~
Monday, October 31, 2005 8:30 a.m.
51 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
It was very windy on Gomer Hill last night, a real
curtain-flapper that roared through the
upstairs rooms until I finally gave in and closed the
window. The house was still surrounded
by a whistling rush all night long. Our two biggest maple
trees are now entirely bare of leaves
but for some reason a third smaller tree is holding on to
its foliage (much of which is still green)
for dear life. This year we have been gathering leaves up
as they fall and spreading them onto the
gardens to be tilled in later. Many of them have blown
right on through the yard and into the meadow
where they will have disappeared by springtime. We got
away from the wind for a while as we walked
through the woodlot, checking to see how much work must
be done to clear away deadfalls from the ski
trails. Many old-growth softwoods uprooted or broke
during the summer’s violent storms, and it will be a
good day’s work to restore useable paths. I thought
we might find some good mushroom growth on the
forest floor, but it might be too cold for fungus among
us. There is plenty of rainwater standing in quiet re-
flecting pools, so maybe the ground is too saturated for
mushrooms; they are pretty picky about growing
conditions. Today’s warm sunshine is supposed to
give way to showers for tomorrow. Tonight will
be very fine for trick-or-treating. Make sure you leave a
light on the porch to attract creatures of
the night, or better yet, line the yard with turnip
lanterns as they did in auld Scotland.
Happy Hallowe’en !
Daisy
~
Sunday, October 30, 2005 7:30 a.m.
42 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
Fog is lifting from Tug Hill, revealing a blue sky with a
few clouds around the edges.
Sunrise was muted as it sifted through thin mist, and
everything glistens with melting frost.
Even wild turkeys trudging through wet meadow grasses are
shiny black with sparkling bronze and
red highlights. Last night provided one of the most
spectacular sunsets I have ever seen. I was motor-
ing along route 169 on my way home from Little Falls and
the entire Mohawk Valley was afire with
orange, pink, and mauve streaks in a field of deep blue
sky. Just after I pulled into the yard on Gomer
Hill, Mars rose in the east, a shining coppery jewel
that, at one point, perched perfectly atop a blue
spruce tree like a Christmas star. Venus was equally
bright in the western sky, and I hope some bal-
ance of power was achieved by the God of War and the
Goddess of Love as they shared the sky for
that brief period of time. It would indeed be miraculous
if hostile, arrogant, and self-serving warlords
all over the world could be touched by overpowering
loving kindness and call off the dogs of war.
I can dream, can’t I ?
Daisy
~
Saturday, October 29, 2005 7:45 a.m.
31 degrees, calm, partly cloudy
It is shaping up into a much nicer day than the weather
pundits predicted. Although the sun is still
lurking behind a layer of grey clouds, fluffy free-floaters
are tinted pink and orange and look quite
festive. The sky is slowly brightening, and I think we
are in for another dazzler of a day. Yesterday
was a perfect late autumn day, with beautiful blue skies
and big white clouds moseying slowly along.
We went for a little hike through a managed hardwood
forest a few miles from here, on a lower level
of Tug Hill. There was very little snow on the ground,
but the paths were greasy with mud. Several low
spots were filled in with giant puddles that reflected
the warm colors of beech and maple foliage. A few
smaller oaks still have their handsome russet leaves, and
we were surrounded by color above and below.
We found some dried out spiny husks of wild cucumber
vining through a hedgerow, each one looking like
a miniature loofah sponge. In summertime, these funny
little fruits resemble thorn-covered gherkins; when
sliced, they sure do look and smell like a regular
cucumber, but they are toxic and should not be eaten.
We ended our day with a drive around the block, ending up
on an unplowed road that still had six
inches of snow in spots. Boy howdy, that was just a
little bit exciting, but all’s well that ends well.
Tomorrow night the planet Mars will be very close to
Earth, and conditions will be perfect for
viewing this giant red heavenly body. For more
information on this, visit spaceweather.com.
Keep looking up,
Daisy
~
Friday, October 28, 2005 7:45 a.m.
30 degrees, calm, partly sunny
The sun is just now appearing over a slab of clouds, and
everything in the view
reflects its rosy glow. Two gorgeous sunrises in one
week, that has to be a record
for this month of rain, snow, and fog. The sky is that
rare shade of blue that has a little
green and gold scattered through it, and the pink-edged
clouds that frame it make today’s
view an unusually beautiful sight. Yesterday was a good
day for walking, no sunshine to be
sure but not very windy and no rain or snow, so we headed
out for several short treks. The
dirt roads are a little sloppy, but the pavement has
dried off and there were tons of big snowballs
left by the plow for the dog to explore. There are so
many odors that are released in wet weather,
even we mere humans can pick up some of them. Rotting
leaves, tangy fermenting apples, the pecu-
liar smell that town-trucked salted sand emits, sweet
evergreen scents wafting from the forest, and the
whiff of snow, frosty cold and pure and nearly
indescribable. We are waiting for the earth to dry out
and then we can add the rich aroma of newly tilled garden
soil to the list of olfactory delights. Finally,
everything has been cut, snipped, plucked, pulled and
dug, sorted and stored, (well, all except for
three big boxes of tomatoes slowly ripening in the dining
room). After an intense harvest season
we can finally sit back and relax, until it dries out
enough to rake up all those maple leaves.
But for a day or two, doing nuthin’ sounds like a
plan.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Thursday, October 27, 2005 8:30 a.m.
32 degrees, breezy, cloudy
There are clouds in the sky but the air is so clear that
we have a perfect view of the
Adirondack Mountains. Most of yesterday’s snow has
melted into slush and refrozen,
with icy little ponds standing in the meadows’ low
spots. There is still an amazing amount
of leaves left on trees, not just on Tug Hill but in the
Mohawk Valley as well. Rome and Utica
both have neighborhoods where there are entire trees that
are still deep green, with not one bit
of color. But, in the next yard, every branch is bare. We
drove over Buck Hill and as we climbed,
there was plenty of wet snow that left the roadway
littered with large limbs and an occasional sapling.
We drove through places on Route 12 where a band of snow
had trees and undergrowth frosted per-
fectly white, where other places had not one flake.
Friends near Cooperstown received over a foot,
and many schools in that area had their first snow day
yesterday. It has been an odd autumn,
and it just may be a strange winter as well, capping off
a year of really unusual drought
and flooding, heat and cold; all that’s missing is a
rain of frogs.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 7:00 a.m.
31 degrees, windy, probably cloudy, new snow
It is hard to tell what is going on in the sky
this morning, but from the absence of any
eastern glow I’m guessing it is cloudy. Sunrise isn’t
until 7:29 today. This weekend we will
switch back to Eastern Standard Time so at least it will
be easier to get out of bed in the mornings.
Yesterday’s weather was wild and wooly for a while,
with very high winds bringing down a lot of
leaves before the rain turned to snow late in the day. As
usual, snow really began to pile up just at
our southern property line; the roads all the way home
from Boonville were clear. We had dinner
with the back yard light on, and watched fat flakes
zipping past the window being driven by strong
north winds. Occasionally the snow seemed to stall out
and hang suspended in mid-air, even briefly
reversing direction from time to time. We probably have
three or four inches of wet snow on the
ground from the storm; it is hard to tell, as much of it
has been pushed into drifts by the wind. The
cats are happy to stay indoors today, and the dog had to
be encouraged to go out for his morning
routine. We have appointments in the city today, and I am
curious to see if it snowed much in the
valley. There are still a few flurries in the air, but I
think for the most part the worst is over.
Bundle up,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, October 25, 2005 8:30 a.m.
36 degrees, windy, raining
Heavy wet maple leaves are dancing across the view this
morning, driven by wind that seems to
be coming from all directions at once. Apparently we are
anticipating three strong fronts all meeting
over our area sometime later this afternoon, bringing
snow and higher winds, with a drop in tempera-
ture that may create some snow at higher elevations. Last
night there were thousands of geese stream-
ing south as I drove home from work at dusk. I think they
may have some idea that there is a change in
the air, and they were trying to get out of town with
time to spare. Yesterday morning was a strange one;
a perfectly beautiful sunrise was followed by clouds and
then heavy fog. We took a walk farther up the
hill and emerged into bright sunshine, with fog still
swirling around our feet. If we walked into a dip in
the road, all was mist once again. What a fine line
between the monochrome simplicity of a fogbound
path and the breathtaking colors of leaves sparkling wet
in strong morning sunlight ! Every apple
practically vibrated with color, and even the holstein
heifers looked extra clean and spiffy
as they followed us from their side of the fence. We
could have walked all day, but
hastened home to put things under cover before today’s
stormy weather hits.
Keep a weather eye out, and get out those snow tires.
Watch your speed,
Daisy
~
Monday, October 24, 2005 7:45 a.m.
38 degrees, calm, partly sunny
The sky is quickly filling in with clouds, but we have
had an hour of gorgeous colors in
the eastern sky. We were expecting to awaken to snow-covered
ground, like yesterday,
but there wasn’t any precipitation overnight to
speak of. There isn’t one whisper of wind on
this beautiful morning; the only movement in the whole
view is from scads of birds moving from
tree to tree, and the smoke that poofs skywards from
chimneys in the valley. Several flocks of geese
have flown low overhead, no doubt lifting off from a
nearby cornfield where they spent the night clean-
ing up spilled kernels. The sky is changing fast now,
with fog moving into the valley and our deep blue
sky disappearing behind heavy grey clouds. We are in for
a wet week, and possibly a snowy one as
well. If the leaves don’t hurry up and fall, there
could be a lot of damage to tree branches as they
load up with wet heavy snow. In the mid-70s we had three
feet of snow on this date, and Snow
Ridge opened its lifts for a day of free skiing; they
remained open through Easter Sunday. That
is also the season we found snow in the woods at the
beginning of May. Old-timers say
we are in for one heck of a winter this season; we will
just have to wait and see.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Saturday, October 22, 2005 8:30 a.m.
38 degrees, calm, mostly cloudy
There are a few horizontal breaks in the clouds that are
allowing some patches of pale blue
sky to peer through, but now clouds are moving faster and
this tease of blue will probably be
gone within an hour. Yesterday’s gorgeous autumn
weather provided us with enough deep blue
sky to carry us through the next few grey days. It was a
beauty of a day, but chilly. We slogged
through the gardens, gleaning a few forgotten cabbages
and pulling the last of the carrots. Deer
had been through the night before, removing the necessity
of picking any more broccoli this season.
The wind kicked up late in the day and as the temperature
began to drop into the thirties we added
fleecy hats and down vests to our garb. We took a ride
around Tug Hill and discovered that the best
and brightest colors are right in our own neighborhood.
Trees to the south are mostly bare, and to the
north they seem to lack the brilliant red and orange hues
that prevail on Gomer Hill. Because of such
a late frost, fields and roadside weeds were still
vividly green, lending a nice background for all of the
leaves that had fallen. We drove through corridors of
balsam and spruce with a few golden aspen
trees standing out in bold relief; small maple and ash
saplings added a dozen or so bright red
leaves to the scene. Now and then we would pass a
crabapple tree loaded with small
scarlet fruit, practically vibrating in its brilliance.
Rain will be moving in around
lunchtime; we should get out while the gettin’ is
good.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
Friday, October 21, 2005 8:30 a.m.
38 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
Low clouds fill the valley and are slowly lifting into
the sky. I’ll bet that flatlanders are buried
under a blanket of fog so thick they can’t even tell
if morning has broken. Earlier, there were a
dozen jet contrails all radiating out from the direction
of the rising sun, reflecting the brazen beams
like a child’s drawing. There was another frost last
night, finishing off the tender crops that managed
to escape the previous night’s low temperature. We
had a long walk yesterday morning, and managed
to scavenge a small bouquet of coneflowers, queen anne’s
lace, goldenrod, red clover, and blue chicory.
Mums and marigolds still brighten the flowerbeds, and big
green leaves of second-growth hollyhocks lend
a fresh background to bland brown perennials. Geese are a
constant presence in the sky now, and yester-
day I saw a huge flock of snow geese strolling through a
field of cornstalk stubble. The bluebirds have left
the area, and juncos fill the void left by them. Last
night was full of coyote song and sonorous honks from
geese as they flew through a moonlit sky. The best
nightsound of all was the plaintive cry of our
wandering kitty as she asked to be admitted into the
warmth of our kitchen in the wee hours.
Today will be awesome for just about anything; can you
rustle up an adventure or two ?
Have fun,
Daisy
~
Thursday, October 20, 2005 7:30 a.m.
33 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
What is that strange bright light coming from the eastern
sky? A beautiful sunrise, the first in
nearly two weeks, has dazzled us all! Frost coats every
blade and leaf, and the birdbath is glazed
with leaf-embedded ice on the surface. Last night’s
low temperature was thirty degrees, and tonight
will be even colder than that. Lucky for us we picked the
last of the peppers yesterday; now the garden
can be put to rest for the long cold season. There are
still carrots to gather, but that will be easy; just
pull,
remove the tops, and store in bins in the cellar. With no
boiling, peeling, or processing involved, carrots
are the simplest veggies to grow and enjoy for months. It
is good to know there is an end in sight to
all of the tomatoes, that the six boxes ripening on the
dining room table will be it for the year.
Today will be a gorgeous day, but chilly. Bundle up and
go for a long walk if at all
possible, and bask in the colors and scents of autumn.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, October 19, 2005 9:00 a.m.
44 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
We have had a few stunning intervals of sunshine this
morning, but they do little to warm us up.
We lit a fire in the big wood stove for the first time
this season, just a small blaze to take the chill
from the living room. The kitchen range has been pressed
into service daily since the rains started,
but it just wasn’t enough for today. The town pickup
truck went up the hill earlier with a load of tall
saplings to mark the culverts and ditches for the
snowplow; I wonder what forecast they have heard?
I’m betting there will be a frost tomorrow night as
a cold front pushes this wet weather out of the area.
It is time to pull the rest of the peppers from the
plants. Tomatoes are done for, having succumbed to
late blight during the relentless rain. Nevertheless, we
still managed to pick three big bucketsful yester-
day, an amazing harvest for mid-October. Another bushel
of scarlet runner beans has been shucked
and parboiled, and is in the freezer for future hearty
casseroles and soups. Dried beans are time-
consuming to prepare, what with the pre-soaking and long
cooking involved. The next time
you fix some for tacos, vegetarian hotdish, or baked with
onions and molasses, cook up
five pounds and freeze what you don’t use in two-cup
packages. Who doesn’t love
savory-sweet baked beans on a chilly autumn day? They’re
a real gas !
Hehehe,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, October 18, 2005 9:00 a.m.
47 degrees, windy, cloudy, rain
Geese are on the move this morning, flying low beneath a
grey ceiling of clouds, headed
south in long gracefully flowing ribbons or more
traditional vees. Their resonant voices were
heard off and on during the night as well, as they flew
by the light of the full moon. Coyotes were
very active, raising their heads to moonlit clouds and
wailing their appreciation for the beauty of the
night. Sunset and moonrise were within one minute of each
other, but clouds totally obscured the event.
At about nine o’clock the sky partially cleared; a
beautiful silvery moon poked through brightly above the
clouds. In spite of the cold and damp air we strolled
about a bit and admired the play of light and shadow
on the land, leaves zipping past and wildlife sounds
rising above the wind’s roar. I optimistically
imagined
that today would be a fabulous sunny day, but rain moved
back into the area during the wee hours, and
is here to stay for at least two more days. We are still
picking tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, beans and
lettuce, and I believe that we have passed the official
record date of the first fall frost. This has undoubt-
edly been the best and longest growing season we have
seen up here since we arrived thirty years ago.
We are usually able to sit back and rest a bit by mid-October,
but the canning kettles are still being
pressed into service nearly daily, and the house has been
full of steamy good aromas of applesauce
and herbed tomatoes. Our idle days will be that much
sweeter for the wait, I am sure.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Monday, October 17, 2005 8:00 a.m.
39 degrees, windy, overcast
It is a chilly morning with a strong wind blowing right
down from Canada, arctic air that
smells like winter. No wonder so many geese are on the
move, staying one honk ahead of
freezeup. Yesterday we drove to the Adirondacks and saw
thousands of geese resting at high
noon in a large beaver meadow, taking a break from
battling wind and rain on their long south-
bound journey. The water was high in the Moose River, and
we passed dozens of kayakers play-
ing in the rush of whitecaps and tumbling falls. “They
look so cold” remarked my friend, but it really
drives home the fact that if you are properly dressed for
cold wet weather, anything is possible. Once
we were doing some backcountry skiing and broke through
the ice of a beaver pond. After a few un-
believably cold moments while we struggled out of the
waist-high water, we began to warm up as we
skied along, thanks to our high-tech insulating socks and
long underwear. Some of the best skiing I have
ever done was on rainy days, soaked to the skin, but kept
comfy by a layer of polypropylene and wool
blend. Yesterday we were toasty-warm in the car with the
heat on, and the brief period of time that we
spent out in the icy rain as we dashed into a building
waslong enough, but only because we were dres-
sed for a gallery visit and not a cold rainy hike. Dressing
for success in our active lifestyle means
checking ahead for weather conditions, and always
carrying dry socks, just in case.
Stay warm,
Daisy
~
Sunday, October 16, 2005 7:30 a.m.
44 degrees, windy, cloudy
Hard rain fell overnight and its relentless hiss against
the tin was replaced by the sound of
high winds knocking leaves and twigs asunder, some of
them sounding like little bullets, the
house under siege. There is a small chance of rain coming
down from the north today, but for
the most part we are looking forward to a few sunny
breaks. We lost a lot of leaves overnight,
but the view is still full of autumny goodness. We were
pleasantly surprised by brilliant late after-
noon sun yesterday, and it was one of the most perfect
fall afternoons we have ever seen. The sky
was constantly changing with big clouds sailing speedily
across bright blue sky, sometimes loosing
a quick shower as they passed overhead. We drove over to
the windfarm, and there are now close
to a hundred towers dominating the skyline. We got a good
close-up look at the gigantic crane used
to set the vanes on the towers, and it is awesome! The
cables that secure the load are as thick as my
wrist, and from it’s disassembled horizontal
position on the ground it looked like some great extrater-
restrial weapon knocked out of commission. (Too much Star
Wars in my life, perhaps, both the
films and the political agenda). I wonder what all of
those windmills will sound like, once their
massive vanes are set to catch the wind? “Ah, but we
may as well try and catch the wind”
(Donovan) is now defined in a new way.
Have an interesting day,
Daisy
~
Saturday, October 15, 2005 7:30 a.m.
49 degrees, calm, overcast, foggy
In the absence of bright sunlight, subtle changes to leaf
color become an important aspect
of our mornings for the last week. Three maple trees
outside the window have turned almost
completely orange, and the smallest has lost about half
of its leaves. Forsythia is deep crimson
around the edges, in perfect contrast to the deep green
of the leaves that haven’t changed yet.
After yesterday’s breeze, there is a beautiful
carpet of gold covering the entire yard. Since we
have still not had a freeze here on Gomer Hill, goldenrod
and asters lend striking accents of yellow
and violet to the background. The back lawn is full of
juncos this morning, mining tree litter for break-
fast. Often referred to as snowbirds because their
arrival usually precludes a winter storm, these little
guys have been hanging around since the rain moved in. (So,
where’s the snow already?) Their tidy
spartan black and white plumage is balanced by their
perky camaraderie; If I were a bird, I would
want to hang out with juncos. They look like they are
having fun as they tend to their hunger, not at
all bothered by the cold damp air. A large mob of
starlings has settled in for a while, uncharacterist-
ically silent as they swoop from spot to spot in the
south meadow. At the far end of the field, several
wild turkeys are moving slowly up the path; these are
some of the biggest birds I have ever seen,
looming large even though they are hundreds of yards away.
If you think all of the recent wet
weather is for the birds, you just may be right; they all
seem to love it.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, October 14, 2005 9:00 a.m.
51 degrees, breezy, overcast, fog
We have another misty day unfolding before us, one that
so far is rain-free. We had
enough rain overnight to keep us merrily squishing along
no matter what we do outdoors.
This moist spell we have been experiencing can be
transformed into a mysterious magical
setting with just a little effort in our brains. What
lies beyond the edge of the thick fog? Is it a
ring of fairies celebrating the return of their sister
water spirits to the land ? Is it a group of pre-
school children splashing through the mud, not a care in
their young world? Is it the Publisher’s
Clearing House van, complete with balloons and an
oversized check made out to you ? When
we are unable to clearly see what lies beyond, we are
free to write our own script for the day.
Whether you imagine the Four Horsemen or the Four
Unicorns is up to you.
Have a magical day,
Daisy
~
Thursday, October 13, 2005 9:00 a.m.
44 degrees, breezy, overcast, fog, raining
I heard something funny this morning: A friend has
the theory that the sun only shines 50% of
the time in our neck of the woods, and since this past
summer was unbelievably sunny, we are
now in for a spell of cloudy wet weather to balance the
scales. Hrmmm, four months of sun, now
four months of rain? It wouldn’t be too bad, I
suppose, if it were cold enough for four months of snow
(I really like snow). Actually, with the water
temperature in Lake Ontario being higher than usual for
this
time of year, we could see significant lake effect snow as frosty storm fronts pass over the comparatively
balmy Great Lakes. I don’t mind the rain too much;
at least the firewood is all dry and under cover and
most of the garden is put to bed for the season. Sometime
today I must pick lettuce and broccoli; I ex-
pect I will sink into the soggy loam halfway up my
wellies. We have been content to work indoors lately,
canning tomatoes, shelling beans, and cleaning away
summer dustbunnies from nooks and crannies.
The warm weather is certainly over when insects start to
move indoors. We have had many wasps
seeking refuge for the winter, and I send them right back
out the window. Fleas have tried to set up
housekeeping on our furry friends, and thanks to
Frontline Plus their efforts have been thwarted.
Houseflies and ladybugs gather near the windowsills, and
I have no problem condemning them to
living out the rest of their days inside a vacuum cleaner
bag. Ah, here comes a truckload of apples;
time to make cider! An apple a day... can we hope this
will keep away a truckload of doctors ?
Have a fine day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, October 12, 2005 9:00 a.m.
50 degrees, breezy, raining, fog
It was very hard to crawl out from under the warm flannel
quilts this morning. It is so
doggone dark outside until well after 7:00, plus the
mesmerizing hiss of rain on the roof
kept calling me back to dreamland. Rain is driving up
from the southeast, and it has only
just begun. A big wall of water shows up on the radar and
it looks like it will take its sweet
time coming and going. Geese are on the move, heard but
not seen. It must be difficult for
migrating birds to fly south today, into the teeth of the
approaching front. Last night I drove
past a beaver pond just before sunset, and there were
hundreds,of birds flying, floating, and
foraging, constant motion above, on, and around the water.
There are nearby cornfields that
have recently been cut, and there is enough spillage
from the chopper to keep the stubbly dirt
covered in geese as they stop overnight to feed. During
the day, after the geese take flight, flocks
of wild turkeys take over the gleaning chores. There
certainly are a lot of turkeys this year, bolder
than ever before. Usually during hunting season they
prefer to stay concealed in the deep woods;
this year, they are in the gardens every morning,
plucking ripe bean seeds from pods or munching
away on corn that raccoons have left behind. This would
be the year to have a turkey permit. We
could pick one off easily from the comfort of our back
porch. Meanwhile, this is the storm that
may bring down a lot of brightly colored leaves. They
careen past the window, spinning
rapidly in the breeze before gravity claims their
rainsoaked forms. There will be no
shuffling through noisily crackling leaves for a few days.
I’ll bet a stroll through
lovely wet shiny colorful fallen foliage will be almost
as good, though.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, October 11, 2005 9:00 a.m.
50 degrees, breezy, overcast
We are in the clear up here on Tug Hill, but fog
enshrouds everything from the south hedgerow
on down, totally obscuring the neighbor’s house 200
yards away. It is not currently raining, but
the air is heavy with moisture anyway, a mixture of old
rain evaporating from saturated earth and
new rain waiting to fall. It is actually pretty bright
outside for being such a cloudy morning. Autumn
foliage colors are about three-quarters of the way
turned, and if we can avoid high winds for the next
few days there should be some fine leaf-peeping
opportunities when the weather clears this weekend.
The maple trees outside my window are nearly all orange;
a bluebird family perched on the clothesline
against such a background is a perfect example of
complimentary colors in action, perfect artistic balance.
Touches of yellow in an aspen and crimson here and there
in forsythia branches split the compliment,
and all looks like an exercise from a Painting 101 class.
Once again, life imitates art...
Have a colorful day,
Daisy
~
Monday, October 10, 2005 8:00 a.m.
46 degrees, calm, foggy
Gomer Hill is a place where the wind blows almost every
day. This morning everything
is at a total standstill, and the misty view outside my
window looks like a photograph or a
really good watercolor painting. The daily movie has been
put on pause. A truck just material-
ized from one end of the fog and melted into the other, a
shiny spot of red putt-putt-putting along
in a cloud of exhaust. Blackbirds come and go one at a
time, moving from tree to tree in silence,
soaring rather than flapping. This is some thick fog,
obscuring the hedgerows and blurring the edges
of everything outdoors. I’m glad I don’t have
to drive anywhere until later. Be careful out there;
there are all kinds of critters crossing the road,
unwilling targets for a speeding vehicle.
Slow down,
Daisy
~
Sunday, October 9, 2005 9:00 a.m.
40 degrees, breezy, foggy
We had a little rain overnight but not much. Everything
is wet and the moisture carries right up
into the sky with thick fog. It is chilly and windy and
wet, a good day to catch up on indoor chores.
Yesterday we shelled out a bushel of dried scarlet runner
beans, oblivious to the cold north wind out-
side the windows that blew leaves through the yard better
than any gas-powered leaf blower could.
The pods were crackly-dry, and each long husk concealed
six to eight plump purple and pink beans,
bigger than large limas. If they weren’t quite dry
they went into a pot for immediate cooking, then into
bags for the freezer. You haven’t had baked beans
until you have had them made with scarlet runners,
a true meaty bean that will sustain you through the
hardest day’s work. They also make good cowboy
beans, mixed with fiery salsa and corn then slow simmered
with thick chunks of bacon. We still have
not had a hard freeze, and I’ll bet there is least
one more bushel of these awesome beans left on the
trellis that will be ready to pick on the next rain-free
day. Two tasks that await us today are sorting
and canning still more tomatoes and trimming onions for
storage. The extended growing season
has provided us with more good things than ever before,
and soon enough we will be able
to relax and watch the first snow fly and enjoy the
benefits of our labor.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Saturday, October 8, 2005 8:00 a.m.
38 degrees, windy, foggy
We had a few spells of really hard rain yesterday
afternoon and evening, but the torrents that were
forecast seem to be on the way out. Nexrad radar shows
the front to be well to our south and east
at this time. Now all we need is for the fog to clear up,
and we should see a beautiful if chilly day.
We drove all over Tug Hill yesterday admiring the autumn
colors, and were able to watch some
of the windmills being assembled at the Maple Ridge Wind
Farm. Huge cranes were hoisting the
prop onto one tall tower, with a technician perched at
the top to aid in its placement. The crane
that did the work was huge; the towers are 260 feet tall
and the crane is tall enough so that the
rotor blades (there are three on the same hub, each is
130 feet long) can be lifted behind the pole
and eased over it, then slowly lowered down to the
fitting in front. When all of the generators are on
line, the blades will turn at 14 revolutions per minute.
This will be a sight to see, when they all start to
spin. We also saw the third section of a tower being put
into place at another location. Each tower has
a ladder going up the inside, and two workers peeked out
of the two sections that were already standing,
ready to fasten the third after it settled. The work is
slow, and I’ll bet a lot of hurry-up-and-wait is
involved
in the project. We also watched a crane being
disassembled to get ready to move. The cab sits on
immense
tracks, with the actual crane and counterweights being
precisely fitted components, like a gigantic erector
set. There is going to be an open house at the wind farm
at some future date, and I hope they will let us
have a closer look at the cranes and maybe even a peek
inside one of the towers. For photos of the
construction, visit http://www.mapleridgewind.com/involved.htm
. If you are in the area, you really
should take a ride up the Flat Rock Road to see the
project; it will really blow you away !
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Friday, October 7, 2005 8:00 a.m.
65 degrees, breezy, sprinkles
Autumn colors are especially vivid when dripping wet and
set against a gleaming silvery
background. The sun is strong enough to backlight a heavy
layer of clouds, and in spite of the
cloud cover it is a fairly bright morning. I can’t
believe how quickly the deep reds and coppery
oranges have developed in just a matter of days. There is
one bronze-hued tree at the end of the
meadow that is striking in its uniqueness. There seems to
be very few brown-toned leaves this year,
and an abundance of reds. For sure, this is one of the
nicest fall foliage shows I have ever seen. To-
night’s cold front with hard rain and 30 mph north
winds may take quite a bit of the color down to
ground level, so if you have a chance to get out and do
some leaf-peeping today, take it. We have a
darned good display right out the sunporch windows,
complete with wild turkeys and three big deer.
Have a beautiful day,
Daisy
~
Thursday, October 6, 2005 8:30 a.m.
56 degrees, breezy, fog lifting
We have another beauty of a day in the works. The local
radio weatherman said we will
never see highs in the eighties again after today; I
think he just means until spring. Leaves are
beginning to change all at once. Instead of teasing us
with a scarlet-clad branch here and there,
entire trees are diffusing each leaf with color from the
edges in. Our biggest maples are more than
half orange, and this transformation has happened in only
two days. The ash is nearly bare, having
lost most of its leaves as well as tons of twigs in the
windstorm a week ago. We have spent several
days moving a winter’s worth of firewood into the
barn and two woodsheds, and are now ready for
cold weather to settle in. Muscle strength is measured by
how heavy a piece of firewood you can lift.
Muscle endurance is measured by how many pieces you can
move before you collapse on the ground
in the fetal position whimpering like a lost puppy.
During the past few days we have discovered both
strength and endurance beyond the call of duty; on the
plus side, we will have a toasty house all
winter long, and we have been sleeping very well at night.
By tomorrow afternoon we will
have a chance to kindle the first of many fires of the
season.
Change is good,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, October 5, 2005 8:30 a.m.
61 degrees, breezy, sunny
These warm October days are unbelievable! I recall one
October 5th years ago when
we had enough snow for the kids to go sledding down the
back meadow hill before school.
There is something so magical about the first snowfall,
we all want to go out and play and toss
a snowball or two. Old-timers say the signs point to an
early hard winter with scads of snow this
year. I hope so; I love snow. For today we will take in
the beautiful sunshine and fresh breeze that
teases a few leaves earthward, and gather up some more
tomatoes to ripen indoors. Broccoli is still
producing hundreds of side-shoots, and the carrots are
waiting for a frost to sweeten them up before
we yank them. Yesterday we planted garlic, rows and rows
of cloves that we saved out from the August
harvest. Our hands are sore from the task of breaking
apart the bulbs, so fresh that they didn’t split
into
cloves easily at all. There is nothing like fresh garlic,
chopped into stir-fry, squeezed into salad dressing,
roasted crisp with oven-baked fingerling potatoes, or
used in bourbon marinade for grilled meats. Garlic
is one of the first crops to emerge in the spring,
appearing at the same time as early daffodils. Which
reminds me, there are several flower beds that need to be
rooted up and divided; fall-planted
bulbs always do better after they have been disturbed a
bit. A busy day lies ahead for us;
have fun, whatever your tasks,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, October 4, 2005 8:30 a.m.
62 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
The sun feels almost too hot in the absence of any breeze.
As we sat on the back porch
earlier we could almost taste the sweet fragrance of late
roses as their essential oils diffused in
warm sunbeams. Twenty turkeys strolled into the garden
closest to the house, bold as brass, peck-
ing away at the seedheads on old lettuce plants. I went
over to chase them away and discovered our
oldest cat crouched behind the hedge, ready to spring
into action. I know she has caught an occasional
sparrow or two, but a full grown turkey just might be
more bird than she can handle. All cats are natural
hunters, and when presented with serene meadows and deep
forests will often catch so much food that
they scorn their kibble at suppertime. Natural predators
such as hawks, owls, coyotes and feral dogs take
their toll on wild cats as well as domestic cats that
stray too far from home. Vehicles claim their share of
victims every year, from little squirrels to huge deer.
Yesterday we had the anguish of finding a feral cat in
our barn who had been caught in a leghold trap and then
dragged it who-knows-how-far before crawling
into the building to die. There are enough ways that a
critter can meet its maker without the unnecessary
cruelty of dying a slow death in a steel-jawed trap. What
is most distressing to us is realizing that there
are traps nearby that now pose a threat to our three cats
who range the meadows and woodlots when
the weather is fine. There is a bill currently before the
House; Please contact your Congressperson
and urge him/her to support H.R. 3442. This bill would
ban the interstate commerce and trans-
port of leghold traps as well as fur derived from animals
caught using these devices.
Think about it;
Daisy
~
Monday, October 3, 2005 8:00 a.m.
61 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
All is very still this morning; the only things moving
outdoors are the birds, and there are
plenty of them. Blue jays are having a field day amid
overripe sweet corn, and nearly every
sunflower head has a little bird hanging off the end,
pecking happily away at seeds. Although
this past weekend was the official Lewis County Fall
Foliage Tour Festival, the leaves have barely
begun to change. Three maples in a row outside my window
are still mostly green, with just a few
leaves orange around the edges. Our aspen is totally
green, with no sign of the beautiful gold that
will soon emerge. Yesterday we walked the North Trail at
Whetstone Gulf, a deep ravine that runs
through Tug Hill several miles north of here. We wondered
what the difference was between a gulf
and a gorge, so here is your lesson for today, according
to the dictionary: A gulf is nothing more than
a deep wide chasm. A gorge is a deep wide ravine,
usually with a river running through it. A ravine is
a deep narrow valley or gorge in the earth’s surface
worn by running water. A canyon is a ravine form-
ed by a river in an area with little rainfall. A gully
is a deep ditch cut in the earth by running water
after
a prolonged downpour. So actually, Whetstone Gulf should
be more accurately referred to as Whet-
stone Ravine. Semantics notwithstanding, it is a
spectacular place right in our neighborhood, with steep
shale cliffs and beautiful waterfalls hundreds of feet
below. Many varieties of trees are grown there, some
plantation pines and hemlocks but also hardwoods such as
oaks, ash, maple, beech, basswood, and
aspen also abound. In a week or so all of these will
present a colorfulpatchwork of hues,
worth a return visit for sure. Meanwhile, we are in for a
hot day full of sunshine and
pure sweet air; make sure you plan to spend at least part
of your day outdoors.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Sunday, October 2, 2005 8:00 a.m.
50 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
A beautiful morning is unfolding before our eyes, and the
warmth of the sun amid cool
ambient temperature is reminiscent of late spring. I get
a daily poem sent via e-mail from NPR,
and I think Emily Dickenson sums up this time of year
much better than I. To subscribe to
The Writer’s Almanac which sends not only a
cool poem but a compendium of facts
based on the day’s date, click here: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/
and then
e-mail newsletters; for example, today is the
birthday of both
Mohandas Gandhi as well as Groucho Marx.
And now, here’s Emily's view:
Poem 130 by Emily Dickenson (public domain)
These are the days when Birds come back—
A very few—a Bird or two—
To take a backward look.
These are the days when skies resume
The old—old sophistries of June—
A blue and gold mistake
Oh fraud that cannot cheat the Bee—
Almost thy plausibility
Induces my belief.
Till ranks of seeds their witness bear—
And softly thro' the altered air
Hurries a timid leaf.
Oh Sacrament of summer days,
Oh Last Communion in the Haze—
Permit a child to join
Thy sacred emblems to partake—
Thy consecrated bread to take
And thine immortal wine!
It’s all here, the birds and the bees and the wine,
not too tricky even for Emily.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
~
Saturday, October 1, 2005 8:00 a.m.
52 degrees, breezy, sunny
What a beautiful morning! To borrow a phrase from
the old Mickey Mouse Club,
it is Anything Can Happen Day for sure. Yesterday
was a gorgeous day as well, and I
happily neglected all of the tomatoes sitting in boxes
waiting to be canned and stayed out-
doors all day. We went on several little walks through
squishy-wet meadows and forests fragrant
with rotting bark and dry leaves. I found one little
daisy that the mowers and frost had missed and
sampled apples from a half dozen trees. The breeze was
still a little chilly, but the sun was warm, and
the two balanced each other, making a jacket unnecessary.
We harvested ornamental corn late in the
day and peeled back each ear carefully so as to leave the
husk attached at the stem end. Every ear is
different, a rich blend of every color of the rainbow and
then some. Even the few ears that are all red
have several different shades of red; soon our hands
became stained purple from the task. I always won-
dered why this variety of corn (formerly known as indian
corn before the world got so politically correct)
is so colorful. It seems that all corn was originally
varicolored as a natural occurrence. Corn that is all one
uniform color is actually abnormal, and our yellow,
white, and blue corn varieties have all been carefully
bred
for color. To find out more, check out http://www.wonderquest.com/IndianCorn.htm
. I’m old enough to
remember when bicolor corn first made an appearance at
farmstands; butter and sugar was more expen-
sive than other varieties, and the ears were smaller and
seemed to have more worms living in the tips. We
begged Mom to return to the all-yellow kind, mostly
because of the worms. Of course, now there are
dozens of bicolor varieties, and even some multicolored
and all-red types of sweet corn, which look
pretty when raw but lose their color when cooked and
become visually unappealing. And, whether
we want it or not, commercial corn is treated with
pesticides (or worse, genetically modified) to
keep those little worms out of the tips. That’s a
good reason to grow your own, and ignore the
occasional borer or earworm. Meanwhile, our late sweet
corn is winding down; the ears are
still sweet but getting a little chewy. And now, those
tomatoes won’t wait one more day,
but I should be done by lunchtime and then the rest of
the day awaits.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
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