Flowers, Spent And Otherwise

Once the flower petals fall to the ground, some plants still continue to offer a kind of beauty. This is Ninebark, prettier after the flowers were all gone than it was when they were in bloom:

 The remnants of the Snowball Bush flower clusters:

The Old Fashioned Rose, with a few rose hips already forming:

 The Bridal Veil Spirea, like the Ninebark, is bright red after the white flowers are gone:

 The Peony remnants are always big and colorful. But are these sepals or specialized bracts? I suspect they are the sepals, but I can't be sure:

 Green stars left behind on the Mock Orange bush:


 I was out in the pasture, searching once again for one of the horses' muzzles, when I spotted a small wildflower which was new to me. I took some photos, then looked it up in my old college field guide:

 It was a member of the Snapdragon family with the unfortunate name of Swamp Lousewort:

And in the same family, an especially healthy Butter-And-Eggs plant grew by the fence:

A closeup of the Butter-And-Eggs flowers:

The Morden Sunrise baby rose was blooming again:

 And so was the Morden Blush baby rose right next to it. These two roses seem to be prolific bloomers. With their cold hardiness and relative lack of thorns, I think they will be favorites for many years to come:

Snow, No Snow, Snow, No Snow, Snow

Our weather has been changing minute by minute. On this day it was snowing again and I tried to refill the sunflower seed feeder. But the Chickadees couldn't wait, one of them landing right on the open feeder. So I backed up and snapped a picture:

One surprise snow coated the pasture gate with coils of white snow in such a lovely pattern that it could have passed as a Christmas decoration:

Beautiful sunsets are common, but on this night it was so spectacular that I had to try to capture it in a photo. The real thing, however, was more wondrous than any photo:

I took three photos and then tried to choose the best one. I couldn't decide, however, so am posting all three of them. This is number two:

And number three. Living here can be spectacular sometimes:

One day all the snow melted and the sun warmed everything up, including the leftover Rugosa Rose hips:

And one day was so darn warm that I opened the door to let the chickens out for the first time since winter began:

Only ten of the thirteen came outdoors, but those ten sure enjoyed themselves:

They spent almost the whole day beneath the bird feeders, cleaning up all the seed which had fallen to the ground:

No foxes appeared to spoil the day, so the chickens enjoyed the warm sun, even rolling onto their sides in heap to soak up the rays:

Blue and Remy can get inside the barn at any time, day or night, and they often take advantage of it. In fact, I often accuse them of coming into the barn just to poop:

Snow again. On this morning, I found tiny footprints inside the barn. They seemed a bit too big for mice, but not big enough for other mammals I could think of. Perhaps the Least Weasels have returned (or never left):

An Early, Frigid December Morning

It's been a cold, blustery December so far and early morning chores are particularly rugged. I wait until the sun is up before going outside. Of course it is quiet and cold as I walk from the house to the barn. My barn was behind me as I took this photo. The red barn you see is the neighbors' barn, across the road:

 I love seeing the sun rise above the horizon. In this case, it seemed to be behind the horse and buggy sign, warning motorists to watch for Amish travelers:

 The cattle had enough hay that morning, though I have to bring out a new bale every other day:

 Cold winds blasted the barn with blowing snow, and icicles hung from its eaves:

 Tire tracks from my tractor decorated the snow from the previous day, so at least we'd had no new snow:

 The Rugosa rose hips were shriveled and snow capped:

 It was far too cold to leave the dogs in their run while I did the chores and it seemed eerily deserted:

 Chickadees were eating sunflower seeds:

 All thirteen hens were locked in their coop and I left a light on for them until the sun was fully up. One hen (the white one) has already laid three green eggs. I didn't have a camera at the time, though, so I never got a photo before I ate them. There will be more eggs in the spring:

 All 21 white fantail pigeons seem to be enjoying their big room. Like the chickens, they too have a heated water fountain. It gets plenty cold in their room, but their water never freezes:

Here And There Around The Farm

Autumn is a beautiful time of year around the farm. Things are slowing down and I'm battening the hatches for winter. Our leaves turn colors, then begin to fall. The temperatures drop, and staying indoors becomes a delicious luxury. 

Little Bugsy, now neutered, found a cough drop wrapper on the floor and played with it for hours:

 I took the dogs for a ride and stopped along Lake Ozonia, just south of me, to snap this photo:

 The white fantail pigeons, who went all summer long without reproducing, began nesting in the autumn. The last successful hatching were these two in a nest built of feathers on the floor:

 An older nest of one baby, high up on a narrow shelf, was developing nicely:

 I bought Georgette a new bed to use on the kitchen table because she insisted on spending her days there. This happy scene, with Seamus looking on and Bramble snoozing on a chair in the background, was on a typical autumn afternoon:

 The dogs still enjoyed much time in their fenced back yard:

 The cattle spent almost two weeks in the north field, where I got to see them all day, every day as the leaves behind them turned brilliant colors and then began to fall. They'd eaten just about all the grass by the end of that period and I moved them back across the road into the south field with the horses:

 I was out in the south field when I took this photo, looking northeast across the gravel road to the north field. That bale feeder is now being kept filled with hay:

 We had two days of cold, autumn rain and this was the northeastern sky on the morning of the first day. As they say, "Red sky in morning, sailors take warning:"

 But at the same time, we had a pink and blue sky with a rainbow in the northwestern sky:

I dug PeeWee's old bed out of a closet and brought it downstairs for Georgette. Then, after she got a new bed, I put the old one down for the other dogs and cats. As you can see, it was a big hit with Bramble, Clover and Bugsy:

 The Rugosa roses put on a spectacular display of color as they began to slow down for winter:

Winter In October

We've had several snowstorms this October and temperatures as low as 18 F. The snow hasn't stuck to the ground, except briefly, but it sure seems to portend a difficult winter:

The Rugosa Roses and their rose hips looked stunning with a dusting of snow:

And the windfall apples took on a kind of Yuletide appearance, all red, green and white:

Overhead in the trees, the leaves and apples still clinging to the branches were sprinkled with snow:

The Red Poll girls have their winter coats already and seemed not to be bothered by the snow and wind:

I had to put the heater into the stock tank and hurriedly prepare for winter. I'm still hoping for an Indian Summer, but - well, we will see: