Lingual papilla in Paradise...

Lingual papilla in Paradise...  I could hardly get the preceding post typed in, as I was salivating over the delightful scents wafting up from our kitchen.  Debbie is there, in the final stages of making a pasta dish.  It has bacon, asparagus, mushrooms, peas, cheese and lemon – and all those perfumes are hitting me on an empty belly.  Hence the stimulation of my lingual papilla, aka “taste buds”.

At this moment I live only for Debbie's call out that our lupper is ready!

Paradise goose...

Paradise goose...  Yes, again :)  This time I managed to get a few photos in full sunlight.  I sure hope I can get the goslings when the time comes!

Paradise trailers...

Paradise trailers...  The last bits of painting were done yesterday morning (black on the metal parts).  This morning I assembled the sides onto the trailer for its debut piece of work: cleaning up the trash alongside the highway.  I took the photo at right just before I headed out to the highway to pick up the debris my fellow humans decided to toss out their window as they drove by.  I'm not too happy with them at the moment, as my back hurts from bending over about 10,000 times to pick up their crap.  I cleaned up about a quarter mile of one side of the road, along our property and my neighbor Tim's.   All together I picked up about half a cubic yard of beer cans and bottles, fast food wrappings, and a little bit of just about anything else you can think of.  That included a baby bottle, an empty box of condoms, a quarter of a front bumper, a CFL light bulb, and a bottle of Oxycontin with several pills remaining.

In the photo you can see a tractor with a fertilizer spreader running in our field.  That's Scott N., the fellow who leases our south field, putting down phosphate fertilizer on the alfalfa he planted last year.  He rents that (quite nice) fertilizer spreader for $30 from IFA, the same place where he buys the fertilizer.  I had no idea that such implements could be rented at all, much less at that kind of a reasonable price.  I'm gonna have to check into that!

My little trailer caused a little stir this morning :)  First, our friend Michelle H. pronounced it “too cute!”  Then, after I took it out to pick up trash, my neighbor across the highway (Gary S.) drove over in his ATV to take a look.  He wanted to know what the orange blight was :)  Then I had two people driving by stop to ask where I'd bought it.  They were disappointed to hear that I'd built it, as they wanted to go get one for their ATV!

I'm very happy with how this project turned out, even though it was far more work than I'd imagined it would be – especially the painting...

Paradise goose...

Paradise goose...  She's turned around to face our house directly this morning, and she was eyeballing me carefully the whole time I was taking these photos.  I set up my spotting scope outside (so no windows) about 155' from the base of the tree she's in, and got some better photos:

The mama goose is (according to what I've read) always the one sitting on the eggs.  The papa spends a lot of time in the general area, guarding the nest.  I am carefully keeping away from that area, so as not to stress them, so I don't know what his behavior is if there's a perceived threat of some kind.

Yesterday I twice saw the mama leave (presumably to feed) and return to the nest.  Her approach and landing have to be seen to be believed – somehow she manages to steer those giant wings of hers in between all the branches and end up perched on the edge of the nest.  It looks impossible to a bystander, but she does it without apparent effort.  Her mate flies with her, right up to the nest, but at the last second veers off to the side.

You can see in these photos how carefully the mama is watching me.  If looks could kill, Debbie would be making cremation arrangements right now...