Water lilies - Ugh!!!

The Puddle Pond began as a small watering hole for horses that we owned before Only Daughter learned to drive a car.  When the horses found a new home, we had The Puddle Pond enlarged and made deeper.  The water lilies that originally were contained and kept from spreading in pots managed to free themselves and propagate like crazy.  While they are lovely to look at and the flowers when they open are beautiful, they can be a headache.  The Puddle Pond is stocked with bass, bluegills, and perch as well as turtles and frogs.   We try to keep the coverage at about 1/3 of the surface which means time in the john boat for Mr P.


 The spray that is mixed and used on the lily pads doesn't harm the fish, frogs or turtles.  These pics are taken the first time Mr P rowed around spraying the lily pads and hoping the direction of the wind didn't suddenly change and give him a good spraying.  There have been two other spraying forays since this one.  The difference should be evident when the June 1st picture appears which will be taken tomorrow.  Where did the month of May go????

The following pictures are of the horse and buggies that the Amish here in Central PA use as their transportation.  I took a day off work mid month and we took a day trip to Ephrata to a large outdoor flea market.  The Amish have lots of stands at the market selling produce, plants, handmade furniture, baked goods... you name it, it's there.  The market's slogan in Pennsylvania Dutch dialect is "If you can't find it here, it chust ain't for sale."

 

 
The weather has been a mixed bag this past month - rain, humidity, hot temps.  Our veggie garden, which got an early start due to the unseasonably warm spring, is doing well. 
Have a good rest of the week and look for the 1st of the month picture tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Chance!!!!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Chance,
Happy Birthday to you!!!

Today is our adoptive cat's birthday.  Chance began her life in Melbourne (Florida not Australia) in 1993.  Only Son-In-Law went to a pet store while attending college at FIT and Chance came home with him.

She spent her formative years with Only Son-In-Law and Only Daughter.  During a visit to the vets, Only Daughter adopted a second cat that had been left at the vets thinking the two cats would be great company for each other.  Despite the best efforts of Only Son-In-Law and Only Daughter, the two just couldn't be happy together.

At that time, Mr P and I had two cats of our own, one of whom would not have welcomed another interloper in her midst.  Fortunately, Only Son-In-Law's parents became her adoptive parents and cared for her during those teen years.  She was a happy girl to be the one and only in their lives.

In August 2008 both of our cats had passed away but we did have a Labrador Retriever who was a-okay with cats.  So when Only Son-In-Law's parents moved their household and could no longer keep her, we became her second set of adoptive parents.  She was tolerant of our Lab, Buck(ley) but blossomed after he passed away last July. She is quite a talkative cat and has routines that she expects us to follow each day including breakfast and dinner and sitting next to each of us for some petting. 

Some nicknames bestowed on her by Only Son-In-Law and Only Daughter - Chicky, Chickydee and Hippychick.  At our house she is called Princess and she will be with us during her golden and final years.

She didn't hate having the beads draped on her neck but she wasn't sorry when I took them off.  She has several favorite perches - atop a cover in a quiet corner of a bedroom and the back of the sofa in the family room.  She also luxuriates in stretching out on the rug in the kitchen to remind us it's soon time to feed her. I ordered her a new cat tree perch which is simply a bowl atop a scratching post since the one brought with her in 2008 has seen better days.  I hope at her age she isn't to finicky to make another transition but just to a new perch.

HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY TODAY CHANCE!!!

Moonscape?

  

This may be a few days late but it's the 1st of May's picture of The Puddle.  It feels barren when Mr. P and I walk down to look around.  The tree trimming crew was back to put the tree branches through a wood chipper and cut the brush on the hill.  There was a letter in the mail today informing us that the towers (there is one at the top of the picture and another across the stream in the field behind our property) will be replaced with a single steel pole.  Replacement along the tower line is to begin mid-May and take about a year. 

 The two tiny trees at the entrance of the path leading back up to our house are the crabapple trees that the power company provided as replacements for the two that were chopped down.  They are outside the right of way so hopefully will grow and prosper in the future.

 

It appears a bluebird is contemplating taking up residence in the birdhouse that is at the edge of the woods at The Puddle.

 This turkey was wandering in the yard this week.  There is a flock of turkeys that we can hear gobbling in the woods next to the house especially in the evening when they fly up into the trees to roost or in the mornings when they fly down.

Much needed rain has been falling off and all all week and the forecast is for a nice weekend.  Hope you have a good one wherever you are and whatever you are doing.