Sunday – October 24, 2021 – Galloping Through

It was strange weather today. Temperatures rose through the night and it was a very warm day, threatening rain some of the time, but never amounting to anything. Now, we are under a tornado watch and a severe thunderstorm warning, but in spite of plenty of lightning and wind, not much has happened. I hope the penny sized hail will miss our new roof. It is looking like the rough stuff is going to pass by.

I spent the day attending to various chores. Jane had no further disasters, but she, too, had lots to do, so the horses took life easy.

One of the chores was to clean and fill the water trough. Bart had to get involved.

The Mexican sunflower may get knocked out tomorrow evening, with temperatures falling into the thirties. But today another bloom opened. It is an optimistic plant and a welcome burst of color.

I think this weekend may be peak autumn color. The maple tree in front of the house was the first tree we planted here, on the island. That was 17 years ago and we chose it for the blazing red autumn leaves. It has not disappointed.

The yellow leaves of the hickories are beautiful, too.

I finished up the mowing for the year (I hope) and cleared up some weeds, encountering a lingering toad. It will be hibernating tomorrow, I expect. Another sign that the season is wending toward cold, I saw the first junco (commonly called a “snow-bird”) today. No picture yet, but I expect more will be arriving soon. They aren’t very colorful, but I love them, and they tend to appear in groups, though I only saw one today. Maybe it’s an advance guard, checking the area out. Their numbers have declined by 40%, according to the American Bird Conservancy, so I hope they will thrive here when they arrive from summering in Canada.

Tom Morris and Twizzler heard about yesterday’s sad tale on the blog.

Roscoe made a trip out to visit the barn, and Marmalade came across the lawn for dinner in the shed. Meanwhile, Rosie watched all the activity around the barn.