Death from the sky

12/12/12
Around lunchtime I took the dogs out for a walk and saw out of the corner of my eye a large bird fly up into an oak tree back and to the right of the coop from the coop area.  I couldn't see the bird clearly but when it flew away from the tree it was fairly clear it was a Red Tail Hawk from the shape of the body and the fan-like tail.  I walked over to the compost pile to see if there was any damage and I didn't see anything but noticed a feather or two on the ground.  I  noticed  a pile of feathers next to the firewood pile that I had just walked past.  Sure enough, a tan hen was on the ground, most of its breast feathers picked clear. It was obvious that the hawk had managed to make a fairly good meal of the dead chicken.  The other chickens were hiding out in the hazelnut area.  I removed the carcass and put it on the slash pile next to the road by the garden.

121212dead hen

Got the log splitter started up after some false starts--forgot which levers had to be in which positions to make the engine catch.  Once I figured those out, it started up and ran for a short period and then quit.  I adjusted the choke and started it again and it ran fine while I split about half of the pile.

Reading12

87Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives***Thomas French behind the scenes at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo; parallels between PSU's BOT and this Zoo's but then I wonder how many BOTs are rubber stamps for CEOs until something goes wrong and the BOTs try to COA with knee jerk reactions that have little to do with the problem at hand. 

86Remarkable Creatures: A Novel*** Tracy Chevalier On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, poor and uneducated Mary Anning learns that she has a unique gift: "the eye" to spot fossils no one else can see. When she uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious community on edge, the townspeople to gossip, and the scientific world alight. After enduring bitter cold, thunderstorms, and landslips, her challenges only grow when she falls in love.

Mary soon finds an unlikely champion in prickly Elizabeth Philpot, a middle-class spinster who shares her passion for scouring the beaches. Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty, mutual appreciation, and barely suppressed envy, but ultimately turns out to be their greatest asset.  Insight about early 19th century women's place in British society. (Amazon review)

85Buddy: How a Rooster Made Me a Family Man  ****Mcgrory, Brian  The author's life changed drastically after the death of his beloved dog, Harry: he fell in love with Pam, Harry's veterinarian. Though Brian’s only responsibility used to be his adored Harry, Pam came with accessories that could not have been more exotic to the city-loving bachelor: a home in suburbia, two young daughters, two dogs, two cats, two rabbits, and a portly, snow white, red-crowned-and-wattled step-rooster named Buddy. While Buddy loves the women of the house, he takes Brian's presence as an affront, doing everything he can to drive out his rival. Initially resistant to elements of his new life and to the loud, aggressive rooster (who stares menacingly, pecks threateningly, and is constantly poised to attack), Brian eventually sees that Buddy shares the kind of extraordinary relationship with Pam and her two girls that he wants for himself. The rooster is what Brian needs to be – strong and content, devoted to what he has rather than what might be missing. As he learns how to live by living with animals, Buddy, Brian’s nemesis, becomes Buddy, Brian’s inspiration, in this inherently human story of love, acceptance, and change.  (Amazon review)

84Cathedral ***DeMille, Nelson St. Patrick's Day, New York City. Everyone is celebrating, but everyone is in for the shock of his life. Born into the heat and hatred of the Northern Ireland conflict, IRA man Brian Flynn has masterminded a brilliant terrorist act -- the seizure of Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Among his hostages: the woman Brian Flynn once loved, a former terrorist turned peace activist. Among his enemies: an Irish-American police lieutenant fighting against a traitor inside his own ranks and a shadowy British intelligence officer pursuing his own cynical, bloody plan. The cops face a booby-trapped, perfectly laid out killing zone inside the church. (Amazon review)

83Open and Shut *** Rosenfelt, David  Andy Carpenter, a defense lawyer, takes on a new client: a man on death row, appealing his conviction for the murder of a woman nearly a decade ago. Andy takes the case as a favor to his father, the district attorney who originally prosecuted the inmate. When Andy's father dies, leaving him 22 million dollars and a 35-year-old photograph, Andy has some tough questions to answer. Where did his father get the money? Who are the men in the photograph? And could one of them have some connection with the murder for which Andy's client was convicted? Andy Carpenter is a welcome addition to the lawyer-as-sleuth roster; he's a charming and witty hero whose literary allusions and snarky asides keep us thoroughly entertained. (Amazon review)

Fox

Ignore the camera date and time but look carefully at the bushy tail with a black stripe.  This guy was near the camping firepit. Perhaps it won't make the journey to the chicken coop.

Reading
Thank you PA Library System:  You are the best.  Now that I've learned how to download ebooks I don't have to put up with poorly written and unedited (but free) books.  I won't make it to my goal of 100 books this year, but the rest of the year will be fine reading, nevertheless.
82Cold Oceans***Jon Turk Wander in uncomfortable places until you find who you are?  Um, no thanks, but I do enjoy reading about those who do.
81The girl who kicked the hornets nest ****Steig Larsson  Wrap up and, still, the good guys win.
80Paterno****Posnanski  The real story behind this mess.  Joe wasn't a saint;  he was an Italian yeller and screamer and he was a tough and exacting teacher. He forced Penn State to get out of it's rural comfort zone and join the rest of the world.  I'm more confident than ever that he didn't know what Sandusky was doing. 
79The Girl who played with Fire  ****Steig Larsson Mikael Blomkvist, crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend, the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation. Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past. (Amazon summary) 
78The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ****Steig Larsson  Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. There is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. (Amazon summary) 
77The Ledge ****Jim Davidson  How he saves himself after falling down an 80 ft crevasse on Mt. Ranier.  At least I knew he'd be OK in the end.  

Weekend fun

As honorary greyhounds and grey supporters, we spent an hour at Nittany Greyhounds' picnic and open house.  Since they don't have muzzles Gambol and Buddy enjoyed their own turnout near the greys' where they dug under a rotting stump and enjoyed the new smells. Greys have very thin skin so whenever they play together they wear their racing muzzles. We decided that Brittanys and Greys have opposite athletic clocks:  Brittanys rest for 6 minutes and run the rest whereas greys run for 6 minutes and rest the rest. 

After the picnic we offered the boys new concept: swimming at Black Moshannon.  Buddy walked right in but stopped about belly deep which, conveniently, was at the end of his leash.  Gambol, off leash, ran in and right back out with no intention of actually swimming.  He chased a leaf and realized his mistake when his belly got wet.  The air was 55 and the water was only slightly warmer. We are very excited that the boys are  much more trustworthy off leash.  It's so much more fun to be able to work in the forest with them exploring nearby.

Reading
76The Columbus Affair: A Novel ***downloaded for Android Kindle and borrowed the book from the library for 2 weeks.  That's great; no more poorly written, poorly edited freebies?  With the soft brown sepia background it not bad reading at night, but I don't like the screen glare.   Novel reminds me of Dan Brown's daVinci Code but this is about Columbus, a Sephardi Jew, seeking safe haven for Jewish treasures and people in the New World.  Isabella and Ferd didn't fund Columbus's journey.  Jews did!
75Jared's Island**John Thayer (Young Adult fiction I'd guess.) An almost disasterous boat trip in the ocean turns out to be a blessing for both Jared, and the hermit living on an Island after Jared's boat washed up on the rocks. As the unlikely pair help each other, both lives are enriched in the process, and they are forever changed.(Amazon summary)
74Rabid**TKKenyon A priest of the modern Roman Inquisition arrives in a New England college town to investigate allegations of child abuse by the local parish priests who have suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. The priest, a famous scientist in his own right, is immediately drawn into the private hell—and bed—of a pretty parishioner who confesses that she wants to kill her husband because of his infidelity. The husband, a prominent yet self-absorbed professor, is relentlessly driven by his mad quest to win the Nobel Prize and by his brazen and reckless lust for his students. When one of them falls ill with a mysterious neurological disorder, no one knows how bad things really are—until the subject of the professor’s secret research is revealed. (Amazon summary)
73The Threat**Jonas Saul His mother is dying of cancer and his father has sent him out to purchase medical weed from an unknown dealer. Things go bad fast. During the deal on the fourteenth floor of an apartment building, the dealer disappears, and Drake is stuck in the apartment with a dead woman. The police are at the door. He has nowhere to go. On the run from the police and the maniacal killers intent on framing Drake for murder, he must uncover the truth before it is too late. He discovers there is a reason behind the madness that has become his life. That information takes him back twelve years to when he was hospitalized with a concussion and his fiancée went missing. (Amazon summary)
72Desert Angels** George Saunders Post-apocolyptic WWIII nuclear winter and zombies are on the attack.
71Seven Patients ***Atul Kuma Med student relates experience with humor in his rotations.
70Polar City Red **Jim Laughter After billions of people die due to the failure of Earth’s ecosystem and the continents are rendered uninhabitable, survivors forced to migrate north must battle nature, raids by hungry scavengers, and man’s folly against himself in a geodesic polar city deep in the Arctic Circle. A medical doctor and college professor rescued from the frozen tundra by a grizzled old hunter is thrust headlong into a life and death struggle for the existence of humanity. Hidden government conspiracies, a secretive military force, and the Earth itself threaten to destroy mankind.
69Soldier Dogs****Maria Goodavage stories of modern soldier dogs and the amazing bonds that develop between them and their handlers. Beyond tales of training, operations, retirement, and adoption into the families of fallen soldiers, Goodavage talks to leading dog-cognition experts about why dogs like nothing more than to be on a mission with a handler they trust, no matter how deadly the IEDs they are sniffing, nor how far they must parachute or rappel from aircraft into enemy territory.
68Dancing Dogs**** Jon Katz Short stories about lives of dogs, some happy, some tear jerkers, some less about dogs than the animals that share their lives.
67Fall of the Citizens**Eric Thomas Utopia doesn't work.  Socialism doesn't either. Power corrupts. Three lessons from this freebie.
66Sky of Red Poppies ****Zohreh Ghahremani What starts as a casual friendship between two schoolgirls coming of age in a politically divided 1960's Iran under rule of the Shah, the girls contend with becoming the women they want to be, and in doing so, make decisions that will cause their tragic undoing.  Sky of Red Poppies is a novel about culture, politics and the redeeming power of friendships.

landscaping

Ninebark (Physocarpus) and chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) hiding the electric meter and soaking up roof drainage

Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) with red berries framing the dining room window

Instead of digging holes in the meadow, Paul spent 2 days digging holes around the house for the big pots of natives we bought at the Hort Club show.  He, of course, filled the holes with compost so the shrubs would have a nice start.  Most of the shrubs were root-bound, so he slashed the sides of the root ball and cut off the old roots at the bottom to give them a kick start in growing new roots into their new locations. The rocks and clay that were dug out of the holes are now diverting rain water from around the chicken coop. 
I visited the Hardwicks with a box of nature (feathers, fossils, shells, and more) for Jennifer to show Jonathan's class.  I was less than 10 minutes away, making the last exit from the chain of interstates in the heaviest traffic of the drive, when what to my wondering eyes should appear: a bald faced hornet, escaped from one of the beautiful nests in the box, climbing up the front passenger's window.  I quickly opened all the windows and (of course) some of the feathers and the clump of deer hair flew out the window.  I didn't see the hornet again so I assumed he flew out too.  WRONG!  He appeared again on the trip home crawling up the front windshield. This time I turned on the defroster full and only opened my window.  I was able to flick him out with a napkin. I prefer choosing my own driving companions, thank you.

Reading
65The 24th Letter *** Tom Lowe  6 people are killed before the good guys figure out who did it and save the convicted man from lethal injection with 5 min to spare.
64The House I loved ****Tatiana deRosnay  A love letter to her dead husband and explanation of her life in Napoleonic Paris during major renovation of the city.
63No time to run ***JD Trafford  Michael Collins burned his suits and ties in a beautiful bonfire before leaving New York and taking up residence at Hut No. 7 in a run-down Mexican resort. He dropped-out, giving up a future of billable hours and big law firm paychecks.  When his girlfriend and owner of the resort is accused of murder, he knows that there really isn't much choice; he has to go back.

Soil Class

We spent the afternoon with the new PaFS class (I am class of 2007 and Paul 2009) learning about soil from Jack Watson, Penn State's Ecosystem Science and Management.  We learned about the soil survey and how to grade soil samples by wetting them and squeezing a hunk to see how it sticks together.  http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/HomePage.htm to get localized soil data.

Reading
62The Pattern JT Kalney** More suspense of reality as a piece of game code takes over airplane navigation and autopilot.
61Patriots Awakening RMStraus** Suspend your reality checker here.  A bad guy tries to take over the world but a bunch of good guys are prepared.
60Animals make us human  Temple Grandin*** How animals feel.
59The dog listener Jan Fennell*** Interestingly, these authors don't agree.

from Skytop

but probably the last year we'll be able to see through the trees to The Barony.

 Reading: 
58Enemy Among Us*** Jason Melby; Former FBI Special Agent Jim McLeary is on a dangerous mission. Paired with an adversarial female partner and an egocentric Section Chief with a hidden agenda, McLeary must prevent an elusive enemy from releasing a silent weapon of mass destruction. Hindered by a tainted past, a gauntlet of double-agents, covert operatives, and a guilty conscience—McLeary comes face-to-face with his worst fear: the cost of victory may prove more than he can afford.
57 Border Crossings: A Catherine James Mystery **Michael Weems When a college student vacationing in Cancun is abducted, her parents turn to a friend to help find her. After spurning the sleazy advances of an older man in a nightclub in Cancun, spring-breaking college student Taylor Woodall is abducted at gunpoint outside her hotel, and her friend is shot. Her father immediately contacts his old friend Catherine James, a smart, resourceful attorney who has long dealt with sketchy characters south of the border. After running into a dead end with the local cops, James stumbles across a street kid who may have some pertinent information, but after the two are attacked in a crowded market, she realizes she's in over her head. She has no choice but to contact Matt, an old boyfriend who is currently working as a gun for hire, training anti-cartel soldiers deep in the jungle. Once Matt is on the scene, the pace of the investigation picks up, but, given his extreme methods, James is forced to confront some prickly moral issues if she's going to find out exactly what happened to Taylor.
56 Birds in Paradise** An Aloha Pete Thriller  Dorothy St. James In this novella, young prostitutes are disappearing from the streets of Honolulu. When street-savvy P.I., Kyra Grainger, is hired to find the latest missing girl, she straps on a pair of high heels, pulls on a skirt no wider than a headband, and delves into the back streets and shadowy world hidden behind the glitz of Hawaii. What she finds is a web of lies and deceptions that threatens to destroy the paradise she's grown to love.
55Mushroom in the Sand*** Farsheed Ferdowsi An Iranian-born physicist living the American dream, Dr. Ross Shaheen is at the top of his game. Between his internationally-recognized nuclear weapons research career at the prestigious Berkeley Lab and his picture-perfect family in the San Francisco suburbs, it's a good life that can only get better - until he is lured into lecturing before an elite group of scientists in his home country.   Inconceivable premise that State Dept would let this man travel to our #1 enemy in the first place, but past that it's a fair story.
54A Dog's Journey-Another Novel for Humans ****The rest of the dog's lives.   He finally gets his purpose.
53A Dog’s Purpose - A Novel for Humans -***** W. Bruce Cameron tells the story of a dog who finds himself reincarnated and decides there must be a reason, a purpose he must fulfill, and until he does so, he’ll continue to be reborn. 

Reading

52The Zookeeper's Wife ***Ackerman, When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw—and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants—otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.
51An Amish Wedding (3 Novellas)**Wiseman Life in an Amish community from 3 perspectives. Glad it was free.
50Project Moses (Enzo Lee Mystery-Thriller Series)***Lowe, Robert B. Genetic engineering gone wrong; The story's long-reaching conspiracy is elaborate but never overwhelming, so readers can appreciate the stockpiling of secrets, elusive characters and murders committed to preserve those secrets.
49Look Again***Scottolino Adoption gone wrong

48The Butterfly Forest ***Tom Lowe Drugs, murder, and saving a species
47The Storm Killer ***Mike Jastrzebskik When newspaperman Jim Locke’s estranged sister, a wealthy actress, is murdered, the police name him as their primary suspect. The lead detective on the case, Michael Boyle, has a shady reputation and appears willing to do anything to prove Jim guilty. Determined to clear his name, Jim soon discovers evidence connecting his sister and several other murdered actresses to Doctor Henry Greeley. Greeley is a war hero and a respected psychiatrist who is obsessed with Ernest Hemingway.
46A Season on the Allegheny **** Robert Hilliard "A Season on the Allegheny" also uncovers the quiet but powerful impact of hunter-based conservation groups on National Forests. It documents the many ways - from habitat improvements to legal aid - in which groups such as the Ruffed Grouse Society, National Wild Turkey Federation, and Pheasants Forever have spent countless hours and dollars making the Allegheny National Forest a better place.

Mr. Snakey just won't give up

This was our 5+ ft Eastern Black Snake that I have relocated at least 3 times in the past few days.  There's no telling how many eggs he's devoured. Obviously, I did not move him far enough away from the chicken coop, as he found his way back twice without any problem or maybe we have more than 1 big guy. Today when I found him inside the coop in the nesting box, I lifted him into a big Rubbermaid tub.  I put the lid on and carried the tub to the ATV, placed it in the seat next to me and with one hand firmly on the lid I drove downhill to the brush pile about 400 ft from the house, below the Toy Shed. The snake crawled out of the tub and then headed right into the brush pile, so maybe this will be his new haunt.  Only time will tell.

Reading12: 45Escaping the Twilight ****Sigrid Weidenweber  The detailed descriptions of customs (female genital mutilation) and lifestyle give a deep, insight into the Sudanese culture, as well as entry into the cloaked world of Muslim women in a story about survival, tradition and triumph. Hard to read subjectively but well written.
44Spirit Horses *** Alan Evans   In the hills of Tennessee, Shane Carson, a gifted, nationally-recognized horseman, is living the good life. When a mysterious mustang shows up on his farm, Shane doesn’t know how—or why—the horse appeared, but the horse’s distinctive brand identifies her as one of the Spirit Horses, a rare, wild herd that runs free on the Shoshone reservation in Wyoming. Watched over for centuries in the tribe’s ancestral valleys, these exquisite horses, according to belief, provide a link to the afterlife.  When his family dies in an car accident, Shane  loses his will to live—but for one promise he made to his young son: to return the mustang to her rightful home. You know he's going to fall in love and save the horse but the ending does supply a twist that fits the story well.
43The Folks at Fifty-Eight *** Michael Patrick Clark  Gerald Hammond is the exception to the rule; an honorable spy, whose lofty principles have brought him nothing but loneliness and isolation. Catherine Schmidt is the stunning young daughter of an assassinated spymaster, whose murderous quest for vengeance has left her at the mercy of the infamous Head of Soviet State Security.
On a covert operation, in Soviet-occupied Germany, Hammond has no knowledge of the unseen forces that sponsor and oppose his mission. He only knows that he must somehow save her to save himself, but, as ever-more disturbing revelations come to light, begins to wonder where the greater threat is.
Set against a factual background of government conspiracy, and one of the most audacious espionage coups in history, the Folks at Fifty-Eight is a beautifully-paced tale of seduction, betrayal, blackmail, and murder that blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction.
42An Angel with Fur ****Russel Blake  An Angel With Fur is the heartwarming true story of Lobo the miracle dog. Rescued as a puppy from an animal shelter in Mexico, Lobo's saga is a life-affirming romp chronicling his growth, adventures and challenges.
41Discreet Activities ***Claude Bouchard  As a result of information gathered via electronic surveillance by intelligence agencies in the U.S. and Canada, a budding terrorist organization, the Army for Islam or AFI, is suspected of planning an attack, its target possibly NYC, Burlington, Vermont or even Canada's famed Montreal.
When four foreign students from Pakistan with known ties to the AFI's Montreal cell arrive in the area on New Year's Eve, Discreet Activities' head, Jonathan Addley, along with Chris Barry and other DA consultants are more than willing to take on the additional workload.
After two of the DA team members die violently in an AFI related suicide-bombing, the job becomes getting revenge on those responsible for this Holy War...
(Kindle summaries)

Blue birds

Reminder:  Put netting on tree tubes in the meadow.  Paul released 2 today that had fallen down the largest tubes.  We bought some netting and rubber bands so no more bluebirds should be in danger...except from Buddy who flushes fledglings, races after them, then jumps to gobble them.  Smack, smack, they're tasty.
Reading: 40North Slope ***Michael Parker;  Not to be read in the winter.  Murders on a north slope oil rig that is about to hit oil and run out of time.
39Schmetterling Effect*** Ivan Cotter; Iran produces suitcase nukes and plans to detonate a number of them simultaneously to cripple Israel, thus allowing a mass attack on Israel by its neighbor states. Due to a software glitch, the plan goes wrong. A nuclear holocaust and a 50% reduction in the world's oil supply result. World trade collapses due to the resulting energy shortage. Ireland's situation gets even worse but is saved by becoming the 51st state and drilling for shale oil.
38A Bitter Veil***Libby Fischer Hellman; the life of a US woman as an Iranian bride at the time of the Revolution.  

Buddy and Bambi

Buddy found a fawn on our early walk this morning at the lower Shannon Curl trailhead.  Buddy apparently thought the little guy was a funny looking Brittany as he checked all the normal dog-information places.  Their colors were similar, orange and white spots. The fawn was shoulder high to Buddy and wasn't impressed with the attention. Mama was not around.
I don't know if it was Mama visiting our west yard yesterday afternoon, but a deer wandered just off the fieldstone path until the dogs barked her away.
Four phoebes fledged this morning.  We missed the first flight but we've had front row seats to the best video  in town out the back door for the last 3 weeks as mom and dad perched on the berry cages to hawk flying bugs for their babies. Yesterday they barely fit in the nest.  It was time to go...

 

Reading: 37 Wind in the Ash Tree****Jeanine McMullen  Life on a Welsh farm; humorous tales of country living with goats.
36Capitol Punishment ***Ryne Pearson  Special Agents Art Jefferson and 'Frankie' Aguirre pursue a white supremacist--John Barrish--who has in his arsenal a chemical weapon so lethal that the smallest amounts can cause mass death. Barrish has struck before, when four black children were killed in cold blood on their way to church. Another Just-in-Time good guys win.
35FAST ***Shane M. Brown  Hidden under the Arizona desert is the grandest ‘Science-City’ ever created. All hell breaks loose when terrorists unleash a devastating attack using stolen genetic research. Cpt Alexander Coleman is just minutes away, and he’s not coming alone. He commands a full platoon of Special Forces Marines. His estranged wife, Vanessa, and eight year old son, David, might still be alive in the besieged underground complex. The chance they both survived is slim, but that’s more than enough.  Yet another J-i-T good guys win; they are Marines, after all.

Living in the wild

Paul dispatched a driveway bunny for Gambol to retrieve. Total excitement.  Three for 2 dogs so far this season.
Whippoorwill calls tonight to signal bedtime.
Turtle inventory

female, May 25

5/31

We kept this little girl overnight.  She scarfed down pork loin and became tame enough to look around while being held.

June 16 female 

shell lumpy, wrinkled, dry looking

June 20 female

and not a turtle, but fun for the inventory anyway.

Reading: 34 In their Blood *Sharon Potts; Totally unbelievable; no character development, lots of loose ends. Parents get killed; 23 yo estranged son comes home from traipsing around Europe to funeral and when he learns he's the guardian of his teenage sister decides to stay find out who killed them, because, of course, the cops are uninterested in doing their job.  More murders, some lust.  No real suspense.  Why did I finish it?

Eggs and Weather

Eggs

Apr total	253		$63.25
Apr avg	8.433
40m total	6163		$1,540.75

Weather

Precipitation  Max

0.12 in Avg

0.01 in Min

0.00 in

Summary0.22 in (Average month total 2.94)

Reading: 33Zero Sum ***Russell Blake; In this chillingly plausible scenario of a military/industrial/financial complex manipulating American companies for profit, Zero Sum pits entrepreneur turned investor Dr. Steven Archer against prominent Wall Street predator Nicholas Griffen in a conflict that raises troubling questions about our markets and our government. When ‘business as usual on the Street’ turns violent and deadly, Steven is forced to flee the U.S. and embark on a crusade to unravel a Gideon’s knot of intrigue. (RussellBlake.com)
32Running of the Bulls ***Christopher Smith;
Five years ago, 12 people sold out to the SEC and took the stand against Maxmilian Wolfhagen, a man who robbed the world of billions. Now, with Wolfhagen out of prison, each is dying a grisly death. (http://christophersmithbooks.com/)

FOY: Hummingbird

noon at the feeder, male

Reading: 31 Imagine: How Creativity Works *****Jonah Lehrer
30The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a very small island**** Linda Greenlaw

Planting the meadow

87 little trees planted by noon in perfect holes:  1/3 of them composted and all watered too.  It started raining around 5:00PM so these little  guys should have a great start.

87 trees planted

32 evergreens without any protection

3 cherries with cages

52 seedlings with tubes

Reading: 29Frame up ***John Dobbyn  After graduating from Harvard Law with his closest friend John McKedrick, Michael Knight takes a job with his mentor, legendary trial attorney Lex Devlin, while John becomes sole associate of a notorious mob lawyer.Michael never lost hope that John McKedrick would escape to cleaner pastures -until John is murdered in a car bombing bearing the signature of his questionable clientele. How could two friends who were so close have taken such wildly divergent paths? (Kindle summary)

RIP Little Hen

She was getting more wobbly and even 3 days of yogurt treatment wasn't reducing the liquid I poured out of her. I could feel her keel getting sharper every day. I thanked her for 4 years of eggs and put her out of her pain.  Dust to Dust, or in this case to coyote/bear food.

Reading: 28I'm listening with a broken ear ****Vicky Kaseorg  Mom and 11 yo daughter Asherel rescue a dog from a parking lot in the summer in South Carolina.  Dog turns out to have just given birth, be very aggressive, and have a host of other issues, but with patience, help from a dog rescuer at Last Chance Rescue at Hollow Creek Farm turns into a talented agility dog who Qs on her first trial.  Even Mom talking to Jesus was well written and played easily into the story.

27Death Angel ** Martha Powers  Kate and Richard Warner are thrust into the black hole of every parent's worst nightmare. Richard has been singled out as the primary suspect in a heinous crime that took more than an innocent life. With Richard as a suspect, Kate's life unravels into unbearable chaos, grief, and a whole new world of deception. After a second murder and Richard's disappearance, Kate sets out to find the killer in their midst and clear her husband's name. She begins to piece together an eerie puzzle, finding clues in the heart of her own community. In Death Angel anguish, suspicion and death combine in the horrifying aftermath of a vicious crime that pits a mother's love against a ruthless killer. In a stunning conclusion, Kate risks her own life to track down and kill the Death Angel. (Amazon summary)

Eggs and weather

Eggs

Mar total 260             Mar potential income         $65.00
Mar daily avg 8.4
39m total 5910     total potential income $1,477.50

Weather

Precipitation: Actual month total 0.61 Average month total 3.10
We recorded lower lows here at the Barony than show above.

Reading: 26The Jakarta Pandemic ***Steven Konkoly  In the late fall of 2013, a lethal pandemic virus emerges from Indonesia and rages unchecked across every continent. When the Jakarta Flu threatens his picture perfect Maine neighborhood, Alex Fletcher, Iraq War veteran, is ready to do whatever it takes to keep his family safe. With his family and home prepared for an extended period of seclusion, Alex has few real concerns about the growing pandemic.  A mounting scarcity of food and critical supplies turns most of the neighbors against him, and Alex is forced to confront their unexpected hostility before it goes too far. Just when he thinks it can’t get any worse, the very face of human evil arrives on Durham Rd. and threatens to plunge them all into a personal nightmare. Alex and his few remaining friends will band together to protect their families.  Mostly believable.

Aspens: done

We killed the last standing aspens below the toy shed today, even the one that might have fallen on the shed in a wind storm.  Just the stumps are left. Now let's hope they had enough mojo in them to send up sprouts.
Then we emptied the 8th load (in 8 days) of compost.  Between these jobs the dogs, of course, whined that they hadn't been out in 2 weeeeeks, Mom.  Dad neeeeveeeeer takes us out when you're at work.  Ha!

Reading: 25The Crossroads Cafe**** Deborah Smith  Obsession with physical beauty and food as caregiver themes; "The Lard cooks in mysterious ways." " Everything in life leads us where we are supposed to go.  It's not always easy to see our destination in the middle of the journey."
Geronimo Breach ***Russell Blake  Albert Ross is a malingering misanthrope - a boozing, chain smoking philanderer; shifty, lazy, cowardly, going to fat, & more prone to doing the wrong thing than any man alive. His purgatorial existence working for the State Department in Panama gets shattered when a routine errand becomes a race against the clock, battling adversaries for whom no price is too high to protect a secret that could topple the world order. As the body count climbs in a struggle without rules, Al must face his own demons, as well as the myriad very real ones intent upon destroying him. The unexpectedly shattering conclusion of this richly drawn thriller is both topical & chillingly plausible, making for a roller-coaster action/adventure. (Kindle review) 

Hen update

This Barred Rock's crop is so full of bugs  from our unseasonably warm weather and left over seeds she looks like she needs a one sided bra.  She's been laying since Jan 2008 but is probably about done.

Scuffling for treats from our dinner scraps.  All I have to do is shake my hand and they come running from a far.

 10 beautiful eggs today

 A barred rock and her buddy squirrel cleaning up sunflower seeds under the feeder.

Rhode Island Red (1 yr this month) among the daffodils happily bugging.

We had the first bear visit of the season last night:  the feeder rope was out of place and the compost bin was overturned.  All the hens are accounted for, however.

Reading
24Becoming Quinn ****Brett Battles  Meet Jake Oliver. The day will come when he's one of the best cleaners in the business, a man skilled at making bodies disappear.  At the moment, however, he's a twenty-two year old rookie cop, unaware his life is about to change. In a burning barn a body is found--and the fire isn't the cause of death. The detectives working the case have a pretty good idea about what went down. But Officer Oliver thinks it's something else entirely, and pursues a truth others would prefer remain hidden--others who will go to extreme lengths to keep him quiet. 
Every identity has an origin. This is Quinn's. (Kindle summary)
23Death Benefits ***Jennifer Becton  Fraud investigator Julia Jackson is back in action, and her next assignment throws her straight into the crosshairs of a bevy of desperate people…and one man who will do anything to keep his secret safe. Late one night, a car burns on a lonely rural road, and the discovery of a body—charred beyond recognition—in the driver’s seat sets in motion a series of deadly events. And when the wife of the supposedly deceased driver demands her husband’s million-dollar life insurance policy payout before the autopsy can be completed, fraud investigators Julia Jackson and Mark Vincent must determine exactly how the victim died and at whose hands. As Julia and Vincent interview witnesses and tangle with a host of angry suspects, another man is working behind the scenes to sever his mysterious connection to the body by any means necessary. Soon Julia and Vincent realize they are not dealing with an average death benefits scam, but with a potential serial killer instead. (Kindle summary)
22The List *** JA Konrath  It's a technothriller about a group of ten people who each have tattoos of numbers on the bottoms their feet, and don't know why. One of them, a Chicago Homicide cop named Tom Mankowski, has had one of these strange tattoos since birth. When he investigates a violent murder and discovers the victim also has a tattooed number, it sets the ball rolling for an adventure of historic proportions.  (Kindle summary)
21The Desperate Dad's Guide to Getting Some **Jackie Papandrew Humorous tales of family and marriage: choreplay is most definitely foreplay, no such thing as “woman’s work,” there are jobs only a man should have to do.

25 books so far this year!

Eggs and Weather

Eggs

Feb total 166       Feb potential income     $41.50
Feb daily avg 5.7 
38m total 5650      total potential income $1,412.50

Weather (Grays Woods)

Precipitation  Max 0.04 in    Avg 0.00 in    Min 0.00 in    Summary 0.09 in

Reading: 20Chameleon ***Ken McClure; Women are dying in Kerr Memorial Hospital in the border lands of England and Scotland . They are dying, at an alarming rate, from post operative wound infections which are resistant to antibiotics, and the authorities cannot find the source. As the situation threatens to get out of control, the hospital staff are under mounting pressure and nerves are stretched to breaking point. At the same time, a psychopathic killer is running amok, committing brutal murders in the town. The Home Office send an outsider, surgeon Scott Jamieson, to investigate. Jamieson soon finds himself in a maelstrom of accusation and counter accusation. http://www.kenmcclure.com/chameleon.html


19Permanent Interests ***James Bruno; political thriller in which corrupt White House officials sell out to the American and Russian mobs to re-elect a weak president at all costs. American ambassadors and Russian spies who get in the way are killed. Diplomat Bob Innes falls into this conspiracy of political intrigue and murder and becomes the target of hired assassins and Russian mafia hitmen. He and Lydia, a beautiful Russian escort to powerful men, work with the FBI to bring down the President's men and the Russian mob's Godfather. Al Malandrino, a colorful New York mob boss, becomes their unexpected ally. The good guys win. (Amazon)

Cherry blossom time (inside only)

When Paul pruned the trees he brought the sticks inside.  It's been several weeks but we finally have flowers.

Reading:  18Hurt Machine ***Reed Farrel Coleman,  At a pre-wedding party for his daughter, Moe Prager is approached by his ex-wife and former PI partner Carmella Melendez.to find the murderer of her estranged sister Alta, but no one in New York City seems to care.  Alta, a FDNY EMT, and her partner had months earlier refused to give assistance to a dying man at a fancy downtown eatery. Moe decides to help Carmella as a means to distract himself from his newly diagnosed stomach cancer. Moe chips away until he discovers a cancer roiling just below the surface, a cancer whose symptoms include bureaucratic greed, sexual harassment, and blackmail. (Amazon summary)