Pup-pup loves to chase deer. We see deer here at the farm every day. Recently though Pup-pup has changed his deer chasing method. He used to run, bark, and chase deer away into the woods. Now he is content to run, bark, and hold his ground about 100 feet or so from the house. The reason for the change?
Well, a few weeks ago Debby watched as Pup-pup ran out to chase away some deer. In the group of deer was a mom and a fawn. The mom initially started to run but then decided to turn and take on Pup-pup while the fawn got away. Pup-pup was not expecting a deer to stand up to him, this must have been the first time it happened. Since then Pup-pup has been keeping his distance and the deer don't seem very afraid of the Pup.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The color purple and out of breath
My fingers and lips are purple and I'm out of breath. So naturally I need to blog about it.
I've just completed my workout which explains the out of breath part. My workout consists of going from the house to the mailbox and back. Sounds easy but the two are separated by about 1/3 mile in distance and 200 feet in elevation. Plus it's warm and humid. If I feel good I try to get in a couple of brief uphill sprints. My goal is to get to the point that I can run the entire distance uphill in one go.
OK, now for the purple part. There are a lot of wild blackberries along my workout route, and some berries are now perfectly ripe. So on the way down the driveway I pick and eat a few blackberries. When the blackberries are just right they are plump, juicy, and require just a slight tug to release them from their vine. Ripe blackberries will just about melt in your mouth and are delicious. The juice is what causes the purple lips and fingers.
Debby gets tired of how much I talk about the blackberries, but I really do enjoy them. I'm trying to figure out the best method to manage them, the wild ones put up canes in their first year and bear fruit in the second. And they have a bunch of thorns also. So, all the blackberry spots that were mowed last fall through this spring now have first year plants. If I don't mow these areas we will have a large blackberry crop next year. I'm thinking about how to rotate areas to get a good crop every year. I think a few blackberry trails would be a lot of fun, what do you think?
I've just completed my workout which explains the out of breath part. My workout consists of going from the house to the mailbox and back. Sounds easy but the two are separated by about 1/3 mile in distance and 200 feet in elevation. Plus it's warm and humid. If I feel good I try to get in a couple of brief uphill sprints. My goal is to get to the point that I can run the entire distance uphill in one go.
OK, now for the purple part. There are a lot of wild blackberries along my workout route, and some berries are now perfectly ripe. So on the way down the driveway I pick and eat a few blackberries. When the blackberries are just right they are plump, juicy, and require just a slight tug to release them from their vine. Ripe blackberries will just about melt in your mouth and are delicious. The juice is what causes the purple lips and fingers.
Debby gets tired of how much I talk about the blackberries, but I really do enjoy them. I'm trying to figure out the best method to manage them, the wild ones put up canes in their first year and bear fruit in the second. And they have a bunch of thorns also. So, all the blackberry spots that were mowed last fall through this spring now have first year plants. If I don't mow these areas we will have a large blackberry crop next year. I'm thinking about how to rotate areas to get a good crop every year. I think a few blackberry trails would be a lot of fun, what do you think?
Bzzz Bzzz Boom Boom
Hope you had a great 4th of July. My fourth included working our two bee hives (the Bzzz Bzzz part) followed by a nice thunderstorm where we lost power for a couple of hours (the first Boom part) followed by impressive firework displays by neighbors (the last Boom part).
Neighbors have been shooting guns and fireworks for several days now actually and the horses don't like the loud booms one bit.
Bees: Both hives appear to be doing well, at least to this novice beekeeper. Bees are really busy, shooting in and out of the hives. The bees are not "washboarding" on the hive and I do see quite a few honey bees visiting clover plants so I think that they continue to draw out comb an collect pollen and nectar and make brood and honey.
I built a shallow honey super and ten frames which was a bit of work. All the parts are assembled with glue and nails or screws. The hive bodies and supers then need two coats of white latex exterior paint. I installed the honey super so now both hives are the same, each one has two deep hive bodies and one honey super. Bees have not drawn out any comb yet in the honey supers so I don't know if we will be harvesting any honey during this first season. The goal for the first season is really to learn and develop a strong healthy colony that makes it through the winter.
Neighbors have been shooting guns and fireworks for several days now actually and the horses don't like the loud booms one bit.
Bees: Both hives appear to be doing well, at least to this novice beekeeper. Bees are really busy, shooting in and out of the hives. The bees are not "washboarding" on the hive and I do see quite a few honey bees visiting clover plants so I think that they continue to draw out comb an collect pollen and nectar and make brood and honey.
I built a shallow honey super and ten frames which was a bit of work. All the parts are assembled with glue and nails or screws. The hive bodies and supers then need two coats of white latex exterior paint. I installed the honey super so now both hives are the same, each one has two deep hive bodies and one honey super. Bees have not drawn out any comb yet in the honey supers so I don't know if we will be harvesting any honey during this first season. The goal for the first season is really to learn and develop a strong healthy colony that makes it through the winter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)