Happy Halloween

The Old Homestead

Mom and Dad had their garden put back into lawn for easier maintenance. It looks nice but its weird not having the garden after 45 + year of it being there. I remember using coffee cans to water the tomato and bean plants. The first two photos are from before when we were cleaning out some old trees and weeds. The last photo is the after picture from when they had it sewn into grass.

Pearle King Savanna

Madison County remanent prairie on a perfect fall day.

Fall Fun Day!

Just a fun fall day spent enjoying our house and yard.

A Turkey Vulture and a Hawk

I came home from lunch to find a couple of these guys dining on a dead squirrel in our front yard and literally stopping traffic. This is a new species for our wildlife wonderland. I know that most people hate turkey vultures and think they are ugly but without them who would do carcass cleanup duty? I think they are another one of natures marvels. The one in this photo actually responded to my conversation with him by sitting nicely to have his portrait taken.

I figured the squirrel was killed a hawk and then dropped due to some interruption and later in the week my suspicion was pretty much confirmed when we saw the hawk (pictured below), probably the juvenile I blogged about earlier this summer, hunting in our back yard. This is the first time we have seen him since he about took Andrew's head off while robbing our cardinal nest.

Fall on Drummond Island

A quick trip to Drummond Island, Michigan earlier this month-up on Saturday back on Tuesday.  We had planned to stay another day but a "monsoon" blew in on Monday night and we decided not to sit in the cabin all day. Otherwise it was a beautiful weekend with a bit of rain on Monday and some of the best lighting I have ever had there for photography. We hike and fished; didn't catch anything and just puttered around.  It was a good time.  I knitted Nolan a sweater on the way up and later a matching hat for myself.

Elvis is Alive

Last night we were supposed to meet our friends at our favorite restaurant. Unfortunately we arrived there to find that the power was out.  We decided to go to another place that has really good food but we were still somewhat disappointed after waiting all day for, and really wanting, seafood.  Upon our arrival at restaurant B we were greeted by Elvis himself who stopped by to sing a few songs during dinner. It made for a fun, albeit, a bit loud, atmosphere and we enjoyed our dinner which concluded with some of the best gellato that I have ever eaten.

Hornets

Weather folklore: A Hornets' nest built in the top of trees indicates a mild winter is ahead; nests built close to the ground indicate that a harsh winter is coming. This one was about 4 feet off the ground and the other one we saw at a different location was almost on the ground. Andrew wondered aloud if last winter would be mild compared to this winter?  Of course it's just tale right?