Signs of Fall

Despite the warmest weather we’ve had this summer, there are many signs of fall approaching.

Some maple leaves are well on their way to changing colour, and some sumacs are showing promise of the bright colours to come.

The fall wildflowers are out in full bloom including Marsh Milkweed and Goldenrod.     

                          

The backyard is busy as usual.  The turkeys have finished their moulting, leaving feathers anywhere, but this has not prevented them from continuing to enjoy hearty dust wallows or nice snoozes in the back yard.

What the poor hen doesn’t realize is the danger lurking behind her in the guise of a red squirrel.  The turkeys don’t like squirrels because the squirrels move too fast, and often you will see a turkey leap straight up into the air when a rodent goes by too quickly.  Our big Tom, Lincoln, has learned that there are good things like peanuts near the patio, but unfortunately there are also rodents nearby.

The chipmunk is too impatient to wait for things to fall on the ground, so he comes up our laps to the patio table to see where the next booty is coming from.  (This was a special picture for Austin.)

In the meantime, work in the form of a logsplitter arrived to help us deal with the piles of wood to be cut and stacked.

Clogging classes are almost ready to be resumed, but in the meantime we are giving some demonstrations at fall fairs.  We were in beautiful downtown Elmvale on Friday, dancing up a storm on a VERY small stage.

We played hooky from stacking wood this morning, and took advantage of the cooler weather to go cycling on a quiet road near us.  This is on the very of Canadian Shield Country, with all the beautiful rock outcroppings.

There are lots of little wetland patches and we came upon a huge pool of waterlilies blooming. 

Now it is back to woodstacking...........