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:

The Little Horsey Guys

Blue and Remy have quit their rebellious ways and become perfect (well, almost perfect) gentlemen:

They seem to have decided that their new lives of corral by day, barn by night, are good things:

They do look longingly out at the pasture sometimes, but they'll get their chance as soon as the grass stops growing:

The Box Elder tree is covered with poisonous seeds, so as soon as they drop, I'll have to keep the horses inside the barn until I get them all raked up:

Keeping the boys supplied with good hay is part of my defense against them eating Box Elder seeds. They'll be less tempted if they're not hungry:

Remy goes out first in the mornings and gets tied to the tree while I bring Blue out:

Then I return to the barn, turn on the electric fence and grab a big armload of hay for their breakfast:

When it's hot and not rainy, the boys get covered with fly spray twice each day, morning and night:

I use a sponge to wipe it on their head and ears, then spray the rest of their body. In the evenings, I scrape off any bot fly eggs which have appeared on their legs or sides during the day. Using fly spray in the morning helps reduce the bot fly eggs a lot:

Always the trouble maker, Remy often tries to nip Blue while he's tied up for his fly spray:

It's been a good summer for the horsey boys, and soon they'll have six months of freedom in the south pasture: