Article source for : Halloween morning
Although it was a gray sky, the morning temps were a comfortable 60 degrees, which is pretty good for October 31. And now that the fall-back time period is in place, the mornings get bright earlier. So I enjoyed an opportunity to sit outside in our backyard driveway for a while and soak in the fall colors in and around our yard while reading a book, listening to the radio, and watching one of our indoor-only cats enjoy the wilds.
Red, yellow, orange, burgundy, green, brown, and the dark gray trunks of the oak trees.
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more.
In the right side of the above photo, swamp milkweed plants are bursting with seeds attached to thin, fluffy parachutes that eventually drift away with the slightest breeze. A couple split pods are pictured below.
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I'm harvesting some of the swamp milkweed seeds. I might create another bed to see if I can get some more to grow. They spread naturally in our yard. One plant several years ago has lead to many plants growing in several spots in the backyard.
When in bloom, the swamp milkweek attracts several species of butterflies and a myriad of insects, including a wild-looking, black and iridescent blue hornet or wasp that I'm not familiar with. I took some pics back in August or September, but I haven't checked to see what it is. The hornets or wasps in question were usually 1-1.5 inches long, but one that visited was at least 2 inches long. Several of the hornets would be spread out among the blooming swamp milkweed plants, but I didn't think the insects were anything to fear. They were fun to observe, but I wouldn't want to encounter a swarm of them in a bad mood.
br. This is the second year for a little rogue sunflower plant to bloom in our Oak Openings natives flower bed. I didn't plant it. It must have grown from birdseed. It's a neat little plant. Still has heads blooming. This one in the picture just opened the other day, and I think two others are about to open. At least 20 little sunflowers have bloomed on the single plant thus far. It started blooming back in late August or early September. Not all the heads flower at the same time. It's one here, and then another one or two bloom there. As one dies off, another flowers open. The early ones that bloomed have gone to seed or maybe have lost their seed. The American Goldfinches like to eat the seeds.
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br. And we still got little yellow, pear-shaped tomatoes ripening in our backyard. We picked some more the other day. And we're also still eating the regular-sized red tomatoes we grew in containers that sat in the back driveway, which is about the only area that gets sun. I buy cat litter from the Andersons, and it comes in big, sturdy, plastic boxes. I kept several empties, drilled holes in the bottom, filled them with potting soil, and planted the tomatoes in July.
A week or two ago, I picked the remaining regular-sized -red- green tomatoes, whatever they're called, because they weren't ripening. Getting a little late in the year. So we had a bunch of green tomatoes sitting on the counter and in the window. Some turned red in a few days, but we also fixed fried green tomatoes one night, and days later, we had baked green tomatoes. Both versions were surprisingly good. We've had fried green tomatoes in a restaurant, but this was the first time we fixed them at home. Well, this is also the first year we've grown produce in our backyard.
The little yellow tomatoes are good, but I like the regular-sized red ones the best. Also in the backyard, we grew roma and cherry or grape tomatoes. The romas are good, but I didn't like the little red ones. A regular red tomato from the backyard cut thin on a plate with fresh ground peppercorns sprinkled on top is one of my favorite snacks.
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br. I read some work by our "current poet laureate":http://www.loc.gov/poetry/laureate-2001-present.html, listened to the "Nookular Option":http://nookularoption.blogspot.com on FM 88.3 WXUT, and drank some coffee in a "ToledoBloggers.com":http://www.toledobloggers.com mug. I watched a few Dark-eyed Juncos flit nervously among the spirea bushes on the other side of our small West Toledo backyard, opposite of where my cat and I were hanging out. The tiny Golden-crowned Kinglet, one of my all-time favorite birds, gave it's recognizable, high pitched "see-see-see" sound in a small tree above where I sat.
I've been drinking coffee at home lately, which is a surprise for me. I mainly drink loose-leaf tea, which I still prefer. I buy my tea from the "Phoenix Food Co-op":http://www.phoenixcoop.com. My wife likes coffee, and over the past few months, we've been buying organic, shade-grown, fair-trade beans from the co-op. Not long ago, I took a taste of a some fresh java brew, and I liked it. So once and a while I help myself to a cup of shade-grown, organic joe if she has some brewed. Just like my tea, I prefer the coffee as is with nothing added.
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These pictures are "fuzzy." Could be due to the low light of the morning, and the fact that I don't know what I'm doing with a camera under such conditions. Or it could be because the camera got flung out my backpack a couple of weeks ago and took a nasty tumble on a thinly-carpeted building floor. My little backpack or "man purse" wasn't zipped up like I thought it was. When it happened, I was surprised the camera didn't bust into a couple of pieces. It still works, but it's sluggish when I'm snapping off a pic. It doesn't take the picture when I want it to.
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