Wandering through Wednesday.......

An Iowan sky is as plain and clear as the corn field is stripped of stalks of corn.  In this photo you can see the neighboring field has also been picked. This view tells me that winter is on its way.  Last year it snowed for the first time on November 11th.

When you looked down to the ground after the combined has passed, you can find lots of different kinds of things.  In the old days the combine would put out a whole corn cob but the new machines must break them up so the cob will compost easier.

You can see some good Iowa black dirt and also a free spirit maple tree trying to get started in the field.  When the giant disc comes by and chops this all up that tree will not survive.  The disc has two rows of blades and the back ones bury all this leftover material under the soil. The first row is the chopper.

The cycle of planting starts again in spring after the soil has been under a layer of snow all winter.  The corn waste breaks down some through the winter but it actually breaks down during the next growing season. I mentioned to one of my students who drove the disc over this field that it didn't do a very good job of burying things.  The high school boy smiled and said if his Dad had seen that he would have made him go over it again.  He wanted it to be our little secret. It is rental ground and they have hundreds of acres to do.

Being the transitional time of the year when taking live blooms for photos to share is about done.  To now lose those things, I will have to shift my kinds of shots to other things.  I know that I can get many fall shots but I have to look in different areas to find things to share and blog. A lot of people think fall is wonderful but I am not a big fan.  I will go into dreading winter pretty soon and all that comes with that season.  One nice gentle snowfall will be a treat but after that I am discouraged about it. 

I am home today so I can get to some of the pressing projects. I will have to wait for it to warm up before I go out there.  I don't want to put it in writing of what I am going to do today because I find I don't do what I write down.  I should write an independent list out and keep it to myself.  I just hope that by the end of the day that I have made some progress toward getting things done.

We still have fiber optic people in our alley setting up connection boxes in the sides of the alley.  I walked out yesterday by my shed and crew was out there covering up a big hole with plastic fencing to keep dogs and people from falling into their holes.

Collecting seeds from zinnias and morning glories is high priority the next few weeks.  The winds blew down a large section of my zinnias and I am at the stage I probably won't try to set them up again.

Unfortunately for my blog followers the morning glories are going crazy with blooms.  I know that I have way too many shots of them.   I noticed yesterday while at school I could look out a emergency hallway exit and the fence there next to the house was covered with heavenly blue glory blooms.  Maybe when it is 13 below and the snow is a foot high, I can dig out some glory photos and people will be glad to see them again.  As I work outside today I will just keep my camera in my parka pouch to be ready to shoot anything that doesn't move. If something moves I might take its photo too.

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope all is well with you and your family.  Have a great day.