Limekiln Road, Town Of Malone, New York

I drove to Limekiln Road one day only to discover that the drizzling rain and melting snow had caused a fog too thick to take photos. I gave up the project, but when the sun came out (more or less) the next day, I drove back. The first farm I came to was a big, prosperous looking one:

Limekiln Road was close to the village of Malone, and therefore had a growing number of suburban type dwellings - but it was still farm country:

This old farm house was a classic:

And so were its barns and silos:

It is now maple syrup season, and this house was tapping its maple trees the old fashioned way:

Another old barn:

This barn sat downhill from a row of White Pines, but I did my best to get a photo:

But when I drove just a little farther, I did indeed get a better view. I noticed that the snow had not been plowed, so I surmised that this barn was no longer used. Our snow is melting rapidly, but our recent blizzard had left a lot of it:

A small logging operation:

A long valley, filled with water:

I might have driven right past this scene if I hadn't noticed the bright orange tractor. It was parked in the woods to be used collecting the sap in the buckets which were attached to every maple tree. But this was the last picture I took on Limekiln Road. I then turned onto Baker Road, and I'll post those photos tomorrow:

Snowy Scenery In The Town Of Hopkinton

I began here at what I called the Amish Forest, where many of the pines had been logged the previous summer:

The Amish family's farm was across the road, and their horses and cattle could be seen grazing out behind the barns. This man has cleared a farm out of the forest, all by hand and as far as I could see, all by himself:

This old piece of mysterious farm equipment sat alongside the road in the Amish farmer's field. I don't even have a guess what it was for. Let me know in the comments if you know:

But mostly I was driving to enjoy the wintry beauty - and it sure was spectacular:

This would have been a lovely Christmas drive if only Christmas hadn't been two months ago:

Mixed conifers and hardwoods, all dusted with snow:

There was no traffic, no people, no sound. Big snowflakes were falling gently, making everything quiet and peaceful:

I turned onto Water Street in Hopkinton, where some older Red Pines stood, with shorter Beech trees at their feet:

The snow continued to fall as I drove:

There were houses and a few farms on Water Street, but I focused on the snowy woodlands:

Wintry beauty:

The last photo I took was of what I believe to be an Amish one room school house. The door was open and smoke billowed out of the chimney, so I guessed that it had gotten too warm inside for the students. Two buggies were parked outside but I didn't see where the horses might have been. Several Amish farms were nearby, though, so they might have gone to one of them to be cared for while the children were in school. This was the end of my driving tour:

Wintry Beauty On Denton Road, Town Of Lawrence

It had snowed all morning but was beginning to slow down and might even turn sunny, so I decided to take a drive down the a gravel road and see the snowy scenery. This old gate led into field, unused for many years, perhaps decades:

Hardwoods and Red Pines mixed along the road, punctuated by the white trunks of Birch trees:

An old barbed wire fence still ran along the road:

Someone had planted Scotch Pines beside a potato field:

I tried to make a mental note of which pictures were of White Pines and which were of Red Pines, but when I got home, I couldn't remember. These, however, were obviously Red Pines:

Everything looked as if it had been dusted in powdered sugar:

Blue pipelines for maple sap ran all through the woodlands, indicating an abundance of Sugar Maples. This farmer produces a lot of maple syrup every year:

Hardwoods mixed with pines:

Only the Beech trees held on to their coppery leaves, adding color to the scenes as I passed:

All the woodland scenes looked inviting and friendly:

I passed by an active logging site, where many pines had been cut for pulp and for telephone poles. They were being loaded as I went by:

Across the road were shorter logs of bigger diameter, so I assumed they were saw logs, on their way to becoming lumber. It is a blessing to live in the midst of such beauty:

McAuslin Road to O'Connell Road - Part 2

I was on a driving tour of McAuslin/O'Connell Road (see Part 1, yesterday's post) and it was taking me through scenes of rural beauty. This mobile home had been sided and roofed, with a front porch added:

A home with an enormous pile of firewood. This family plans to be ready in case we have another rough winter:

A pair of handsome horses:

And a logging operation. I wondered if it might be where the pile of firewood I'd just seen had come from:

A small red house and shed with a brand new, gravel driveway:

A log home with a large play-ship out back for the kids:

A forest brown home, set back in the trees:

A mobile home with lots of equipment and a wonderful, split rail fence:

It appeared that this mobile home and van were no longer being used:

And an old. abandoned farm house and barn. The barn's roof had collapsed. There was still more to see, so I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

Capell Road, In The Town Of Parishville

I'd taken a driving tour of Mahoney Road in the morning and then completed my to-do list for the day. I had extra time and the weather was still beautiful, so I hopped back into the car and drove to Capell Road in Parishville. There were corn fields:

And hay fields behind rows of trees:

Homes with front porches and split rail fences:

Brooks rushing downhill, fed by the recently melted snows:

An old farm house with a hay wagon parked out front:

This farm house had a silo and assorted outbuildings behind it:

Hay fields showing the first touches of green:

Old farm equiupment in front of this home:

I'd been passing through state forest land but didn't know which forest it was. This sign identified at least part of it as the St. Lawrence County Junior Grange Forestry Project:

More old farm equipment and cedar fence posts:

Modern logging equipment which apparently had cleared that field to the right of the truck, stumps and all:

When I got to the end of Capell Road, I found the sign identifying the state forest I'd passed through as Whiskey Flats State Forest, and the Timber Tavern, a country fun spot: