Local winners at pet show

The 83nd annual Waverly Recreation Commission Pet Show was held at the Elderwood Nursing Facility courtyard and a couple of Joyce Road goats were winners in the miscellaneous animal competition. Ty Abell took second place with Lucas and his sister Kenna took first place with Sandy.


Ty with Lucas (left), Kenna with Sandy (right).




Mary Abell with Sandy and Lucas.

Weekend Guests

Leigh and Iona Bartlow from Huntsville, Alabama stayed with us this weekend while they were in the area for a family reunion.



We first met Leigh and Iona while on a cruise ship heading for St. Petersburg, Russia. In a chance meeting at diner we discovered Leigh had family roots in New Albany, PA which is my hometown. Leigh and Iona return to Bradford county on a regular basis for family reunions and have stopped to visit us several times. In another twist of fate we both took the same Antarctica & South America Cruise in March of 2008. While on the Antarctica cruise Iona and I celebrated our birthdays which are on the same day, Leigh's birthday is 6 days later. In January 2009 we accepted Leigh and Iona's offer to visit them at their timeshare in Pompano Beach, Florida and scheduled our 2009 Panama Canal Cruise to coincide with a visit to Florida.

Salmon Fishing in Lake Ontario

Harley and Barb Kay, along with their friends Candi and Ron had a good day fishing in Lake Ontario this weekend.



Harley



Barb



Candi



Ron



Photos provided by Barb Kay.

More Fawns Spotted in Neighborhood

A few of the local deer gathered for breakfast this morning to show off their fawns and let the "kids" play. Shortly after this picture was taken the group split up and headed different directions.

Bear visit at Pickering Winery

We stopped at Pickering Winery late Friday evening and shortly after we left the bear made a visit to Jim and Mary's. Since the winery was closed the bear had to settle for bird seed. Jim and Mary now need a new bird feeder.

The photo was provided by the Pickerings.

Geese on Miner's Pond

As I was heading south on Jocye Road I spotted this flock of geese off to my left flying parallel to the road. It didn't take them long to gain distance on me as they headed for Miner's Pond and landed.

New pavement at Gordon and Barb's

Gordon and Barb's driveway was resurfaced this week.

Turkey Trot

In less than a day after Jason baled the hay in this field a nice long beard and three young "jakes" were checking out the field.

Driveway drain installed

Over the past years, Rose Ellis has had problems with surface water running onto her driveway. In the winter this water will collect and freeze on the driveway causing driving/walking problems. This week I dug a ditch with my backhoe along the uphill side of the driveway. We then laid drain pipe and gravel in the ditch to collect and remove the surface water. In the following photo I give extra attention to one large rock in the ditch.

Today's photos from the neighborhood

David and Ty Abell rushing to bale hay before the next rain storm. A light rain started soon after this photo was taken. It wasn't much rain and it didn't last very long but it was just enough to stop baling for the day.



Back at the Abell farm, Miss Vicky's new calf enjoys the comfort of a hay bale.



A very large hawk finds a hay bale a great spot to look for a meal. This hawk has been in this same field for three days.



With the hay baled in some of the fields it's easier to find turkeys.



Lucas and Sandy

A close encounter with skunks

I was returning to the barn from the back field this evening when I spotted a pair of skunks in the field to the south of the barn. I quickly rushed to the truck to get my camera and headed for the south field. When I got within 20 yards of the skunks I could see it was a mother with a younger skunk and they were looking for food as they headed in my direction. I stopped and waited for the skunks to come closer. The younger skunk stopped to feed on something and the mother continued in my direction. The mother skunk in the following photo walked within two feet of me as it continued looking for food.



After the mother passed by the younger skunk was still busy working on his catch. I walked closer to the young skunk but when I got within 10 feet I could see him take a more defensive position. I held my distance but saw the skunk react each time the camera flash fired. After a couple of pictures I moved back to the location of my close encounter with the mother skunk and waited to see where the younger skunk would head. To my surprise the young skunk would sniff the ground and took the exact same path as the mother had taken. The young skunk was only a couple of feet away when the following photo was taken.


After the second skunk walked by I decided to see if I could get some more photos by getting ahead of him and waiting at a spot I had last seen the mother skunk. My plan worked, too good in fact. I had stood in the exact path the mother had taken and the young skunk had followed the tracks and stopped within 3 inches of my shoes. I was close enough to hear the skunk sniffing my shoes. I was going to take a picture of the skunk next to my feet but then remembered how the camera flash would make him jump each time it went off. It would have been a great picture but I didn't want to pay the price if I spooked the little guy.

I returned to the truck and spotted a third skunk but didn't want to press my luck.

Young animals everywhere

Jason sent me the following photo of a couple of young calves from his farm.



These two fawns were spotted on Joyce Road just above our farm.


A doe with a fawn in the field behind the barn.



Young turkey poults crossing Joyce Road near Harley Kay's mailbox.

What is more fun than a baby goat ...

How about two goats. Jason and Mary Abell got their first goat, Lucas, a couple of weeks ago and now they have a second goat. Two month old Sandy.



Jason and Mary's granddaughter Kenna with Sandy.



Ty and Kenna with Sandy.



The goats may be a new addition at the Abell's but Buster is still the "Top Dog".

More hay making at the farm

After so many rainy days this year it was nice to see some blue sky and sunshine. A view of the back field from the "Sniper's Nest" (upper loft) at the barn.



It was a beautiful day for cutting hay and after a few equipment problems were resolved David Abell was mowing the back field.

Early summer deer

David Abell provided some more digital game camera photos for the blog. The first photo is a doe with twin fawns.



Here's a shot of a young buck.

Another bear sighting

A bear with a cub was at Jason Abell's farm and a photo taken with a digital game camera. The photo was provided by Jason's son David.

Nice day for a ride

Visitors to the Joyce Road neighborhood, Mary and Lou, stop at Jason Abell's to ask for direction.

Brian's new "toy"

"The only difference between men and boys is the size of their toys".



Brian Hopkins borrowed my trailer to haul his new tractor with backhoe home. Time to start planning projects.






Tish and Karson.

Make hay while the sun shines

As the old saying goes ... "Make hay while the sun shines". Jason Abell was taking advantage of the rare sunny weather this week to get some hay baled.









Even though we had some sun this week not all of the fields were dry enough to get on.



To get some of these photos I climbed to the top of the 50 foot silo at the barn and found this frog half way up the silo. Even the frogs have headed to high ground due to all of the rain.


Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor)