August 5 –  We are in the midst of the hot, dog days of summer. Unlike last summer, the farmers have been able to get on all their hayfields and make hay. You will recall how wet it was last summer and some hay fields were not even mowed and baled. Do you remember that movie from the 80s? 

Body Heat with Kathleen Turner & the late Bill Hurt?  A great movie to watch when it is super-hot.

Tara Brust of the Bethel Market Café in Bethel remarked that there seemed to be more hummingbirds this year.

 Not sure if others of you have had the same experience, however, I share that bird tidbit with you. My husband Ray and I have lived on Pucky Huddle Road in Bethel since 2007. 

We have a wrap-around porch with five hanging baskets and three wren houses. Almost every year since 2007, we have had at least one pair of wrens make a nest in one of our bird boxes and raise a brood.  We normally have Eastern wrens. They are the noisiest birds around, nonstop chatter. They are a joy to watch.

This year, after the Eastern wrens made their nests, raised their brood and the baby birds fledged, another pair of wrens arrived. Turns out that this pair of birds were Carolina wrens.  This was the first time Ray and I had Carolina wrens.  

The Carolina wrens decided to make a nest in the middle of my hanging basket of inpatiens. Wow! I must be very careful when I water the plants. I use a watering can with a long spout. Carolina wrens are very interesting birds, and I encourage you to google the topic and learn more about them.

Yesterday, I saw a cedar waxwing bird on the Otto property. Very exciting. The red-winged black birds have already left for the year. Although I heard the melodic Wood Thrush out in Liberty, at the parking lot of Dr. David Schalb’s office, I have not heard a wood thrush on Pucky Huddle Road this year, nor did I see a bobolink bird.  Both birds are threatened birds.

The Canada geese that hatched this spring are now flying around to mowed hay fields. Late yesterday afternoon, I found a dead Canada goose in the middle of Perry Road.  In broad daylight, two open fields on either side.  How could someone be so cruel?

 I read on Facebook that someone killed four Canada Geese in Liberty near the county nursing home. The young Canada Geese are still in training and probably aren’t getting enough lift when they are flying.  Again, how can people be so cruel?

I hate thistles and thistles are currently going into seed.  I try to chop down thistles that are on or near Pucky Huddle Road. Even though I love monarch butterflies, I don’t like milkweeds.

Five Saturday in July, five chicken barbeques. This year I managed to support a local chicken barbeque every Saturday in July. I don’t have any plans for a chicken barbeque this weekend, but I am aware of three for next weekend, including the Smallwood/ Mongaup Valley Fire Company and the White Sulphur Springs Fire Company.   

Aren’t the Mets truly amazing?  Did you know that the Mets, yes, the Mets, SWEPT the Yankees?  Did you see Mr. Met with the broom? 

Awesome! 

No column next week

Super Full Moon, August 11th

I am dedicating this column to the memory of a very dear childhood friend, Mary Fischer who passed away on July 17th, after a more than ten-year courageous battle with cancer.  (Her obituary appeared in last Friday’s Sullivan County Democrat.)  A celebration of Mary’s life will take place at the Fischer family residence, on Swiss Hill, Saturday, August 13th from 3 pm to 8pm. 

Faithful readers of this column may know that I was born and raised two miles from Kenoza Lake on the Brown Dairy Farm dairy. I attended Kindergarten through 12th grade, at the then, Jeffersonville campus of Jeffersonville-Youngsville Central School, (except for my 6th grade in Youngsville). 

When I was in 7th grade, a new family moved into Jeffersonville, the Fischer family. Mary Fischer and I took many classes together including four years of French, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and Calculus, AP English classes, and numerous science classes.  We were on Gary Wootan’s track team together where Mary held the high jump record for a great number of years.  

We sometimes get too busy with our lives and frequently say “one day we will get together for lunch or supper”, “one day we will get together for coffee”.  Mary and I had an enjoyable lunch back in July 2019.  

We ran into each other last year in a restaurant up near Roscoe.  We were trying to get together this year. Don’t wait to make that call or get together with cherished family and friends. 

As Mary and I both studied French, I will end this column, dedicated to Mary Fischer’s memory. I cherish the friendship that we shared and say, adieu, which translates as “to God” or see you in heaven.