Fresh Air, Green Acres is for ME.