I want to introduce you to my turkeys. My turkeys. Hah. Well, at least I think of them as mine since they are constantly in my yard! The babies (or poults) are all grown up now and hard to discern from the adult hens. Meet the girls. Say hello girls ...

*gobble gobble gobble*

Gobble up all the food, that is!

What do you call a bunch of turkeys? There’s a gaggle of geese, a bevy or herd of swans, a pod of whales. Who comes up with this stuff and why? I have always referred to them as a flock of turkeys, which is a correct word. They can also be known as a brood; a bale; and a rafter. Hmm…where did bale and rafter come from? Did they sit on bales of hay and in the rafters of barns?

Yes, I feed the turkeys. Right now I am trying to train this brood of nine that visit two or three times a day. A few years ago I had a rafter of four or five that would come running over to me when I called them with food. They were so cute!! This bale is a little more skittish. (See, I am trying to decide which word I like best to call them by.) The minute I open the door they start running—the opposite direction. Except for one. She stands a short distance off, cocks her head while I tap the bucket with food and croon softly to her in turkinese. (Turkinese is my own little made up language of clucks and cooing noises.) She is taking my measure and I’m not sure she trusts me quite yet. I’m not sure the rest of them get it, but this one brave girl is really trying. She came really close to me the other day. I want them to realize that the crazy human that talks funny = FOOD.

Not the most attractive birds on the planet yet I find them endearing.

Not the most intelligent either. Do you remember the saying back in the—what was it, 70’s?— “dumb turkey?” It meant a stupid person. Poor turkeys. Such a bad rap! If Benjamin Franklin had had his way wild turkeys would be our national symbol instead of the bald eagle. He thought they were majestic and would make a fine symbol for the new country. Probably better than a bald eagle which is pretty much a lazy bird that would rather steal another bird’s kill than make its own kill. Sad, but true.

Mostly the turkeys stay in the front yard but occasionally they hop over the fence to visit the back yard. This has been happening more and more. Here they are running across the back yard.

This afternoon I was upstairs and one window was open. I heard strange noises and stuck my head out the window to figure it out. It was the turkeys making all kinds of vocalizations I hadn’t heard before. (Not your typical gobble gobble.) Not fifteen minutes after I heard all this, I looked out to see that they had all gathered around the feeding area again. But wait ... there were more! Thirteen instead of the normal nine! Makes me wonder if they were chatting about joining up and creating one flock instead of two. Makes sense, since the other rafter was a mother hen and three poults remember them?

Just now as I sat typing this entry I looked out and they were back again. So, I went and got some more ground corn and took it out. They skittered away as usual, but this time four of them stopped and just stood there watching me. Not running away! Two hens started running toward me, then stopped. Still, I am making progress!

Maybe they are not such “dumb turkeys” after all. Dumb or smart I love having them visit my yard.

P.S. Good fertilizer too!

The truck w/canoe in our driveway.

Sunday morning we loaded up the canoe and headed to our five-minute-away destination: Monksville Reservoir. The morning was crisp, but calm. We had originally planned our canoe outing for Saturday but it was a bit too breezy for paddling around. We thought we would need light jackets but once we go there we realized it had warmed up enough to go without them.

When we first started out the lake was like a mirror. The colors are just now slightly past peak, but still pretty. The light was typical for a fall day with the sun in and out of the clouds.

Monksville Reservoir was filled in 1987. There were a few houses that were of historical significance that were moved elsewhere, but the majority of the 15 homes that once existed here were demolished. The reservoir is huge but so far we have only paddled in the shallower section near the Wanaque river feed.

We like it because of all the dead standing trees. It’s eerie and pretty all at the same time. It’s challenging too (at least for Rick who steers) because there are many submerged tree stumps and fallen trees that can snag you if you don’t see them lurking under the water. It’s like a cemetary for trees and many of them have met with a watery grave.

The bleached dead wood makes for a stark contrast against the vibrantly colored trees.

We disturbed a cormorant resting on a rock. Until I took these photos I had no idea they had blue eyes!

Finally airborne and away from those people in that canoe! Whew!

The cemetary of dead trees.

We (or should I say Rick) navigated through the dead trees while I stopped paddling to be on the lookout for submerged stumps. It’s a strange feeling floating among the watery forest.

The colors here were interesting to me ... muted greens and pinks from the green scum on the water and the burning bushes; reminiscent of a Monet painting I thought.

We got back in the channel and paddled up to the end where the Wanaque river feeds the reservoir.

There was some kind of foam in the water but to us it looked like a galaxy spinning around on the surface.

A captive maple leaf.

And somehow plants find a way to survive.

On our way back to the dock the wind kicked up and the sun was becoming obscured behind clouds. We were glad we had chosen the time we did to come. And, all the more glad when we saw lots of people unloading canoes at the dock. A canoeing club was about to take over the waters! After accepting many compliments on how beautiful our canoe was (and an invitation from one man to join the Hackensack Canoe Club) we were on our way home.

Whew! That’s a lot of photos! I know my sweet hubbie would tell me “edit, Lynne!” but I’ve had a hard enough time just getting this posted. I kept looking at the photos and deciding which ones to leave out and never came to a good conclusion. So, since this post has been waiting to be published now for two days, I just decided to go with all of them.

I hope you enjoyed the paddle!

Out my front door.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love Fall. It’s the time of year when you can throw the curtains open wide and let the soft sunlight shine in. Unlike summer when I run around the house closing all the curtains to keep the sun out and keep the house cool. The view out every window is breathtaking right now—filled with color.

It’s so dark in the mornings that it’s hard to rouse yourself up and out of bed. Just a few minutes more I tell the dogs ...

What follows are views around my yard right now.

Colorful fallen leaves in the front yard.

The back fence.

The back yard: flower garden area, the woods next to the yard, mushrooms in the woods.

Along our street.

Leaves (what kind?) the size of dinner plates.

It’s so hard to capture the colors. They glow with a warmth that just doesn’t come through in the photos. It warms my soul from within.

Did I already tell you that I love Fall?

Yesterday when I drove down to Wayne to do my ‘big box’ store shopping, I took my camera along just in case. When I got to Monksville Reservoir I was glad I did. The fall colors were glowing in the morning sun. I just stood there for a while drinking it all in. Then I walked out on this floating dock to take some shots. It’s not quite peak yet, but very close.

The only disturbance in the water were tiny ripples fanning out from the slight movement of the dock as I walked out on it.

Taking a much closer look at the reflections causes a case of confusion! Which way is up? The photos end up looking like abstract paintings instead of photographs. Watch out they don’t make you dizzy!

 

 

 

Beautiful, is it not?
I can’t wait to get the canoe out this weekend! More to follow!

Please note: These photos were not enhanced in any way. They are just as they came out of my camera. No tweaking of colors.

Finally.

The air is crisp, the light golden and soft. As we drove to the farmer’s market in Mia on Sunday (top down) we both had our seat heaters on and light jackets. The wind tugged at the brim of my hat, threatening to dislodge it from my head. I thought that spring and summer were the best times for a convertible, but I was wrong. Fall definitely is.

At the market we bought apples for a pie, acorn squash which we’ll make tonight, and lots of veggies to go into a stew that I will make tomorrow as the predicted Nor’easter brings us rain—lovely rain.

The trees are starting to change. Just in the one week that we’ve been home we’ve seen a big change. Today I took all three dogs for a walk (two at once, then Bella). While on my walk with the dogs I noticed some things I wanted/needed to photograph. What follows is the beginnings of fall where I live.

Virginia creeper along our chain link fence.

Love that red!

The leaves of this particular kind of tree (of which I do not know the species!) look like web-fingered hands.

The day was nice, but with spotty clouds obscuring the sun at times. Not the most ideal conditions for taking photos but sometimes the lack of sun is a good thing. I decided to walk down to Green Turtle Pond to see how the colors were coming along. It’s coming along nicely.

I can predict a canoe paddle soon!

More creeper!

Fall ... you’ve gotta love it! I know I do. Now we just need to get all that wood moved in time for fire season!