Better with the sun

This is the same photo as yesterday, taken yesterday, but after The Husband came home and brought the sun with him. Frosty Panther Mountain was still a bit frosty, but looked so much prettier with the sun shining.

The not so pretty picture of last night's dinner was my first attempt at making fried green tomatoes. Like the good Southern girl I am not, I did my best to be authentic. Our ham, my little fried heirlooms, and some French bread with goat cheese because I was too lazy to make cornbread like a good Southern girl. Delicious!

Winter's beginning

It is an exaggeration to say that autumn is over and winter begun. I know. It is not unusual to have 30° weather at the end of October, just a bit of a disappointment when we have had so many nice days in the 70°s.

This is not a complaint. I love winter. It just takes awhile to adjust.

We got a dusting of snow early this morning. Hoar frost on Panther Mountain in the background. The snow is gone, but the frost is still there at noon.

And the second pic is a fine example of the WoodMan taking full advantage of a wet cold frosty kinda day. Also still there at noon.

Autumn's end

It's a shame, little piggies, that you missed all the nice weather and got here just in time for the rain and snow. Also a shame that you tore up all the weeds in your pen just in time for today's rain to make it a mud pit.

But your little barn filled with dry straw will surely keep you warm and happy.

I am officially calling an end to autumn up here. I had to pick all my little green heirloom tomatoes because I could no longer protect them under blankets and plastic.

At least I have a recipe from the Barnwells for Fried Green Tomatoes that I am itching to try. And I will do the real version with corn meal, not those Yankee panko bread crumbs.

 

These little piggies came home

After a short road trip to Starkville on this cold damp Saturday, I am seriously thinking about starting up the woodstove even though it is 70° in here. And it was 75° outside yesterday! I think that really was the last of our extra warm fall days. 

These 3 little pigs traveled to their new home in the back of the truck. What a darn shame the big crate wouldn't fit in my Kia! :) Even after their chilly ride, they were so cozy in the crate they did not want to come out and explore their new little barn full of fresh straw bedding, plus a big pen full of weeds and tomatoes and sunflowers. As far as I know they are still in the crate and we have been home for 2 and a half hours. Welcome home piggy girls. Now we just have to come up with some silly names for you. It is always fun to name pigs in an election year...so many options available...

Autumn's finest with wood and Woody

I keep repeating that I have to enjoy my last evening sitting outside before it gets too cold, and then we are blessed with another. It is 72° and sunny right now with another beautiful day ahead of us. 

We had some firewood delivered this week for when it does get cold out there. I asked The Husband just to throw the logs in the general direction, and then I did most of the stacking. I am too darn picky about my wood stack, even though my old body doesn't really enjoy the workout. I hope he appreciates my angled layout. I left him room for more hay. He is welcome to stack that any way he pleases.

Even after a year with that fence in the backyard, the dogs are still learning to chill outside with mom. They are so much better at chilling inside, usually on the furniture rather than the expensive dog beds. MonkeyCat often joins in the fun.

A creek jam and a fire jam

We don't usually get pretty sunsets in October, so we'll take this one as a gift. Glad I took the photo when I did because the color disappeared by the time I came back inside.

After all my excitement about the eagles in the backyard, I discovered the real reason for their presence when I did the stream testing for Otsego County Conservation Association on Sunday.

Just below where the creek is jammed up, on the right where I normally collect the water samples, was a recently dead young buck who appears to have been shot in the chest. It is bow-hunting season here.

The eagles showed up on Friday in the large willow which is just behind me in the creek photo. Now I know they were not interested in building another nest, just interested in a good meal. That would also explain why the crows were defending their territory, and it was probably the reason for the coyotes singing on Saturday night.

There was some other singing on Saturday afternoon as well. We had a short and chilly outdoor jam session by the firepit. A beautiful afternoon with good friends...all outdoors, only 5 people, and distant enough to be safe. 

October eagles

I can't be sure, but I think the eagles from across the road have sent their offspring over here to build their own nest. I suspect there is some version of an eagle grocery store here with the woods and the creek behind us. If we are lucky, they will dine on the fish, minks, skunks, and groundhogs rather than my chickens. And if we are really lucky, we will be able to see the nest from the house.

All day yesterday, and again this morning, there were 2 eagles back there. I had to make do with my old iPhone as a camera. It wasn't working out so well, so I set up my binoculars on the windowsill and did my best to point the camera through the lens. 

The 1 with gray sky is the binocular version from yesterday. That's Don's house in the background. 

Early this morning, the light was just perfect and the eagles were in the mood for posing, so I called in the big guns for a real photo shoot. Cousin Greg happily rushed over with his real camera and telephoto lens. He sent me these pics for now, I hope to get a few more from him soon. Always good to have a good cousin with a good camera close by when you need one!

Zebra with big ears

Last night was almost definitely the last warm evening for sitting outside. When the wind started blowing and the hound started howling—for no good reason other than he is a hound—I  just had to take that photo. The stripey shadows on his body, the wind blowing out his big old hound ears...just wish I was closer. :)

Cyrus got jealous of Woody being the star so he came up to join him on the stage. I love that these boys get along so well.

The 2 smaller boys who mostly live upstairs get along pretty well too. They have been working on their adorable sleeping together poses. I got 2 of those shots this week. All good.

Fenimore art

The artwork out behind the Fenimore Art Museum was just as fascinating as what was inside. Sue and Joe picked a perfect weekend to visit. I was worried there would be no color left when they got here, but it was actually a perfect leaf-peeping time to come. And warm enough that it did not feel like October in Upstate NY.

One of the 2 main exhibits, Pete Souza: Two Presidents One Photographer, was a different kind of view inside the White House during the Reagan and Obama years. It takes a good photographer to remove the politics, pomp, and party nonsense to see 2 very different men in power acting very much the same.

The American Folk Art exhibit on the first floor had a 19th-century silk quilt which I could have stared at for hours. Just imagining all the garments that produced those colorful strips of silk...

And when we were done wandering the grounds behind the Fenimore, the site of James Fenimore Cooper's estate on Otsego Lake, we did a second wander around Brookwood Point, also on the lake. All in all, a good day for art and wandering.

Morning sun and the crooked pig

The dogs woke me up early enough this morning that I could catch the sun lighting up the trees on the mountain behind us.

Some dark clouds are left from yesterday's storm that came with plenty of thunder, wind and sleet, and left us chilly today.

The wind was strong enough to send things flying. The lid to the one grill is all the way back by the fire pit, 2 huge willow trees came down far from the house, but we were the lucky ones. Just a few chairs, trash cans, and tree branches needed picking up, and our metal porch pig needed a little butt lift.

The internet was out until now—but compared to all who are still without power—we were truly were the lucky ones.