Sights from the Side of the Road

When we purchased Woods End, I had no doubts about keeping up my walking regimen.   I have marched through several half marathons and would like to do more.  Lots of space in the country, then, for long, brisk outings.  Problem?  The roads are narrow, the sides of the road are covered with tall grasses that impede one’s stride, and there are farm dogs, which, unlike their urban brethren, take issue with encroachment on their side of the ditch.  Also, people driving through the countryside litter.  Of course they do in the city as well, but it is almost offensive to step into a half full Tim Horton’s coffee cup or trip over an empty beer can while the breeze riffles the growing corn fields and the red-winged blackbird sings from a thicket.

On a technical note, Map My Run doesn’t carry all the little sideroads, so it is more difficult to set out different walking courses.  I can see a Garmin in the future.

On the bright side, it is lovely to be outdoors.  The countryside changes every single day.  The grass and leaves have lost their sharp lemony green to a deeper, more mature colour.  It is summer in the country.

Read Full Post »

Queen of the Night

Our Queen of the Night (Night Blooming Cereus) produced two blossoms this year – long, tubular, salmon and white, opening to a beautiful white bloom with yellow tint inside.  One opened the first night, finished by morning, while the second blossom opened the next night, also finishing by morning.  Unlike last year, when we had only one blossom, there was little perfume, unless of course, we slept through it!   Still, we were pleased to see two blossoms as it was a shaky six-hour car ride from Ottawa to Woods End, and I’m sure not good for its roots.  Also, I may be watering it a bit much.    So, the blooming take place on June 15 and 16.  Not sure if this matters or not, but a full moon was just starting to wane.

 

Lovely summer day today.  Other flowers that are out are hot pink peonies.  The purple lilac bush under the kitchen window is spectacular.  The bees love it so we keep our distance.

 

The ponies are hot and bothered by the big horse flies.  We have a shady place for them to rest during the heat of the day and garlicky fly spray.  They are smelly, but the flies are leaving them alone!

 

 

Read Full Post »

Two New Babies at Woods End

They’re blue and prickly, but our two little Fat Alberts (pica pungens), with their beautiful blue evergreen needles, arrived yesterday as surprise gifts from our lunch guests.  Fat Alberts can grow to 40 feet, and being the chubby babies that they are, can reach widths of 25 feet.  A tough, reliable tree that will provide shelter from the wind and privacy.

The purple lilac under our kitchen window, now about six feet high, is attracting all kinds of butterflies, including Monarchs.

We were stopped on a country road yesterday as we were riding our ponies by a farmer who wanted to know if we had ridden across his fields.  This is not something we would ever do, at least not without permission.  Nor have we noticed other riders taking the liberty.  We wonder if a horse got loose or it was just a cranky farmer.

Today we found a space to make a large riding oval in the middle of our field.   We will get some pylons to mark out a proper oval and then we will have another place to ride.

Read Full Post »

June 8 – Hot, humid and stormy

Woods End – Up to 38 degrees celsius, when the thermometer took a sudden dive.  Five minutes and it is 27 degrees C.   Radio is sputtering and a little beep from the microwave tells me it has briefly lost its power.  The ponies are looking happier and the wind is strong enough to foil the toughest mosquito or most aggressive blackfly.   Now 26 degrees.   No rain – the storm centre has passed to the north of us.

Peter is managing the delivery of a load of aggregate, gravel for the base of our barn.  He has spent a week cleaning out the old horse and sheep manure, scraping the barn down to its floor.  Now he will layer the floor with the aggregate, then we can build a tack room for the saddles and bridles, as well as the horse feed.  After that, we will put down straw and the horses will be welcome in once again.  There is a very large raccoon mommy living in the hay loft, with young kits, who so far hasn’t bothered with the horse feed.  We don’t want to encourage her though, and would much prefer that she move elsewhere once the kits are grown.

Our birds come and go, as there are food supplies in the blossoming bushes and flowers in the woods and around our house, as well as an abundance of insects.  The hummers visit us in the early morning, but sometimes do not even return in the evening.  We hope they stay, as they are excellent bug catchers.  The thermometer continues to drop, now 25.5 C.

Read Full Post »

June 2 Sightings

Already the grass by the side of the road are producing seeds.  Our ponies are sorely tempted to stop to eat, even in the middle of a canter!  We bring them out at the end of the ride for 15 minutes of gluttony.  They strip the seeds off the grass.   We saw our first Monarch butterfly and also a turtle, with an 8 inch shell, slowly crossing the road.  The ponies ignored him but he tucked his head inside his shell just in case.

Despite the strong winds, which have blown away the white apple tree flowers, both male and female hummingbirds are sticking with us.  On windy days, they prefer to perch on the feeder that is nailed firmly to a post.  On more quiet days, they will go to the feeder hanging from a wire.  The blue jay is back and small sparrows, but we are missing the yellow finches.  And the red squirrel has disappeared.

The field to the west has been worked up again by our neighboring farmer – it may be too late for corn as the weather was too wet to plant.  We’re watching to see what will emerge.

Read Full Post »

Riding Adventure

BIL1 invited us to ride out with him and explore his farm.  Our ponies loved the outing, if not the trailer ride to get there.  BIL’s horse seemed astonished to have other equines with him.  Great riding – up and down hills, some pretty steep, along a river and through pastures.  Surprised some cows with their spring calves.  Windy day kept the bugs to a minimum.  Ponies DID NOT want to load, but we finally pushed them in and got home in time for supper.

Read Full Post »