Hawk in the rain

It's a lovely rainy day here on the farm. Not much to do but pour over seed catalogs, make plans and stare out into the rain. There was a large red-tail hawk sitting forlornly in the black walnut tree out front. I'd say she was beautiful, but the rain made her bedraggled as well as forlorn. Would post a pic here now, but Hewlett Packard has disappointed me again with a camera that behaves exactly like a brick when it comes to getting fast shots. Why is it the thing can take 16 frames a second in video mode but takes about a second to snap a still frame? You can imagine my outrage and frustration: as she broke into flight and when I pressed the button, nothing happened for the time it took her to get out of frame. She was a really cool looking hawk despite the wetness.

On the subject of seed catalogs, we've just placed our first order to Seymoure Seeds for some delightful perennials which we will be planting in the air supported greenhouse sometimes next month. Mostly these will be for cut flowers, an arena we've never marketed to before; so wish me luck. We're also going in for some begonias which are so pleasing to the eye.

The solstice is two days behind us and already I'm getting anxious. Not for the backache and dirty fingernails, but the smell of rich earth and the bright blue sky overhead. Don't get me wrong, I love my lazy winters. But it is hard to feel productive. Even though my best software work has always been done in winter. In the last five years I've gone from earning lots of money doing software in winter and playing at farming in summer to working hard at farming in summer and playing at software in the winter. I liked it better the other way, but farming is something you can't stop loving once it's gotten hold of you. Whereas software is always sort of tedious and though the money was good, the other side of the contract is almost always trying to just screw you out of your labor. When I sell corn, I just sell corn. No hassles, no promises, just so many ears for a dollar, thank you ma'am.

Have a great day and thanks for readin'