the moon & garden this morning

there it was, huge, sort of yellowish. more importantly, i remembered it was supermoon and went out to capture it.

it was miraculously light for a while, before the clouds came and ruined my view of the moon. i did go out later in the evening but only got glimpses of the moon behind the clouds passing by...

 there's been a lot of commotion at the shack lately (the county is digging for water mains) and you could see that this poor deer was rather confused of the changed scenery. i'm glad she didn't make a stop at my veggie patch!

this lilium martagon isn't doing so great. first, this spot used to be more shady but because of the digging for the water mains they had to cut down huge trees that cast a shadow to this spot. second and i don't know where they came but there's been a few uninvited guests in my lilies, namely scarlet lily beetles. nasty little buggers.

these blue babies are doing great, they pop up every summer, and are pretty as can be, campanula rotundifolia, the bluebell.

potatoes are doing great, no bugs (so far). will be interesting to see what the crop will be this year.

earlier in the summer i noticed that something is eating the leaves of my beets. wasn't sure whether it was rabbits or deer or maybe snails, but i figured a net of some sort (this is the same kind we use for berry bushes) would provide some protection. so far the nibbling has stopped. this year i'm growing carrots, parsnips, parsley root, yellow and red beets, and possibly a surprise because i yet again was too lazy to make notes on what i planted and where...

the corn isn't doing so great this year, hopefully they start growing soon or they won't be done when autumn comes. 

the shack sits partly on bedrock and they had to blast some of the rock in order to bury the water mains deep enough so that they don't freeze in the winter. certain someone had the crew bring the rubble to be used to extend the upper part of yard. the idea is to form a ledge of the blocks of rock, the crew will bring machines to do that. i'm already thinking what to plant on the ledge...

sigh. i'll just be quiet now.

the peony just is the most beautiful of flowers, especially the pink one. the pink ones have been in the garden for 20 odd years, their location isn't the most convenient but i don't dare move them. i planted the white one (actually 4 of them) about 5 yrs ago and this is the first time i get a blossom on any of them...

lots of snowy pics, some of sun, the dog and birdies

whoa...i guess i should have kept up with blogger. there's been so many changes i almost just gave up. anyways, it seems darkness of the winter got me big this year, hence the long pause on this blog. i have been missing the sun. the statistics people have gathered that this winter has been cloudiest in 25 yrs, and third in 50, with mere 50 hrs of sunlight between first of december and mid february. i rest my case.

this sight was welcome this morning, despite the fog and thin clouds...

the dog seems to not have minded the darkness, he naps a lot, winter or summer

                                     the full moon on monday night, snow moon some call it 

here's what the sun does! past few evenings the sunsets have been glorious.

the fluctuating temps make fog, and if someone has a more scientific explanation, please fill me in.

i don't know what little bird this is. i only know little birds, medium birds, large birds, black birds, gulls, eagles and woodpeckers.

there was a lot more snow last year...

pod of...gosh...i forgot! fox something comes to mind...

this is a woodpecker who demonstrates acrobatics at the feeder meant for LITTLE (hint, hint) birds. whether this woodpecker is a great, middle or lesser spotted woodpecker i don't know...

UPDATE: an ornitholigist friend of mine told that this is great spotted woodpecker

these are little yellow birds, certain someone thinks they are siskins (carduelis spinus)...


UPDATE: these yellow shrirpers are yellowhammers

along the cottage road

this was taken on planet earth, and you can ask my mom, she saw this, too. weird sunrise indeed.

from another point

enjoy the snow while it lasts!

mergus serrator

this mama "duck", a red-breasted merganser (mergus serrator), has been visiting the cottage quite frequently this summer.

sometimes she comes alone and hangs on our deck...

...then flies away...

...only to come back the next day with the young ones.

...and into the sun set they ride...

summery walk, guest post by the dog

the dog wanted to share one his walks with you:

so, the bossy woman had a walk with me. i guess she is okay, she just makes me behave and sometimes i just didn't want to bother. she insists i behave, not like paps, he more or less lets me do what i want. it was nice evening, not too hot, and it wasn't raining. i don't like walking in the rain. bossy woman tells me she likes walking in the rain. weird.






bossy woman tells me that paps used to live here when he was just tiny. i think that it must have been very long time ago. they also tell me that nowadays only grey foot lives there. grey foot is ghost, whatever those are.







in this house there is a dog who barks very loudly. bossy woman has told me to just pass the house and not bark back.







there is another house that has 2 tiny dogs. this one always comes to the street to greet me. he wants to run around with me but they never let off leash, bummer.







his name is nacho, and it seems that he's a bit of a bad boy. the adults were talking and nacho's mom said that nacho always finds a crack to escape.







he was pretty quick about him.







nacho's mom said i was a good boy because i didn't bark and jump around. well, bossy woman wouldn't have let me do that. i find it strange that when i behave nicely i get more pats...







when nacho had to go back inside we walked further and there was those buffy things in the sky. i don't like thunder, this wasn't thunder i later found out.







bossy woman always stops to take pictures. she thought this looked nice, i think it must be another weed, and it probably won't taste any good anyway.







i also don't like tractors but since this has been here for a long time and it never makes any noise, i'm okay with this one.







right before i got to swim bossy woman had to tell me off, said i was pulling too hard! duh, you would if you wanted to swim and weren't sure the adults were going to let and you wanted to make sure you got a least a dip in the cool pond!







those are strawberry fields. i don't eat strawberries but there seemed to be a few almost ripe in the fields, not that i was let to inspect them more closely.







i'm not sure there is a dog in that house but bossy woman likes the allee of birches.







after dinner i took the rest of the evening easy and layed on the new deck that i helped paps built. if bossy woman lets me, i'll tell you about that later. wuf for now.







ps. bossy woman took the pictures with her new toy, iPhone. she didn't give me any new toys.