It is still autumn, but there are signs of impending doom winter. The days grow short and I have to turn on lights to feed the horses. We have had our first frost and while it was several weeks later than "normal" it was having some effect on my little part of the world. When I looked out that morning I knew it was frosty because there are no less than 4 different colors of shingles on the run in shed on a
summer day.
Another sure sign of fall is the return of
Professor Batty and the Weaver to the North woods all the way from Flippist World Headquarters to the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It was a fun visit as usual sharing a meal at Trail Center on the Gunflint Trail. This is getting to be one of the annual highlights of autumn. Pardon the blur, but low light, no flash, beer, and poor judgement are somewhat responsible. At least that's my story.
On the way back down the Trail we came upon a younger, maybe a thousand pounds or so, bull moose trotting along the road. At least he stayed on the other side of the road and made no attempt to attack the car. However, as a result of this chance encounter I kept a death grip on the steering wheel, slowed down a bit, and my vision miraculously improved for the remainder of the drive home. It was a dark and cloudy night.
Despite the frost and the wind and rain there are still some bright colors to be seen. Here are a few around the house.
Last weekend was another nice one with a bit of a chill in the air. A couple of friends came over and we all decided to go for a walk in the woods and take a look for mushrooms. It has been a wet year and the tasty ones have kept us in fungus for most of the warm months. We brought books, baskets, and bags to look, gather, and study our discoveries.
We didn't have to go far to find an abundance of 'shrooms of various colors, sizes, and shapes. I think we identified about half of them, but there are always lingering doubts. We have a strong tendency to be careful as we are all too young to die from a mistake caused by ignorance.
The squash harvest was also pretty good with some rather large samples. We have already started to eat some and give some away. Some are fairly huge so to judge the size you should know that the table is three feet wide.
We'll be eating well this winter.
No snow at the farm yet, but a few miles inland and farther from Lake Superior they have had a little. It won't be long now before it's time to get out the snowshoes, skis, shovels, and make sure the tractor is ready to dig us out.
Damn moose must think it owns the road. How would you feel about reintroducing the Wolf in your locality?
ReplyDeleteLove Love Love your photo tours. So much colour. We have not had our first frost yet but very close. Everything is a drab grey or brown.
ReplyDeleteGood morning Jono! You ARE up with the birds this morning. No morning nap after the horses' feeding? The flower photos are lovely. -A.K.
ReplyDeleteWe still have summer here in Connecticut, with a high today of 66. While we do see a few leaves turning, there are no signs of frost, or of moose.
ReplyDeleteSeems like you are about two or three weeks ahead of us - we've had frost once, some of our flowers are still blooming but those leaves are turning here, too. Moose can be dangerous. Glad he didn't decide you were a competitor.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos! I am nervous about picking and eating wild mushrooms. I would need to go out with an experienced picker before I would consume any. We gave had a couple light frosts here but most flowers are still going strong.
ReplyDeleteHave a good week!
Love the autumnal colour from your side of the world. And the shrooms.
ReplyDeleteEnvy you the moose sighting, though it would have encouraged a death grip in the car.
We are still having the occasional frost, and the high country (such as it is) is getting snow flurries.
72F in philly today. still no leaf colors yet. and don't you look spiffy in your lopi sweater!
ReplyDeleteThe Weaver knitted my lopi…
ReplyDeleteIt's still in the 90's here... I love mushrooms and squash. Enjoy your harvest!
ReplyDeleteI love your photos, Jono! And I love Autumn. The changing colours of the leaves, the crisp, cool, fresh air, and the harvest of root vegetables. Enjoy your time. :)
ReplyDeleteI love this time of year, but then, we don't have Winter bearing down on us yet. Usually we don't see our first frost here until early/mid November and there's almost never any snow.
ReplyDeleteYou'll probably laugh at me, but I've always dreamed of spending one winter in a cold, snowy climate like yours! Winters in SC hardly deserve the name.
Gorilla B., We do have wolves here, but they seem to keep to themselves. I get a rare glimpse once in a while, but they have never bothered me or my animals. Besides, they were here first.
ReplyDeleteBlog Fodder, Everything here will turn brown for a short time before it turns white for a long time.
A.K., No nap today at all and I really missed it. Off to T Bay in the morning to pick up some friends at the airport.
Tom, I think we may have seen the last of our 60' until spring. We might get a short respite, though.
jenny_o, You've got that ocean to moderate your temperatures. I have been face to face with a rutting bull moose before. It was not fun.
Cat Lover, You should be nervous about it. One of the few things I am ever 100% sure of is mushrooms before I eat them.
Elephant's Child, Summer can't be too far away now, can it?
anne marie, The Professor always looks spiffy. It's just a part of his scholarly persona.
Professor Batty, Hence her moniker. She was quite a catch!
Pixel Peeper, We never got to 90 this year. Only once every few years does it do that. We ate squash again tonight, but we aren't sure exactly what kind it was. Very tasty, however.
Linda, Thanks! 'Tis the time of year for such things.
Jennifer, If your dream ever comes true be sure to spend it with someone you love.
The colours here in Ontario have started to change, and even my new baby Armstrong Maple tree in front of my house is starting to be gloriously red. Love all those squash, or should the plural be squashes? Our local forest was full of enthusiastic mushroom foragers last weekend. I'm very careful about mushrooms, so I stick to the store bought variety.
ReplyDeleteGawd yeah, you don't want to tangle with a moose.
ReplyDeleteLovely fall photos, and I especially like your squash collection! Our gardens are done for the season after several inches of snow last week, but the snow has melted now and we'll still have a few nice days left. Meanwhile, we're watching webcams on the beach at Vancouver Island and looking forward to selling our house and leaving winter behind!
ReplyDeleteThat's a very nice sweater the Weaver knitted for Professor Batty.
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine meeting a moose on a road..holycrap...
ReplyDeleteit's stil 90 degrees here..hotter than a two peckered goat. so tired of it.
I've heard moose can go psycho. Is it some of the lichen they eat?
ReplyDeleteAs always, I enjoyed seeing photos from your neck of the woods.
It's nice to see that you're no longer freezing over there, and I'm glad you didn't taste-test all those 'shrooms.
ReplyDeleteStay well, friend.
The headline is "Fall Panic" and then you scroll down to a picture of me!
ReplyDeleteShammickite, Maples tend to be very beautiful, whatever variety they are. Maybe the plural is Squish. Store bought 'shrooms are only necessary in winter, otherwise it's like buying eggs at the store instead of going out to the chicken coop.
ReplyDeleteDebra, I have had a few close ones while out in the woods and have a friend who had her leg broken (stomped) when she accidentally got between a calf and cow.
Diane, Instead of winter will you have six months of rain? It sure makes things lush, though.
Shoshanah, The Weaver does nice work, doesn't she? Look how she has improved the Professor over the years.
JACKIESUE, Moose are better from a safe distance. 90's would turn me into a puddle.
Sioux, They get brainworm from the deer population (deer are carriers). It just makes them stupid and uncoordinated (nervous system deterioration) to the point where they die a slow and miserable death.
RObyn, We only taste the ones we are very sure of. Thanks for the suicide prevention work you do.
Professor, Don't take it personally, but you are a harbinger of things to come. If you came in the Spring it would be different.
So glad car did not meet moose!!
ReplyDeleteI've collected and eaten puffballs and morels, but that's it! Too terrified, lol. But wild mushrooms are so delicious!
It's very sweet of you to read those honey mushrooms a bedtime story (sorry, that's what that pic looks like).
ReplyDeleteLast time we went hiking we encountered a moose, and a girl in our group was trying to get closer to take a picture with it. We had to drag her away before she got trampled. The selfie generation, eh?
Knatolee, They're mighty tasty, but you have to be certain.
ReplyDeleteABFTS, The mushrooms went right to sleep after the picture was taken. You may have saved that girl's life. "Here's me with a grizzly on my Alaska trip." It's a harsh way to thin the herd.
I had to turn the heat on this week.
ReplyDeleteNuts.
Fabulous photos. Squash especially makes it feel like fall. What a nice harvest.
ReplyDeleteNo frosts here yet. It was 86 degrees a couple days ago, so we're still waiting for autumn to show up in full force. Your flowers are still gorgeous. If that half-ton moose was only a young one, I'm glad he wasn't fully grown! Holy mackerel!
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love mushrooms, I'm too big of a coward to trust myself to pick them in the wild. I envy those who are smart enough to do that.