Watery Wednesday

This is a pond about 5 miles from home. During the fall, there are hundreds of geese there every day. Believe me it isn't pleasant walking around the pond! You have to watch every step. This picture was taken 4 years ago.
Click on http://eyesmindheart.blogspot.com/ to see more Watery Wednesday shots. Thanks to eyes, mind and heart for hosting this fun site.

Ruby Tuesday

Happy Ruby Tuesday everybody.
I painted this back in 1996. Don't we wish eggs were this price now?
To enjoy more Ruby Tuesday click on http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/ and thanks to mary/the teach for hosting this site.
My regular post for today is below.

Soggy Tuesday

Good morning. It looks like it will be a soggy day, but that's OK. We found a new vehicle, and will be picking it up this afternoon.
In the past we have collected rocks and fossils. We have some really neat ones, and these are just a few. This one has sea shells embedded in it. I have one similar to this one shaped like an old high heeled shoe, but I couldn't find it.

These next few were brought from the shores of Lake Erie not far from Buffalo, NY. There are some of them along I-90 sticking out of the cutout rock ledges along the interstate. In this area there is a stream running down to the Lake and apparently this is where more of these rocks are. These particular ones came from the Lake itself brought up by a diver that sells them. He found them out in the water near the shore. I don't remember how far he had to dive down to get them. They are all about 12"-14" across and about 3"-4" thick. They seem to be made in layers.

This rock has split probably from water getting in there and freezing.

The Shortcake trail is covered with fallen leaves. Difficult to walk quietly.

Then there is Azrael always my companion on my walks. She's a busy busy girl. The other day she brought me 2 moles, 1 mouse, and a chipmunk.

Good morning all. It's 57º here and the skies are cloudy. Yesterday it was misting all most all day, until about 5PM, when the sun came out for a few minutes.
This moon shot was taken around 06:45 last Thursday. The sky yesterday morning.

The male Goldfinches are getting into their winter outfits.

Not nearly as attractive as the summer ones.

They're baaaaaaak ! I was surprised last night when I looked under my feeders. There were 2 of them and such fat critters they are. I don't know if they are part of the gang that was here in the spring or not. The ones tail must be at least 12" long.

This one has a spot on the back of his head. Sorry about the fuzzy pictures. I took them through the window, you know for safety sake. I wasn't afraid to get close to them when they were babies, but can't trust them now!

Well, it's Monday morning, and we'll be back on the car locating search again. I'm going to do some looking on the Internet today and save us the hassle of having to deal with pushy salesmen.

No luck Saturday

Good Morning. It's 66º here, cloudy skies, and there is rain nearby, but so far we're dry.
First, I apologise if I didn't get around to many blogs yesterday. We were gone almost all day shopping for a vehicle, and it was not a good day. As I mentioned looking for a new one isn't one of my favorite things to do. We stopped at many dealers, and we treated badly at most. The high pressure just doesn't set well with us, and we're trying to compare prices, and not pick the first one we see! We're looking for a mini van which fits in perfect with our lifestyle, but I truthfully don't believe these dealers are as desperate as the news media wants you to believe. So without going into the gorey details, I'll post what pictures I did get.
This cute little market just 5 miles from home is all decked out in fall colors. The best part, lunch! Rejuvenated, we're ready for a friendly dealer. Ha Ha.

In one car lot the sky out over Lake Erie was getting rather angry looking. Somewhat like my attitude at this point.

On the way home we did have a good laugh at this one.

OK, so today will be a better day. Take a big deep breath and move on!

Really busy day!

This is going to be another crazy day, so I don't have many pictures to post. I made one New Years resolution last January, and that was to take at least one picture every day, and I didn't want to mess up.
We went out yesterday hunting for a new car. It's an exhausting journey, and one I don't especially like, BUT it has to be done. We did find a couple we like, and will hit the road again this morning to decide.
This is another orchid blooming right now. It is a hanging one, and has roots out into the air about 12" long. The flowers themselves are 1" across, and this one doesn't have any fragrance. I have another that I will post tomorrow. The sky this morning looks a bit iffy, but at least it's not snowing. Oh my did I say that awful word! Shame on me!
Did I mention after vehicle hunting yesterday I was up till 11:30 last night canning tomatoes. I think I'm done for the year, and they will taste so good this winter.
Have a great day all.

SkyWatch Friday

Early morning moon held captive among the wispy clouds.
For more SkyWatch shots click on http://skyley.blogspot.com/. Thanks to Tom, Sandy, Klaus and IMAC for this fun site.

Today's Flowers

This Oncidium Orchid stands around 18" high and 12" wide. Right now it is in full bloom. The stems with the blossoms extend 24", and there are 4 of them. The blossoms themselves are about 1 1/2" and some smaller. The amazing thing about this orchid is that the flowers smell just like CHOCOLATE! Many Orchids have wonderful fragrances.
To see more Today's Flowers click on the icon at the right.

I mentioned yesterday that we burn wood, and this is a shot of just half of the wood pile. The remaining half is on the other side of the shed, and some is already stacked inside. Our WONDERFUL daughter-in-law splits most of this by hand with a big maul! She is amazing... The larger pieces we will split with the log splitter. We still have more wood coming too. It's nice to know we'll be toasty this winter. We were not home much yesterday, so these pictures I took a few days ago. Some grasses on the trail.

This wild apple tree is loaded this year. The apples aren't too tasty, but the deer love them.

Fungus on a log. I do tole painting on some of the dried fungus.

I decided to put one of them in my header, so check above. I've done many others , but gave most of them away. I also like to paint on hand saws.

Leaf Hopper.

Sign of the Times

It's Fall, and time to get out the decorations. All I need is a pot of Mums on the bench, I picked all these peppers yesterday and they are in my freezer.

This is the last rose.

The last cutting on this field of hay.

Our faithful wood stove. We've had it for 28 years, and it works just great. It keeps the house so warm and toasty we usually keep a window open a little all winter. There is NOTHING like wood heat.

Very busy day today. We're going car shopping...

Today's Flowers

This Cattleya Orchid is blooming now in my greenhouse. It has a wonderful fragrance. For more beautiful images click on Today's Flowers at right.
To see my Ruby Tuesday, scroll down.

Ruby Tuesday

Citrus Pepper Vinegar.
Contains Sliced lemons, and oranges, cut red chili peppers, rosemary, and vinegar. Good marinade for meat and chicken.
Thanks to mary/ the teach and to view more Ruby Tuesday's
Click on the Ladybug at the right.

A very good morning to everyone. It's 52º here and very foggy AGAIN. I am really glad I don't work any more. I always hated driving in this fog! I had to be to work at 6AM which meant I had to leave home around 5:15AM. Sometimes it was dreadful depending on the weather. I surely don't miss it.
I took a walk yesterday afternoon and saw some pretty fall flowers on the trails.
I think this one is Sneezeweed. Ah-Choo! This big old Willow tree is near the creek, and has seen many floods.

Another one of the Aster family. This purple one grows everywhere. I just don't know which one it is.

The Sumac leaves are turning colors.

Dried Burdock. My cat Maggie got a whole bunch of these stuck in the fur on her back. I tried everything to get them out, and finally had to resort to the clippers. Now she has a 3" wide path of almost no hair right down the middle of her back. She wasn't very happy with me, but I'm sure she feels so much better, and I think she has forgiven me. LOL

These white Asters are everywhere too.

We're almost ready to pick the Northern Spy apples. I've been gathering the ground ones, and making applesauce. Now it's nearly time to do pies.

AS I was nearing the end of my walk, the sky began to get dark. The sun tried to shine through, but with not much luck. We didn't get any rain though.

Have a great day...

Just Around Here

This was Friday morning early, and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Now this was yesterday morning, and you know what they say about Red Sky in the Morning... It turned out to be another beautiful day! So much for that old saying.

The moon recently has been visible on my early walk with the dog.

I braved the mosquitoes to take a walk to the creek trail. I think these are 2 young Mallards. I also put some apple peelings and scrub apples we picked up off the ground, down on the trail, and I see some of them have disappeared. The deer have been there. Time to get out the game camera.

In my flower/ weed garden a dried pod from a Poppy. As a kid I remember chocolate stars that looked like this shape.

This green and black bug was in the garden too.

"No mice up here Mom" says Maggie

I read recently that the male Hummingbirds go south very early and the females follow later. That would explain why I haven't seen any males lately. This little girl looks pretty plump.

If you missed my Today's Flowers scroll down.