Summer Colours Week – Green

Sheeps & Peeps4 Comments
A beautiful luna moth has been a frequent visitor to the barn for what began as a late night flutter-by, and then developed into a daily resting spot.
A favorite eating and working spot, our picnic table is surrounded by the deep green of grass and the shade of old oak and maple trees.

We’re joining Poppytalk for Summer Colours Week 
Please check out all the beautiful colours in the flickr pool

Sunday Muse

Sheeps & Peeps4 Comments

My bonnie flower, with truest joy
Thy welcome face I see,
The world grows brighter to my eyes,
And summer comes with thee.
My solitude now finds a friend,
And after each hard day,
I in my mountain garden walk,
To rest, or sing, or pray.
All down the rocky slope is spread
Thy veil of rosy snow,
And in the valley by the brook,
Thy deeper blossoms grow.
The barren wilderness grows fair,
Such beauty dost thou give;
And human eyes and Nature’s heart
Rejoice that thou dost live.
~excerpt ‘Mountain-Laurel’ from A Garland for Girls by Louisa May Alcott

Weekly Top Shot

Sheeps & Peeps6 Comments

While Raven is technically not a working dog, if you told her any different she would be very insulted.  She makes the rounds of chores, and fiercely guards the farm and family.  As she is getting older and is having some arthritis problems, she does more waiting… as in ‘I know you’re coming back this way when you finish putting up that fence… I’ll wait right here in the shade.”

Joining Madge at The view from right here for Weekly Top Shot 

Bird Watching

Sheeps & Peeps4 Comments

Although a very busy weekend, it was almost impossible to ignore all the wild bird activity… 
a Purple Finch and its mate visiting the platform feeder outside the dishwashing window… 

a pair of Bluebirds guarding their territory in the late evening light…

some Barn Swallows took turns standing guard…

while others were waiting to be fed…

and not one… but two Pileated Woodpeckers treating us to a yard side visit.

While we were enjoying the glimpses of wild bird life between chores, Barncat Davita found it a challenge to get anywhere, moving at a very slow pace, crawling on her belly a few steps at a time while she was being dive-bombed alternately by Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows.  Apparently she has a very bad reputation in the bird world.  And then it was nearly impossible to ignore Barncat Spot’s bizarre behavior, as she spent her entire Sunday afternoon on this rafter, obsessively watching one corner of the barn roof; a corner where, try as we might, we could find nothing to warrant all this attention.
You know… honestly… it’s never dull around here.

Happy Birthday

Sheeps & Peeps3 Comments
Yet another reason to celebrate today… Happy 149th Birthday West Virginia!

Oh, the West Virginia hills! How majestic and how grand,
With their summits bathed in glory, Like our Prince Immanuel’s Land!
Is it any wonder then, That my heart with rapture thrills,
As I stand once more with loved ones On those West Virginia hills?

Oh, the hills, beautiful hills, How I love those West Virginia hills!
If o’er sea o’er land I roam, Still I’ll think of happy home,
And my friends among the West Virginia hills.
~ words by Mrs. Ellen King, music by H. E. Engle