Rainbow Hill Farm

Friday, June 12, 2009

Away Message

Where feelings not reasons

Can make you decide

Ian Broudie

Thursday, June 11, 2009

End of Year

School is out! This is Dan & G before the last concert -- a reschedule from "Swine Break '09."

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Concrete

Dan poured concrete in the lower barn today. He also patched up a slab by the upper one.

We went camping Memorial Day weekend with friends at Buckhorn State Park. So did about 6 bazillion mosquitoes and a few ticks. Fortunately our site was right by the water so there was some moving air, which helped. We were able to set up a perimeter using bombs, sprays, coils, incense sticks and candles -- as Dan said, it was a cheap vacation, except for the $250 we spent on pest control. Despite the unwanted guests, we had a great time. G did an afternoon kayak trip with our friends out to an island. We heard several types of frogs and owls, plus whip-poor-wills. The red-winged blackbird that patrolled our campsite chased off a juvenile bald eagle for us, which was quite a sight. Plus I got to mark the adding of another year with my family and good friends.

Our campsite was right on the water

Moving Cows

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a beautiful day here. We did some yard work in the morning. Cocoa supervised my weeding/mulching of the raspberries. There's an elm tree that sprouted up, and we're just going to leave it, so that when all the ash trees (which we put in because of Dutch elm disease) are overrun with emerald ash borers, we've got something else in the yard. Dan & G spent the rest of the day with me doing household errands and then fun shopping.

Update

Farnsworth usually showed up in the front yard in the morning

It's been a while since I posted because we've been busy around here. Here are the headlines ... "Swine Break '09," as it's know around here, was a bust. The protocol for quarantine was changed and the kids were called back to school on Wednesday the 6th, much to everyone's chagrin. ... The pheasant, who I named Farnsworth, continued to make his home here until about two weeks ago, when, after a kind of crappy day as it was, I came home to find that he'd been hit by a car in the road in front of our house. There was nothing I could do for him and I was beside myself. A few days later, G & I spotted a new pheasant, who, though not a beautiful as Farnsworth, has taken up residence here. I am allowed to listen for him (he's not as bold as Farnsworth and doesn't come into the yard), but I am under strict orders not to name him. ... Dan, G & I jockeyed to read yet another book -- The Sorceress, the third in the series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. ... Only four more days of school -- YAY!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

SC Day 5: The Last Olympian

Dan, G & I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the last Percy Jackson book. I was at the book store when it opened at 8 a.m. so that I could pick our copy up.

When I walked into the house, I promptly handed it over to G, who immediately delved into it. At my 11:15 check, she was more than halfway through it, so I may get to start it before Dan gets home tonight!

(1:15 p.m. Update: G is finished and has passed the book to me!)

SC Day 4: Bees

Dan & Jamie put the new bees in yesterday. We had to replace both our colonies, because one did not survive the cold weather and it looks like the other one may have succumbed to Colony Collapse Disorder. Jamie had better luck and only had to replace two of his six. I didn't get more pictures because after six months of going strong, the battery on my new camera finally died.

Ready to go with a new colony

SC Day 4: Potting Plants

Our "gardening" has evolved into a rooftop garden, ever since cats and chickens wouldn't leave our flower boxes alone. Instead of buying everything at once, G & I are going to plant in phases this year. Since it was a beautiful day, we decided to visit the garden center to start this year's garden.

A start on the season

Monday, May 4, 2009

SC Day 3: Hiking

We hiked part of the Ice Age Trail, which included exposed Silurian Dolomite of the Niagara Escarpment, a geological formation that runs from New York (and Niagara Falls) through Ontario and Michigan to Wisconsin and Illinois.

SC Day 3: Geocaching

We went geocaching with friends on Sunday. One of the caches included a Big Chicken as a clue. It turned out to be more of a Wild Goose. We ended up ditching the search to go for custard at LeDuc's, which was conveniently nearby.

SC Day 2: Four-Wheeling

We took the RAV4 four-wheeling into various corners of the farm. Here's a view of our cows on the ridge.

SC Day 2: Pelicans

We'd been seeing a moving white line in our neighbors' flooded pasture ...

It turns out it is a pod of pelicans, including at least one nesting pair.

SC Day 2: Yard Work

I finally feel comfortable letting G use the rider. With an assist from Dan, we got most of the yard done in two hours.

School Closed Day 1: Incubator

Grandpa has been collecting eggs from the yard hens. On Friday G put them in the incubator. In 21 days we'll see how many of them yield chicks.

Friday, May 1, 2009

H1N1

We got a robocall around 11 a.m. today informing us that three schools in our school district, including G's, were being closed because of a confirmed case of Influenza Type A H1N1. All middle and high school students now have a week-long holiday thanks to HHS. Since we've been instructed to limit social contact during that time and it's still too cold to open the pool, I'm not sure what we'll be up to. G's default mode is Gilmore Girls and Webkinz. Thank goodness we have all those new Scholastic books piled around ...