Adirondack Autumn Color - Part 2

The dogs and I were headed home, driving on Route 458 through the Adirondacks (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). I was stopping along the way to capture some of the early autumn color:

I almost drove past these cliffs, then stopped at this small, red sapling:

I backed up and found a safe parking spot to photograph some of the other scenery around the cliffs:

I'm not sure why the reds were so bright here, but I was thrilled to see them:

Driving through the Adirondacks in autumn is wonderful scenic experience:

I thought the colors would fade as we came down out of the mountains, but they were still bright:

I took a small detour to drive along the St. Regis River and found this peaceful scene. Wouldn't you like to live here?

Mountain Ash beside someone's gravel driveway:

The three small dogs were watching out the front passenger window, the two bigger dogs were in the back:

Back on the highway again, I continued to find lovely autumn colors:

And a wide variety of species and mixtures. But of course I had to put the camera away and concentrate on driving home. It was time for lunch:

Around The Farm At The End Of Summer

My Rose Mallows burst into extravagant bloom about mid-August and have been producing giant flowers ever since. They're right alongside the county road, so passersby get to see quite a show:

The heat became unbearable and my sister told me about whole house window fans. I ordered one and screwed it to the window frame. It does indeed move the air and keep things more comfortable:

The neighbors raised up some lavender Guinea Hens, from chicks which had been abandoned. They've grown up to be lovely birds:

My little Barred Rock Bantams have continued to have total freedom every day. They won't like being locked indoors for the winter, but at least they've had three seasons of idyllic life:

The fantail pigeons produced several nests of babies during the summer and are still raising some:

Here they are again, two days later. They grow rapidly:


The front of my house, with the Rose Mallows and a few chickens:

Keeping the yard bug free:

Early in the morning, the cattle were having a drink of water and the chickens, just let out for the day, were headed over to see what was going on:

In spite of our dry weather, my lawn produced some delicate, attractive wild mushrooms:

And the Mountain Ash produced orange berries:

The Rugosa Roses produced lots of rose hips. The dogs have eaten every rose hip which they could reach. I've tasted them also, and they aren't bad:

Around The Farm In Autumn

It's been a beautiful autumn thus far, and this double rainbow over the north field is a good example:

And the fantail pigeons are healthy, happy and breeding rapidly. This photo was taken from inside the barn, looking out their window:

One pair has produced all the babies this summer. They have raised four babies in three nests and are currently working on a fourth nest. One parent sets on the eggs of the new nest while the other parent feeds the babies from the previous nest:

In the early morning light when I first open up the barn and let the birds out:

New England Asters bloomed profusely, all along the roadsides:

This handsome caterpillar looked like one I'd read about and I vaguely remembered that it had poisonous spines. I photographed it but didn't touch it. Then I went indoors and looked it up. Indeed, I am pretty sure that it was a Yellow-Spotted Tussock Moth caterpillar and they do indeed have bristles which are irritating and some people are allergic to them:

The Mountain Ash leaves turned bright yellow, contrasting nicely with the red berries:

The bantams covered every inch of the yard. The bigger of the two roosters was looking for his hens in this photo:

Here are two of his hens, pecking around at the old silo base:

Another was giving the lawn beneath the apple trees a good going over:

I was on my way to the feed store when I passed a neighbor's hay field, backed up by trees in autumn color:

Indeed, it's been a wonderful autumn thus far. Now we are all hoping for a mild winter. After what we endured last winter, we deserve a break:

What's Happening Around The Farm

Summer has surely awakened me from my winter stupor and I've been busy. Remember that old fashioned rose? I read that the pioneers took shoots from their roses, stuck them in the ground and placed a gallon jar over them. So I tried it. Alas, it looks to me like the poor cuttings are baking inside the jar. But I won't give up until they've had a month or more to get started:

The Peonies began to bud and the Mountain Ash bloomed:

The neighbors proudly showed me their five day old heifer calf and her mom. Both were beautifully colored and the cow had the biggest udder I've ever seen. I was told that she does have a big udder, but in this case it was still swollen from freshening, or beginning milk production:

I built a free choice mineral feeder so the cows could eat as much or as little as they wanted, whenever they felt they wanted some. It worked nicely, except that they also used it to scratch their heads. I'm not sure how long it will last with 1200 pound cows pushing on it:

I put up temporary fence posts with a single strand of electrified wire across the middle of the big field to keep the cattle out of half of it. They were eating only the grass, leaving just weeds to grow and reducing both the quality of the pasture and the amount of hay I'll get this year. Now I have 3 sections of pasture closed off to them:

Gracie was due to come into heat one day but instead, Violet (who I'd thought was already pregnant) came into heat. I called the artificial insemination man and, just before he was to arrive, called the cows into the barn for grain. Then I shut the barn door to keep them in there:

They milled around and munched on hay until he arrived. Then we began closing the gate on them, crowding them more and more into the corner where the entrance to the squeeze chute (that aisle on the left) was located:

Violet was the first cow into the chute. I locked her head in the gate and gave her more grain. Then the A.I. man checked inside her to be sure she was in heat. He said she was very much in heat, meaning our timing was good:

"Hey, what's going on back there?"

Then he got the straw of semen out of the storage tank (liquid nitrogen) and emptied it into her. She didn't seem to mind. Now, if she doesn't come back into heat in 21 days, I'll know that at least one cow is pregnant:

My neighbors began haying their fields:

Hay in windrows basked in the sun beneath puffy clouds. As brutal as this past winter was, the summer so far has been glorious:

Part 2 - The Pinnacle, With My Sister and The Dogs

We'd reached the top of the trail, the scenic overlook called The Pinnacle. While the Papillons were out exploring the rocky precipice, Fergus found a safer rock to climb, away from the edge:

Clover, always the little adventuress, was taking a walk on the wild (and scenic) side:

And the view was stunning. We could see two broad sections of the St. Regis River Flow, both of which we'd also seen from below as we traveled to the trail head:

There was also a beaver pond at the base of the precipice. A stone thrown off the edge here might well have landed in the beaver pond:

Daphne and Clover found a place for a quick drink at the very top - but didn't drink any because I immediately called them back to me:

There were Mountain Ash berries:

And scarlet Maple leaves:

The weather was perfect, the view was magnificent, the autumn color was ideal. It was a good day:

It's difficult to get good photos of Seamus, my gentle giant. He's solid black and the pictures tend to make him look like an inky blob. But he's a happy boy who loves getting outdoors and I was happy to find a photo where you could get a better look at him:

But it was soon time to head back downhill to our parked car:

The forest floor was covered with Mountain Maple leaves. Their variegated and multicolor autumn colors are my favorites every year:

And almost to the trail head, we stepped over this brilliantly scarlet mushroom, edged in gold. It was right in the middle of the trail and I was delighted that neither dog nor person had stepped on it. I hope it survives to produce more little, scarlet mushrooms to brighten the forest floor in the future: