We just spent a week at a farmhouse in central Pennsylvania.
No TV, no phone, no internet. If you want to use your cell phone you have to climb to the top of a hill!
We took with us Vera the dog, Spot the starling, and a couple of caterpillars.
My husband’s twin brother also brought his dog, Barney.
Barney’s just 2 yrs old, an Aussie shepherd mix, and very energetic. My son really enjoyed him.
Vera, not so much. She’s 11 and didn’t appreciate how bouncy he was. She tended to keep her distance.
Inside the farmhouse, Spot feasted on the bugs on the windowsills.
Still life with beer bottle…
…and caterpillars.
I love this photo. My husband took this one.
Vera out on the porch.
We had a great time there – it was relaxing yet we got lots of exercise too.
And we’re glad we brought the critters.
Made me laugh. But I love how the dogs and bird are all represented as well.
Our dog Freddi completely understands Vera’s pov. Freddi is 10, and her back legs aren’t the world’s best, so she has little patience for the young and bouncy members of her species.
Well…I had to do some photoshop magic. We would never let the bird outside – she might fly away and get lost!
Also Barney had peed on the porch and I had to edit that out.
Have your caterpillars all made their cocoons? Ours finished up a week or so ago, with the first ones spinning a week or more before that.
The last one was on Friday last week. And boy was it a whopper – the size of a large watermelon! Can’t wait to see the moth!
The other cocoons were a more normal size and happened about a week previous.
Out of 20 eggs we only got 5 cocoons. Every few days another caterpillar would start to look bruised and soon died.
Do you think this brood of cocoons is going to overwinter? Do you overwinter yours outside, or in the fridge?
I love how the dogs and bird are all represented as well.
Our dog Freddi completely understands Vera’ pov.
One of the nice things about having the dogs along was that they gave us something to talk about – we were trying to imagine how they were experiencing the whole thing. I think they enjoyed the trip as much, if not more, than we did
How could you possibly had fun w/o a tv internet or phone
Just kidding, I have a place a couple hrs out of Hou, well its my bro in laws. , and it is great to get away from the city. They do have dish though. they cant miss their football, heck with that theres 180 acres to explore
But it is certainly not as pretty as the place you went , good on you
Well, I just found out that one of ours eclosed today, so I suspect most will not over-winter. I think we usually do cocoons outside, carnivorous plants inside.
I’ll upload a pic (or email you one; I have a new photo-sharing site I’m not familiar with) when I get around to it. It’s a really (really) gorgeous moth.
We’ve had three more hatch tonight. Two males (including the one above) and two females. The females are in a mating cage. Evidently they can do it through a 1/2" mesh. I learned this from my wife, not our 8-year-old daughter.
Yes!! I was amazed – there was such a difference compared to MD.
On the drive north the fields got more and more lush looking. By the time we got to central PA it was a patchwork of greens, the tawny amber of tasseled corn, and some crop I didn’t know, looked to be about 6 inches tall, that was an electric green. Add to that the watercolor shades of the receding hills.
I thought maybe! Your local landscape is a lot more hilly though, isn’t it?
How’s your rain this year?
I still remember the year with the drought so bad that there was a snake drinking out of your dog’s water dish!
I thought maybe! Your local landscape is a lot more hilly though, isn’t it?
How’s your rain this year?
I still remember the year with the drought so bad that there was a snake drinking out of your dog’s water dish! [/quote]
Your pictures look like pictures taken here, IF you are on top of a mountain or ridge.
Were you on top? After all, those up there are part of the Appalachians.
We’ve had the rainest spring/summer I can remember. Rain at least once a day almost every day.
We did have a 4’long black snake drinking out of the dog water bowl the other day. It’s a testament to how dry it is here that this snake continued to drink for about 3 minutes while we (and several dogs) stood about 5 ’ from him watching.
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The farm we visit is located in a valley.
Here’s the view from a mountain near that valley, a 15 min drive away…
Does that look like your Appalachians? Somehow I imagine that ours are wimpier
Here’s some other pictures from that same mountain hike. My DH took the pics
Here’s a file photo of part of the Clinch Mountain range
as you can see, about the only difference I would guess is that ours are a little steeper and narrower valleys-yes we do have places that only get direct sunlight around noon
