Cool beautiful weather continues, but the farmers need rain. Other than the little bit we got last week, things have been dry and the lawn is starting to get brown in spots.
The garden seems to be holding its own, there's been enough combination of hot and cool weather that the arugula is bolting while the eggplant are looking a little pale, but in general, everything is growing.
Ann and I went for a couple nice bike rides on local rail trails this weekend. Nice to get out and about a bit.
Lots of new life in the barn as two of the around 10 active nests of barn swallows hatched. Saturday was quiet and there they were on Sunday, little chattering noises and heads popping up with mouths open, like sock puppets, every time one of the parents came in to feed them. Incubation is just over two weeks and the young will leave the nest in around three. The babies, even at one day old, know enough to keep their home clean by turning around, lifting their back ends up and defecating over the side of the nest. I have a friend with horses that hates the swallows because of the mess they leave on the floor of her barn. She closes all the doors all summer and tries to shoo the adult birds away with a broom. I'd rather put up with a few piles of bird droppings for six weeks of the summer as it's a small price to pay for the estimated 800 flies and other insects each adult will daily catch. The horses leave far bigger manure piles and don't eat flies. And I just make sure I don't park or place anything directly under the nest once the birds have hatched.
First photo: Best trail camera photo of the week.
Second photo: An adult feeding day old barn swallows. They are all mouth.
