Happy Halloween & FrankenStorm

10.30.12

 Wow, has it been exciting in central Pennsylvania lately ! 

Firstly, we had our annual Halloween Party & Parade this past Saturday afternoon. Friends came to present their costumed horses & themselves to our judge, who just Happened to be Glenn, my husband.  We had three horses in our parade and some non-horse costumed competitors too.

As you can see, our normally wide open barn aisle was jammed with horses in crossties,and kids as well as adults getting ready for the parade in the ring. 

Soon it was time to leave the barn, but in the meantime, I snapped a few outside photos of those who were in the parade but not leading a horse.

 These folks came to join us, and watch our parade...

 Below is AJ - Sumo wrestler. 

To the right, is Steve, his daughter and AJ posing....

 

It was time to begin the Halloween parade ! Off the contestants went- to the ring:

Jaide & Holly- 

A Wicked Witch & her "Broom"

Shanna & Bailey - 

(who was scared of the loud bells behind her, 

and didn't like her 'Cheshire Cat' teeth !)

Alice in Wonderland & her Cheshire Cat

 Joan & Sunny-
A Gypsy & her Horse

They were ALL well behaved, once Bailey realized that the bells were not going to 'get' her....

Our Judge had arrived, I had the awards n' ribbons, and the judging began !

Wow, it was a tough parade to judge !

 The costumes were ALL wonderful.

     Sunny was trying to butter up our judge by mooching his coffee...

 Holly, the broom :

 Bat on her butt....

and some pretty snazzy stockings

 

After we were done with the parade, we all turned the un-costumed horses back out to their pastures, and we humans all sat down to enjoy a light snack.  What a fun Saturday- and the rains held off to keep it dry.
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The day after- Sunday- we were busily battening down the proverbial hatches in preparation for the "Super Storm" , Sandy, to arrive . I removed all items that the wind would possibly blow away, and made sure the tarps over the sawdust were secure. We were ready- buckets of water filled in case we lost power, containers filled in the house as well for us & the house animals.... The rain arrived Sunday evening and as I type this , it is STILL raining. We were Very fortunate in that while we did have some mighty big winds, and a good 4" of rain over Sunday to Monday evening, nothing was damaged. The whole farm was soaked.

I snapped some pix of it all in between the raindrops. 

This is Buffalo Creek Bridge...this morning.

 Leaves were being blown off the trees as it rained sideways

These hemlocks have withstood more than Hurricane Sandy !

 Slowly but surely, the leaves were falling...

 My Poor Ring !

Our little creek overflowed it's banks 

 It's a good 4 feet deep here- normally it is only inches deep....

Today, we're almost back to normal....  soggy but normal.

Peace once again at WoodFinn.

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Sadie & Kris take a walk...

October 2012

One late morning, Sadie & myself took a walk down our road. I had thought to take the camera with me, for a change. The weather was just perfect. Sunny, cool, and crisp.... Sadie loves taking walks but doesn't understand why "mom" wants to stop so often. I enjoy looking down into the gorge that holds " our creek"- but don't get TOOOOO close because we don't need an American Bulldog sliding down the steep drop into the creek.

There are ohhhhhhhh, 3 mated pairs of Wood-ducks living in our creek this year,and each time there is a chance of "sneaking" up on them, I never have my camera. THIS time- it was with us!

These Wood Ducks are sooooooooooooooooo shy- I usually don't get to even get the camera aimed and end up snapping shots of , well, water. Now water is interesting but it's NOT what I was wanting to have a photo of that particular time.

You can read all about them here:
http://www.deltawaterfowl.org/research/bios/woodduck/index.php


So, down the road we walked... ever so quietly. Sadie wanted to walk in the leaves on the side, but when asked, she stayed on the paved roadway. And even more quietly when we came to the place where I knew the Wood Ducks swam and stayed....  shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

The camera was tuned in for FAST shutter speeds, and I had adjusted it so it would Hopefully be able to catch these beautiful ducks before they flew up stream or down. Mostly- just AWAY.

We snuck up to the place - well I did, Sadie was busy sniffing and really didn't care much for what her human was attempting....  tippie-toe, and creeping along so not to spook the little ducks.

I got to the right spot and had my camera Ready.... But alas, they heard us and took off in flight before I could snap any photos of them in the water ! This is all I got - you can Barely see the two in flight.

< sigh>   I shall attempt this again one day soon. Perhaps from the other direction ?

Here are some more photos I took on our relaxing walk:

looking upstream:

The maples were Just beginning to change colors

Silver waters...

I so enjoy looking at the rocks and shale the creek runs over..

                         Pretty shallow this time of the year.

What a neat little cubby hole for someone to live in this winter:

Dead wood:

 And then , downstream

The creek gets very narrow here:

Layers upon layers of centuries are here :

Little "bald" tree:

It was breezy and the maple leaves were shouting " Rain is coming"

More shale layers:

Sometimes our creek is a raging river, but now,

 it's just lazily moving along.:

 A Different perspective :

And home again !