Catching Up

Bees, Birds, garden, Lavender, Marshmallow, Nature, Pollinators, Prayer Garrden, Primrose, Reflections, Roses, The Farm, , , ,

Time is getting away from me. It is a busy time of year and while I have been documenting some of what is happing with pictures, I haven’t made time to post it. This post starts the week of June 15

Thursday Observations

Prior to last year we had pruned back our grape vines dramatically. As a result, they produced few grapes last year and the ones they did make were eaten by birds or chickens before they ripened.

This year they are making grapes so I’m hoping for a decent harvest.

In my last post I showed you the large wild rose bushes in bloom. The second variety of wild roses bloomed in June as well. They are a low growing bush with small pink blossoms and a lovely fragrance.

The same oak tree that supports the white, climbing rose (above) that I showed in my last post has that small pink rose bush growing at its base.

Thursday was windy. You can’t see the wind but you can see the effects.

Friday Chores

On Friday morning my to-do list including cutting the chives since their flowers had faded and they were threatening to drop their seeds. My chive patch is as big as I want it to be so cutting them back before they reseeded was necessary to prevent a total chive invasion.

That short green patch in the front is where the chives were.

I’m glad I didn’t encounter this guy while I was cutting the chives. I don’t mind snakes but don’t like coming across them where I am working.

Cutting garlic scapes was my other chore that morning. If you don’t know what scapes are click here to learn more.

Saturday Efforts

On Saturday my husband spent many hours weed whipping around the pond. Oh, how I appreciate his hard work!

Colors of Summer

Lavender beginning to blossom.

Wildflowers

Rare Photos

It is not unusual to see raptors flying around our area, but it is rare that I capture a photo of one.

It wasn’t close enough for me to identify what type of bird this was,

but when I did some online reading, I discovered this was likely a turkey vulture. The main reason I say that is because it wasn’t alone. As it soared and circled above our pond it was joined by a second and then a third. Eventually there were seven of them circling overhead. Vultures commonly hunt in groups unlike hawks and eagles who more often hunt solo.

Bees

My husband captured another swarm of bees bringing us up to four hives.

A few days later the hive swarmed again.

The swarm was too heavy for the branch they landed on. Then ended up relocating. We didn’t have another hive ready so we decided this swarm would add to the wild bee population. My husband did set up another hive so that we are ready in case there is another swarm.

After The Heatwave

We have had some deer visiting. They enjoyed some hosta salad.

The prayer garden is ever changing. These pictures are from last week – following a week of intense heat.

The white in the foreground are phlox, the yellow is tickseed, the purple is, of course, lavender and the peach color are Asiatic lilies.

The colors this year are very vibrant.

Roses

Tickseed

Lavender

Asiatic lilies

Creeping thyme in the foreground is a favorite of bees and other pollinators.

Some primroses were still blossoming last week as well.

Marshmallow plants

Marshmallow blossoms

The garden seemed to enjoy the heat wave more than we did.

My husband watered as needed.

And everything is growing in leaps and bounds.

Above is the patch of buckwheat we planted. It’s amazing to see how many pollinators forage this patch. My husband also discovered that the chickens like buckwheat, so he cuts a handful or two each day and gives it to the chickens.

Look What’s Growing in Our Apple Tree

There are some apples on the tree as well, but they weren’t as interesting as these three baby robins.

Thanks for visiting.

The Week in Pictures

Birds, Daffodils, Flowers, garden, Gardening, Reflections, Roses, Ruby, Strawberries, Weeding, Wild Flowers, Wildlife, , , ,

Well, I’ve got some catching up to do, so some of these pictures actually go back a couple of weeks.

Gardening

My husband has finished all of the planting for this year, and most things are coming up. Most of these photos are a week or two old and with the warm summerlike weather and rain that we have had everything seems to be growing in leaps and bounds.

Potato patch

Cabbage patch

Pole Beans. The strings are for them to climb on.

Tomato Patch just a few day after they were planted. Some are now getting blossoms.

The new strawberry patch. Yesterday my husband spent several hours weeding and removing the flowers and berries that were forming. It is best to remove the flowers the first year, so the plants put energy in developing a strong root system. It will make for healthier plants. Next year we will hopefully get a good harvest.

I spent about 12-15 hours over the course of several days weeding our old strawberry bed that had been taken over by weeds. In the photo above I am almost finished. Only another hour or two and I was done.

On Saturday, about a week after I finished weeding, we picked about a quart of berries. My husband picked about another quart on Sunday.

The Prayer Garden

After I finished weeding in the strawberry patch, I went to work taming the prayer garden.

In addition to weeding, I cut down all of the daffodil leaves and stems.

I’m afraid I might have cut them down to soon and that we will have less flowers next year, but it looks so much neater with them out of there.

A few days after I finished, it exploded with color.

The primrose began to blossom. I just love their brilliant color. I am sure I need to thin them because they spread very quickly and will take over everything, but I will wait until they are finished blossoming.

The roses also began blossoming. I love the red roses with the yellow primrose.

In the Wild

Last week the wild roses were in full bloom. We have wild rose bushes scattered throughout the property. I have featured two of the largest. The one above is a least 15 ft (4,57 meters) wide and 8 ft. (2.43 meters) tall. I can’t even begin to guess how deep it goes back among the other trees.

A close up of the rose blossoms. You might notice some wild grape leaves in the photo. Apparently there in a grape vine growing with the rose bush. What you don’t notice in the photo is the wonderful fragrance of the roses, – sweet but a bit spicey. Every now and then I would catch a whiff of it in the breeze. I love this time of year! Definitely worth taking time to smell the roses!

The second one that I am featuring climbs up the oak tree at our picnic area. We do keep it pruned a bit, otherwise it will reach out and grab someone as they are walking by, or in my case riding by on the mower while cutting the grass around the tree.

It probably reaches up 20 ft (6.09 meters) into the tree.

Feathered Friends

I sat quietly in front of the barn and snuck a picture while this blue jay ate chicken scratch near the coop.

We have a pair of ducks that have become regular visitors. Sometimes it’s just the male and other times the male and female are together. Not only do they swim in the pond, but my husband has also seen them eating chicken scratch with the chickens. If Ruby spots them, and she usually does, she is quick to chase them off. We actually encourage her to chase the off because duck dropping in the pond can bring bacteria and parasites that could affect human and aquatic health. we don’t want that.

Thanks for visiting.

I’m A Published Author – Part II

Reflections, , , , , ,

Hello and welcome,

As I mentioned in my previous post I wanted to tell you about my experience with being published in a Chicken Soup for the Soul® book. When I first began considering submitting my stories I started by visiting their website. The website is very clear and easy to navigate. The “How to Submit a Story” category is made up of 4 separate pages – Possible Book Topics, Story Guidelines, Submission FAQ, and Submit Your Story. After reading the first three pages I felt like I knew everything I needed to know about how the submission process worked and what type of stories they were looking for.

Another thing that helped identify what my stories should be like were reading stories from the books. I also signed up on the website to receive their Free Story Newsletters. The stories taken directly from their books can be emailed to you daily or weekly. You can also select from a few specific categories of interest. I enjoy finding that story in my email each day.

Once I had my story(s) ready to submit I returned to their website and went to the “Submit Your Story” page. This process was easy (as long as you know how to copy and paste). It started with filling out a form with name, email address, address, and phone number. The next step was to select the book (topic) that the story was being submitted for. There is a drop-down menu to select from. It then it asks for the title of the story and lastly copy and paste the story into the box provided. Once it was pasted into the box, I made sure to re-read to make sure it copied correctly. There are also a built-in spelling and grammar check in that box, so it was a great time to correct any errors before the story was submitted.

The last step was to read and agree to their Term of Use and Privacy Policies and to assure them I am not a robot. I was sure to follow their instructions to only click submit one time and then I waited on that page until I got a notice that they had received my submission. This happened almost immediately.

My first two submissions were for the same book and had a deadline of November 15. After that I waited. I didn’t expect to hear anything before the holidays. I also knew that if my stories were not selected I would not hear anything. I continued to submit stories for the other books while I waited.

On January 12 I received an email telling me that my story had made it to the first round in the selection process and that most of the stories that make it that far are selected. They asked me to complete a permission form for them to publish my story. Completing this form was required in order to continue to be considered, but it did not guarantee that my story would be included.

About two weeks later I was sent a finale copy of my story (how it would appear in the book) for approval. Then on February 6, I received confirmation email that my story would be in the book, and the book was on its way to the printer. This message also included a timeline that detailed the release date, when I could expect the 10 free copies of the book and when I could expect to receive a check.

I continued to get messages over the next couple months including one with a PDF file of a bookmark, that matched the book, that I could print and give out, another that had marketing information, and one inviting me to join a zoom call to meet Amy Newark, the publisher, D’ette Corona, VP, Associate Publisher and the other first time contributors who were published in this book. This was my first zoom call!

In Early April I did receive my 10 free copies and since I have 3 sisters and 4 (adult) children it was not hard to decide who those were going to. Since they all wanted their copies signed, we met at a coffee shop on a Saturday morning for a book signing.

I also printed some of the bookmarks, I wrote the release date on them and gave them out to people like my dentist and hygienist, my doctor and nurse, some neighbors and the girls at our credit union.

Last week I received the $250 check for payment for my story, but that is not necessarily the end of this experience. As a contributor, and now part of the Chicken Soup Family, I can, if I choose, do book signings. They say that Barnes and Noble likes to have book signings or I can order books at a discount and sell them (perhaps at a craft or vendor sale). I can also purchase books at a discount for nonprofit fund raising. I have not yet decided if I will do any of that.

I consider it an honor to have my story published in a Chicken Soup book, especially knowing that there are thousands of submissions for each book that they publish and only 101 are selected. The only difficult part about this experience is the waiting (something I’m sure anyone who has ever tried to get published understands).

I have found this to be a really great experience and would encourage any fellow writers, who may be interested to submitting a story, to check out their Story Guidelines and the other pages related to submitting a story.

I would also encourage anyone who likes Chicken Soup stories to sign up for their free newsletter and or check out their Chicken Soup for the Soul Podcast with Amy Newmark | Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Thanks for reading.

11 Years

Reflections, , , ,

On May 31, 2015, 11 years ago, I first registered my blog with WordPress.

Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!

You registered on WordPress.com 11 years ago.

Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging.

I thought I would celebrate by looking back at some of my previous posts from May 31. On May 31, 2017, I Posted A Beautiful Monday, a post that has been viewed only 54 times over the years and likely at least half of those views have not been real people.

Earlier this year I noticed that something seemed off with my stats. My blog, which throughout the years has averaged less than 30 views per day, is now averaging over 300 views per day. While I would like to believe the popularity of my blog suddenly exploded, I am not that that naïve, especially since the ‘likes’ and ‘comments’ have not increased. It seems that bots have been visiting my blog. I find that a little unsettling. I wonder what they are doing with my content. It also means that my stats, at least the number of views and visitors are no longer reliable. Disappointing? Yes, but it is what it is. There is one thing that could help me distinguish real visitors from bots and you can help if you would like to. If you read a post, hit the ‘like’ button or leave a comment so I will know that a real person has been here. I understand that life is busy and you may not have the time. I do, however, appreciate you taking the time to read my posts, even if you don’t have time to leave a comment.

All of that leads to my post from May 31, 2018, I‘m Not Gonna Wait To Tell You. According to my stats this post has been viewed 258 times. Interestingly more than 150 of those views have been in 2026. (Bots! GRRR!) Though the numbers have changed, since I first wrote this, my thoughts have not.

Before I go I just want to let all my readers know that although WordPress now has and AI feature all of the writing and photos on my blog are and will continue to be my own. I have not and will not use AI.

As always, thanks for visiting!

The Week in Pictures-Bees and Blooms

Asaparagus, Bees, Chives, Lilacs, Nature, Oregano, Reflections

Another Swarm

Early last week the bees looked like they were going to swarm again. They eventually settled down but we figured we should keep an eye on them for the next few days.

Thursday morning my husband said they were overly active and figured that was the day they were going to swarm. He brought out another hive to set up in case he could capture another swarm

Thursday afternoon he discovered the swarm in the nearby spruce tree again. He got the hive set up.

He then put on his protective gear and got his bucket ready.

Holding the bucket under the branch where the swarm had landed, he shook the branch causing much of the swarm to fall into the bucket. He put the lid on the bucket as he carried it to the hive.

He dumped the bees into the hive and put the top on the hive. He then returned to the spruce tree to repeat the process with some bees who had gathered back on the branch. As of today, Sunday, the bees are still in that hive. We now have three bee hives.

Shades of Purple

Lilacs

Lilacs

and more Lilacs

Chives

Thyme

Salvia with Violets

Salvia

Creeping Phlox

This Week’s Harvest

I harvested some chives and some oregano this week, both of which I am drying. I also harvested about 3 lbs. of asparagus. We have eaten some and I put some in the freezer. I also added some to a pot of split pea and asparagus soup that I made. The soup turned out really good. Hopefully we will continue picking asparagus for a couple more weeks.

Thanks for visiting!