Watery Wednesday

This shot taken Tuesday afternoon shows the entrance to our Creek trail under water. You can't see the creek, but it is straight in the middle down that narrow lane over those bushes. It has been raining for 3 days now, and we're all getting tired of it. The yellow sign says Turtle Crossing. No turtles today.
Thanks to 2sweetnsaxy for hosting this meme. Click on her site http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com to see more water.

Ruby Tuesday

The weather has been so miserable the past couple of days, that I haven't taken many pictures. I looked back in my archives and found this one of my 2 Pygmy goats, Savannah and her Mom Honey Bun enjoying a watermelon.
Thanks Mary for keeping this meme going.
Click on http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com to see more RED photos.

Macro Monday

It's that time of year again, and the air around North East, Pennsylvania smells wonderful with the aroma of grapes being harvested. Just drive through the vineyards with your windows down and you will be pleasantly awarded.
Thanks to Lisa for keeping this meme going. Click on http://lisaschaos.com/ to see lots more close-ups.

Hodge Podge

On our trip to Lake Erie we stopped by to see Wisconsin's state Flagship the S/V Denis Sullivan. It is a 3 masted schooner and will be docked in Erie till Monday. They were taking on passengers for an evening cruise, but it was way too windy for me... I didn't get all the sign either because the wind was blowing so hard.

I couldn't get all the ship either because the dock was in the way.

This is the Amish place where we buy all of our annual, and veggie plants. Yes, a log home, and it is beautiful! Not your typical Amish home believe me. They also have 3 gorgeous greenhouses. The plants are the best too. Anyway when we were there recently hoping to buy Mums they were closed for the season. They really do a terrific busines, and during hunting season process deer.

More Ringed Seagulls looking over the lake

Can anyone out there tell me if there is a use for all this Golden Rod ?

Here we have the Wolly Bear caterpillar. The amount of black on each end does not fortell the severity of the coming winter. Actually this is the caterpillar of the Isabella Moth which isn't all that attractive.

Friday afternoon this rain shower came up so fast, and was gone just as fast. The sun came out, and it was nice the rest of the day.

If you are interested in trains at all skip on over to Gary's blog http://steamacrossthetrestle.blogspot.com/ . We are going through several vintage photograph albums that contain all trains and will be posting some each day. Some pictures from our vacations and some from around our area. These were all taken with our 35mm camera.

SOOC

On one of our nature trails, a vine growing up a big Willow tree. Taken with the evening sun.
Thanks to Jan at http://www.murrieta365.com/ for hosting this cool meme. Click her site to see more Straight Out Of the Camera shots.

Gulls and Geese

Bottoms up! On a drive to Chautauqua Lake we stop for a minute to watch the waterfowl. These Canada Geese were just coming in for a landing.

With a lake full of water, this gull was drinking from a puddle in the parking lot.

These Ringed Gulls really are cute.

How about this side?

Of course there always has to be a loud mouth in the group!

We watched this one out on the end of the dock doing some preening. I noticed he was limping.

Some neck scratching. You can tell it was very windy.

Then I threw out a small piece of bread and he flew closer.

Take a look at that leg. I'll bet a fish line. Right down to the bone. Ouch!

Have a great week-end all. It's going to rain here, and the butterfly hasn't emerged yet.
Right now the chrysalis doesn't look just right. There are black spots on it. I'll keep you posted.

Skywatch Friday

This isn't exactly a sky photo, but it is the sun shining through an opening in the trees in our front yard on a very foggy morning..
Many thanks to those who keep this meme going.
Click on http://skyley.blogspot.com/ to see more sky shots.

As I sit here typing there is a skunk foraging under my bird feeders looking for sunflower seeds. He also paid us a visit at 3AM and left his " calling card". I don't understand why they have to spray when there is no threat. Anyway I opened up the bathroom window, and sprayed him with Hornet spray. He did leave, but apparently didn't learn his lesson because he's back! I really wouldn't mind if they stayed around because they DO dig for Japanese Beetle grubs, and that is a good thing.
This Sugar Maple leaves are turning. On my morning walk I discovered this Red Eft Newt Salamander on the road. I think he was trying to gather up some warmth from the pavement. Red-spotted Newts are among the most common salamanders in the East. Adults are aquatic and have an olive-green back with scattered red spots and a yellow belly with small black dots. The juvenile terrestrial stage, red eft, is probably the most recognizable stage by most people. Efts are red with black-bordered red spots along each side. Adults are about 4 inches long and the tail is keeled (more pronounced in males). Two features that separate newts from other salamanders are the lack of costal grooves and presence of two longitudinal ridges on top of the head. I put him in the grass so he wouldn't get run over.
In the 30 years we've lived here this is only the 2nd time I've seen these Newts around here, and I think it's because of all the rain this Spring and Summer that has kept the streams and ponds full.

More shots of the Hydrangea trees. The flowers are turning pink now.

Some more mushrooms in the cemetery.

We had to stop for a few minutes while this herd of cows went from the barn out to pasture.

Haw many colors can you count?

The latest Monarch Butterfly is due to emerge Friday, and the girls have named"it" Polka-Dot. Stay tuned for new photos. It's supposed to be a nice day too. That will be good for Polka-Dot, but there aren't many tasty flowers left ...

Some Fall Observations

We went for a ride today, and then I took a walk around our property to see these Fall colors.
Mushrooms in a cemetery by the roadside. Concord grapes are nearly ready to harvest. Yum!

Sedum in my flower bed.

This spider got really close when the wind blew it toward me.

Even though this shot is fuzzy because of the wind you can see it is spinning a web.

More Sedum.

Milkweed pod.

Wild Asters.

You can see the paths the insects make as they chew beneath the tree bark.

More wild Asters.

Collage of Sumac leaves.

This buck deer was running right down them middle of the road. He hopped over the ditch and began eating grass. He didn't seem very afraid of us.

Ruby Tuesday

I guess I'll just call this "End of the Season" for us that is. We had 2 light frosts last week, and although the veggies seem to be OK, I thought it best to pick everything.
Thanks to Mary/the teach for keeping this meme going.
Click on http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com to see lots more RED pictures.

Macro Monday

We have so few Thistle flowers this year. I don't know why, but they certainly are a beautiful color. No Butterflies on them either.
Happy Macro Monday to all.
Click on http://lisaschaos.com/ to see more close ups, and Thanks to Lisa for keeping this meme going!

Deer Park #2

Back at Deer park the girls go for a pony ride. Goats will sleep just about anyplace. LOL

Papa Elk. A new Elk calf was born 12 hours before we got there. It was laying behind a building and I couldn't get a good picture.

During a train ride this Rhea would follow the train and beg for a treat from the engineer.

The Zebras were nippy and you couldn't get very close.

Of course the girls wanted their picture taken on the Unicorn.

I took this picture for my sister. She has bears that come to her back yard, and destroy all her bird feeders. Just for you Jude.

Bar-headed Goose.

Hope all is going well for everyone this week-end. We had our first frost last night, and I'm sure another one is in store for tonight.