Forced Labor......

I forced myself to go outside yesterday and work.  I had piles of sticks to pick up and I had large limbs that came down in the wind storm.  Some places in Iowa the wind was 110 miles an hour. I think we were more like having 60 mph wind.  I had to saw off a broken limb from one of my old lilacs.  The branch was still alive but it must have had the wind push down on it to snap it off.  It was very heavy so its own weight helped to break it off. The bean pods are from the neighbor's tree.  The wind seemed to move leaves everywhere including the bean pods.

While out there I planted this post.  It will keep the gate from swinging all the way around if the wind catches it when I have it open.  The post actually was a find of mine during our tornado 10 years ago.  It was laying out along side of the road and had dropped out of the air from somewhere in town. I like that it is green wood and that it was a perfect fit for that area.  I buried and tamped in the soil just like I learned from my dad 50 years ago while making fence in the back part of the farm. I learned that packed soil can be very strong when you don't have cement to fill in around it.  The post was out in the garden on the corner of the property and I had to remove it from the area along with the plants.  I regretfully notice that some workman has sprayed a red "X" on my red maple tree.  I will call up and see what that means if anyone at the town hall really knows.

With the wind blowing that hard leaves were scattered long distances.  The largest leaf is on the back corner of my property.  It had to have been blown from the corner property about a quarter of a block away.  It had to go by many a tree and shrubs. I don't know who the yellow leaf belongs to but the reddish one is coming from the top of my ornamental pear tree.  It sits on the other side of the property, so it blew in quite a distance.

The ornamental pear tree has just started to turn its leaves color the past week or so.  It is a shiny leaf and the color changes of the individual leaves create great natural designs.

While picking up sticks from my lot I would see these have been spread everywhere. I would have noticed them but they are such an unusual leaf among mostly dead leaves. I carried  my camera in my parka pocket so I was busy working and then I could be seen stopping to take a shot.

At left in the group is another one of those leaves and next to it is a burning bush leaf.  The yellow one I have not been able to  identify.  I use to think there were boxelder trees around but that is not what this leaf is. I have other photos of it and it does have a nice color.

One of our neighbors have a very large tree in their back yard that I have never been able to identify.  I do think that it is coming from there.

I am waiting and watching to see what happens to the field lilies, ditch weed, and see if the freeze really was a freeze.  My thermometer said 30 degrees F.  and I do believe that is accurate.  As I work outside the next few days I will know for sure as the zinnias will be gone for sure. The field lilies will go flat.

It wasn't real warm yesterday but I did get a lot more things taken to the basement.  I usually do that when it is snowing but it works out good that I did it now.  I put out a lot of edging fences to keep Barney from tromping through some flower beds and it was a good time to get that taken out.

You can see how sunny it was yesterday even though I had to dress warmly.  I have one more wood project that I want to start but I won't share any of it at this point just because.  Who knows what I do and don't do at this time of the year.  Leaves are still everywhere and I want them to shrivel up more before I start to mulch them.

I hope everyone is doing well today and thanks for stopping by at my blog.