Monksville Reservoir, Wednesday

I’ve been busy! This time of year I have to keep up with the leaves falling or I get into trouble. I did one half the front yard on Monday and it took me so long (emptying the bags after every swipe) I only did the one side. I’ve spent the last three+ hours doing all the yards!

I’ve also managed to spend some time out with the camera as you can see by the shot above that I took at Monksville Reservoir on Wednesday. It’s peak season! I did not alter that shot at all. It’s just as it came out of the camera. Do I need to tell you the colors are beautiful this year?

I was out again this morning when it was misty and moody as the sun rose above the trees.

I love this time of year! Well, except picking up all of those beautiful leaves…

You just never know what is going to turn up next here. Life in the country.

The other day it was a doe deer and her fawn as I pulled in to the driveway at the bird feeding station in the front yard. Too bad I had the dogs with me who saw them as we pulled in. Sigh. I waited a while and went to shoo them away, but they were already gone. I let the dogs out of the truck right by the garage and thankfully they just went right in and didn’t pursue a chase.

Every morning Tom the Turkey and his sidekick arrive for their breakfast.  If I don’t pay attention, Tom will stand and look fixedly at the house. Where is my breakfast?? So I fill up the pail and make my way outside where Tom turkey-talks to me the whole time. His sidekick does not trust me and skitters off, whereas Tom stands his ground and we have a quick conversation. Turkey-style. Sort of quiet little gobbley talk, but not full-out gobbling.

Tom and friend

Late yesterday afternoon I noticed that he dogs were fixated on the neighbor Aileen’s yard. (Aileen is the neighbor who has chickens where I get my farm fresh eggs from, sheep and Ollie the Pig.) I went outside several times to figure out what they were looking at. I failed to see anything.

Then around the time it started to get dark I went outside on the deck and I could hear chicken clucking noises coming from the direction of the street. Totally opposite of where it should be coming from. I suspected Aileen was not home this weekend, so I called her. No answer. So I took off in my sweats and slippers like any good neighbor would do. I got to the top of our driveway and could hear the chicken making a racket.

There it was: a beautiful buff-colored hen sitting on their split rail fence clucking away. It spooked when it saw me and flew up into the tree. No way was I going to catch that bird!

I walked down their driveway to check on the chicken coops just to be sure the chickens weren’t all out running around loose. They were all tucked away in their respective coops, so all was good there. The sheep baa-ed and came over to see what I was doing. They all looked at me as if to say “what are you doing down here?” But sheep always have that wide-eyed surprised stare anyway, so who knows what they were thinking?

After a few pats on sheep noses stuck through the fence I headed for home. The chicken looked like it was asleep in the tree. I hope it stays safe. At least it was supposed to stay above freezing last night.

Ambiguous statue at Ringwood Manor.

What is the opposite of “going stag?” Doe? Bizarre how there is really no antonym for going stag when you’re female. Going doe just somehow doesn’t seem to have the same punch.

Hey, I went DOE to that party! Yeah, not the same.

But yet that’s where I find myself this weekend. Alone. Doe. Minus stag. Or whatever.

Rick is in New Orleans (trade show) eating those absolutely decadent, gorgeous, mouth-salivating Gulf oysters at the Acme Bar. I was never a fan of oysters until I ate them here. OMG. And Rick was eating them tonight. Without me.

Instead I am here holding down the fort. Three attention seeking dogs and one lonely cat. Hamburgers fried inside; mac & cheese on the side. Hardly the same.

Whatever.

I am pretty much prisoner this weekend. Our town is holding their annual ALF (Autumn Lights Festival) that snarls up traffic and bring tourism to our fair corner of the world. Roads are closed off. Sheer pandemonium. I did grocery shopping today because tomorrow I won’t be able to even get a spot in the parking lot at our local ShopRite.

If that isn’t bad enough, you might be led to believe that the Autumn Lights Festival refers to the beautiful changing of the leaves in our fair town. Au contraire, mon ami! It celebrates a traffic light in the middle of town! Hurrah! I know. When I found out what it was all about I was pretty bummed out too. They close off a major artery in town and fill it with food, booths and what have you.

I would normally go up to Warwick on Sunday to the farmer’s market but unfortunately this Sunday is AppleFest Day which is also immense crowds of people (we’ve been before and it’s not fun), so I am steering clear of there too.

What is a doe to do?

Well, maybe for giants!

I found these “croquet hoops/wickets” at another haunt of mine, Ringwood Manor which is just down the road from Skylands. It’s an odd place and I use the word “haunt” pretty literally. In my opinion, it is haunted. The house itself is anyway. We went on a tour of it years ago when we first moved here and I did not get good vibes from it at all. A very unhappy place.

Anyway, I stay outside on the grounds now!

The owner used to own the iron forge at Long Pond** where I’ve taken photos in the past so there are lots of iron “things” scattered around outside and the giant wickets are just one of those things. I don’t know their purpose. Maybe they tied horses up to them??

Maybe I’ll go back soon and take photos of the outside of the manor itself so you can see it.

{**Long Pond Ironworks has two forges: one from the Revolutionary War of which there is not much left of and one from the Civil War. Here they churned out gun barrels for the war among other things.}

I took the dogs for a walk in-between rainstorms yesterday. As I walked down our street I saw different things I wanted to take photos of, so after depositing the dogs back in the house I grabbed the camera and started off on my own meandering way.

As I leave the house the tiny acorns that the big oak in front has deposited on the driveway go crunch crunch crunch under my shoes. Wet leaves lay in a thick carpet and I kick them as I walk. I think to myself that as soon as the ground dries out some I should run Johnny and start picking them up.

It’s been pretty gray, rainy and dreary this week so I needed to find some color!

The wild concord grape vine is so pretty as it changes.

I love the freckles!

As always, the creeper vines give a brilliant showing.

I came across a tree literally covered with mushrooms but that is for my mushroom post. These two bright leaves were beneath it.

I continued down our street and couldn’t resist a neighbors’ pumpkin by the side of the road.

I came to the main road, crossed over, and walked down to Green Turtle Pond. It’s just now starting to change.

Like I said, it was a very gray day with little or no contrast.

I know you aren’t supposed to split the photo right in the middle, but sometimes you have to bend the rules. I just liked the rock formation and its reflection. Plus, the one orange tree still draws your eye (right?) and at least it is off-center.

Here the trees look like a big fuzzy multicolored caterpillar.

Soon we’ll get the canoe out and paddle around when the trees reach their peak.

I walked home in the 71 degree/95% humidity, came in the house and turned on the air conditioning! In October! The dogs were all lying around panting, splayed out like black carpets on the tile floor. I have to say I was ready to join them.

One hour later a thunderstorm rolled through and we got over a quarter of an inch of rain.

This weekend is supposed to turn cold and they say we will struggle to reach 60 degrees next week. Bring it on! Oh, and Mother Nature, could you please turn off the water works and up the color volume? Thank You!

ONE LAST THING ...
This morning’s sky! (Taken at 8:30 a.m.)