The old equipment and the modern
Chives
Prairie roses
My shrub roses
Blue flax and yellow yarrow
(Achillea millefolium)
Poppy
Columbine
Crossbill
It's feeling more like summer every day. The days are lengthening, flowers are blooming, the grass is growing, the temperatures are warming, and it's time to cut the hay. What we gained in heavy winter snowfall, we sorely lacked in spring rains. We only had .9" of rain in May and just received .9" this past week. That means the alfalfa hay is flowering and the grass hay is heading and beginning to turn brown underneath and it's time to cut, although it's early for us. We have to get it while the gettin's good. Hubby started mowing hay on Thursday and the sons rolled up just nine bales today to see how it would go. Tomorrow will be a bigger day and I think I'll be in the field raking while the sons bale and Hubby continues to mow. The hay looks pretty good, and this little shot of rain might help to hold the other hay fields over until we get there.
My flower beds are all a-bloom with flowers -- all volunteers from years past. The rose bushes are really putting out and I've cut several bouquets to bring indoors and to share with my girls next door. The rose scent is wonderful. I put a vase of roses in our bedroom and was so pleased to walk in this afternoon after church and smell such a lovely fragrance. The prairie roses are a very plain, single rose. They are prolific this year and in full bloom now, but ever so quickly they will fade away.
In one flower bed I had a little clump of chives growing and I thought they were so pretty that I just let them stay. Now they have filled up a good corner and I like them so much that I will let them ramble. I like it that they are useful as well as ornamental. The columbine spread like crazy too. I love them, but I must continually yank a lot of them out year by year or else they would take over every open spot of earth. The poppy is a favorite who comes up with her large sticker-y leaves and stems and then goes all soft and silky in her rich, red bloom. My peony is very close to blooming. I can't wait! I've been really babying her along with extra water and a bit of fertilizer since she didn't do anything last year with the dry, dry spring we had. It looks like she's going to really put forth her all this year.
We've had a pair of unusual visitors to our bird feeders -- the Red Crossbill. I realize this one isn't very red (or orangy colored) but I'm thinking it's a female or perhaps a juvenile which have shades of yellow on them. Crossbills are usually found where there is coniferous forest and we sure don't have any pine trees or any other cone trees around here, but they are helping themselves to the sunflower seeds and appear to be doing well.
I'm looking forward to climbing in my old, open-air tractor tomorrow and raking hay again. It's mindless work that allows me to spend hours thinking my own thoughts, praying for people, and singing to God as I roll along. It's amazing how many songs come to mind when you make your own music. I could put my ear buds in and listen to something, but I just never do. I like taking in the smells, the sounds, and the scenery right where I am. What are the smells and sounds and the sceneries where you are today?
