October.....snow ????

10/30/11

Every time I think I have the weather figured out here in central PA, it changes. When I finally figured out the path of the 'terrible' thunderstorms as compared to the not so terrible ones, that was all turned around. Now ? I thought that we were safe from bad, cold weather in October- and was looking forward to a delightful Autumn.


Wrongggggggggggggg. Yesterday, it snowed. Yes- it SNOWED !  A good 3-4 inches of very wet, sloppy snow. In October !  The horses all stayed inside because no one was prepared for Snow and hadn't gotten their wintry blankets out. The Percherons were out all night on Friday as it was not supposed to start snowing until very early morning. The weather guys predicted it perfectly and by the time it actually began snowing, the Percherons were inside, happily eating their breakfast hay.

Here is a photo of our typical Autumn day :

Pretty colorful leaves on the trees, 'some' grass and nice weather, thennnnnnn on Saturday...

snowing like crazy !

the ornamental grass didn't care for it...

Poor little annuals got snow covered:

The Hemlock trees were snow covered 

Sunday brought sun- but FOG !

Poor Oak Trees

Low clouds- but the sun is trying to shine - Sunday AM

ground fog made things look spooooky

Even the hens didn't want to come out

our mountain- snowy

The right side- with low clouds

Buffalo Mountain in fog

Soon, the snow was melting and the trees are back to their lovely Fall colors

Our fence line- snow and leaves ???

All in All ? 

 One bizzare, insane weekend 

Autumn Has Arrived 10.12.11

It seems that overnight, Autumn arrived. The trees that change colors are happily dressed in golds,yellows and reds.There are acorns All over our back yard, and subsequent squirrels digging little holes to bury their treasures in. It won't be long until the ground is full of small divots with acorns hidden in them.

Today the weather is dreary and rainy... On my drive to check out a possible new pony for lessons, that gold and yellow brightened things up considerably. The mountains and ridges are gorgeous in their Autumn colors, with just enough pines and hemlocks in deep green to fill in the shadows and dips.

We now are back in order with chickens, it seems. A friend of mine had been told she couldn't have her hens in her backyard , due to township regulations, so two of those hens moved in here. They're Barred Plymouth Rock hens, and are very friendly. Add those to the 6 hens already here, and I have a yard full once more. The little Widget peep that is a frizzled Cochin cross is doing SO well now. She/ he is walking about- even running, flapping those little fragile wings to get her going FAST. She / he still lives in our tack room and has become quite the pet. Lucky- the one peep that survived the horrid times when his mama was killed- is getting so very beautiful ! He's still practicing that terrible 'rooster' song he has made up.... Oh my, he sounds terrible, but he hasn't an idea of how the song goes. So, it goes like this- instead of "cockle doodle Doooooooooo", Luckys' rendition of it is " Err, err, ERRRRR !"  Not real close but he's rather proud of his crow. He still loves to sit with people in the tack room, and has a wonderful time telling the chosen person of the hour All about his adventures as he sits on their laps. Due to his being able to fly quite nicely, his favorite roosting area is on the bell right outside the tack room. I'll have to try to get a photo of him one of these days.

The horses are all doing super. Busily growing in their winter coats and filling up on what little grass is left. The new stall fronts inside our barn Still are way to pretty. Sometimes when I walk into the barn now, its as though it belongs to someone else, and I'm merely working there. I love my barn now. I loved it before- but now ?   WOW-  Love it big time !

Below are some photos I got today of our trees, etc.

This is the creek- almost back to normal again.

 This is across the creek...

The 'Sedum' has become Burgundy !