Mid-September to Mid-October

We have had some wonderful fall weather. Warm (upper 60s to 70s) during the day, and cool at night (usually 40s, but it was 32 a week ago). Mostly clear, but some days (like today) clouds and a threat of some showers, sometimes realized.

Neighborhood news

We have had some goings-on and whatnot around the yard and the neighborhood. You may recall last time that I had picture of a sign the neighbor had posted on his property protesting being forced to keep some wetlands on his property (see picture). Subsequently he has done a bit more decoration, and is now "advertising" swamp tours. Just to be more complete, I thought I'd add this shot of the wetlands and swamp tour site, taken over the "welcome to swampland" sign.

Last month (for reasons I am still trying to come up with) I purchased and had "planted" in front of the house some boulders. Here is a shot of Bill ( the rock man) attempting to set the first, and largest. Estimated weight was 5000 pounds of basalt. The others were somewhat smaller to downright featherlight (well, not quite). Here are shots taken from the north side, the lower side toward the house , and toward the road.

The trees and shrubs we planted two years ago really took off this year, so I decided I better document how big they had gotten so I can compare next year and years later (if I can just remember where I stood to take the pictures - I took some pains about that). I've decided to go ahead and bore you with a few shots around the yard. This shot is toward the "mesa" and the shed from the end (beginning?) of the upper driveway. Then from the shed toward lower driveway . Here's a shot from the mesa toward the deck. Moving to the back side of the house, this one is above the pond and toward the house. Reversing position, this one is from the deck at the back of the house. Finally, a shot of the path through the forest behind the house (where's Amelia?).

We had a bountiful crop of pyracantha berries. Amelia has moved all of her day lillies inside the big fence - here's one the deer didn't get. I had a good crop of zucchini (gotta love 'em - sure thing crop). This one got away, so I just let it go. Not the biggest I ever grew, but pretty respectable. We see some unusual stuff coming up from time-to-time. Here's one that popped up just off the rear deck. Didn't last long before it collapsed.

Fall color and more

First, Ellinor asked me to come take some pictures of some of her orchids. Got some nice pictures, one of the best being this orchid of an unusual color. Here is another nice one, and just one more. Also in her yard, I found this (exactly what, is unknown to me) vine with flower.

Early this month, SOLIR had their fall color hike down the Rogue Gorge Trail near Union City. I don't think the colors are quite as spectacular as last year, but they were pretty nice from time to time. We did walk a little different place than last year and that may have made some difference. We had a nice group of folks (two different groups, actually). Anyway, without any comment, here are a few of the many pictures I took along the way.
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That's all for now, folks.