As Our Life Goes On

The leaves on the wild blueberry bushes that grow from the crotch of a wild cherry tree have turned a brilliant color. There are 3 of these plants growing in our yard and all are in the crotch of a tree. The seeds for these plants were probably deposited in the droppings of  birds. Only one of the plants had berries this year and the birds got most of those. They are such tiny berries and it would take quite a few to amount to enough to use. 

His hair is the natural color. It is his 71st birthday today but he has just recently acquired a few grey hairs on his head. The beard turned grey some time ago. He often is asked if his hair is dyed. I actually find that to be a rude question. His dark red hair and grey beard might make someone wonder but if he was into coloring his hair he would color his beard also and he would probably look a bit ridiculous.  The super nice warm day has inspired the handyman within Russ and he is getting ready to paint some of the window frames. 

A dandelion is a weed only when it is growing where you don't want it to be. I think it is a very pretty flower. The warm day has bought some of these back into bloom. I am glad to see them as before long the cold freezing weather will be here and these flowers will have to live in my memory until Spring. 

At this time this has been the third wettest year ever recorded in the Northeast Ohio area. While there are some Southern states that are praying for rain we have received an abundance. The yard is mushy and full of puddles. It is not comfortable to walk through the wet grass and mud. The largest mushrooms that have ever been seen in our yard continue to sprout up and puddles lay on top of the grass. It is predicted that this will be the wettest year since only 3 or fewer inches of precipitation will have to fall before the record is reached. This is not a record that we welcome.  A huge mushroom

This afternoon we took the 1979 Oldsmobile and went to Parkman, Ohio. There is a large antique mall in that town but we found nothing to our liking and left empty handed. We don't need more stuff but it was fun to look around.  Having a destination when warming up the car to circulate the oil is always a better idea.  There were isolated pockets of color in the leaves. The maples are showing the most changes of color. It will be another 7 to 10 days before the peak Fall colors are reached in our area. We do like to take trips around the back roads to see the beauty. The trees shown  above are in our own back yard. The wild cherry trees have many different colors in the leaves in the Fall. The tall ash tree next to it is just starting to get a purple cast to the leaves. It will have leaves that are purple, violet, orange and gold.  It is a very cool, windy and drizzly day.

There are many of these huge mushrooms in our yard. This one is at least 8 or 9 inches high and the cap is 7 or 8 inches across. It has formed a cup which has caught the cold rain that is falling today.  A layer of green vegetation covers the water in the swampy area in back of and below our house. There have been no geese honking or swimming there since Spring. The large wetlands on the other side of the hike and bike trail behind our house seem very quiet now too.  My husband has seen quite a few coyotes at his place of work, the golf course,  which is less than a mile away. He has also encountered them near the road a few houses away. He rides his bicycle back and forth to work and the canines seem to have no fear of him as long as he is on the bike. These citified coyotes live along the bike trail which is a Metroparks trail. The large city owned park and golf course flank the Metroparks bike trail. We suspect that the presence of these predators have scared t...

The day is as dark and dreary as my mood. The drizzle and rain have fallen intermittently since the time we got up this morning. It was dark when we awoke and it is still quite overcast and dark.  The length of our daylight hours seemed to have decreased rapidly in the last few weeks.  This morning I thought moving a box in the basement by giving it a shove would be a good idea. It was indeed a very bad idea. The pain shot through my body as one or more of my herniated back disks pinched a nerve. It was not as bad as I have had in the past but it has severely curtailed my activities today. I finally gave in and took half of a pain pill this afternoon. There is less pain now but I do indeed feel dull and out of sorts now.  I am thankful there are lots of leftovers for dinner this evening. I am also thankful for having such a caring and helpful husband. 

The cool windy days and decreasing daylight hours are quite evident the last few days.  Fall is here. The trees are turning color more each day. As I drove through the country roads to my favorite shopping place 5 miles away I saw trees that were brilliant shades of red and a few completely yellow trees too. They are beautiful. I really do like the Fall colors and the cooler weather. I will just enjoy this and I won't worry about Winter until the snow flies. 

Mushroom Looks Like a Sunbonnet or Hat I went searching for some important papers today. They are somewhere in this house but darned if I could find them. I did find a lot of old family pictures. Some of them made me sad and nostalgic and some of them made me laugh. I must make a mental note not too look through those pictures again for a while. In the meantime the papers that I was searching for remain illusive. I am not really a hoarder. Our house is just too small for our stuff. 

There are many types of bees on the purple Penstemon flowers.  A dragonfly waits to catch one for his dinner. The abundant mushrooms are as pretty as a floral arrangement.  So far the day has remained quiet and that is always a good thing.  There has been only one large irritation today. It happened on the way home from the store this morning. I always stop at stop signs and red lights as that is the law. Even though you can turn right on red you must stop first and then you may proceed if it is safe to do so unless there is a continuous turn on red sign.   I stopped at the stop sign one block from home and looked both ways as usual. Nothing was coming and no one else was at the four way intersection so I took off and headed home. There was one car behind me and as I went through the intersection I noticed a couple of other cars approaching from one direction. The car behind me proceeded through and rushed up behind me and turned on his bright headl...

I am a procrastinator. This is not something that I can help. I just perform better when under pressure. Don't know where I got this trait. Sometimes I do find it irritating though. Not all my chores got attended to but the most critical ones got finished. The sun shone brightly and warmly earlier today and now that the darkness has descended and the  rain has started my energy level has dropped substantially. Thank goodness for the  sunshine earlier. I may not have accomplished too much otherwise. Daylight seems to be the key to my energy. Darkness squashes it. 

There were an extraordinary number of hikers and bikers on the bike trail today. The warm but mild temperatures and the nice day brought out all types of people. It is always good to see those who think that exercise is important. There are always hikers that are texting and not paying attention at all to the beautiful Fall colors that are starting to show. They are getting some exercise but missing a lot. I loved hearing the crunch of the dried leaves as I walked through the yard. 

There is an abundance of goldenrod this year and it seems to be growing all around our property including the crevice in this large maple tree. My friend sent some flower starts to me today so when practical I will be digging some flowers from my garden and taking them to her. Plants from the gardens of others always seem to grow  much better than nursery grown plants. I look forward to seeing some new and different blooms next year. 

It is my birthday and blogging is not in my schedule! 

The only bees visiting our flowers are not honeybees. A variety of bumble bees large and small are here in great numbers though.  I planted some mammoth sunflower seeds but this is all that grew. It is quite small.  The tall grasses are turning a golden brown and they seem to have a reddish glow in the late day sun.  Poison ivy grows in the hole that a woodpecker has made in a wild cherry tree.  The burning bush is turning red.  A patch of mushrooms that was being devoured by larva has turning into a slimy pool of goo that looks like excrement or poop which is a nice name for you know what.  I don't think we have ever seen so many types of mushrooms in our yard this late in the Fall. They seem to be everywhere. It has been damp and warm this year however. 

These are the last of the flowers that will bloom in my flower garden this year. I am happy to have a variety that blooms this late in the year. The blossoms are starting to wilt and fall now. That makes me sad as it heralds the approach of the time of year that there will be no flowers to look at out of my office window. I will be able to look back at the pictures to see their beauty however and I can remember how beautiful they were. 

A large number of these brown fungal growths suddenly popped up in our yard with the event of extra precipitation this week. The large group at the top is at the peak of freshness. The second and third pictures are those of a fungus that is being consumed by some type of maggot or larva. It looks like dark greasy slime. The little white larva seem to be enjoying this though. YUM!

Just before sundown on Saturday evening the clouds turned a brilliant color. This picture was taken at a flea market near Pittsburgh. A few minutes later the color was gone and darkness arrived quickly. The forty-five degree overnight temperature seemed even colder than it was. We slept in our 1971 Dodge camper and did not turn the heat on. An extra blanket was added to the pile on our bed during the night. Climbing out from under the covers was a chilly affair and dressing was attended to very quickly. The layers of clothing that were needed early in the morning were shed one by one as the temperature approached the mid-sixties on Sunday. We were parked on a flea market grounds. Some people arrived early when it was quite cold dressed only shorts and a tank top. I know they were cold as some had blankets wrapped around their skimpy clothing. I always thought it was better to dress for how the weather is now with options for changes. We had nice clear sunny weather for this camping tr...

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar   We arrived home this afternoon only to see a small brown turd-like thing on our doorstep. Upon closer inspection we found that it had eye spots and seemed rather annoyed at having its picture taken. It reared up and shook back and forth in a menacing manner but the two inch long caterpillar failed to keep me from taking a few more pictures. It looks like a model for a horror flick monster. The thing that amazes me is that I don't remember ever seeing one of these small monster-like creatures before. 

Fall is approaching fast and I have only seen one or two honeybees in our yard the whole Spring and Summer. There have been plenty of other types of bees and wasps. See picture above of one of those other bees. The once plentiful honeybees have had problems with parasites, mites and diseases and there has been a serious decline in their numbers. That concerns me greatly. Please consider having a pesticide and chemical free yard and garden for the sake of all insects and animals. 

The day seemed short not only because the waning of the daylight hours. Taking care of business just took most of the day. If I were a couch potato maybe the days would seem longer but it seems that there are only a couple of hours in the day to catch up on the news and sit for a while. The cooler nights are slowing down the growth of the grass so it will not require as much care. There are still a few painting projects that will need to be finished before the cold weather arrives. We will have to prioritize the most important of these projects so that they will get done. Time for a walk around the yard will be made before this day ends. 

The transplanted ground covers are doing well and filling in between the stones.  The tiny pine trees that we planted years ago have grown to be huge. The benefit of the size of these trees is that the bottom branches cover a large area and the drooping branches shade the ground under them. We find these areas to be great storage places for odd shaped large yard tools. People that drive by our home don't have to look at these things strewn about our yard leaned up against the garage. I don't even have any yard ornaments that are visible from the road. I think less can be more and a clean look is a good thing. 

Our youngest son and his wife came over this afternoon and they helped me go through some things in the house and basement. They went away with a carload. Some will be used by them and some will be donated to a charity. Yea! Our basement is much cleaner and it does not look like the basement of a hoarder. 

An incredibly busy day is coming to and end soon. There seemed to be no end of the small chores that needed to be finished. It was primary voting day but there was not a long line at the polls. The post office however did show the effects of more people than usual being out and about. The line was long and the highly efficient women clerks did their best but it was a long wait. I did not print my shipping labels today as I was not really sure which post office I would be using. The labels are zip code specific for origin of shipping. Having the packages ready to ship by printing the postage at home is a real advantage because I can march right past every person in line and leave my packages on the counter. The work around the house, sheds and yard is ongoing as time and energy permit.