Tuesday

It's Tuesday again, and I really didn't have anything to post so I looked back in my archives and found this shot I took last year of the creek behind our house in the summer. It is so peaceful and a beautiful place to walk. We have a short trail along this creek.
Happy Tuesday, and have a great rest of the week.

Here it is Thursday again

Another stormy, really stormy night last night and you can see the creek is over it's banks again! We got 2" of rain, and the creek is running very fast! Lots of heavy thunder and lightening enough to wake the dead! Welcome Spring! This House Finch gives me the "evil eye" saying he doesn't like this wet weather at all!

The Mourning Dove is all huddled against the cold.

Then he decides to do a bit of preening. Might as well get all the feathers in order.

Along the shores of Lake Erie a Bonaparte's gull cruises along.

That's all for today. There might be a flurry or two tonight. UGH! Enough is enough!

Have a wonderful rest of the week all.

It's Saturday already

I have to show the Wood ducks again as they rest on that old tree along the creek trail. This morning on my walk with Tauqua I heard 5 gun shots from shotguns in the direction across the creek. I feared for the worse, and as I got closer I saw 2 hunters running down the creek searching for whatever they had shot. I waited a few minutes, and saw them walk back carrying a dead duck with a white underside. I'm sure it was a Wood duck. I thought they had gone for the winter, but I was wrong. A spooky looking moon on Halloween night.

I have two Orchids blooming right now, and this one has the most wonderful fragrance. It is about 3" across.

Another much smaller one has 5 more buds to open and has no fragrance.

Out on the trail this vine climbs up one of the Sumac trees, and I don't know what it is. I should have taken pictures of it when it was flowering this summer.

Pretty fall leaves from an old farm Rose.

There are always lots of interesting lichen clinging to old fallen branches.

It was another really windy day. Not very warm either, but at least it wasn't raining.

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend everyone.

Weekend Reflections

Reflections on the creek behind our house sometimes give unexpected images. I didn't see the weeds in the background till I uploaded these pictures.
To see more reflections stop on over to James' site at http://newtowndailyphoto.blogspot.com

Here and There

It was very hot and humid yesterday and I didn't get many pictures, so I searched back in the files for some of these.
There are lots of these big tall Willow trees on our creek trail.
Looking out over the creek as it travels south.

This flower is a member of the Cinquefoil family, and lots of them are now showing up on the trails. During our last train watching day, I noticed a few of these Turkey Vultures hanging around the tracks, and when I went to investigate, I found a half eaten Red Fox that possibly had gotten hit by a train.

In the same area was this Cabbage White butterfly.

Back at home the male Baltimore Oriole, and one of the"kids" are here all day long. I have put out grape jelly and oranges, and the oranges go untouched all the time.

The male Ruby -throated Hummingbird will always pose so nicely for me.

Clear out in our back yard we have a mama Groundhog and 2 babies. As long as they keep out of my garden, they can stay. Here is Mom having breakfast.

Recently Tauqua and Frosty were watching me from the sliding door that leads to the deck, as I was pulling weeds in the garden.

It's very early Sunday morning, and it has been raining. The sky is overcast and the temp is 69º

Forecast is for a rainy morning, and possibly clearing by this afternoon-hopefully-.

You all have a wonderful day.

Beautiful Saturday

All the following pictures were taken around home and down on the creek trail.
I love these little bright Goldfinches. Friday morning the temp dipped to 21 deg. and you can see the left over frost on the grass when the sun finally warms up the air.

This Red tailed hawk has a nest up the road. I finally can see a bird head in the nest. I also saw an adult hawk sitting way on top of an old dead tree. This nest is on private property and I can't get any closer.

A cute Song sparrow hunts for food along the creek edge.

A large group of Water Boatman bugs float on the creek.

The white Violets are beginning to bloom.

Azrael watching the birdfeeders, ( and hoping).

We have rain getting closer, and at least it will be warmer.

Have a wonderful week-end.

Snowy Saturday

Friday was Gary's birthday and we went out for lunch and to finish up our Christmas shopping. We ate at a quaint little restaurant in Amish country. I liked this arrangement on the outside of the building. It looks like some sort of climbing shrub. Around the back of the restaurant you will find the Amish parking lot.

Nearing home we rode over by the local ski resort and they are now making snow 24/7.

My birds were so hungry in the afternoon. A large flock of Brown headed cowbirds hogged the main feeder, and this Cardinal decided to move over to a feeder where there weren"t any birds..

I love looking at the woods with snow covering everything, and this area is about 1 mile from home right along the creek.

Looking the other direction, you can see the creek is bank full. There had been ice on parts of it earlier in the week, but now it's mostly open again.

I don't have very many Goldfinches left, and this one still has a bit of his summer garb.

We're getting some of the snow that is crippling the Eastern USA but only 3" has fallen in the past 24 hours. We're actually on the very edge, but it has snowed most of the day, and the flakes are so small it gives the appearance of heavy fog.
I hope everyone out there is safe and warm.

Watery Wednesday

I took a walk down to the creek just at dusk Tuesday night, and could see the almost full moon shining on the water. I don't do night shots very well, but this was one I had to try.
Thanks to 2sweetnsaxy for hosting this meme. Click on over to her site http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com and see what others have posted.

SOOC

It's SOOC Sunday. This shot was taken last week when the creek out behind our house was high from the 3.5" of rain we had in 2 days.
Thanks to Jan for hosting this meme. Click on over to her site http://www.murrieta365.com/ to see more Straight Out Of the camera shots.

Watery Wednesday

On a ride Saturday we found this beautiful little creek. There were several small waterfalls and lots of great flat rocks. The above picture shows the sun glistening on the water.
Thanks to 2sweetnsaxy for hosting this meme. Click on http://www.waterywednesday.blogspot.com/ to see lots more watery shots.

We went to town early yesterday morning, and some places the fog was so thick. This old house looked sort of cool with smoke filtering up into the fog. At one time this was a large farm with a big barn. About 3 years ago they tore down the barn :(, and would you believe it I didn't get a picture of it . There hasn't been any one living in this house for many years, when all of a sudden we see people there. I'm wondering how they will keep warn, because there had been lots of windows broken, and the foundation is crumbling. Maybe they fixed things. For sure they have a wood fire, but we don't see any wood piled any place around the house. Hmmm. We passed by Findley Lake and I'm always looking for the Tundra Swans, since I did see then there once. All I saw were lots of Hooded Mergansers, and tons of Canada Geese. Those little ducks are so cute!
They were quite far away, and as soon as we stopped they swam farther out in the lake.

As you can see it was a dreary day. Dark, damp, windy, and wet all day, AND the first day of deer season. I'm sure the hunters weren't too thrilled.

More dried weeds.

On my creek walk Thursday I noticed the water is coming up. After the 1 1/2" of rain we had last night it's covering some of the trail I walk.

Dried Teasel.

Woodpeckers have been here.

Dried Cow Parsnip seed head. I think it looks like a 4th of July sparkler.

I have a few Pansies that are still hanging on.

Have a wonderful day all, and stay warm. I'm actually writing this Saturday night. The temp. has fallen from 52º to 33º in 4 hours, and the wind has really picked up. We lost the power 5 different times around 11:30PM, and had to run the generator since there was wood in the stove. Finally restored around 1:30 AM we could all get back to sleep. Our son Steve, checked on the neighbors who burn wood to make sure they all knew the electric was out. Snowfall from last night was only 1/2", and the wind is still quite strong.