Local News
Getting to Enjoy Camp More Now
By Douglas H. Domedion
Bluebird and “carnation” roses at camp.
Things have finally slowed down at camp, somewhat. The grass no longer needs to be cut every time I look at it, and the same goes for the open fields around the property.
The hummingbirds are going full throttle with the young of the year now showing up at the feeders, which now need to be filled to their fullest to last to the next trip down. The oriole grape jelly feeder is still being visited by those beautiful
birds, but not as much as earlier this spring.
The bluebirds nesting near the cabin have fledged after giving me some great photo ops. Nature photography is an ongoing challenge, and getting flight shots of these bluebirds bringing insects to the nesting cavity was my goal on this adventure.
Over 15 hours were spent in the photo blind over two visits to camp and they had been worth it. On the third visit the hope was that the young had not fledged yet and I would be able to get shots of the parents actually giving insects to the young at the cavity entrance. Arrival at camp was early evening and they where still taking insects to the cavity. Great!
The nest morning I was in the blind just as the sun began to hit the nest cavity. The parents where showing up but were not feeding the young. Then suddenly a fledgling flew out and followed his parents up into a tree on the edge of the woods. Of course I had been caught off guard and didn’t even get a shot. Now I was on high alert but there was no more activity. Had this young bluebird been the last to leave? After staying in the blind for almost an hour the conclusion was drawn that I had missed the whole show; they must have left at the crack of dawn and I had seen the last one leave! I did get to watch them that day as I mowed around the cabin as they caught insects that I was kicking up with the mower and took them up into the trees to feed they young ones.
Although no annual flowers were planted this spring there still have been some nice bursts of color from the flowers that have existed for a number of years. The of the first of these is the bleeding hearts in front of the porch. The next is the yellow flag, a yellow aquatic iris, that surrounds the pond. This beautiful show of yellow flowers around the pond, although short lived, is worth the trip to camp.
The next flower is the yellow day lily that has been planted in clumps here and there by the cabin and pond. The Sweet William also kicks in at this time, and it provides a real show of colors and patterns. The sweet fragrant pink carnation roses start kicking in and reach their peak just about the time the red roses start up. Both these are the old-time variety that existed when I brought the property and cultivated to their present display. In all they put on a real show for about three weeks and then they are all gone for another year.
The red roses grew in several spots but low to the ground as the farmer who hayed this spot use to cut them down every year. I marked off the two thickest spots and asked him not to mow there anymore. Eventually they grew into two beautiful clusters of roses and I put a old rail fence around one clump. The cabin was built much later and situated so the one bed was right in front of the porch and the other a little farther out.
The pink carnation roses (that’s the name I gave them because the name is not known) look just like pink carnations and have a unbelievable fragrance to them. There were only a few stuck back in some thick brush by an old farm house foundation across the road when I “discovered” them. For a couple of years the brush was cut back to give them a chance to get strong and then some were dug and planted by the cabin in two different groups. They took off and now there are two huge clumps of them just down wind in front of the cabin. Now when they are blooming one can sit on the front porch in the evening and “suck in” that wonderful aroma.
Right now the orange day lilies are at their peak and the blue tall bell-flowers are blooming. Of course every since summer started the yellow evening-blooming dandelions have been putting on a real show every evening as their green flower capsules suddenly pop with a large yellow flower as it gets dark
So the trip to camp each week has a special “show” to see and I get to see something besides high grass! Someone once said “The cabin is a place you long to go back to and never leave without regret.” How true that is!
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