Mother Nature Day Flowers

View from the top

Huckleberry Blooming

Wild Strawberry blooms

Apple bloom up close

Apple Tree in yard

For Mother's Day I took a short walk to the top of our hill and looked at all of Mother Nature's flowers. Most of the berry plants are blooming and Apple trees. There were several violet colored small flowers so shy they blurred their pictures so you did not get to see them. All the trees are getting at least some green on them and starting to leaf out. It is always amazing what even a day makes in the color of things. After a long brown/grey and white winter it wakens up the happiness inside all of us to see some color.

We've had a lot of rain in the last few days bringing the creek up from 1.75 feet to over 3.5 feet in a short amount of time. This would be a great day for the adventurous mother rafting trip down Pine Creek. It would be fast and possibly a little cold as the temperatures are in the mid-forties this morning with a lot of wind.

We also went from one hummingbird to about twenty overnight and Lee has increased the amount in the feeders. She is trying to decide if she wants to risk putting them out front this year and deal with the bear again. We don't know if he learned his lesson from the electric fence last year or not. She didn't care much for mowing around the electric  fence, so the decision is still up in the air.

I still have some of my backyard fence to repair from the bear climbing it last year. Since it is only a ten foot section I am thinking of making it solid wood so I don't have to buy a 50' roll of fence to repair 10 foot of fence.

The forecast for next week is very cold we are looking at some freezing temperatures at night, which could affect the apple crop like it did last year. So we are keeping our fingers crossed it won't be too bad before we will get back into the warm temperatures by the next weekend. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Hurricane Irene

Last night I went to bed wondering how much wind and rain we would get from Hurricane Irene. As I went to sleep in the silence of the forest I could hear the sound of Giants footsteps through the woods. Was the storm coming so soon? I strained to listen... Sure enough the rhythmic beat of large feet coming through the woods could be heard. My heart beat just a little faster. I could imagine the wind tearing trees down like on the memorial day storms. I could imagine water tearing through the dam and bridges like during hurricane Agnes in the 70's.
I tried to silence my own breathe to listen closer and realized my giant slept at the foot of my bed, LEO! Breathing slow low breaths that sounded like footsteps. Mystery solved I went to bed to see what morning would bring.
As the sun rose or should I say it got a bit lighter...it was raining. It rained on and off most of the morning and the wind gusted at times but never enough to drop the forest to its knees. By late afternoon the clouds disappeared and the air went cool like autumn is supposed to be. I took this picture of the apple tree in our front yard around 6pm. Although, it is difficult to see, there are many small apples on the tree. In fact, there is an abundance of apples this year, which should make the bears and deer quite happy soon.
The male hummingbirds have all left, but due to an abundance of babies this year I am still feeding quite a few of them. I did take down 3 quart feeders so now there are only 13 up. By the end of tomorrow I should know if I can take anymore down. They won't completely be gone until the end of September. Lee always keeps a few up for travelers coming through on their migration south.
Lee is still with my mom. This is the beginning of week four alone in the woods. I will have to say I will be happy when she is home so I can have someone to talk to besides the dogs. Mom's surgery went well and we will know by Thursday how soon Lee can leave. I think she is anxious to be home too. There is no place like Leetonia. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off.

Mother's Day and Blooming trees

The apple tree in the front yard announced Mother's Day with a brilliant white shout.

The trees are blooming and the allergies to trees are in full-swing so if you have any tree allergy bring your medicine.

We have had a little cold, wet spell and are still having an evening fire to take the dampness out of the air. It seems we have been very busy with work and I have had little time to write anything on the blog.

The turkey hunters have been stalking the woods with varying degrees of success. Of course the turkey's appear the most on Sunday just to spite the hunters. Last night I was at the Ruins camp and as I got ready to leave a large Black bear stood about 10' from the door. I decided to wait until he ate the hamburger one of the guys had thrown out...no wonder he was so close. This camp was like the McDonalds of the woods. I will try and take my camera with and get a few pictures for the next post. Have a great Leetonia Day. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.