Happy Halloween

A photo of our son Brad's Halloween Jack-O'-Lantern.

Happy Halloween

Turkeys

This Saturday is the start of the state wild turkey hunting season and these birds have been taunting me for the last week. If they follow the same game plan they used last year, I'll won't see them at all on Saturday.

Sunset fron the top of the hill

After a week of dark, cloudy days, a colorful sunset was a beautiful sight. Timing is everything when trying to photograph a sunset. The first problem is being in the right location at the right time. Having a good viewing location doesn't help if there aren't some clouds on the horizon to reflect the sunlight. The next timing issue with sunsets is the duration. They don't last very long and the colors are continually changing along with the cloud formations.

I was very lucky to get a photograph of this sunset. By the time I noticed the pinkish/orange glow in the sky and drove to my favorite sunset location, I only had a few seconds to enjoy and photograph the sunset.

Barberry

The bright colors of fall leaves and berries make some plants stand out and are highlighted from their normal surroundings. Several of the barberry bushes on our property are showing their fall colors and I now realize this plant is popping up all over. The native species, American barberry (Berberis canadensis), is being crowded out by Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and European barberry (Berberis vulgaris) which are non-native and introduced for landscaping and hedges. Both species are dense, spiny shrubs that produce bright red berries.



Barberry forms dense stands and once established, it displaces native plants. Unlike American barberry, white tailed deer will not eat the non-native Japanese and European barberry. Because barberry has sharp spines, it acts as a nursery for small animals which carry deer ticks, which can transmit Lyme disease.

Rose Hips

As the wildflowers of summer are disappearing from plants, the flowers are replaced with fruits and seeds to propagate another generation of the plant. The fruits of the multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) are know as "hips". Rose hips are particularly high in vitamin C and can be used to make jam, jelly and marmalade.



The rose hips of the multiflora rose are small, but what they lack in size they make up with numbers. The multiflora rose hips are a favorite winter food for birds, which in turn distribute the seeds.

Fog and Fall Foliage

It was another cold frosty morning and the valleys were full of fog as the bright sun came out and started burning off the fog. I was able to get this photo of fog and fall foliage from our cabin property. Click on image to enlarge.

Where have the wildflower gone ...

There have been a few frosty mornings this week and many of the wildflowers have wilted. I found 5 bumblebees (the fifth bee is on the backside on the right) busy gathering nectar from a small goldenrod bloom.

Working the Roads

As the daylight hours are getting shorter, the Rome Township road crew is busy grading some of the 50 plus miles of township roads.



Grading a section of Joyce Road to fill in potholes and re-establish a proper road crown for drainage.

Fall Colors

The maple trees are turning bright red and for a brief time we can enjoy the colorful fall foliage.



With a bright red maple tree in the background, a flock of wild turkeys have a meal of grasshoppers.



A view of our barn.



The woods at our cabin property.



Enjoy the leave now, they will soon be gone for another year.