Climate change

Cosmos garden October 24

Cosmos garden October 13

What little color we had 10 days ago is gone. Frost has taken what was left of summer flowers and tomatoes. The local climate has certainly given in to winter winds.

We had the first snow last Thursday while Faunces were up visiting. Not much, just about an inch which melted by late morning, early afternoon. The 4 pics below were from Steve and Mary. The snow was on the ground at an orchard where they went picking the day after they stopped here.

The barn out front is still in good shape, but the house in the picture above it is not long for this world. According to Magic Charlie, it was built in the 1700s. Not sure if that is true, but since he left us, the new owners are not doing a good job of maintaining it. Broken windows, critters and trash inside... At least there are no more renters in there to do more damage. And I don't have to worry about the chickens going over there and pestering people.

Winter visitors!

We went from that late summer heat just a week or so ago, to our first snow on the ground when Mary and Steve came up from NJ for a visit on Wednesday. Steve said he wanted to see some October snow, and we made sure he got his wish.

By Friday it was warm enough again to sit outside at the Fire Bar when Sue and Joe came north. Beautiful spot right on Otsego Lake, beautiful night for a drink with family that we don't get to see often enough.

Saturday afternoon we went to the Munson Williams Proctor Museum in Utica and we were all very impressed. The big spider gets a lot of attention, but they have a variety of other famous artists' works as well.

We caught the Ukrainian Festival on the way out, kielbasa and kraut sandwiches for an early dinner. Later that evening, The Husband made his debut at the Cooperstown Beverage Exchange playing mandolin along with his dentist Dr W, and friend Tom.

Saturday was the last of the warm weather for the year (probably). It has been woodstove weather ever since.

Summer bits!

It was starting to feel like autumn about a month ago. Then back to summer, some rain and wind, back to autumn, and now summer again. It's 78° right now, and humid too. (But look at this coming weekend Mary and Steve. Bring your sweatshirts!)

The trees are confused. They don't know whether they should change their colors or not. The young trees along the driveway are October Sunset red maples, usually among the first to change color. A little further back, showing a bit of yellow at the top is a sugar maple that might just skip the orange and go straight from yellow to brown.

Woody says he does not mind the extended growing season. Just when the humans had given up all hope of finding ripe tomatoes in their garden, the WoodMan discovered that he can (almost) fit through the fence far enough to eat them. Red or green, no preference—all good to The Wood.

And yes, the weeds are enjoying the extended growing season as well.

Autumn bits

We are getting some leaf color this year—better than last year, but going fast. We had a lot of apples, but only on a couple of trees, and they are wormier, split, and mostly on the ground after some windy nights. I might have to buy some apples to make my yearly batch of apple butter, and maybe a pie or 2.

Last year we had a whole lot of dragonflies, none of which I was able to capture in a photo. This year we have had far too many grasshoppers. The chickens are very adept at catching them, even the chicks find them easy to catch and very tasty.

We also have a bumper crop of mushrooms this year, all different colors and sizes. If I only knew how to tell which ones were edible, I could put them to use. But I don't.

And those little chicks who escaped their crate to roost higher up were back in the crate the next night. Too cold without mom to keep them warm. Then 2 warmer nights got them back up on the pole. And two of the bigger chicks were also out of the crate last night, leaving more room for Big Roo who is still sleeping in there. That is one dedicated hen to stick with these little ones for so long!

Not missing the missing skunk

Definitely not my best sunset photo. The skies aren't as pretty this time of year, or maybe it is just because it is getting too chilly to sit on the porch and watch the sun going down, waiting for the perfect moment to take a photo.

It was too dark in the coop to get a good pic of the chicks. Milestone: last night, the littlest babies graduated to the roost (about 5' off the ground) before the bigger ones. Mom and 4 chicks had been sleeping in a cat carrier on the floor of the coop. Mom huddled over them all to keep them warm in there. Here, she can only cover one with her wing. It must have been the brazen little ones who decided to make the move, on a cold (40°) night no less, because I think Mama would have preferred to keep them down below.

The big babies, who are almost full grown, are still all crammed in a different crate with their adoptive mom. Big Roo is in there with them. I think he is getting too old to make it up higher on the roost, so he has also adopted the upper crate as his sleeping space.

I am happy that all 8 chicks are alive and well. Mr Skunk has not been seen or smelled recently.