Reminders and More

 Can you feel Fall in the air recently? The crickets and bluejays are announcing that the weather is changing. I know we have some very nice days ahead of us, but nights are getting a bit cooler (even on the "crisp" side on my hillside) with temperatures in the low 50s and high 40s. The goldenrod around my back lawn is in full bloom and many of my flowers are past bloom. Evelyn Daly has helped me dead-heading in my garden, and she will soon be cutting things back and helping to get ready for winter. Not that I want to rush things, but I'm thinking ahead.

My friend Mary Whitcomb's son, Dale and his wife, Whitney, took a trip to North Conway area recently, and Whitney took this photo of a "bug." Mary thought I'd appreciate it, and shared it! Whitney said she had no idea what town they were in when she spotted this, but she knows they were in New Hampshire. Clever, creative sculpture!

Here is a reminder - the last social event of the season for Joe's Pond Association is coming right up - the cocktail party is on the 20th of August. Tickets can be purchased from either Nancy Buttura (802-279-4146) or Sue Yesalonia (802-793-3973) ahead of time or at the door. 

 

My pond is more like a puddle these days! I've struggled to keep water in it all summer, but the dry weather and an obvious leak way down near the bottom someplace, is finally winning the battle. I had water running in from a spring in the woods above my house, and for a while, with rain, it was keeping the level up fairly well, but the spring is very low, so I shut it off. The water level in the pond hasn't been at the full point since spring runoff. Ben Ackermann dug it for me last summer and thought it was well sealed with clay, but now we know there's a leak someplace. Ben was going to come and channel water from more springs on the hillside above the pond into it, but he has been very busy with other projects all summer. I told him not to stress about my pond - it is not an emergency, just disappointing. He thought it might seal up on its own, but I think that is not happening and he's going to need to find where it's leaking and seal it with more clay. I'm hoping the water will stop going down at the leak point and that will show us exactly where the leak is. If not, I may need some other kind of liner. The odd thing is, we haven't been able to spot where the water is going. I'm thinking that's because it's so dry this year it's being absorbed quickly into the ground around it. I have a stake marked off in inches so I can tell how much water I'm losing each day. I went out and checked a little while ago and the water has gone down about three inches in the past 24 hours. The frogs will end up fighting each other for water space, I'm afraid. There are a lot of them out there and they plop into the water every time I walk by. You will see two of them on either side of my measuring post in the photo below. The post would be completely covered with water if the pond was filled to capacity. I will reset the post as the water goes down - the bank is pretty steep and I don't want to end up dunked in the pond; not that it's very deep - I could walk anywhere in in now, but it would be pretty muddy and I don't want to disturb anything, or come out covered in mud! The stone shown in the top picture would normally be covered with water and it would be flowing out the green overflow pipe in the foreground. Everything worked well for a while this spring while there was still runoff from the hillside. In the bottom picture, you'll see my measuring post and the frogs  sitting in the water, apparently keeping an eye on the post. They are probably worried there won't be enough water for all of them to stay there this winter!

The other thing that I think is a consequence of all the dry weather we've had, is that my apple trees have dropped nearly all their apples prematurely. When Bob McKay mowed my lawn Saturday, he moved all the apples from this one toward the tree or into the deeper grass beyond it so he could mow - and since Saturday a lot more apples have come down. I've picked up the best of them, but the rest will be food for the deer and turkeys - or maybe a bear or two. There's plenty for everyone! There is another tree that has the same problem further down on the lawn. I thought a neighbor was going to come to get some to feed their pigs and/or chickens, but I guess they have plenty closer by or are busy with other things. A young couple came several years ago and picked up bushels of drops from this tree for their pigs. I think they lived in Lyndonville or Wheelock. I'm sure they will get used, one way or another.

Such a pretty day, I hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather. Be safe, happy, and do something nice for someone you care about.