The First Snow of 2013-2014

The sky has been gray the last couple of days with off and on rain. This afternoon, the temps must of dropped just enough for the rain to turn to snow.

The Squirrels, Chipmunks, and Juncos are busy gathering up seed as fast as they can...

The Deer have come up to nibble on some spilled bird seed too...

I know this snow wont last long, and better weather is a head, but it's a cold reminder that winter is not far away.

I was really looking forward to a dry spell. I still have to get the bikes to town to top off the gas tanks and get the Sta-bil added. The lawn needs another cutting/leaf mulching, and I still have one more log rack to build.

I did manage to gather a nice load last week. I need to cut it to 16" logs, split and stack it! Those are mostly 4' lengths of dry Oak.

A few pictures from 10-21-13.... before the temps warm up and the snow goes away!

Fall Color Photos #3

It's amazing how fast the colors change! It seems like I was just saying how slow and unorganized the change was this year. Well I'd have to say that in my neighborhood, the colors may have hit their peak a few days ago. There are still lots of great colors, but some trees are bare or almost bare. A lot depends on where you are, and what variety of trees you're looking at.

A few Maple leaves from some of the different varieties of Maples in the yard.

This is from this morning. It's just a few feet into the woods on the south side of our home...
There's a neighbor over there somewhere. Their place is about 600' away through the woods.

Looking towards the west... This is a cluster of trees that's kind of a buffer between the house and the road.

Towards the north. This was a bright red Maple tree a few days ago...

I found some aerial shots of the area around our home. It's easy to differentiate the Oaks and Maples... The 2 houses across the street from us are used a "cabins" and only occupied a few weeks a year.

Being retired has it's advantages. I've been able to spend a couple hours in the woods behind the house. Without having to cut down any of the dozen or so standing dead Oaks, I was able to find plenty of downed stuff that was off the ground and dry. It looks like I'll have to build another wood rack in the garage for more dry stuff.

A Few More Fall Color Photographs.

We've had a lot of rain the last few days and it's knocked a lot of leaves off the trees. Overall, the color has probably past it's peak, but some of the trees still look good.

Some of the many Maples...

And another...

Even the Oak trees are turning...

The bright red Maple is almost bare... The one on the right.

As the leaves fall, interesting things are exposed...

Nancy has put the Halloween old guy out by the road. It's stuffed with paper and wired to a post. He's waving at the traffic, well, the 5 or 6 cars that drive by during the day...

All the Blackberries have been picked and the plants have started to go dormant. All the Ferns and other under brush are quickly wilting away. Soon the trees will be bare and Winter will arrive. :(