The Long Hot Summer

sneezing through the day

thick smoke now fills the valley

health hazard summer

making the dust fly

house haze - summer's legacy

smoke dust and road dirt  

dawn breaking later

earth tilting ready for fall

dry leaves know it's time

houses in ashes
homes only in memory
can never go back

rabbits have returned
 chew their way through petunias
no heart for killing 

at forty two

this morning reminds me
there's only three weeks
to first frost date

What positives are there to say about this summer?  From May to today, barely any rain fell and hot days in the 90's and 100's were the norm. Everything is tinderbox dry. While I was in San Francisco, another fire - the Chalky Fire - broke out and burned many more acres, homes, and outbuilding on the Cheyenne & Crow reservations and down the Rosebud Creek. Over 500,000 acres have been destroyed all told and fires are still burning throughout the state. Wednesday this week has been designated extremely dangerous with temps over 100 and high wind warnings. A cold front follows and could trigger t-storms and more fires. 

Tongue River Road - Ash Creek Fire

Pictures of the grass around the house at the top of the page show it isbone dry and the trees are shedding leaves that are dead due to drought. I have watered them but maybe not enough?  Staying indoors out of the heat and the smoke was the norm and I feel that I've had cabin fever worse than the winter.  

The rabbits are back and without the vigilant Snowy are chewing up my containers. I haven't got the heart to shoot them, but I have a neighbor who will probably be invited up this fall!

The good thing - I very timidly left the house in God's hands and took a week to visit friends in San Francisco. It was a wonderful week and so cool that I wore a sweatshirt each morning as the fog rolled in.

 

 

In the photos:

Kathryn Maack; Christopher Maack. Bruce Anderson; Chris Valentine

God did a good job with the house while I was away and I am thankful for good friends who took care of me for a week - I sorely needed them.

Firestorm

Smoke fills the view to the east

Daylily - Lemon Drop

daily haiku

a red moon rises
smoke in air from tragic fire
beauty from ruins

These past weeks have been very stressful. On June 26th - a day with temps at 106' and 40 mph winds - took fire up the Tongue River Valley and desecrated a lot of the Cheyenne reservation north of Ashland.  The Amish community and some of my Cheyenne friends lost their homes and or ranch buildings. The whole town of Ashland including the St Labre Complex and Heritage Living Sr Center were all evacuated. The Ash Creek fire as it was named, has been one of the biggest fires in Montana history, and may actually be the largest.  It is still not fully contained see today's bulletin from KTVQ.com
:

Fire managers are hoping to complete containment 

of the huge Ash Creek Fire Monday, and are nearing containment 

on several other fires burning across Southeast Montana.

The combined fires have burned more than 330,000 acres 

since the region erupted in lightning-caused, and human-caused 
blazes two weeks ago.The largest fire remains the Ash Creek blaze, 

which has scorched over 249,000 acres, destroying several structures 

and forcing evacuations as it spread north and east from its initial 

starting point near Lame Deer. That fireis now 95% contained, 

and crews are hoping to get full containment on Monday

All of the homes south and east of Ashland were without power for three and a half days. No power means no water also.  At temps ranging from 95-109'  I was very lucky to have good friends who let me haul water from their outdoor well.  They had a generator and took me in for "cooling" and I was so very grateful.  We had a good time team-cooking suppers and as they say around here "shooting the breeze". As the Ash Creek Fire came under control, lightning started many small fires throughout the area and they were promptly put out by a mobile fire crew, but a few remained including one east of here - The Taylor Creek Fire which is not yet contained so each time we get an easterly wind the valley fills with smoke. 

My garden looks pretty sad, the hardy mint is burned, but the moss roses being a succulent, are still blooming and a lovely small daylily "Lemon Drop" blossomed and filled me with cheer. Tonight more thunderstorms seem to be in the offing and everything is dry despite a welcome 1/2 inch rain 5 days ago. 

Meanwhile my relatives in England are having one of the wettest summers on record with flooding. Wish they could send us some!

Bonds of Friendship

daily haiku

the pain of bereavement
life without you moves on
my heart is full of loving you 

 

daily haiku

the gift of healing
there is no greater love
than that from our friends

On June 15th my dear friend and companion, Snowy, became ill. I took her to the vet and she got worse so rapidly that we had to put her to sleep. The vet says there is no test the confirm it, but he thought strongly it was Addison's Disease.  It comes on suddenly and progresses rapidly. I think I was in shock for a number of days and pretty depressed. Then and now I still "see" her around the house in her usual places. It is getting better. 

Since Peter died she had been my faithful companion, sitting on my lap at night and watching TV and filling my life with her demands for daily living. I had little beds for her all over the house where she napped, to avoid the cat hair problem! She loved to get a massage in the morning before she took her after breakfast nap, which is unusual, as cats in general don't like to lie on their backs; but she purred all the time and swatted my hand when I was through as though to say "We're not finished yet."

When I went to knit with my friend Victoria on Friday I had a wonderful surprise. She showed me a portrait she had painted and underneath there was another painting. I asked if I could see it too, and she said yes. It was the most beautiful picture of Snowy - so true to life, and a lovely tribute to my beautiful cat friend. I cried when I saw it & then while I was knitting the strangest thing happened.  I kept looking at the picture and something in me was healed. I could not explain that feeling ever. Maybe it was the love of friendship; maybe Snowy's spirit came through to comfort me. Who knows? But I have felt better each day since then. 

Thank you Victoria.. for one of the best gifts a friend has ever given me.

For The Birds

the wren

three inches big

terrorizes the bluebirds

kills the babies

bad things can come

in small sizes

Life with the birds is an ongoing soap opera this year - never know what will happen next. The bluebirds that nest under the eaves were evicted by wrens last year. Who would know that what sings so sweetly could be so vicious?! But undaunted they came back this year and rebuilt the nest. The eggs hatched and as I sat at my computer I could hear excited twittering as mom or dad brought in the food. The downside is that on warm days this end of the porch smells vaguely like a chicken coop. 

Mr Bluebird is very defensive of his territory. If the chipmunk who lives in the rock wall nearby oversteps the boundary line he gets a fly-by and a peck on his whiskery nose. That upsets the robins and they fly at the bluebird in defense of the chipmunk - good lord there is a definite caste system out there.

A few days ago the wrens moved in again - dozens of them and one went into the bluebird nest and threw the babies out and killed them even tearing off their wings in the process. The grass was littered with tiny bodies and I was very upset. I buried the little things in a flower bed nearby and thought that was the last of the bluebirds for this summer; however they came back and were rebuilding the nest. This morning there was a wonderful flirtation going on, on the fence as Mr Bluebird started his courtship rites again. Much fluttering and flying and Mrs Bluebird seemed to have a headache as she was quite uncooperative. In the middle of this r-rated activity the wrens appeared, there was some flying and fighting between them all but one wren did get into the bluebird nest.  I am not sure what happened but I went out with my yard broom and banged on the outside of the entrance. Don't know if it did any good but the wrens are now wary of the old witch who lives inside the house :)  

I have not seen the bluebirds since, so they may have given up and gone away to find a new nesting site. Meanwhile the wrens are trying to get inside my shed and one went into the gap in the stone wall where the chipmunk stores his seed. He may have met his match if Chippie finds him there! 

Footnote 6/13/12


Well undaunted, the bluebirds are nesting again; flying back and forth to the nest. The wrens did not win that battle. Hopefully Mrs Bluebird is laying another clutch.

Another story - I heard scratching in the mud room at the weekend and thought I had a mouse, could not find anything.  The third time I saw a bird near the window.  Suspicions grew and I went outside to check the dryer vent. Sure enough the wren had filled the opening with dead cedar twigs!  I took out about a pint or so of twigs, then put duct tape across the opening and considered myself lucky to have found it instead of having a dryer fire! 

 Later on in the afternoon I went through the mudroom and there was such a ruckus - a wren was clinging to the window strut and fluttering and twittering at me in wren profanities! So I told it that we were now even for their killing the bluebird babies. What a nasty old Brit I am!

Life in High Definition

daily haiku

roses bloom in may 

ahead of nature's schedule

take time to smell them

One of the things that I enjoy that amazes me all the time is my high definition TV. The picture is so sharp and the colors are glorious. This time of year nature goes into high def too!

With the drought this year we missed some of the blazing colors of flowers, but there's still plenty to enjoy if you look around the hill.

The flax seed I scattered years ago still sends a few baby-blue-eyes to greet me  - so delicate and lovely.  My Harrison's Yellow Rose, that was brought west by the pioneers in their wagons, goes crazy for a few days, and the wild pink rose after which our county is named, blossoms with an aroma that sends me to heaven.  

The bird life is colorful too; the golden-bib of the meadowlark, the green back of the tree swallows, the brilliance of bluebirds nesting under the eave by my desk, rooster pheasant in his wedding suit, and one of the sights I love the most - goldfinches taking a bath in new puddles after a storm comes through.

For sure I love my TV, but there's really no better program than mother nature!

Sleepin' With The Bees

daily haiku

flight path for the bees

directly over my head

I am buzzed for sure

I sat outside in the shade to read near the honeysuckle tree. It was wonderful; as the breeze dropped, the smell of warm honeysuckle scent drifted to me, intoxicating and full of spring. I was directly in the flight path for bumblebees nearly the size of a half dollar. Laden with nectar they flew over my head on their way to wherever their nest is (to the northwest). One landed on me and I was so startled my book went flying! 

I could not resist photos, got a few as you can see, but wished I had a real macro lens for sure. The hill is alive with creatures enjoying the fruits of the season. Behind me the Lilac in it's last stages of bloom was alive with small butterflies, and to my amazement, moths were in a psychotic frenzy hardly stopping to take nectar or whatever attracted them. 

With the buzzing of the bees, the warm (85') air, the aroma, and the twittering of finches, my eyes started to close and I had trouble reading my book. So I moved out into the sun, but it was no solution to the problem.  I almost fell out of the chair as I nodded off briefly! I finally came inside to write and hopefully stay awake.
Who knows about the book..........

Spring Blossoms Forth

daily haiku

snowflakes in april

petals from the chokecherry 

drift us into spring

I have not posted for a while as I was having difficulties with the new blogger format; I finally accessed through Mozilla Firefox and that seems to work. Blogger wants you to subscribe to Goggle Chrome and I hate the Internet telling me what to do. Too much like 1984 and Big brother!

Spring is here. Last week in the 90' weather, the chokecherries blossomed filling the garden with their heavenly scent. As always, I smelled it before I realized where it was emanating from! We are still having frost off and on and I am holding my breath; the lovely white lilac outside the bedroom window unfurled buds in the hot weather and I don't want them to be frosted. There is nothing like going to bed with the window open and the scent of lilacs filling the room.


We are at the stage of spring conflict - the house has an accumulation of dust and the grass is growing fast and furious outside - both need attention and it is hard to choose which to do first! Hopefully the weather will help me to decide - at least it doesn't make me download a special program!