Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Photos of the Day

A quick post to catch up with a few photos of the day.  Mostly because I should be cleaning my house and this seems like a good way to avoid that!  Just being honest.

Brian on his return from a walk with our dog.  And yes, this one was in the last post, but it was also my photo of the day so you get to see it twice!


Rainy day horses from Sunday.  I'm glad that their winter coats are coming in.


They were predicting below freezing temps...so I wanted to get one last photo of something blooming outside.  Pretty red geranium.


Greta is growing up and practicing her attacking skills.  On hands, on couches, on the dog.  Hopefully these terrible cat teens will pass quickly!  She got to have a bath today...that calmed her down!


The Juncos have returned to the feeder.  It's fun to see them, but it also means that colder days are coming.  Better stock up on the bird seed!


And that's the last of the photos of the day for this time.  Shoot....that didn't take long.  I guess I'm going to have to do some cleaning after all!  'Til next time!


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

A Rainy Fall Weekend

The weather here is inching towards winter.  It was cool and rainy all weekend.  We had our first frost last night.  No more annuals to water!  This post isn't my usual photo of the day catch up post, it's a post with photos from the weekend, mostly from Sunday....but the first two are of my son Brian on Saturday.  Lots of pictures...but not much talk.  Are you ready?

Brian is so sweet to our old dog.  I snapped this one as he headed out to take the dog for a walk.  She doesn't move very fast anymore, but she sure loves getting out!


I took this one when they returned, I think Brian liked getting out for a walk too.


I think I could have titled this post "Windows". On Saturday, with Brian's help, Eric and I spent some time getting our house ready for winter.  One of the things that we did was removed the screens from the windows.  Yay for so much more light coming into the house!  On Sunday we went and visited our parents....and helped them with their windows.  We put the storm windows on at my moms, and helped haul the storm windows upstairs at Eric's parents house.  And this picture was taken through the car window.  See, Windows!  Sorry, I'm just being silly.  The view from the rainy car window was pretty nice though!


The views around my mom's house are pretty spectacular.  Even in the rain.  Or especially in the rain.  There is something about rain in the fall that brings out the rich colors.  I love it.


There are a lot of photos to follow...so I'll try not to talk so much.  My horses were wet and wanted a treat.


I love it when they come to see me at the gate...even if it is just for food.  I can pretend that they want to see me as much as I want to see them!  Hi Handsome.


I did some work around the horse pasture, then took a wonderful walk in the rain.  Not a good day to pick apples.


Pretty maple leaves.


Abundant crab apples this year!
















I went out into the woods and look who I found!  They had wandered over to get out of the rain.  Who goes in a shed when you have trees for cover?


When I was a young girl I had a dream to have a house in the woods out in the country.  Actually, I still do.


There is a special kind of peace that can be found there.  The cool relief in the heat of summer. The earthy scents on a rainy fall day.   The snowy silence in the middle of winter.  The rebirth with flowers and green when spring arrives.  It all feels like home to me.



The horses like it there...


...and are dwarfed by the trees.


Who you calling a dwarf lady?







The woods, right out the window.  A window to my world...


See...this post could have been titled "Windows"!  I hope you're enjoying the things that are right outside your window today.  Thanks for stopping by!


Saturday, October 19, 2013

Changes in the Air

October always brings changes that I am never quite ready for.  They are predicting scattered snow showers for tomorrow.  Yikes. I don't think that I'm ever ready for that first one.  Today the plan is to winterize some things around here.  So of course I'm at my computer instead of facing that!

First I have to share my photos from the last week or so.  These asters are still blooming in my garden...won't be for long!  This plant is in the backyard.


This one is in the front.  I want to go and buy some pumpkins and mums today.  I'll have to babysit them with predicted freezing temps next week...but they add so much color it's worth it.


The horses are growing their winter coats.


A dense blanket of fog covered the land at my mom's place last weekend.  Even the burdock were pretty.


Last Sunday was a beautiful Autumn day.  One of those days that felt like a gift.  We took a ride on the river boat on the St. Croix.  It was us and everyone else in the county it seemed.  A little too crowded for my comfort, but still a pretty ride.


The crowds made it tough to take pictures, but I got a few.  The one above are the rocks near Franconia, this one below is of the cross formation in the rocks that the St. Croix was named after.  So beautiful.


The birds at home have been really busy, flitting back and forth.  Hungry chickadees.  Some juncos have returned, that's fun to see.


I bought a bouquet of fall colored flowers for my table, the big gerbera daisy is my favorite.  Love the orange this time of year.


Our little kitten is growing quickly...and is in an attack stage apparently.  Kitten claws and teeth are sharp! Ouch!! Trimming little nails is on my list of things to do today.


Penny has accepted the kitten, Molly not so much yet.  Greta had curled up with Penny on Penny's bed...I had to snap a quick picture of that.  I happened to catch Penny licking her nose, but it looks like she's sticking her tongue out saying "yuck".  Greta likes Penny's wagging tail and to jump on her head.  We think it's entertaining...not so sure what Penny thinks about it.


The leaves are changing, fall is really in the air.  Time for me to get busy and do my share of winterizing.  Lawn furniture to put away, planters need to be taken in, screens taken off, bird feeders moved and refilled.


It's fall in Minnesota, winter is coming.  I'm not ready!  Are you?  Thanks for stopping by.