Tuesday's Things and Stuff.............

The silver maple is usually yellow at this time of the year.  It does look yellow but the sun shining through the leaves helps to make it look better than it really is.  You can see the subtle brown of the leaves is predominate. I was out on the new old time and it was later so the sun was shining and making a lot of things a lot better.

It is a very old tree and is becoming dangerous at this stage.  Large limbs can fall at the slightest wind storm.  Winters can be hard on them as snow does build up some on the branches to give them weight. The dead branches of the tree fall throughout all four seasons and a I go around and pick them up for burning. I was comparing the two shots and this one looks like a different tree but it is not.  I am on the west side of it with the sun to my back.

The frost is stopping the natural things of summer.  This is the natural thing of fall as flowers fail in the cold air. The heavenly blue glory turns into a red  blob when it is totally withdrawn and shriveled.

A hardy geranium survives my lack of attention.  The foliage on one of my geraniums is changing its leaves in color as if it were a tree change to fall colors.  I guess it is getting too cold at night.

I need to harvest the seeds soon before the plant decides to drop them.  I should carry something with me when I walk around with the camera so I don't miss out getting them inside.

I am the sub for the band instructor today.  He has a movie that he wants me to show that has music in it that all the bands are playing. It is a creative cartoon-like movie so they might be interested in seeing it.  It will be an easy sell for sure.  I hope everyone is well. Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday's Menu.........

We had a rough Sunday as we lost one of our pets.  Jack Sparrow was the first male cockatiel that we owned.  He was given to me by a student because his mother had him and a female in their bathroom.  Mother of the student wanted them gone and was giving them away immediately. They were throwing seed halls all over the floor.  I kept them in my art class room at first and would bring them home in the summers.  I do think he was over 15 years old but he should have lived a whole lot longer.

He did have two batches of birds with three in the first batch and two in the second batch.  I remove the nest after having 7 cockatiels at one time.  Jack Sparrow lost his mate a year ago and he was really upset about it.  I had to put him in the cage with three of his offspring in which calmed him down. He was the one bird that had a really Jack Sparrow attitude.  He would come to the feeders while we were filling them and look us in the face.  Sometimes he made pleasant sounds at us or just glared.  Sometime he would scold us just for the heck of it.

I know that it is just a bird but one does get attached to a bird and all of his antics.  He was the lead vocalists when things were not right according to him. Squawking warning sounds to people or animals as the passed by the window was his favorite job.  I always feel so helpless when I protect them as much as I can and I still lose them.  As birds go, he was a great bird.

With the mention of looking out the window the dining room window shows that most leaves are now down.  I took this a few days ago.  I know the regular followers have seen this scene many times with birds at the feeder and with snow on the ground.  I have yet to rake a leaf or mulch a batch of leaves. I must start this week as we are promised warmer weather most of the week.

Nature set up the great looking shot with all the leaves of the lily and all the other items that fell from the trees.  I was surprised to see the bloom but can see there are more buds to open.

I am in the middle school science room today.  It will be a good situation all day.   I really like working in the room.  We watched a movie together about predator sea life.  Big fish eating small fish all the way down to the eating of algae.

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope everyone is doing okay.

Sunday Afternoon...........

It is warm today with a perfect fall day.  We are sitting at 75 degrees F. right now in the afternoon. Floatind leaves in the water and sticks falling from the trees because of the wind.

A volunteer tree from the neighbor lot west of us has great fall leaf color.  The trees that are still standing over there have these large yellow leaves that blow down to us all fall.

The young man and his wife bought the property about three years ago.  He immediately cut down two of the very historic trees that lined the street.  No one knows why.  He did make his mark and leave as his divorce is forcing him to move out and those trees are only memories.

Looking through the red maple the photo shows our fluffy clouds in the sky.  Leaves are sure building up underfoot out there.  I may have to mow in the evenings after I get off work.  It will be warm so I can mulch some of them.

The crop of last tomatoes that I brought in weeks ago are now turning into ripened tomatoes. They are small but they are good.  It was not a great year for tomatoes this year but we didn't get skunked.

I appreciate your stopping by today at my post.  Have a good day.

Begging for Candy........

Halloween night and beggars night in our town are the same.  Most other towns had beggars night last night.  I will camp out next to the front door and dole out the candy.  If they want to give me a joke fine. If they act like spoiled brats they only get two pieces.  If they are sweet and bashful they get three pieces.  My game, my rules as some people say.  We won't be very warm and I will have to go out and clear leaves from the sidewalk even they will walk across the yard and never hit the sidewalk.  My photo is an abstract, informal view of the best food on earth.  Ok, so it isn't food but I can try to get some nourishment from some of the candy.

My post with a ball finial has weathered well making it have a nice natural look. I have shot pictures of it before but this is a different angle with the hosta presenting a line design on the ground.

A nice young man helped us today at Best Buy to find a replacement battery for my camera. The camera has a rechargeable battery which became old and wouldn't take a charge anymore.  I searched their site before we went in to the store and they did have it.  My battery that came with the camera was already a year old when I got it.  I never really checked it out because I figured it would be a long time battery.  Searching on the online internet manual, I found on page 71 that the rechargeable batteries do wear out and that if I were to take a major trip that I should buy a spare battery.  That kind of says rechargeable isn't meaning a long lived one and there isn't any reliability.

My camera battery is charging as I write this so I can't get any more new photos off the camera for now.  I will just post a short blog today and wish you all a great day.  We gain back that hour that they stole from us way back when.  I hope we can sleep in tomorrow morning.

Friday's Finds.......

The burning bush is only turned red at the top right now but when you stand in the back yard you get an illusion of it being fully in color.

This is the true view of the burning bush.  It has a great yellow background from the river birch leaves. The neighbors wing to the back of the house is on the left and the other neighbor's old fashion garage is on the right. I don't understand why just the top has turned red first but every year the three of my bushes tend to do different things.

 The volunteer vine out the back door has met the challenge of the fall weather.  It got shocked by me pulling it down part way as I removed a window air conditioner.  Now the light changes and temperatures are taking its toll on it.  I will leave it until it gets ugly and then I will remove it from the side of the house.

The morning glories did take a hit last night from the frost.  I had to scrape frost off of the car this morning before going to school. I noticed the one roof on the garden shed was covered with frost when I looked out the window upstairs this morning.

A volunteer maple from the neighbor's tree is putting out quite a show.  I need to cut this out of the flower garden area but I will leave it until spring.

Moving to an indoor subject I caught a shot of the jade plant.   I like these plants that look like trees but these growths do not resemble that at all.  I suppose I could take one of them and put it in a separate pot and try to bonsai it.  I am assuming that is how they do it to sell them commercially.  I suppose there is a variety that does that and this is not that one kind.  I guess I need to do research.

The birch is done with dropping its leaves.  It really didn't take long. I am going to let the leaves dry up and shrivel some before I mow them.  We are suppose to warm up on Monday so maybe I can start working on that.

I am in the shop today subbing for classes like agronomy and horticulture.  There also will be movies for welding and ag mechanics.  It is a shortened day so I will be out by 2:15.  I am glad it is Friday.  I hope all are well and the weather is being good to you.  Thanks for stopping in today.

The surviving small zinnias have more buds in which to bloom.  I think the time is running out for them as our wind chills are way before freezing.

I am calling it the hobbit hole in the ground.  The culvert ended up to be a blurry picture.  The leaves probably will cover the hobbit hole shortly. With all the fertilized grass seed and insulation type material I am thinking I won't be raking those leaves out of the ditch because I don't want to move the grass seed around.  On guy on the other side of town said a rain washed all the grass seed to to bottom of the ditch and it has sprouted out very well. It will be hard to get that all reseeded and it will probably take a couple of years to get a good stand of grass.

We were sort of promised a freeze last night and that didn't happen.  I brought all the hardy geraniums inside so the would still be alive when I yank them from the soil in the pots. We didn't have a freeze. I will move them back outside to remove them from the container.  The dirt will spread too easily when I take them out leaving them with bare roots.

Our winds made it very uncomfortable outside yesterday.  I felt so chilled when I was out there that I decided Barney didn't need to walk last night. He voluntarily went out in the back yard and hurried in after doing his business.

I was to be the librarian today but got switched to be a high school social studies teacher.  It is the other position different than yesterday's one. Actually it is 8th grade and freshmen for most of the day. The switch was ok but it made me a lot grumpy for the first few periods.  I am settling in now and doing good.  I hope all are well out there.  Thanks for checking in today.

Middle of the Week.....

I am going to have to rebuild my blue door.  It may not get done until this winter but I can put a new one on the hinges once it is made really any season.  Instead of going into a panic about it I decided I could nail one together in the art gallery or in the basement and paint it in the spring. It will not have the arch anymore.

My burning bush seems to be changing slowly this year.  Others I have seen have the entire shrub covered with red leaves.  I have spots of red leaves and then the top only has a layer of red. The birds of all kinds are really enjoying the fruit from them.  I saw a nuthatch yesterday out and about helping itself to the fruit.

The variegated leaf is still a mystery to me on the red maple.  I saw a photo of someone else's red maple and I really am concerned for this tree. Hopefully it will jump back from the root trimming from the "ditch people."

I need to get this craft birdhouse into the shed before it snows.  I bet I can hanging it on the side of my garden shed in the spring and get some bird to nest in it. The materials it is made of will cause it to weather quickly.  I suppose it is suppose to be an indoor decoration.

I have a lot of photos of the William Baffin bloom.  I wonder if I will be able to see any more blooms out of all those buds. If there is a predicted hard freeze I may cut it and bring it into the house.

I am sitting in the high school social studies room today.  It is a shortened day so the day should go fast.  We are cold outside and the wind is picking up.  It isn't summer any more. This is the last apple of the season which is eaten up on the other side by insects.

I hope everyone has a good day and thanks for stopping by to see my posting.