Autumn Color - Part 1

I dropped Seamus and Fergus off at the groomer for their autumn haircuts. On the way home, I noticed what beautiful autumn scenery surrounded me, so I took a few detours in order to get some photos:

We were only at 40% color at the time according to the weather report, but it was glorious color:

I'd say that the woods bordering farm fields were more than 40% along:

These old hay bales appeared to have been there beside the road for years, but they framed the picture nicely:

One of the roads I took was called Pleasant Valley Road, which was fitting:

I've become adept at recognizing Roughleaf Dogwood in spring bloom and autumn color, even from a distance. That's it in the bottom right hand corner:

I took a detour though a tiny settlement called West Stockbridge and passed by this lovely lake:

The trees on the far side were beginning to take on color, and the lake itself was filled with Canada Geese and waterlilies:

The shoreline of the lake was home to New England Asters, dried Queen Anne's Lace and Cattails:

And the trees beside the lake were displaying lovely colors:

I took one last photo of the lake and then continued on my way:

Passing through farm country, I kept my eyes open for trees abutting hay fields and corn fields. But I knew there were even more colorful trees to be seen as I got closer to home, so I kept going. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

The End Of Summer

The Red Poll cattle are looking happy and healthy:

 Little Ruby has not yet had her ear tattoos but she seems to know I'm a suspicious character so she hides behind her mother, Scarlett:

 And Scarlett usually hustles her away when I get too close:

 Blue and Remy are doing fine, but their Box Elder tree will drop its poisonous seeds any day now, and I will have to lock the horses in the barn until I get the seeds all cleaned up:

I walked into the barn one morning and found the two boys together in the hay, head to head and looking cute. It's apparent how attached they are to each other in spite of their quibbling and mischief:

 The sunflowers are almost finished. I've cut the tops out of many of them and others are going to seed already:

 Another photo of a Monarch butterfly in the Frans Hals Daylilies. It's ironic that the only place I can get a photo of a Monarch is on flowers of the same color:

 The littlest sunflowers, barely 6" tall:

I put the fantail pigeons on Craigslist, offering to sell 20 out of 43 of them. Alas, I've had no response, even after cutting the price in half:

 I took three vases of flowers to church, possibly the last of the season. This vase contained three colors of fragrant roses (orange, dark red and magenta), smallish sunflowers and red Mountain Maple leaves from the side of the road:

Blue and white wild Asters plus Birch leaves, all from the side of the road:

 Various colors of sunflowers plus red Mountain Maple leaves and Cattails from the side of the road:

Adirondack Autumn Color - Part 1

I'd just been out with dogs at Meacham Lake (see previous two posts), and we were on our way home. We were headed north on Route 458 through the Adirondacks and the autumn colors were just beginning to show. I decided to stop along the way and take some pictures:

Low mountains along the road:

A wet area beside the road helped turn these trees red:

One lone red tree among lots of green and yellow:

Not much color here, but it was a lovely marsh:

But there was certainly some bright color here:

And Staghorn Sumac can always be counted on to deliver bright red color in the fall:

More color along Route 458:

Much variety here:

Ferns beside the road were turning bronze and mixed with cattails. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Around The Farm

Summer is a busy time. Remy has mostly been a good boy, staying in his corral and not causing trouble except sometimes when he balks about returning to the barn in the evening. I don't think he objects to the barn, but sometimes freaks out when we walk through the opening in the electric fence. He doesn't mind going through in the other direction and he doesn't mind if I tie him to a fence post for a minute before leading him through the opening. I have no idea why that helps, but it does:

 Blue is more easily frightened but is also more compliant, so he's always (well, almost always) a good boy:

 They still get lots of hay in their corral and it's time for me to start worrying about the Box Elder tree in their yard, which is covered with (poisonous) seeds. When they start dropping, the horsey boys will have to stay in the barn until it is safe in their corral again:

The Red Poll herd makes frequent trips from the pasture in to the barn because that's where the stock tank is located:

 But mostly they eat grass and lounge around the pasture, always swatting at the pesky flies:

 Violet is timid and easily frightened, despite her large size:

Indoors, Sammy and Bugsy relaxed on one of the yoga mats:

 Clover, Fergus and Daphne napped on the big green floor pillow:

 Daisy hopped up on a chair and rolled over, begging me to pet her. I rubbed her cheeks, which she likes, because I know better than to rub her belly:

Flowers, both wild and cultivated, are blooming prolifically, and I try to bring a vase full of them to church each Sunday. Last week I brought three vases. This one included orange Asiatic Lilies, Blue Sea Holly, wild Cattails, a Ninebark branch with burgundy colored leaves, and white (wild) Bouncing Bet:

 This vase had two colors of Asiatic Lilies, purple Veronica, pink Yarrow and yellow (wild) St. Johnswort:

 This vase contained two kinds of roses, orange Echinacea and white (wild) Bouncing Bet:

A Snowy Farm - Part 2

I was taking a walk around the farm house and barn, snapping photos of the wintry beauty (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). These were seed pods on the huge lilac bush in front of the house:

 And just across the driveway from the lilac was this Eastern White Cedar:

 Another view of the Eastern White Cedar, a tree which seems almost magical to me:

I walked out into the road for a view of the farm house and lilac bush:

 And I had to tromp through knee-high snow to photograph the Mock Orange bush. It's hard to imagine that this will be covered in beautiful white flowers in the spring:

The dogs were wishing they could come with me, but they had to wait in their fenced yard:

 I again trudged through deep snow to get a closeup of these apple branches:

 I had plowing to do, so I put the bucket on the tractor and began moving snow. When I noticed the snowy cattails along the gravel road, I drove to them and climbed down for a closer view. Alas, the snow disguised the deep drainage ditch beside the road and my right foot suddenly sank through the snow and ice, landing in the cold water beneath it all. The ice surrounded and trapped my leg, requiring quite a bit of struggling to extricate myself:

My foot was now soaked and cold, but I photographed this snowy Red Pine before I went back indoors:

And on the way back to the house, I photographed my own cattle on the east side of the barn. I put their bale feeder there in cold weather so the barn will break the chilly west winds:

I parked the tractor inside the barn, but first I snapped one last picture, showing the piles of snow I'd moved with the tractor: