Remembering....

Gettysburg was a farming community that became a terrible battlefield in the Civil War.  When you drive around the area you see many old barns that were there during the Civil War, but the reminders of that long ago battle dominate the scenery.  Memorial day was first observed to honor the Civil War dead, and so a Gettysburg barn seems to be an appropriate barn for today.

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Check out more old barns at Tricia's Barn Charm.

In The Yard

We have reached the time of year when it no longer gets dark.  We have almost 20 hours between sunrise and sunset and civil twilight the rest of the night.  With that many daylight hours, plants grow at a rapid rate.  My perennial beds contain mostly native plants, and a few weeks ago green shoots began to pop out of the ground.  Now several have begun to bloom.  Below is some of the activity in my yard today.

 Jacob's Ladder

Fern and Columbine 

 Wood Violet

 

Pasque Flower

Somewhere in New York

When we are traveling I end up taking a lot of drive-by shots, especially of old barns.  Sometimes they turn out very well, and other times not well at all.  Sometimes you get a scene that you really like, but the focus just isn't quite right, as in this scene I snapped while we were driving along one of the smaller highways in New York last October.

It's fun to do a bit of experimenting with that kind of photo.  Then the hard part is choosing which version you like best.

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Check out old barns from around the world at Tricia's Barn Charm.

Froggie Went A Courtin'

Froggie went a-courtin' and he did ride, a-huh

Froggie went a-courtin' and he did ride, a-huh

Froggie went a-courtin' and he did ride

Sword and pistol by his side, a-huh, a-huh, fare the well.

"Froggie went a-courtin'" is a very old song with its origins going back to the 1500s in England or Scotland, and has been sung by many different people with many different versions.    The version above was sung by Bruce Springsteen.

Last week I was at Creamer's Field at the Seasonal Wetlands pond and the air was full of the sound of the Wood Frogs, quock, quock, quock.  When you hear the sound you look around to see where the ducks are, and then you realize that it's not the ducks.  Amazing how loud something so small can be!

Wood Frogs live from Southern Ohio, across Canada, and north to Alaska.  They are the only frog that lives above the Arctic Circle and the only one we have here in Fairbanks.  In the winter they freeze solid, but thaw out again come spring.  Courtship and breeding begins right away and it is only 45 days from egg to an adult frog.  Later on in the summer I occasionally find one in my flower beds that are on the edge of the woods.  I posted about them in July of 2009, and you can read that post by clicking HERE.  

The video below isn't the greatest and there is some interference from the wind, but make sure your sound is turned on and listen to the sound of the male wood frog courtin' .

Soaking Up The Sun

Off the edge of our deck I have an old dredge bucket that I plant with pansies every summer.  Now that the sun is warmer, this little red squirrel was sitting on the handle, zoned out, soaking up the sun.

He was so relaxed he didn't see me creeping up on him with my camera until I was about six feet away.  Even after he saw me he seemed reluctant to give up his sunny perch, but he finally took off.

I cleaned the deck off today and swept up all the sunflower seeds that the birds had scattered, so I think the squirrel won't find the deck nearly as attractive.  The pansies aren't in the dredge bucket yet, but I did buy some to go in it today.  June 1st is our safe planting day, but pansies are pretty hardy so I'll be able to fudge and get them planted in a couple of days.  The photo below was taken in August summer before last when the pansies were in full bloom. 

Soon......

Out Behind the Barn

I've posted photos of the old Creamer's Dairy barns many times, and the view most people see of the barns is from the front.  The old dairy farm is now part of the Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, and the farmhouse holds the Visitor's Center and the offices of the Friends of Creamer's Field, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing educational opportunities at Creamer's Field.  The Refuge is operated by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.  Fish and Game has some offices in the old bunkhouse, and the barns are used for storage of their equipment.

Below is a view of the back of the barns from the Seasonal Wetlands Trail.  The barn to the left is the log barn built around 1910, the center barn is the smaller Louden barn built in 1950, and on the right the larger Louden barn built in 1938, with just a peek at the back of the farmhouse on the far right.

In the woods at the beginning of the Boreal Forest Trail you can see the back of the barns through the trees.

As you walk closer to the barns you see that the equipment behind the barns is not the normal farm equipment you would expect to see parked around a barn.  You see the riverboats and camp trailers and other gear that Fish and Game uses to do their job.

A new storage facility is being built by Fish and Game in a corner of the Refuge away from the barns.  The new facility will provide better storage with increased security for Fish and Game and will allow the Friends of Creamer's Field to begin renovation on the barns and make them available for community use.  Hopefully when that happens I'll be able to get some closer views out behind the barn.

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Check out more old barns at Tricia's Barn Charm.

Ducks at the Seasonal Wetlands Pond

When I was at Creamer's Field on Wednesday I saw a variety of ducks at the Seasonal Wetlands pond, Mallards, American Wigeon, Northern Shovelers, Buffleheads, and Green-winged Teal.  This was one of those times when I wished for a bigger lens, but even so it was a beautiful day and I enjoyed watching them as they swam about the pond.

Cranes at Creamer's

Sunset Drama

This last week has been cloudy and windy and a bit on the cool side.  Monday night a bit after 10:00 I looked out my bedroom window, and the view of the sun going down behind the hills was spectacular and very dramatic.

Today the sun finally came out again and the thermometer rose to the low 50s--a perfect day for a walk at Creamer's Field!  Ducks and Cranes and Frogs, oh, my!  Stay tuned......