Who have thought it?  Yesterday Sylvia picked a double handful of raspberries.  (Yes, they were very tasty.)  That is probably even more surprising than roses in November.

Roses still bloom as November is here

Yesterday, we spent some time draining garden hoses and preparing garden spaces for winter.  Despite all that, some us don’t want summer to end.  That includes this beauty:

And it still looks so fresh

And out in the yard there are other blossoms.  Like this one:

A touch of color in the grass

The tractor is still in the shop.  The corn harvest is going full tilt around here and equipment will break.  The agricultural equipment has a higher priority.  That’s okay with me.  It’s a family’s income and it’s our food that should be more important than me being able to finally till my garden space for next year.  Nevertheless, it is frustrating that it has been over a month since I’ve had the use of my tractor for more than a couple of hours.

Rain is forecast for the next couple of days. Hopefully, that will allow the mechanics to finish work on my tractor.  We’ll see . . .

Comments

Several of you answer the comments on your blogs with your own comments.  I have not been doing that.  I’m going to try to follow the example of my good friends that do.

    Proud of his strength.
Wooed his first love,
   Took her for wife.

Built her a house,
   To call their home.
Love did not last,
   When Passion cooled.

He found others,
   And alcohol.
The anger grew,
   It could not last.

Divorce?  Never!
   They’d live apart.
Another house,
   He built for her.

Across the road,
   The houses stood.
And now they’re gone,
   The fighting o’er.

Beneath the sod,
   Bodies turned dust.
The two houses,
   Have tumbled down.
.

Last Thursday was a busy day.  I had just finished my morning coffee and as I rinsed out the cup, I looked out the window.  There were a couple of visitors lounging on the front lawn.

Sylvia and I have seen these youngsters a few times this year.  This was my first chance to capture an image.  As I approached the window, camera in hand, they saw me and decided to move.

At first they moved slowly as they continued to enjoy chewing on the tall grass.  (I mowed the next day.)

Then they moved a little faster toward the shelter of the pines.

Soon they had reached sanctuary, and they disappeared into the trees beside the corn field.  I finished rinsing my coffee cup and went back to the project at hand.  It had been a very good morning.

It was May 27 of this year, and I was going to go out and mow the lawn.  I stepped out of the front door to check the sky.  What I saw inspired me to go back in the house for the camera.  Here’s why:

I liked the look of those friendly fair-weather clouds.  I slipped the camera in my pocket and began my job.

Yes, it was going to be a great day.  Warm weather and a nice breeze.  What a perfect day for working outside.  It is not unusual to see contrails overhead.  We are under a major air-traffic route.  But it was time to get going.  Later, I was engrossed in mowing when I noticed the change in the clouds.

The clouds appeared as delicate brush strokes across the sky.  Don’t you love the dark blue of the sky?  All of these images are as they were captured by the camera.  I only re-sized them for faster downloading.  Soon the sky changed again.

Clouds had given way to clear skies overhead.  (You can still see a few wispy clouds on the left.)  It was neat how the contrails ended (or began) so abruptly.  I had a few swallows of water from the bottle I had with me.  This provided an excellent excuse to just relax and enjoy the scenery for a few minutes.  Then back to work.

http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

With the arrival of March, the weather has improved.  From the first of the month the thermometer has climbed above freezing each day.  For the last week, the thermometer has not dipped below freezing.  Good news, right?  Not necessarily.  When you live on a dirt road, winter and freezing temps are good.  The ground freezes, and your car tires don’t fling mud onto your vehicle.

We had lot of snow covering the ground until last week.  Not only did the temperatures rise, but the rain fell.  The result was lots of water — everywhere.  The frost deeper in the ground hasn’t melted yet, so the water must move mostly horizontally.  It can’t sink into the frozen ground.  That leaves a layer of mud.

That’s the way it looked yesterday in front of our house.  Hard to believe that last week you could see no green — only white.

Sunday, I drove to the bottom of the drive and turned right (north).  I was going to church.  What I found in front of our house was the worst mud holes I’ve seen in 10 years of living here.  I wasn’t sure I’d get through, but I did.

Like the magi in the Christmas story, I returned home by another way.  The road to the south is in much better condition at least as far as the paved road.

Today, the county road crew was out working on our road.

The road truck is approaching one of the worst spots.  The driver was grading (scraping) the road and dropping more gravel.  There should be no problem getting out now.  There will be a problem keeping the car clean.  On second thought, forget about that.  It’s impossible to keep you car clean if you live here.

Here the truck is going back south as it passes in front of our driveway.  When I feel frustrated by our road, I think about how much better it is than if we lived on the paved road.  That’s where most of the cars go.  And they fly by.  Here they go at a more leisurely pace, and that’s the way I prefer to live.  How about you?

Yesterday, the sunrise rose on a fog shrouded world.  The fog was clearing as I came into the office and looked out upon this scene:

The sun shone weakly over the barn and through the fog. I had to see what a little bit of touch up could do to the photo, so I did this:

I’m not sure it’s an improvement.  What do you think?

The fog comes as moisture from the snow banks sublimates directly into the warm air in the form of water vapor.  Around here, it’s a sign that winter is coming to an end.  Many of our winter days are characterized by lead-gray skies.  We may go for days — or even weeks without seeing the sun.

This week started with warmer air and bright sunshine. The rising sun, which is hidden behind the garage in this view from my bedroom window, was a welcome sight.

There was an air boundary that ran almost overhead.  To the east airplanes were leaving contrails across the sky.  The contrails ended (or began) abruptly at the boundary.  You can see how much more snow there is — particularly in front of the barn.

Speaking of airplanes, I’ll be taking Sylvia to the airport early this morning.  She’ll meet one of her sisters there, and together they will board a plane and fly to Florida where they will see their other two sisters and dad.  So Midnight and I will be batching it for a week.

Rains have started and our road is a muddy mess.  Actually, rain is necessary.  It only takes warmer temperatures to thaw the icy ground.  But that’s another story.  Perhaps for next week.

Update

I drove through thick fog to take Sylvia to the airport this morning.  Fortunately, the fog cleared as we got closer to town and the airport.  The recliner received me upon return, and a two-hour nap followed.  Midnight spent quite a bit of time on my lap.  We were both grateful for the companionship.  And to my friend who asked, “No, we will not be pigging out on kitty treats straight from the bag.”  Kitties don’t “pig out.”  It’s beneath their feline dignity, which must be maintained at all costs.  But then, you know that already.

http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Last week, we had a big snow storm. It started Tuesday afternoon and continued into Wednesday. Tuesday ended with Sylvia’s car stuck at the bottom of the drive. It was off the road, so that was a problem that could wait until Wednesday. And the sun came up that Wednesday morning.

The snow was not terribly deep at the top of the drive as I looked out the window. How would it be elsewhere?

As I expected there was drifting on the slope. Yes, the driveway is under all that snow. The fun would be removing the snow.

The drifting created some interesting patterns. The white dots are snow flakes. The white stuff hadn’t yet stopped falling. (This is the only photo that I processed. Increased the contrast a bit.)

Looking down from the office window I could see snow collected on the burning bush and a snow drift.

Shifting my camera upward, I could see more snow in the trees. That’s the back side of an Internet satellite dish. I canceled the service several years ago — it was expensive and not very reliable. Now I use terrestrial wireless (Wi-Fi) to connect.

You can see the blue sky and a strong shadow from the power pole and transformer. The snow was ending and soon I would go out and begin snow removal operations. That, however, is another story.