When it comes to weather, boring is good

I know it looks somber but at least it is not cold.

The dog and I walked down to the Pig Farm on Friday morning.  The weather was overcast with mild temperatures in the upper 60's.  When we arrived at the farm I noticed that the building looked particularly austere in the drab light of this gray morning.  The once green grass field in front of the buildings has been transformed by the frost and is now a golden yellow color.

The Pig Farm's golden field. 

  The frosts we have in Grand Bay seem to cause more damage than they do in the rest of Mobile county.  Numerous people I have talked to in Grand Bay agree with me that we most likely live in a micro climate situation.  The micro climate may be the result of our location between the Mobile Bay, the Grand Bay and the Gulf of Mexico as well as our relative high elevation (100+ feet) in close proximity to the see level areas around us.   At any rate in the 13 years I have been here it has often been much colder, hotter, drier and rainier than the surrounding towns of Mobile county.

The dog decided to take the foot ball
on the road. 

After looking at the farm for a few minute I turned to go and found the dog standing in front of me with his foot ball ready for me to throw it.  Sometimes he likes to take his toys on the road with him and play with them along the way.  We walked back home through the pecan orchard where the foundation of the new home there is now under construction.

How can so little water get me so wet?

The cogangrass in the orchard is coming back up after being cut a while back.   The grass blades are capable of holding on to large drops of  dew and rain water which can soak your clothing and shoes from the knees down.  I prefer to walk on the road but the dog loves the cool wet grass.

 It appears we have now arrived at the time of the year when fronts will pass through on an approximately weekly basis.  The fronts will cause the weather to rotate through several stages over the 7 to 10 day period going from  clear breezy cool and dry days to warmer and very humid cloudy days followed by the passage of rain storms with their cold rainy days.  Then everything starts over.  Boring and repetitive yes but, let us hope and pray that the pattern holds steady until spring.  Any large variations can turn this place into a desert or a flood plain.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye.

Fall's first frost

The colors of fall are showing up here and there now. 

Thursday morning the temperature was moderate and bearable at 37 degrees.  The wind which was howling on Wednesday had calmed at last.  The dog and I set out to walk up to the east end of the paved road.  The sky was very blue and clear with just a few of the high cirrus clouds that had been so prevalent on Wednesday.

Our first frost was a light one. 

Frost on this leaf was melting as I watched. 

As we walked by my neighbor's fields I noticed that frost had formed during the night. This is the much anticipated first frost that will kick off our cold season.    I like to take a close look at the ice crystals formed by the frost on the plants along the road side. The patterns the ice sometimes forms can be fascinating.   We continued on until we were near the end of the road where the dog stopped. He did not want to go any further as he is still scared of the electric fence.   The surrounding country side on this end of the road is very pretty as it takes on the colors of fall.  I noticed also that the birds are filling the brush along the road sides taking advantage of the bounty of wild flower seeds they are finding there.   I saw quite a few finches and wrens as well as a few cardinals on the fence lines.  As we turned and headed back I decided to stop and take a look at the Soybean field.

The soybean field is empty now,
with the exception of the dog.

  The owner of the field has harvested his crop in the last few days and nothing remains of the beans but plant stalks and bean shells.  I am not sure if there are any animals that will be scavenging the lost soybeans that are laying on various parts of the field.  It seems that surely there would be something that would want to use all that protein.  I personally have never seen any birds or animals looking for the lost beans in the harvested soybean fields.  That is have not seen them at any time I was walking by during daylight.   Maybe they come at night or maybe they know something about soybeans that we don't .   We left the field and walked on toward the house and as we passed the field where we saw the frost earlier I noticed that  the frost was gone.  Frost is very fleeting.  You have to observe it while it is there because if you turn your back for a moment it will be gone.  There's a lesson in there somewhere I think.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Get out and enjoy the sun if you can.  Bye.    

Low speed walk under high speed clouds

It looks normal but it was windy and cold.   

Wednesday morning I walked out of my door and 34 degree air slapped me in the face.  I have not experienced air this cold in nearly 9 months.  The dog was ready for anything though now that nature's air conditioner was running full blast.  We started walking up to the west end of the dirt road fighting a a cold north wind along the way.

The high clouds were
on their way to somewhere.

As we went  I could not help but be in awe of the beautiful cloud patterns that were drifting over head.  The very high cirrus clouds were being swept along to the east by the wind at amazing speeds. To me it appeared as though the clouds were being stretched out over vast distances by the wind.  It was striking against such a blue sky.  When the cold air arrives it causes me to loose my easy going gait.  I have a tendency to walk quicker and I feel like I just want to get the walk over with.  Fortunately the dog is there to slow me down and he helps me to stop and notice things I might otherwise miss.

Spider or Catipillar ?
You make the call.

 Today when I stopped to play tug with a stick he was chewing on I noticed a leaf rolling insect has made a cocoon from a bent oak leaf.  I could not tell if this was a spider or a Caterpillar so it could be either one.

The fungus is having breakfast. 

 We moved along and came to the end of the road where I spotted more of those bracket fungi.  These were on a very rotten standing tree that is about ready to fall. There were also some very nice looking red lichens growing on the wood.   Good old fungus.  What would we do with out it?  I'll tell you what we would do, we would be up to our eyeballs in dead trees.  The fungus breaks the dead trunks down into particles that other creatures can consume and break down even further until the nutrients can be used by the tree roots to make more trees.  The woods are the ultimate recycling center.  Nothing is wasted.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Stay warm.  Bye.

The Ice Man Cometh

The "COLD FRONT" even looks cold.

Tuesday morning the weather was warm but the cold front that will drop our temperatures drastically could be seen in the distance.  The clearing line is just to the north of Mobile county and the dome of cold air is hard on it's heels.  Tomorrow's blog will probably be about how cold the morning is. The dog and I walked up to the turnip green field to see how things are going.  Along the way I saw an Evening primrose blooming probably for the last time this year.

The last photo of primrose?

 

We arrived at the turnip green field and found several rows of green now harvested.  I intend to get some of these from the owner soon and have them for supper. We headed back down to the house and the dog wanted to go on further so we walked east on the paved road heading toward the soybean field.

At the gate the dog says
"Nothing to declare".

The dog went into the brush along the side of the road and found another turtle.
He turned quickly and ran back to the house and was waiting with his prize at the gate.  He went inside the gate and spent about 5 minutes walking around trying to prevent me from taking his turtle.  Eventually after much growling and snapping I retrieved it from him and threw it into the woods.  I have the feeling that the same turtle is being caught by the dog each time.   I have formulated a plan to mark the next one to see if it gets caught again.  This may just be natures way of getting rid of dumb turtles.

The last photo of bananas?

 I stopped in the back yard to get what may be my last photo of the banana trees this year.  They don't suffer freezing weather very well.   I have waited nearly two years for the stalk of bananas to grow and I do not want to loose them so I will be watching the temperatures tonight. Light a fire and stay warm.  Thanks for reading my blog today. Bye

To those who much is given, much will be required

The trees growing straight up seems strange but it's  really OK.

On Monday morning I thought that the dog and I should walk on down to the Pig Farm.  The temperature was beginning to warm up in advance of a cold front that may very well push temperatures down into the 30's.   I would guess that the temperature was a comfortable 65 degrees this morning.   The sky was very blue and the trees lined up on the left side of the road as we ambled slowly along.  The power company has paid a contractor to cut the trees a very consistent distance away from the power lines running on the right side of the road.  The tree trimming creates what looks like a wall of trees on that side of the road. .
  I am glad that they are doing this as it cuts down on power outages from minor storms due to tree limbs falling on the lines. In major storms nothing short of burying the wires will prevent power outages.

Iron weed, the name doesn't fit this pretty flower.

  As we walked I snapped a photo of the Iron weed plant still blooming nicely.  The purple color was very strong in the morning sunlight.   I think I am becoming weary of working everyday of the week now.  The extra hour added to my day as a result of my not observing the time change may be catching up as well.  Fortunately I will soon finish my office work and my days will go back to normal.  I am looking forward to the holidays of Thanks Giving and Christmas as they are a time when I can catch back up on things that I have gotten behind on like this blog.

 Remember that today is Veteran's day.  This is the day that we take a moment to remember those who gave all they had in payment for our right to live free.  I am thankful that such people exist and that they were willing to give all when much was required.  May we all be willing to do the same when the freedoms we enjoy are in jepardy.   Thanks stopping in to reading my blog.  Bye

I walked beneath the dreaming clouds

The sky will pose only for a moment.

As the dog and I set out on our walk on Sunday morning the sky was overcast but the blue sky hung close to the horizon all around us.  The morning cloud layers at this time of year tend to be isolated and temporary occurrences.  They result from warm humid air from the Gulf of Mexico to the south interacting with the colder night time air high in the atmosphere.  On Sunday morning that interaction created a pattern that was very nice to behold.   The IPhone as good as it is, was not wide angle enough to provide a view of what the sky really looked like.  I guess I should have used the panorama feature.  I took my sky photo on the edge of the as yet unharvested soybean field and then we walked on down into the woods behind the unoccupied home.

Silence was my companion in the woods. 

 When we arrived at the end of the trail I noticed the dog was not with me and I concluded that he was chewing on  a stick he had found somewhere back up the trail.  The woods were extremely quiet with the exception of a squirrel barking at me.  These woods are home to numerous animals most of which only come out at night.  Our daytime is their night time.  My neighbors have seen deer in this area during the day so I hope one day to see them myself.  I walked back up the trail and found the dog sitting in the high grass waiting for me.  Many times when we walk I will loose track of him and call and call for him and then find him sitting and staring at me in the grass a few feet away.  I believe the dog thinks that if he can see me then I should know where he is so, he doesn't respond.  It can be annoying sometimes.

Nandina is a quiet spectacle. 

We walked on toward home and along the way I spotted a plant that is very pretty this time of year.  It was the shrub called Nandina.  The red berries and pointed leaves of this plant are very popular as a backdrop for gardens here in Grand Bay.  This particular plant has grown up in an unlikely spot under what appears to be an old potting shed once used by the lady who used to live in the unoccupied home.

Golden rods launch their seeds. 

We continued on and found that the once beautiful Golden Rods growing on the roadside have transformed into big fluffy tufts of fur like seed heads.  The wind will blow the seed heads far and wide and the Golden Rod's season will be complete.  The tall wood like stems will remain as a silent reminder through the winter that the Golden Rod was here and will be back after it's winter rest.  I look forward to it's return. Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye.  

When the bees come to stay

The dog ambles ahead while I look a the Mistletoe.

On Saturday morning the dog and I walked up to the west end of the dirt road.  The weather was near perfection with the temperature in the low 50's and very low humidity.  The sky was azure blue peeking out from behind the tunnel of trees at the end of the dirt road.  As we walked I noticed that a large piece of Mistletoe had been blown from the top of a tree it had been growing in.

Mistletoe blown from the tree above

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows high in the tops of the water oaks that are common to this area.  I believe I have read that the Mistletoe infiltrates and compromises the trees outer bark layers causing the tree to die from a lack of nutrients.

Mistletoe is unusually green. 

At any rate when we see Mistletoe growing way up high in the top of a water oak we know that the tree will slowly begin to die and rot until it becomes a hazard and must be cut down.  Mistletoe has a most unusual green color which is very bright.  Our version does not usually get the white berries seen on other varieties at least I have never seen it on our Mistletoe.

Southern wood fern makes a showing.

 At the very end of the road I saw a very nice specimen of the Southern wood fern growing out of the pine straw.  This fern is very common to our area along with many other varieties that prefer humid climates.  The color of the fern in the red pine straw is very striking even on cloudy days.  We headed back to the house as I had to do some work at my office.

On my way to my office, I stopped by my neighbors home to talk to him about his satsuma crop. He gave me a ride in his golf cart out into the orchard so we could pick some of his satsumas.  They are becoming ripe very quickly and we were able to pick a bag full in short order.

The entrance is small but the colony is
apparently quite large.

  When we finished picking the satsumas he took me by an old house on his property and showed me a hive of honey bees that have been in the exterior wall and attic of the home for over 40 years.  Numerous attempts have been made to remove the queen but all have been futile.  Killing them is not considered an option.

40 years of bee landings is removing
the paint from the siding. 

 For the last four decades the owner has only used the house for storage so the bees have been left alone to thrive.  A question comes into my mind each time I see this colony of bees.  Why have these bees not been affected by the colony collapse disease that has killed so many bee hives in the U.S. over the last ten years or so?  It seems to me to be a question that bears investigation.   Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye

The memory of pigs

Memory Lane?

Friday morning the sun was shining brightly when the dog and I headed down to the Pig Farm.  The temperature was around 47 degrees and the humidity was pretty dry at 60 percent.  We walked through the pecan orchard as we went and I noticed that the construction of the new home there has moved a little further along.  A water well has been drilled and a pump house has been constructed to cover the pump motor.  It appears any further construction awaits the connection of the temporary power pole to electricity.   Many houses are being built in our area now as the interest rates for mortgage loans have been driven artificially low by some very worrisome government policies.  Only time will tell if this home construction boom is sustainable.  We continued on down to the Pig Farm and slipped inside to take some archival photos of the farm as I have a feeling the place will not be there much longer.   This farm is a place that shocked me one day as I suddenly realized I had been here nearly 45 years earlier with my Dad.  The farm looked very different then.  The buildings were in good order and there were several pecan trees growing around the place making it very shady.  I remember my Dad took my two brothers and I in the car with him as he drove around on one of his Sunday exploration trips.  He loved to take us to the places most parent would never have taken their kids.  At that time I was very fearful about new places and new people and  I remember being very apprehensive about going farther and farther down the dirt road to a an unfamiliar place in the what seemed  like the end of the world. When we arrived at the farm at the end of the road we got out of the car and my Dad who was not the least bit shy about going anywhere he wanted to, led us into the wooden door of the pig farm building.

A door into my past.

  I can still remember once inside the door, walking beside the pig pens and seeing all the pig jostling each other.  The noise the pigs were making and the smell made my head spin.  My Dad kept walking through the building coaxing us kids along, until we met a man who was spraying  the floor of one of the pens with a hose.  He stopped spraying the hose and greeted my Dad who told him we were out exploring.

People have stolen the metal roof above the pens.

The man seemed happy that someone had come to visit him.  He put his hose down,  leaned on the pen and spent a quite a few minutes talking to my Dad and us kids. When he heard my brothers and I asking why the pigs where not all muddy the man explained that his pigs never stood on the ground and were very clean animals. He said that pigs in farm yards rolled in mud because that was the only way they could get cool and protect themselves from insects.  He also explained the entire process of raising the pigs and caring for them and what happened to them when they were full grown and went to market.   He really did not want us to leave until we were convinced that raising pigs was not all mud and pig poop.  I guess he must have made his point pretty well because I still remember his words to this day.

The only pig pens that are still usable.  

When he and my Dad finished talking we filed out of the building, jumped in the car and drove back home.  I guess my Dad, my brothers and I forgot that day as it receded into the past but one day it all came back to me at once.  I was walking down the dirt road to the pig farm a few years after moving to my home here to Grand Bay.  There were no fences around the farm then and when I arrived at the end of the road I wandered around the buildings to see what had been there.  I walked through a wooden door to the inside of the dilapidated building and suddenly a wave of recognition washed over me. This was the place my Dad had brought me to all those years ago.  I felt very sad that my childhood memory had fallen into such disrepair and that my Dad, who had died at my house a couple of years earlier, never knew that the place he had taken us to all those years ago was just down the road.  I would liked to have had the chance to take him there and thank him for bringing my brothers and I to the Pig Farm that day as well as all the other places he carried us to during his explorations.   He instilled in me and my brothers a sense of wonder and curiosity that has served us well in our lives.  For that I am truly grateful.  Thanks Pops, I miss you.  Bye.

The wind is whistling a tune we like to hear

The dog takes a moment to assess the weather. 

Thursday morning at sunrise the clouds were hanging thick when the dog and I went for our walk.  Just like clockwork another cool front is passing through.   The rain was sputtering and the wind was blowing in fits and starts.  I guess you could say the weather was unsettled.  The dog walked out of the fence and headed east on the paved road which is something he usually doesn't like to do.  I followed along behind and we took our time and enjoyed the wet windy morning that was breaking.  The wind whistling through the leaves in the tree tops is a sound that we here on the Gulf Coast usually associate with thunder storms or hurricanes in the summer.  When we hear it in the fall we welcome it as a sign that the summer has come to an end and our mild winter is about to start.  We now have about 20 days left in our hurricane season so we will hope and pray that the next couple of weeks won't bring any surprises.

The wild persimmons are small but tasty. 

 As we made our way back I decided to stop off at the unoccupied home of a neighbor to have a look at the wild persimmons growing in the front yard.  The fully ripe wild persimmon is very small. About the size of a half dollar.  The few that have been left by the birds and squirrels have now ripened and are very sweet and soft.  I cut one open and found it very tasty albeit very small.

The inside of the persimmon is seedy.

 They have  large seeds which don't allow much space for the fruit.  There is also a domestic Hayashi persimmon growing nearby.   I have found out the hard way that the Hayashi persimmon must be allowed to ripen completely before they can be eaten.  The other domesticated persimmon grown in this area, the Fuyu,  can be picked while not completely ripe and then ripened the rest of the way after picking.  Eating an unripe persimmon is like taking a drink of gasoline. Personally,  I think the taste of gasoline may be a tad bit better than that of an unripe persimmon but in any case the results are the same.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  I hope you are getting out to walk in your area before winter sets in.  Bye.

Crossing a swamp on dry land

The trees were teasing out their share of the morning sun. 

Our walk on Wednesday morning took us to the west end of the dirt road.   The dog was walking characteristically far ahead of me while I stopped to take some photos of the morning sun shining on the trees.  The intensity of the clear blue morning sky was contrasting nicely with the green trees and red dirt road.  I really prefer the morning for taking pictures because there is so much contrast in the colors  making the subjects more interesting.   We continued on our walk up to the end of the road and I ventured into what had been a swampy area until the rain stopped a month or so ago.

The dog shops for rotten sticks in the land of plenty. 

 Now this area like the stream I talked about the other day is dry and the leaves are covering what was a muddy swamp just a few days ago.  The trees here have adapted to being in water for a period of time each year. If you look closely you will see that most of the trees have been standing in a least one foot of water during this summer.  The swamp will fill with water after a heavy rain and the frogs and mosquitoes go crazy for a while until the water disappears again.  As we wandered around the dog  enjoyed the good selection of rotten logs some of which he stopped to chew on.

This fungus looks good in red. 

 The bracket fungus growing on those rotten logs has taken on a bright red color.  I believe this is due to the change in temperature.  There is a lot of this type fungus growing in this swampy area.  The mosquitoes have not been deterred by the cooler weather and found me very quickly.  If you want to walk comfortably in these normally wet areas you need to wait until  January when temperatures fall below freezing at night.  The cold will send the biting insect scurrying  for a warm place to wait it out.  Today though they sent me scurrying for the road while biting me on my neck and hands unmercifully. I guess turnabout is fair play.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

The dog checks out the conditions ahead.  

On Tuesday morning the weather was very nice when the dog and I left our yard to go down to the Pig Farm.  There were some high broken clouds but for the most part the sun was shining through.  The time has changed here in the U.S. and we have switched from Central daylight savings time to  Central standard time.  That means everyone in the country moved their clocks backward one hour.  I am trying to maintain myself on daylight savings time at my home because I am always late for everything.  I do this every year and it works for a little while then I have to give up.   The end result is my day is an hour longer than everyone else and I just wind up tired.  I will keep it going as long as I can though and try to redeem the time as it were.  As I said we walked down to the Pig Farm and found everything in order there.

Desperate roots of the Magnolia attempting to stay upright.

As we were leaving I did see something interesting.   The water in the stream that runs under the road has washed the soil from the roots of a magnolia tree on it's bank.  The magnolia appears to have grown it's root system in response to the constantly eroding soil.   The result is that the roots are growing in all directions grasping at straws in an attempt to keep the tree vertical.  The efforts of the roots to hold the tree upright seem to be succeeding for now but the tree is starting to lean.  Inevitably the tree will fall in a storm or high water but for now it is OK.

My dog the pumpkin eater. 

We walked back toward the house and along the way the dog found a discarded Jack o lantern pumpkin in the field.  He may have thought it was a ball or maybe he liked the taste of it because he picked it up and ran home with it stopping every now and then to chew on it a little.  My dog eats all types of vegetables, fruits and nuts.  He has in the past shown a preference for blueberries, oranges, peanuts, pecans, cherry tomatoes, okra and squash.  Now I guess I can add pumpkin to the list.  The list of strange characteristics my dog exhibits is starting to get pretty long.   If this keeps up I may need to seek professional help...for the dog that is.   Just kidding.  Thanks for reading my blog.  Bye.

Chasing the morning sun

The rays of the sun drift silently across the sleeping soybeans.  

On Monday morning the dog and I had to walk to several locations to get a look at the sunlight streaming through the clouds.  The angle of the sun at this time of the year puts the morning sun very much to the south which makes getting to the place where you can see it a trick.  We walked up to the turnip green patch and I noticed that the breaks in the clouds and the humidity in the air were creating some visible rays spreading out under the clouds.  We could not see the effect very well because of the trees so we had to hurry down to the soybean field where after climbing through the barbed wire fence we were able to take a photo.  Sometimes you stumble into a good photo and sometimes you have to really look for it.  Most of the time though there is a least one good picture in every walk.   As I turned around to leave the soybean field I noticed that a summer flower common to this area was still blooming.

Latanas have not made a nuisance of themselves, yet. 

 This was the Lantana flower which is very beautiful with multicolored blooms.   The Lantanas are an introduced species that has found a home here in the southeast United States.  Lantanas have not become the invasive species here in the U.S. that they have become in many other parts of the world.  I believe our birds do not like the Lantana seeds.  Also the winters in Grand Bay tend to kill the Lantana to the ground which keeps their spread in check.  Chalk one up for Grand Bay on the invasive species score board.  After struggling with the barbed wire fence again I managed to get on the road and we made our way back home.

Liquid sunshine hangs in the trees.

 I went around to our back yard to check on the oranges.  The Hamlin Louisiana sweet oranges are now turning a bright yellow color due to the last couple of cold snaps we have had.  The oranges are turning yellow very early this year.  Usually they are still showing some green even at Thanksgiving day at the end of November.   I tasted of the juice and it is quite good for this time of the year.  All of the citrus in the Grand Bay area is ripening early this year.   Grand bay is famous for it's Satsumas.  They are a mandarin orange that is easy to peel and is segmented.  Apparently we have the best climate in the country for Satsumas.  They become very sweet and some trees bear as much as 400 pounds of them.   Look for the names Session's farms or Rebel farms in your store's produce section when you buy your fall Satsumas and you will experience the best available.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye.

My point is lost on the dog

The steep angle of the fall sun creates pretty sun rays.  

Wow!  On Sunday morning it was very cool.  The temperature in Grand Bay Alabama when the dog and I left home was 42 degrees.  To many people across the country that may not seem very cool but here it is considered downright cold.  Anyway the dog loved the weather and was ready for his walk this morning.  We walked up to the west end of the dirt road so we could get our 1 mile of walking in this morning.  When we arrived at the end of the road and started back I happen to notice that the light passing through the trees was producing some interesting effects.  I stopped to take a picture and I believe the photo shows the rays of sunshine coming through the trees more clearly than I could see them.

The comfortable cat looks down at the dog in derision. 

  A little farther down the road where the Yellow Jacket nest used to be the dog treed a cat which scurried up onto a safe limb.   Once safe up the tree the little gray cat simply stared unconcerned down at us while the dog attempted unsuccessfully to climb the tree as I looked on.   The dog has only a vague understanding of where things are when they climb up into trees above his head.  Unless he can see the offending cat or squirrel  running up the tree he will loose track of it once it over his head.

The dog barks in the blind. 

 All of my pointing and gesturing is wasted on the dog as he simply doesn't understand what I am trying to tell him.  He is very smart in many ways but he has never caught on to what it means to point at something in the distance.  It is sometimes funny because  I will point to a bird or rabbit and he will look in the opposite direction or anywhere but where I am pointing.  I know this now and I try to connect him with the object of interest in other ways.  He seems to understand where I want him to look  when I talk in the direction of an object so I will call to a squirrel in the yard while looking at it "Look out squirrel or cat, or bird, the dog is coming after you".  He will then look in that direction and see what it is that I see and go after it.  Oh well, live and learn.  I guess he doesn't quite have me trained yet.  Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye.

My debt repayment plan

The clouds are running away from the blue sky behind them.

On Saturday morning the clouds were moving quickly to the south and blue sky could be seen on the western horizon.  The air was very cool and dry with a temperature of 57 degrees.  The dog and I walked up to the east end of the paved road to have a look at things. When we arrived at the end of the road we turned around and were greeted with a very nice looking cloud layer just ahead of the clearing line.  The patterns made the sky look like a painting.
  On the way back to the house I saw an evening primrose blooming quietly on the roadside covered with droplets of dew.   This is one of the last wild flowers still blooming this season.

The four o'clocks are very pink.

Look closely to see the dew droplets.

  When we arrived home the sun had broken through and a beautiful day complete with blue skies and cool temperatures lay ahead. I decided to  walk around to the back yard and have a look at the plants that were still growing there. I have some four o'clocks growing on the side of the house and they are continuing to bloom and make seeds for next years plants. The pink color of the four o'clocks is very intense.

Will my tomatoes make it?

The tomatoes I planted awhile back have really begun producing green tomatoes.  I am not sure if they will make it to harvest though as the first frost is headed our way quickly.

These peppers are pretty hot.

I also have a pepper plant with quite a few peppers on it.  The pepper plants just loaf around all summer then come on strong about this time every year.  I am going to make some hot pepper sauce from these colorful peppers when I get a free moment.

Enough walking. Let's ride.

The dog ran around to the front yard and jumped into the truck ready to take a ride.  On Saturdays and Sundays we ride down the road in the truck to get coffee and danish at the gas station.  My family, friends and acquaintances tell me I have spoiled my dog by walking him everyday and taking him in my truck with me to various places.  I guess you would have had to be there for the past five years to know that my dog has given to me far more than I have given to him.  All my dog asks in return is the opportunity to spend time with me.  What a deal.   Thanks for reading my blog today.  Bye.