Odds and ends and …….. ZoomZoomZoom!!!!!
It is crop dusting time. Cleon shot a video this morning and I have posted it – go to the menu and click on Videos (I have more to say about crop dusting when talking about the video). I agree with him – these pilots are fearless – total daredevils. We have watched them fly close to big utility towers and wires to get all the corners of a field. They are truly amazing.
But as with all things these days, I wonder how much longer we will have these daredevil pilots and their wonderfully painted single engine planes? We have seen a few large drones crop dusting. Last fall, we were on our way to our favorite brew pub which is about 20 miles from us on all country roads. And saw what we thought was a single engine plane dive-bombing the road. Over and over and over. Several cars had already pulled off. I was ready to call 911 when the plane disappeared and we realized it was not a single engine plane, but a big drone – a single-engine-plane sized drone. No doubt, someone was in one of the large sheds not far from the road – controlling it. Practicing with it. Hopefully, not thinking all this was funny because it was decidedly not. We drive this road about once a week and never saw this big drone again but it was frightening, and next time I was not waiting – I was calling 911 immediately. But we never saw it again. I cannot imagine the fear and terror of those in the Ukraine, the Gaza strip, Tel Aviv, and Tehran who have been subjected to nightly drone attacks. We experienced 1 drone diving over and over and too close to the road. I cannot imagine witnessing hundreds of them knowing they were all armed. But back to a happier topic – birds and all their shenanigans!
One of our robins – an adult, not one of this year’s juveniles – has claimed our blueberry bush. And you can see how big it is – and full of berries. All for itself. And the robin has started stuffing itself – the berries are not even ripe! About 20 feet away from this blueberry bush is a big elderberry which is also full of unripe berries, so there should be enough for every berry-loving bird in our yard. And we have other elderberries scattered around our shore of the lake – all starting to ripen. But this robin is making sure it gets its share. I wonder if I should attach a bottle of Tums to a branch. I cannot imagine unripe, still green blueberries are easy to digest? But then maybe robins are made of sterner stuff than me!
Since the third week in June, we have had high temperatures and even higher humidity. We always have
temperatures close to and over a hundred in August with killer humidity. But this summer, the heat and humidity came early. Since July 1st, just about every day has been in the 90’s with very high humidity. We have been going outside at 6AM to work in the gardens and we only last about 25 minutes. We are dripping with sweat and have beet-red faces. Enough is enough! And then nothing is better than a cold Smoothie! Our good friend, Janelle, has been working in her yard and texted me just the other day – When is winter coming???? I totally agree. But good news for Janelle, Cleon, and me. The blackbirds are starting to flock up – a sure sign fall is coming. If you watch the ground under our feeders on our live stream, you will see these newly formed flocks. These flocks are mostly males right now but if you look closely you will see a female in the upper portion of this photo. Flocks of blackbirds mean fall is on its way! I will try to remind myself of that tomorrow as I try to summon the will to pull just one more weed!