Gray Skies Continue

Wednesday (12/17) dawned relatively clear, but with a red sky on the horizon.  Clouds soon moved back in to cover the sky, but not before Jo captured a photo of the walnut tree in our yard. 

Thursday (12/18) was overcast all day.  This was the view right after we turned around and headed back home on our afternoon walk.

The grass and weeds at the road's edge were wet with accumulated moisture.

.

Gray Skies Continue

Early Morning Fog (by Jo)

It was foggy early this morning. I'm glad Jo and the dogs didn't meet up with a bear while on their morning walk.

.

Early Morning Fog (by Jo)

A Little Miscellaneous

Dogwood leaves and berries.















Turn out the lights; the garden's over.














Our road out ... up near the gate.













The dill was the only plant in the garden not damaged by our light freeze.






.

A Little Miscellaneous

Last Walk in the Woods

Butterfly Weed, 5/31/07 (Jo's photo)

On Friday Jo and I and the dogs took what will probably be our last walk in the woods until late next fall. Our normal daily walk route is a loop that's about 50/50 pasture and woods. A small part of the walk is on old cow trails, but the majority of it is just cross country -- and the country is getting too grown up for comfort and safety. As much as I enjoy being in the woods, walking through waist high grass just isn't much fun. You cannot see your feet to determine what you might be stepping on. You're bound to pick up at least a half dozen ticks along the way. And, between the maturing grass seeds and stick-tights, Rusty and Bucket come home looking like potential Chia Pets.

Jo was the first to suggest that Friday's walk should be our last for this summer. I protested, saying we'd continued walking that loop longer last year. I based my assertion on the fact that there are at least a couple blooming wildflowers (butterfly weed and larkspurs) we'd photographed last years that are not yet in bloom this year. Jo gently suggested that those wildflowers might be blooming later in 2008. I checked last year's photos and Jo was right. (Someday perhaps I'll learn that Jo's always right.) I certainly don't keep enough weather records or know the plants well enough to know why they're blooming later this year, but they are at least a week to 10 days behind.

For the remainder of the summer and early fall, we will take our daily walks up the road and back. There will still be wildflowers and more than enough bugs for us to photography along the roadside and in the yard, but I will still miss our daily trip through the woods.

Last Walk in the Woods

Sunday Walk

Tuesday morning we woke up to a thin layer of ice covering everything that was up off the ground. Overnight we'd experienced a series of small thundershowers that dropped about an inch and a half of rain. There was some thunder and lightning, but nothing severe. Sometime during the early morning, the temperature dropped below freezing.

Monday was overcast and damp with a gusty south wind blowing, our typical weather prior to the arrival of a new cold front.

The attached photos were taken on our walk on Sunday, a beautiful day that was great for being outside.

Sunday Walk

Along The Winter Creek

Sunday afternoon Jo and I and the dogs decided not to walk our normal route and walk along the winter creek that runs through our place instead. (The dogs certainly didn't object. Rusty and Bucket are always ready to go and don't really care where.) Walking the creek is more like exploring. You cannot manage anything close to a walking pace because of the steep sides and all the rocks and boulders strewn about.





The creek should be flowing this time of year, but we haven't received enough rain this year. There were just a few pools of water scattered along the way. There were also "pools" of loose, dry leaves where the water should have been. These leaf pools made walking even more treacherous. A few of the larger ones were waist deep. A pool of water you can see, but when you step off into a pool of leaves, you think you're stepping onto firm ground, but step off into nothingness instead. Both Jo and I fell several time. Fortunately, there were no hidden rocks where we fell and the leaves provided a soft landing. We completely lost sight of Rusty when he unknowingly jumped off into one of the deeper leaf pools. He quickly dog paddled to the surface and swam onto firm ground.

Along The Winter Creek

Last Day of 2007

This is where our normal afternoon walk starts during the winter. From here, we walk up to the upper pasture.














A little fern trying its best to split a boulder. Given enough time and help from other plants and the elements, it will succeed.













Leaves in the little winter creek right behind the house. Oh, how I wish this little creek flowed year round.

Last Day of 2007

Late Afternoon Walk

The pond on the upper pasture is a lot fuller than it was a couple of weeks ago, and we got another .6" of rain overnight. This rain came in the form of a thundershower, complete with a fair amount of thunder and lightning. Had to get up and unplug the computer.

I'm sure these high, wispy clouds have a name, but I don't remember what it is. I just thought they were a cool addition to the sky above our upper pasture -- a much better addition than the honey locusts in the foreground.

We leave on our afternoon walk about four o'clock every day, but with these short winter days, we can't dawdle too much or it's getting dark by the time we return. These long shadows point the way down the "home stretch" of the loop we normally walk.

While Jo and the dogs went on to the house, I decided to linger and photograph the "sunset". Here in the hills we don't have a true sunset. The sun simply drops down behind the mountain across the valley. Often, the sky is more colorful a while after we've lost sight of the sun.

Late Afternoon Walk

Friday, 11/23/07

I ventured just a little ways down into the woods this afternoon, mainly just to take a few photos. Jo and I have continued taking our walks along the road leading out to the main county road and have stayed out of the woods due to modern weapons deer hunting season going on. I seems like deer season is running for a long time this year. The modern weapons portion began on November 10 and ran through November 18. It restarted on Thanksgiving day and will run through December 2. (Don't ask me why there was a 3-day hiatus. I don't know.)

When we walk in the woods, Jo and I spend a lot of time off our own 40 acres. All the land surrounding our place is owned by our neighbor, Jerry Joe. Jerry hunts, but due to several bad experiences in the past, rarely allows anyone else to hunt on his land. Walking in the woods would probably be safe, but when it comes to possibly getting shot, not taking any chances seems to be the most prudent course to follow.

They say that back in horse and wagon days, the old road in this photo used to be the main route off Star Mountain and down into Bear Creek Valley. I don't know if that's true or not, but it could be. The road does follow the bench above the creek all the way down to the valley, and there are old rock walls in various places along the route.

Twisted Pine

Bits and Pieces:

The temperature fell to 23º overnight. We had to thaw the rabbits' water bottles by the wood stove this morning.

With sunshine in the forecast, Jo washed a load of clothes this morning. She said her fingers got cold while hanging them out on the clothesline.

Jo finished up a bisque firing I started last night. Actually, the kiln is programed to start the firing itself. All I do is record the electric meter reading and turn on the exhaust fan. This is Jo's last bisque firing before our next show. If it's not thrown and fired by now, it's not going down to Little Rock with us.

Since the temperature was only forecast to remain below freezing for a short time period, we didn't do anything about protecting the studio water pipes from freezing. Jo said the water over there was a bit slow to start flowing this morning, but no real problems.

Jo fixed a pot of black turtle beans for lunch -- actually for several lunches. There just ain't no point in cooking a small pot of beans. I put some of the beans into the fridge and some into the freezer.

The little air compressor over in Jo's studio didn't want to run this morning. Actually, it ran but almost immediately tripped the breaker on the power strip into which she has it plugged. The power strip breaker is probably just barely big enough to run the compressor under the best of circumstances. With cold compressor oil it wouldn't do the job. Directing the air flow from a small electric heater onto the compressor for a while solved that problem.

We took our afternoon walk up to the gate and back without interruption today. The past couple of days we've encountered Jerry Joe either cutting firewood, deer hunting or tending to his cows. Rusty and Bucket always behave badly when we meet anyone on our walks, lots of barking and getting totally hyper. It's the "territory" thing. When we're away from our place they are usually pretty good.

Today's temperature topped out at 53º. Sunny skies, though it was starting to cloud up by sunset.

Friday, 11/23/07

Two Bucks

A couple of nice bucks Jo saw on her morning walk.

Two Bucks

Spiderwort

Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana L.)

I'm not 100% sure of species. As Neartica says: There are a number of other species of Tradescantia in eastern North America. These species can be difficult to separate from T. virginiana.

Growing on the bluff at the base of the trail off Jerry Joe's north pasture. Also alongside the trail as you enter the woods.

See also: Missouri Plants

Spiderwort

Hairy Phacelia

Hairy Phacelia (Phacelia hirsuta)

Another wildflower found down in the woods on our walk. According to Missouri Plants it should grow just about anywhere: Rocky fields and prairies, moist soils of valleys, glades, bluffs, open woods and roadsides. However, the site does warn that the flower will fade quickly in full sun.

Hairy Phacelia

Blackhaw Viburnum

Blackhaw Viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium)

We have a couple of specimens growing along the edge of the woods north of the house.

Black haw is usually grown as a large, upright, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub with an irregular crown, but it also may be grown as a small, single trunk tree. As a shrub, it typically grows 12-15' tall with a spread of 6-12', but as a tree may reach a height of 30'. Commonly occurs in moist woods, thickets and on streambanks. Non-fragrant white flowers in flat-topped cymes (to 4.5" diameter) appear in spring. Flowers give way in autumn to blue-black, berry-like drupes which often persist into winter and are quite attractive to birds and wildlife. Ovate, finely toothed, glossy dark green leaves (to 4" long) turn attractive shades of red and purple in fall. Fruits are edible and may be eaten off the bush when ripe or used in jams and preserves. Common name refers to the purported similarity of this plant to hawthorns (sometimes commonly called red haws), though hawthorns are in a different family.

Source: Missouri Botanical Gardens
Also: Missouri Plants

Blackhaw Viburnum

Wild Comfrey

Wild Comfrey (Cynoglossum virginianum)

Numerous in the wooded section of our walk, especially near the small pond.

Additional Resources:
Missouri Plants
To Be In The Wild

Wild Comfrey

Fire Pink

Fire Pink (Silene virginica)

Another wildflower that grows well in open woods and rocky slopes.

I always wondered why this pretty little red flower was called "pink". It is because of the notches in the ends of the petals. They look as if they've been pinked.


Additional resources:
To Be In The Wild
Illinois Wildflowers

Fire Pink

Bird's Foot Violet

Photo by Marvin April 5, 2007

Bird's Foot Violet (Viola pedata)

Unlike most of our wildflowers, Bird's Foot Violet prefers rocky and/or dry woods, slopes and ridges. It's growing in and along the old road around the bench, almost back to the house on our routine afternoon walk loop.

There are two varieties of this violet other than the one pictured above. One has two petals that are much darker purple and is often called a Pansy Violet. Here, those bloomed a little earlier in the spring. Another variety is white, but we haven't discovered any of those on our place. Like all violets, Bird's Foot can hybridize easily in the wild. Unlike most violets, Bird's Foot has no cleistogamous flowers, making it impossible for this species to self-pollinate.

Cleistogamous flowers are flowers that do not open and are self pollinated. Cleistogamy insures that a plant produces seeds, even if conditions are unfavorable for wind or insect pollination. Cleistogamy occurs in many different and unrelated plant families, including violets (Violaceae), rushes (Juncaceae) and grasses (Poaceae).

Additional Resources:
Discover Life
Missouri Plants
Missouri Botanical Garden

Bird's Foot Violet

Luna Moth

The first luna moth we've seen this season. Jo found it along the trail leading down from Jerry Joe's north pasture.

Luna moths (Actias luna) are members of the Giant Silkworm moth family. Adult moths live only about one week, just long enough to mate and for the female to lay eggs. For this reason they do not even have mouth parts and live on energy stored as a caterpillar. I believe this specimen is a male based on its longer tail and more highly feathered antennae.

Luna Moth

Stormy Monday

From March, 2007

It was overcast with occasional periods of light mist most all day on Monday. When the time for our afternoon walk rolled around, the skies looked less threatening than they had all day, so we decided to go ahead and go for the full walk instead of sticking closer to the house. I even took the camera, and didn't bother bringing along a plastic bag to protect it should we get caught out in a shower. By the time we got up to the pasture, we began hearing thunder. I only took time to take a couple of photos. Aside from those we continued around our routine loop at a pretty good pace -- no stopping to smell the roses (or look at the wildflowers) on this trip. We made it back to the house before the rain started. Several small, weak squall lines moved through over the next couple of hours. We didn't have any severe weather, and only received .3" of rain.

Stormy Monday

Still Winter?

Even with all the wildflowers starting to bloom, the leafless trees remind you that spring is just barely getting started.

Still Winter?

An Overcast Friday

Friday was overcast for most of the day with a little bit -- a very little bit -- of rain during the evening. Even with the cloud cover the temperature managed to make it up to 67º.

I took a few photos on our afternoon walk. I told Bucket to sit and wait while I took the pictures. Jo and Rusty continued with the walk. Boo is sitting and waiting, but is absolutely convince that Jo and Rusty are off to do something new and exciting that she is going to miss out on.

An Overcast Friday