If the Rains Come

Here we go again.  Wishing for rain, thinking it will rain, the wind starts to blow, the breeze blows in a comfortable coolness, a few drops fall and then................nothing.   We have turned into sky watchers at Cook'n by the Creek.  Here in Northwestern Pa, the valleys are narrow and the hills close so when a cloud comes along it is pretty much directly above us.  Through the years  we have learned signs that rain is coming.  For example, the grass is dry in the morning,  wind begins to blow,  leaves on the trees turn their underside up,  black clouds roll in and there is just that feel of rain in the air.  We will say, it feels like rain.  That is the way it has felt for the last few weeks and again.....nothing.  Our ground is so dry and has huge cracks in it.  If a heavy rain happens it will be useless for the good of plants because it will run off before soaking in.  What we need is about 24 hours of a soft, gentle rain that will slowly soak the ground deep down.  For the last month I have checked the 10 day weather forecast,  there is suppose to be rain, .............nothing the predictions change.  It looks like South of Interstate 80 has been getting rain and also in the southern states.  That is nature, no promises, just  happens.  So, again we will be looking toward the sky wondering if rain will come.  Robins will sing their beautiful song for rain and we can only hope.

Wild life is on the move.  Dick saw two baby bobcats playing on the edge of the road.  He stopped, yelled and tooted the horn to scare them away.  Why they felt like playing by the road, mama better get her kids under control!  We have heard several reports of bear around Clara.  Last week we saw one up close.  Driving up Eleven Mile there was a nice sized bear standing on its hind legs trying to knock down Amy Bickle's bird feeder. We stopped rolled down the window and yelled at it.  No way was it leaving free food!  Finally it lumbered slowly across the road in front of us and sat down just looking.  All the hollering and tooting the horn was not moving it.  Amy's son was watching from inside  and came out on the porch wanting to take the bird feeder down.  With the us between him and the bear he ran out, grabbed the feeder and back in the house he went.  We told him he should stay inside for the day.  Amy let me know the bear did come back that day but has not been seen after because the have not put the feeder back up.  He knew his "gravy train ride" of easy food had come to an end.  I'm not crazy about having bears around but this one was blue/black with beautiful full fur.  Last night around 8:30 we saw another bear running across Rt 44 between Millport and Clara Rd.  It wasn't very big and it had mange!  No fur on the back hind quarter and the rest of the hair looked dull and scraggly.  It will eventually die as the mange spreads and all of the fur falls off.  If it is around other bears the mange will spread to them.  Now is the time to take some country rides and see the wild animals on the move. 

With our travels we have seen many little fawns out learning the ropes of survival from their moms.  Going into Hornell the other day a doe crossed in front of us, stopped and was looking back.  That means more deer are with her.  It was a tiny little fawn with lots of energy.  It came charging across the road, bucking, kicking and running circles.  It ran a couple circles around its mom and back it went across the road.  We have watched fawns do the same thing in our back fields.  It is natures way of getting them strong for when they are on their own and need to run from bear, coyotes and even the mighty hunters of fall. 

The Baltimore Orioles that frequent the grape jelly and oranges daily have just brought the little ones out.  It is funny to watch them show their young how to gather food.  They are also not so good at coming in for a landing!  Poor Quincy got a scare when one landed next to him.  Of course he had to learn real quick......leave the birds alone. 

Writing this I realize everything is about summer ending and preparing for the cold winter months.  If you are from the Oswayo Valley you will  understand this comment, "Fair weather".  Which means it feels like fall.  Once the Potter County Fair (I call it Millport Fair) is over we all have that fall feeling.  Gardens and canning will come to an end.  Apple season will begin and out will come the cider press for the family cider pressing day.  Apples have not been plentiful the last few years.  We are expecting a better season if the rains come.  Our apple trees are dropping little apples quickly which means, they need water.  It is the trees way of protecting itself, get rid of the apples which will take water from the tree.  Come on rain!

We have picked peas this weekend and very happy for the type we bought this year.  The bushes should have been about 5 feet tall and are only 2 feet.  That's ok because they are beautiful little pods.  Every pod is full of peas, just the way they should be.  So far we have 3 quarts in the freezer.    Picking has been every 3 days so tomorrow back to being "pea pickers'.

I would like to thank all of you that take the time from your busy life to read Cook'n by the Creek.  I find it amazing and love seeing the countries from around the world stopping by.  I read blogs from other countries and the USA, it is a great way to learn, "we are all different but very much the same".  As you can see the last few days have been very busy reading for Sweden.  Welcome to all.

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Germany	6
France	5
United Kingdom	4
South Korea	1
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Romania	1
Taiwan	1