Autumn Drive In The Countryside - Part 2

It was such a beautiful autumn day that I decided to take a photographic driving tour (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). This lovely home and split rail fence was certainly scenic:

And this recently mowed hay field, backed up by some of the reddest, most colorful trees I'd seen:

An old barn, all fixed up and in active use:

And a red wagon parked beneath apple trees, still sporting red fruit in their upper branches:

A farm selling lots of pumpkins and with a full hay wagon just outside the barn:

I saw these trees arching around the electric/phone wires from a long way off. It looked almost like a giant heart from a distance, and still looked graceful when I got closer:

The Willis Cemetery:

And at the next intersection, an old general store which has been vacant for many decades:

More autumn color behind hay fields:

And finally, back to my house. I went inside the barn and looked out through the pigeons' window, where two birds were resting on their tree branch and the top of my cedar tree was lit up by the sun, turning golden:

Autumn Drive In The Countryside - Part 1

I was having trouble with a leaky stock tank and had to run down to the local hardware store to buy some silicone sealant. But it was such a lovely day that I decided to turn the trip into a photographic driving tour, beginning with my own barn, hay bales and house:

I passed by three miniature horses:

And an old tractor parked off in the brush. I would guess that it's been there for many years, perhaps even decades:

I passed by the barn where Amish men build furniture. Their doors were open but I didn't see anyone inside:

One neighbor was harvesting corn for silage:

One man harvested the corn and another drove the filled wagons back to the farm:

I passed by this landmark in the settlement of Fort Jackson. It's an old, unused barn with a square, wooden silo:

And every autumn I love to photograph the Fort Jackson Cemetery:

The Fort Jackson Cemetery is a thin strip of gravestones, backed up by maple trees which are spectacularly colored every autumn:

I turned onto route 49 and stopped for a quick shot of this house, all dressed up for autumn with pumpkins and corn stalks. But there was more to see on my driving tour, so I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

The Walker House Museum In Madrid, New York

I really thought I'd seen all the local town museums (except my own, which seems to have no hours at all when it's open to the public), but then discovered the town of Madrid had one. I drove there one Saturday morning and found an old farm house, the Walker house, surrounded by corn fields:

Across the county road was an old barn and I imagined how nice it would be to include that as part of the museum:

I entered the small house and found an eclectic mixture of old objects:

The kitchen stove was piled with other objects from bygone eras and someone had taken the time to make up several displays of old time kitchen utensils:

The kitchen sink had a hand pump, but the old fashioned faucet was quite old as well. It sure brought back memories of my grandmother's Victorian Era house:

There was a wonderful country kitchen pantry, with its shelves fully stocked. It was my favorite part of the museum:

A small school house display:

And old dresses from various eras:

Baby clothes and children's toys:

I thanked the lady who tended the museum and walked out to my car. Behind the farm house museum were acres of corn stuble, backed up by woodlands in autumn colors:

I drove home a different way and discovered the tiny settlement of Madrid Springs, where I found this gigantic hay bale scarecrow. For point of reference, the hay bale which made up its head was probably 5 feet in diameter and about 1000 pounds:

And of course there were pumpkins everywhere. I drove home on a perfect autumn day and began working around my own place:

The Leisurely Life Of Household Pets

I've accumulated more pet photos since the last house pet themed blog post. When I took a closer look at them, I realized that every one of them was of pets sleeping or just lounging around. This picture was special because it showed PeeWee on the dog beds with the other dogs, a rare sight:

Bramble, Daphne and Clover on one of the fleecy dog beds - a recurring theme:

Daphne and Fergus, head to head, as close as brother and sister:

Fergus and Bramble. I have noticed that Bramble likes dogs better than he likes cats - and much more than he likes people:

A dog pile in the living room where they could watch me at the computer:

Upstairs in the designated cat room, Georgette has taken a liking to the foam cat cubes. She has a special trick, though, where she rolls them over while inside them so that the hole faces the floor. She feels safe and unwatched that way. Nearly every morning lately, I have to rotate her cube right side up:

The "Silly Sisters," Daphne and Clover:

And Snoozey, all alone:

Clover, Snoozey and Bramble:

Another dog pile, this one at the foot of the stairs by the front door:

Little PeeWee went through a spell where he didn't want to stay in his dog beds, but preferred to sleep on the floor. I don't know why, but he does seem to be over it now:

Seamus seems to enjoy being a big, fluffy, soft dog bed and pillow:

Bear Mountain, In The Cranberry Lake Wild Forest - Part 2

We were hiking the trail to the summit of Bear Mountain and were almost to the top:

When we reached the summit, there was only this limited view of Cranberry Lake. Clover didn't care, as she was busy playing on the rocks:

Here's a little better view of Cranberry Lake from the summit:

Hoping there might be another scenic overlook, we continued on the trail for some time. We never found another viewing spot, but there were giant rocks which the dogs thought were canine playgrounds:

All four dogs climbed up and down the rocks, enjoying themselves immensely:

They didn't care about scenic overlooks. This was just what they enjoyed:

Seamus and Fergus found the highest spot of all and posed as nobly as they were able. Their haircuts were only one day old and they did look nice up there:

But there was nothing more to see, so we began our way back down to the car, passing the scenic overlook one more time along the way:

The trail dropped off as we left the summit and we began the downhill hike, maneuvering around rocks, mudslides and fallen leaves:

It was still chilly and I had to put something over my bald head to keep the heat in:

The trail became more level and less rocky as we neared the trail head:

The final shot of the day was of Clover, who had climbed up on a fallen log. We reached our car and began our journey back home, stopping for lunch along the way: