Wetlands And Wildflowers - Part 1

The Rutland Nature Trail is only five miles from home, so I go there often. I recently took the dogs on the eastbound portion, a former railroad bed, which led us through wetlands:

The dogs were as excited as ever, maybe more so:

 Most of the Goldenrod by my house was finished blooming, but there was a lot of it along this trail:

And New England Asters, as you see on the left here, were also abundant:

Small White Asters (that's the official common name, not just a description) were also abundant, though less strikingly beautiful:

And the dogs ran up ahead, then back when I yelled at them:

I had recently decided that what I had by my house were New York Asters, not New England Asters. I thought they were variants of the same species but learned that they are different species altogether. Then I decided I had New York Asters and changed all the descriptions in my plant photo files. Sadly, I didn't check my field guide carefully first. When I finally did, I discovered that those by my house were New England Asters. These along the trail - well, I'm not sure and the photos don't reveal enough detail:

But the dogs don't care about such things. They just enjoy getting outdoors and running:

I've never seen a Fringed Gentian except in pictures, but I found one along the trail and it was as beautiful as the pictures had made them seem. Why is no one producing a cultivated variety for flower gardens? I checked online and found several companies selling seeds for these beauties:

 Virginia Creeper was turning bright red:

As we came to the wetlands, Jack went in for a long drink of cool water:

And I looked out over the brush to the opposite shore:

But thick brush mostly prevented us from going too close to the water, so we kept moving eastward along the trail. Autumn colors were already in evidence:

Happy dogs, running free:

I had to look past Small White Asters and Joe-Pye-Weed to see the next pond:

Jack led the way as we continued our eastbound journey. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Moving Toward Autumn

I had just finished cleaning the barn floor, hauling multiple loads of sodden bedding and manure out to the compost pile with the tractor bucket. I decided that it was time to re-dig the drainage ditch, which tends to fill in over a few years. I used the tractor bucket, starting at the barn and working my way downhill:

I had to move to the opposite side of the ditch and move my way back up toward the barn before I was finished. I hope that I am now prepared for big rainstorms and snow melts:

I've been calling this the Carefree Delight, but I began to doubt when I looked at the website and saw what it was supposed to look like. I emailed the nursery owner and he identified it instantly. This is a Carefree Beauty and it is grown right next to the Carefree Delight. The similarity in location and names caused the workers to pull the wrong plant. He said he'd send the correct rose immediately but I asked him to wait until springtime, when I will probably add a couple more rose varieties. I did notice that both Carefree roses grow quite large, so I'll probably move this one and plant both new roses together in the middle of the lawn somewhere:

When all the other varieties of Daylily were almost done for the year, the Frans Hals variety burst into bloom and hasn't quit yet. It is by far my favorite:

This is a tall mass of weeds which I mow around whenever I cut the lawn. It consisted mostly of Goldenrod and Wild Cucumber in bloom, and Wild Grapevine not in bloom:

And I've kept bringing flowers to church on Sunday. This was multiple colors of Yarrow plus my Frans Hals Daylilies:

Another vase contained purple (wild) Joe-Pye-Weed, yellow (wild) Goldenrod and various colors of Sunflowers:

The Amish farm down the road had Sunflower also, but apparently a variety grown for its edible seed. The sweet corn was growing right next to them:

I was driving past my own place on the county road one day when I stopped and snapped a picture of my cows, filing past the horse corral on their way to the stock tank for a drink of cool, clean water:

And in many places along my road, the field corn was ripening. Spring rains meant late planting, but short season varieties and good drainage in some fields allowed them to ripen almost on schedule:

I used my zoom lens for a closeup of the ripening ears of corn. Yes, winter is on the way - but beautiful autumn will arrive first:

Wonderful Debar Pond - Part 2

A friend and I were walking a trail along the shore of the Adirondacks' Debar Pond (see also Part 1, posted yesterday), and arrived at a small stream. The dogs thought it was great fun but we humans decided to turn back toward the easier walking and the buildings:


We all walked back to the lodge and peeked in the windows. It must surely have been a luxurious mansion in its day:

The group of people and their dogs were all gone by the time we arrived, so we ambled over to the water's edge and enjoyed the scenery and serenity. A cluster of pink Joe-Pye-Weed stood on the shore:

And then a Red Admiral butterfly began flitting from flower head to flower head and a bee joined it, making a lovely scene:

And this shoreline was much easier for the dogs to swim in. Seamus was able to walk easily out and not have any trouble with his back legs. Daphne and Clover went in, but stayed closer to shore:

I gave them all a call they waded back in to join us:

My friend and I enjoyed the dogs' company as we surveyed the scenery:

The dogs walked over to the old boathouse and then went back into the water. Seamus disappeared and we called loudly for him until we found him:

Seamus, of course, loves the water and couldn't stay out of it. Even Jack went swimming

We began walking again, passing by the old caretaker's residence:

And out onto the lawn, which is still kept mowed, beneath the towering White Pines:

We made a happy caravan as we proceeded onto the dirt lane which would return us to our parked car:

My happy dogs continued to sniff and search everywhere along the way. We stopped for lunch at a small general store where we could eat at a picnic table with the dogs. It had been a good day:

Flowers, Pigeons, Chickens

August this year brought abundant flowers, so many that one Sunday I brought four vases of them to church. This one contained four colors of Daylilies and Blue Sea Holly (looks a bit like thistles):

Yellow Heliopsis, red Echinacea, blue Delphinium and red/green leafy branches from a Ninebark bush:

All wildflowers from alongside the road: Pink Joe-Pye-Weed, yellow Goldenrod and Purple Loosestrife:

White Tree Hydrangeas, multicolored Sunflowers and pink and red Yarrow:

Meanwhile, the little hens were living comfortable lives in their coop inside the barn:

They all get along well together and I never see any fighting. They have no rooster, but I sometimes hear crowing coming from their coop. I looked it up and learned that sometimes, in the absence of a rooster, one hen will become more masculine and began crowing:

It was me, and I keep everybody on their toes!

Egg production is way down, which is fine with me. This day I had only two small eggs, one pink and one green. Soon, as we head toward winter, there will be none:

The white fantail pigeons in the adjoining room are multiplying at a fast clip:

This mother had a nest on the floor with a six day old baby:

A nest up on a shelf had two recently hatched babies. The parents are on them so much that I haven't been able to get another photo since this one: