Living in the country as we do we see a variety of wildlife. We have possums, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, turkeys, and the occasional bear. Poor bears. They are being hunted once again this year. It’s too sad to even talk about.

A few weeks ago I looked out the window and saw a beautiful buck deer standing up by the top of our driveway, his rack of antlers held proudly. With a flick of his tail he was off up into our neighbor Kim’s yard. I see a small band of about five or six deer pretty often just outside the fenced part of our yard in the woods. The dogs just lie on the deck and watch them.

Lately we’ve had a mangy looking fox hanging around. I first saw him sitting in our driveway grooming himself like a cat. He looked up from his ritual and saw me watching him through the window. It was weird making direct eye contact with a fox. I went to grab the camera as quietly as I could but he ran off. Here’s the shot I got of him then.

Then the other day he was back again to take advantage of the bird seed and stale bread I had thrown out at the bird feeding area in the front yard for the squirrels (so they’ll leave my bird feeder and suet feeder in the back yard alone!). I think he must have mange although I have never seen it to identify it in a wild animal. He is scary looking! I do admire his black legs though. The rest is pretty darned ugly.

I’ve seen him down the road at neighbor Luke’s house too. A few years back I remember seeing another scroungy looking fox and I have to wonder if it’s the same one?

Another visitor to our yard and woods behind the house has been the pileated woodpecker. Every time I run for the camera he spooks and flies off to a different tree farther away. Do you remember when I was able to get photos of him a few years back? Follow this link to see them. We can hear him sometimes and don’t see him. When he flies he looks like no other bird: big black wings with a white streak. You don’t even notice his head until he lands. Twice in the past week I have caught him out of the corner of my eye in flight. He’s elusive that’s for sure.

I haven’t seen any cardinals for a long time. I wonder where they go? We are overrun with titmice, chickadees and white-breasted nuthatches. We have a few juncos now too and yesterday we saw a rosy finch.

The woodpeckers seem to really be taking off this year in numbers as well. We have downy woodpeckers and a red-bellied woodpecker that have always been visitors. But this year we also have the downy’s bigger cousin, the hairy woodpecker too. Here he is:

He looks just like a downy only considerably bigger.

Yesterday I looked out at the suet feeder and something about the bird on it didn’t look quite right to me. At first glance I thought it was a downy woodpecker, but it had a dark chest, not a white one. Hmmm. I got out the binoculars and saw that it had a red spot under the chin as well as one on top of its head. The markings around the eye were different too. Off to get the bird identification book! I am proud to present our very first Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker!

The light was not good since it was late in the afternoon but I think the shot is decent enough to see the bird fairly well. I hope he comes back!

We didn’t have any acorns from the oaks this year. It’s odd, but I guess they do have years when they don’t produce. Maybe that has something to do with the increase of woodpecker activity? Maybe they produce more sap when they don’t produce acorns?

I like having all my back and front yard buddies around. Well, maybe not so much that fox ...

We did take Mia out for a ride yesterday after working in the yard blowing and picking up the final leaves. (And, duh, I didn’t take my camera so you will just have visualize this.)

It’s obvious that the weather is changing. Even though the thermometer read 60 degrees F, the sun was veiled by a thin layer of clouds making it feel not quite that warm. Plus, the smell of wood smoke from house chimneys as we drove along and the bare trees reminded us that it was not summer anymore. Even the very air itself feels different, expectant. Almost like at any moment it was thinking of switching the season over from autumn to winter.  I can’t fully describe it, but it’s there.

We passed a house we’ve gone by many a time on our route the back way to and from Warwick that has a large in-ground pool. Now they’ve converted their pool into a hockey ice rink!

Our main destination was the Warwick Valley Winery for lunch. I’ve mentioned before that we’ve eaten there many times over the summer. They have a wonderful café but it’s only open on the weekends. We ordered our lunch (grilled steak sandwich with truffle scented caramelized onions and gorgonzola cheese for Rick; duck confit sandwich for me with melted brie, cranberry chutney and arugula), bought and opened a bottle of wine to drink. I always want to order their mussels in white wine but the idea of duck confit had me at hello. Anything duck: foie gras, confit, just plain old duck ... Next time it will be the mussels!

We wanted to buy some apple cider from one of the local apple picking spots (of which there are four in Warwick alone), so that is where we headed next. We had heard that Och’s Orchard has “the best,” so that is where we went. I’m not sure that Mia has ever had her feet on a real dirt road before as we try to avoid them whenever we can, but this one was an exception. Up the hill with farm fields dotted with rolled up bales of hay we went. We even drove over some cow manure that had been spilled in the road. Really, Mia! With the trees laid bare of their leaves it was now possible to see the beautiful undulating layers of swells and hills. Such a beautifully situated farm and orchard!

When we got to the top of the dirt road we passed the farm house and barn where several cats lay sunning themselves. Freshly laundered sheets hung on the clothesline in the yard. We were wondering if we had just driven into someone’s private driveway when we rounded the corner and the farm store came into view. When we went inside all we could smell were apples and apple cider doughnuts! Intoxicating! Many different kinds of apples were for sale in wooden quart containers. Some were labeled as “home grown” and some just “local.” I picked some Jonamac that were home-grown and smelled delicious. I was tying to avoid the apple cider doughnuts but Rick found them and put a half dozen in a bag. sigh. They are a seasonal treat around here so why not enjoy them?

They had fresh pie fillings in a plastic tube made from their own fruits: blueberry, apricot, blackberry and more. They even had big cheese pumpkins (the kind used for cooking and baking) that we’ve been searching for this year and could not find for making our annual pumpkin soup, but these were too big to fit in the oven! They still had some vegetables for sale too—even brussels sprouts on the stalk.

I think we’ll be coming back here again. Maybe for the strawberry U-pick-yourself season? All in all, a pleasant lunch and outing with Mia.

This morning we did a little grocery shopping and then took the dogs to the dog park and let them run around like crazy. Alex decided that at the grand old age of 9 he was really meant to be an agility dog and went up the A-frame with very little coaxing. Several times! He even went through a tunnel. Go figure! Bella loves to chase any dog that runs and there were plenty of those today so she got the best workout of all of them. Hailey just trots around looking for people to scratch her butt. Then we came home to make lunch.

Today for lunch we drank these: Apple Cider Mimosas.

Half champagne (we used Prosecco) and half apple cider with an apple piece floating in it. Yummy!

I made these roasted pears which were basted with a honey mustard and olive oil sauce topped with melted brie and chopped pistachios. Also yummy!

Hope your weekend was a good one!

The other morning this was all that was left as color on our burning bush hedge. I think the colors have intensified with the frosts we’ve had the past week. It was grey outside so the leaves took on their own persona. Pretty.

Early morning shadows on the back deck.

Our weather station was not recording rainfall amounts anymore after more than 15 years of hard service. It drove us crazy not knowing how much rain we got this past week. So, for Christmas we bought a new one. It was supposed to be saved and wrapped and put under the tree but we just couldn’t stand it any longer. Rick got it installed yesterday. Here is Sam having fun with the box. Sam does love his boxes!

Our turkey came out looking and tasting wonderful! In fact, our whole meal was one of the better Thanksgiving feasts we’ve ever tasted.

Bella and Alex thought the turkey looked awfully good too! Mom, are we getting any?

Our weekend weather is supposed to be glorious—sunny and in the 60’s so we are thinking Ms. Mia is definitely going for a drive. It might be the last chance for weather this incredible. After that it can snow a little if it wants to get us all in the Christmas mood.

We still need to run Johnny over the yard one more time for a final leaf pick-up, then he can be switched out to the snowblower. Right now it’s hard to imagine!

We may have been cheated on the most of the trees’ autumn foliage, but the burning bushes didn’t get the same message to tone it down this year. I’ve taken photos here before of them, but this year they just seemed to be everywhere, and spectacularly so! All the following photos were taken on Thursday of this week.

These trees all seem to be wearing bright pink tutus.

 

 

A few of the maples didn’t get the message about toning it down either.

Underneath the big red maple that stands so majestically by the road.

And this one by the old falling-down house.

 

The Ironworks park is not only a very beautiful place, but interesting as well because of the old houses and outbuildings they rescued from the destruction of the old community that used to be here when the ironworks were still in operation. The whole area has a strange feel to it, as if there are still people living there. It can be eerie. They still use them as a backdrop for their re-enactments of the Civil War that they put on every year. (Follow the link for photos of the re-enactments that I took in 2008.)

Some of the outbuildings are in a sad state of repair, like this old shed. I liked it though. I tried several different angles to capture its air of neglect.

Looking out its only window.

And this old chair left sitting forlornly on the front porch of the big white house.

The shadows are deep and strong this time of year because of the angle of the sun. Here, a tree imprints itself on this old house.

More shadows.

This is my favorite of all the houses. I love the location where it sits and the big old sycamore tree that frames it. I love the stonework!

The old outdoor fireplace on the house grounds. As you can see, plenty of autumn color here!

The house’s location is enhanced even more by a small branch of the Wanaque River that now flows freely past it and down in to Monksville Reservoir instead of being harnessed to power the ironworks. A serene and beautiful spot in which to imagine living, don’t you agree?

And, so concludes our little walk to Long Pond. I’ll leave you in a ‘reflective’ mood with reflections in the reservoir.

Note: A little snippet of local history! The name “Long Pond” does not refer at all to Monksville Reservoir which was constructed back in the 1970’s, but to Greenwood Lake, a little further away. Long Pond came from the word the native americans used to refer to what is now called Greenwood Lake.

 

 

Misty early morning sunbeams through my nearly naked trees this morning.

Let me preface this post by first saying that we have had amazing weather for the past few days. Sunny, warm (60’s and yesterday 70!) and low humidity. Just glorious! It’s hard to imagine that we had 19 inches of snow a week and a half ago!

The time change is wreacking havoc with our inner clocks. The dogs too. Mia is not happy either as Rick realized when he took her to work with him on Monday that she doesn’t like driving in the dark. We’ll still take her out on nice weekend days, but she’ll have to stay home at night now, tucked into her cozy warm garage.

Autumn is usually so beautiful here in New Jersey. That’s why it’s such a let-down this year. In the 5 1/2 years since we’ve lived here, this has been the worst autumn in the way of color. As you can see by the photo above, our trees are pretty much done. Whatever they had left in them before the big snow (and it wasn’t much) is gone now.

They never really changed this year. The leaves curled up and fell off. Some trees did try but their colors were not vibrant, just dull and rusty looking. It must have been all that rain we had. Like a house plant that’s been over-watered the leaves just fell off.

The two big oak trees are putting on a brave show in the front yard now. Still, you can see how spotted the leaves are.

The burning bush hedge is pretty showy too despite the fact that many of its branches were bent to the ground with snow not that long ago.

I love it when the sun is shining through the leaves. It also cheers me up, like it’s saying, “C’mon Lynne, autumn hasn’t been so bad—look at me!”

Our yard needs attention this weekend in getting all the leaves picked up. Johnny is back now from the Deere Hospital. I hope he rested up. He’s got a lot of work ahead of him! After some rain showers tomorrow, the weekend looks bright and beautiful.