Friday's Hunt...#26!...

When I decided to join with Teresa at Eden Hills for Friday's Hunt each week, I didn't expect the time to go by so fast...here we are at week 26 already!  I missed two weeks, but tried to catch up with at least a photo for the letter from the week when I did my next post.

Here we go with "the letter Z"...

This is the inside of one of the big doors upstairs in the barn. Can you see the Z? You can see that some repairs have been done to the door, and only the outside's been painted...

"Week's favorite"...

My purple cone flowers opened this week!  I moved them to the bed close to the house last summer when I got rid of my big perennial bed, and they have grown in leaps and bounds!  They're probably three feet high, and look so much healthier and happier than they did ever before.  Maybe it's that compost I added to the soil?  I have a lot of favorite flowers, and this is definitely one of them...

"Today"...

This prompt is wide open!

This is looking west over the fields here at home today, from up on the barn hill.  The corn and beans were planted on May 26th and 27th.  They came up quickly, and with the rains we've had lately, they should continue growing well. There's a line of white ag bags out along the water way on the left side of the picture.  Some are first cutting alfalfa and some are rye grass...

I also tried something new today...

Home made pesto, with basil from the garden...

I've been wanting to try it, and finally got around to it.  I usually plant basil in pots on the porch, but this time I had an extra plant that I put in the garden. Apparently it's happier there, and has grown huge in a short amount of time...much bigger than the ones on my porch!

I hope you've enjoyed the Friday's Hunt posts.  It's been fun to participate!

Friday's Hunt...

This week for Friday's Hunt, the prompts are...

Starts with "Y"...

Last night I found this yellow sunflower blooming in my garden...the first of the summer...

Next is "in my shoes"...

In my shoes, are tired, achy feet.  I feel like an old lady...but maybe if I keep my toenails painted they'll feel young again.  ??  I bought a pair of Oofos...highly recommend sandals with great arch support, and they do help. Staying off my feet would also help.  Hmmmm....

Last is "Week's favorite"...

I chose a series of pictures of Peanut, our cat matriarch.  She's responsible for every cat on the farm, and she's proud of it!  Last evening at dusk she was sitting at the edge of the garden.  She has such an intent look on her face...

She didn't sit still for long when she saw me...

...and then she had to show off a bit...

Have a great weekend!

Friday's Hunt...

What a week it's been!

We've had some of the most beautiful weather of the summer this week...several days of temps in the 70's with very low humidity and a nice breeze all day long!  So very unusual for this area this time of year, and I wish I could have captured it to save for later.  Today felt much more like typical June weather...hot and muggy, with threatening thunderstorms.

I'm linking up again with Teresa at Eden Hills, for Friday's Hunt.

This week's prompts are...

"Week's favorite"...

Do you remember this bird's nest that was in my hanging baskets? Now the eggs have hatched in both baskets, and we have nine baby House Finches!  I hear the parents outside my kitchen window all day long.  The dads perch on the chains to the hanging baskets, keeping watch for any movement near the porch door.  As soon as they see us, off they fly...

"Starts with X"...

I chose the uneXpected this week.

We have a strip of stones beside our porch, and the weeds have to be kept after.  This spring, however, I saw something growing that looked suspiciously like Petunias. I left them grow, and a few days ago this opened! I haven't planted white petunias in years, so it's a mystery to me where they came from!

Another uneXpected surprise was this, when I walked into the house tonight...

Caught in the middle of a big yawn...Murphy does NOT belong in the house. The kids had some fun with her on this very hot, muggy day, so we took a few pictures and sent her back outside where she's I'm MUCH happier.

The last prompt is "Wet...or Water"...

It's been a dry week, so I don't have any rain pictures to show you...and the storms that are predicted for tonight haven't come yet...so I'll show you what happens when you turn on the hose and wash down the walls of the house with water...which is what I spent an hour or so doing yesterday morning...

Everything feels so fresh and clean again!  This part of the house faces west and south, and when the wind blows, the dust collects on the siding, and after while it gets...just yucky. I took the hose and a scrub brush with soapy water, and cleaned it thoroughly.  What a good feeling it is.  It might only stay this clean for a short time, but...

I hope you have a great rest of your weekend!

Friday's Hunt...

"Starts with W"...

Waging War against Woodchucks...otherwise known as groundhogs to most of us around here.  Destructive varmints...farm equipment damaging varmints (think about what happens if a tractor wheel drops into a hole)  ...crop eating varmints.  You get the picture.  Here's an active hole that I found this afternoon.  You can tell it's active by the claw marks on the side of the hole, where they've been going in and out today...

They've already been eating at the soybeans that were planted last Thursday!!  Click on the picture and you'll see where they've eaten the tops off the tiny plants.  Unfortunately, they won't grow back...

Hopefully woodchucks  like watermelon and spinach.  I set four traps, and hopefully this time they'll take the bait.  For some reason this spring we haven't caught anything other than two possums and a cat...

Week's favorite...

I had a lot to choose from this week, but ended up with this one of the rows of corn, tall enough to be seen easily as we drive by.  This corn was planted exactly one week ago today!  I can hardly believe that it's this high already! The weather has been perfect for growing this week...

The last prompt is "rough"...

This fellow had a rough day today...

I passed it on the road not far from home, but didn't know if it was dead or alive.  When I backed up to get a closer look, he/she started moving.  I got a crowbar out of the truck toolbox...because I didn't have anything else with a long enough handle (!!!) and tried to move it off the road into the grass. There was a drain pipe running under the road with some water in it, and I figured that's where he/she must have come from.  I wouldn't expect to see a snapper too far from water.  He/she was definitely not happy with me, but finally I got it off the road.  There was quite a bit of traffic, and I'm sure some of those people wondered what in the world I was doing.  Those jaws were mighty strong!  I'm glad I didn't make the mistake of trying to pick it up to move it, or I'd be minus some fingers!

That was the last thing I expected to see today!

I'm joining with Teresa for Friday's Hunt again this week.  Have a great weekend!

Friday's Hunt...

I'ts time again for Friday's Hunt, with Teresa at Eden Hills.

This week's prompts are...

"Starts with V"...

This one was easy for me.  Jenna has two violins.  The one in the black case is her original "school grade" violin that she's had for years.  It stays at school in the orchestra room, and she uses it for rehearsal.  (a sure sign that school is almost over...they're both at home again)  The one in the brown case is the good one, that she bought after our trip to Philadelphia last summer.  It's the violin that she uses for auditions and performances.  It sounds soooo much better than the original one!  I can honestly say that I never tire of hearing her play!

 My "week's favorite" is what I found in two of my hanging baskets when I took them down for watering.  A house finch has a nest with four eggs in this basket, and her friend has five eggs in another one!

Every time we come near, or open the kitchen door, they fly away.  This morning when I watered, they were all out of sorts.  I had to hide inside the living room and take this picture through the window when this one came back to her nest.  Can you see her?

"Sunshine" is the last prompt.  We've had abundant sunshine this week, and are very thankful to be rain-free for a time.  The sunshine was so pretty this evening shining on my peonies, which just opened yesterday...

...and on the iris...

...and of course along with sunshine comes shadows...

Life certainly hasn't slowed down at all here.  We're glad that Eric is home and helping around the farm before he starts his summer job next week.  Jim finished first cutting of hay yesterday, the soybeans were planted on Tuesday, and tonight the corn planter is running.  Jenna will be finished with school next week, and will be able to be a big help too, although she's starting a summer job before long too!

What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Friday's Hunt...

This week for Friday's Hunt, the prompts are...

"In the Morning"...

The morning sunlight (yes...sunlight!!) shining on the barley field is beautiful...

"Week's favorite"...

This close up of the barley heads is my favorite this week...

...and "starts with U"...

Jenna plays in the  Lancaster Youth Symphony Orchestra, and they had a concert on Friday evening underneath the awning at a park in Lancaster.  It was a beautiful evening...no rain !!...and they did a fantastic job.  The season is now finished.  I'm glad that she'll have some more free time now that the practices are over, but it's been a great experience...

It's been a crazy week once again!  If I don't get around to visiting as many blogs as usual, please bear with me!

Friday's Hunt #18...

For some reason this seems like a long week!  I've been confused about what day it is, all week long...but today I know it's finally Saturday.  The teenager in the other room drinking some tea is a dead giveaway!  I'm glad she has a day with no commitments for once.

On to Friday's Hunt...

I'm glad Teresa gives us extra time to get our posts done, because I'm struggling to get anything written in a timely manner.  "Spring training", as someone put it lately, is keeping us stepping!

Starts with "R"...

We finally got some much needed rain the past few days...

It didn't amount to a whole lot, but it sure helped!

I found raindrops in some fun places...

My "week's favorite" has to do with flowers and plants, of course!

I made a trip to the green house this week, and came home with a couple flats of plants...

It's a little early to plant tomatoes, but I bought them anyway.  I'll let them sit on the porch for a few days until the ground dries out enough to plant them.  I don't plant a lot of annuals, but Coleus are some of my favorite.  I fill pots on the porch with these beauties. These beautiful shades of Gerbera daisies caught my eye, and I couldn't resist bringing  a couple of them home either...

And last night I was enjoying these lilacs on my windowsill.  They have a nice soft, airy texture that I enjoy...

The fragrance isn't so bad, either!

I just love spring!!

Wrapping Up the Week...

It's been a busy week here, and it's time to wrap it up!

1.  I'll begin with my "Starts with O" photo...

Our Orange 1958 Allis Chalmers D-17.  No green tractors here!

2.  My "week's favorite" is my fern leaf peony, pushing buds and almost ready to bloom...

I hope the snow and cold weather that's coming this weekend don't hurt it! It's one of the earliest bloomers I have, and it's pretty hardy.  We'll see.

3.  "Spring"... We've had roller coaster weather the past few weeks, and this is where I've had to keep my pansies at night...all lined up on the porch...

A little frost won't hurt them, but we've had strong winds and really cold night time temps, so a little extra protection is necessary.  I'm hoping they can all go back to their usually spots next week!

4.  I'm feeling really, really old and tired!  Last spring, summer and fall, I didn't do much strenuous yard, garden or barn work, trying to wisely follow doctors' orders and fully recover from back surgery.  This spring, I'm doing more again.  While I'm still being careful, eighteen months of doing less has left me very out of shape, and few pounds heavier.  Ugh.  Hopefully I'll get used to this new activity level quickly!

5.  We've been feeding more dry hay to the cows lately, because we're almost out of balage.  Can you believe that the cows seem to have forgotten how to eat it?!  They toss their heads around trying to tear off small pieces, and the light weight cakes go flying out of their mangers and onto the floor!  Silly cows!  They'll get used to it again I'm sure.

I'm linking up today with Teresa for Friday's Hunt, and with Nancy for Random Five Friday.  Click on the links to check out more blog entries.

Friday...

To wrap up this week, I'm joining Friday's Hunt, hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills, and also joining Random Five Friday, which after a long hiatus, has been resurrected by Nancy at A Rural Journal.  It's a nice way to do a wrap up of the week.

1.  Starts with "N"...kind of.  Her name is Snickers, but often I call her Nicky for short.  She's our ten year old Yellow Lab, and mother to Murphy, who got her mug shot on here last week.  She's a rather shy, sweet dog who is beginning to show her age.  Both in her actions, and by the white hair on her face.  Even though she's aging, she can still be just as naughty when she puts her mind to it!  She digs a mean hole, and tears strawbales and hay bales apart to make a soft nest to sleep in...

2.  Week's Favorite...Three years ago, my neighbor gave me a tiny start of an old fashioned, dark purple lilac.  This morning I saw this...

...flower buds!  For the first time, and I'm quite excited to see them bloom.  I hope next week's forecasted freezing temps don't hurt them!

3. Vintage...I'm fortunate to have some vintage things to decorate with on my porch.  We have two old milk cans, one from my parents' farm, and one from Jim's parents farm (where we now live).  I enjoy being able to use them year round...

4. To finish out my Random Five...the hutch halves are thrilled to be able to get outside of their hutches and see what's going on in the world.  They are so curious and content...

5.  I found some used railroad ties on craigslist.  They turned out to be only a few miles away, and had been used by the Strasburg Rairoad.  (Thomas the Tank Engine rolled over these ties many times, I'm sure!)  We've used them to make a defining line between my shrubs and my garden.  It will help to keep the weeds from the garden from creeping up under the shrubs, and I like the lines.  I have some ideas about how I want it to look, and it's slowly coming together...

Click on the links to see more posts for both Friday's Hunt and Random Five Friday...

Friday's Hunt #13...

It's Friday, but it's felt like Saturday all day long...

Eric is home from college for Easter break, and Jenna doesn't have school either.  Yay!  It's not very often that all four of us are under the same roof.

This week's prompts for Friday's Hunt are...

1.  Starts with "M"...

What who else but Murphy...

Murphy is no stranger to my blog.  She's our eight year old black lab...with a personality like no other.  When she was born to Snickers...our yellow lab, Jenna chose her right away as the puppy we were going to keep. She tried our patience for the first two years of her rambunctious life, chewing on everything from shoes to rocking chairs to picnic tables.  But we can't imagine what it would be like to not have her around!

2.  Week's Favorite...

Of course it has something to do with flowers!  The pussy willows that I had on my porch were going to seed, and I was in need of some brightening up, so I went to my neighbor and traded her a loaf of homemade bread for some forsythia...

3.  Bird or Wings...

I was putzin' around in the garden this morning, and the chickens were ever so curious...

Lots more happened today, but I'll save that for another post on another day.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend!