God laughs when men make plans

Today did not go as expected.

When I got to work the piece of equipment the boss had me slated to use was down.  Since he was busy lining up other people for the day I filled the time by changing burned-out light bulbs, restocking material and sorting incoming material.

At 9:30 I got a call from Mrs ERJ that there were issues at home that were more than she could deal with.  I texted my boss that I needed to go home.  He released me.

About 1:00 in the afternoon I had the wheels back on the bus.  Mrs ERJ looked at the baling twine and bubblegum repair and "suggested" that it would give her comfort if I stayed home.

And that is why I have a few pictures to share.

Last weekend was Homecoming and the Pecan trees had a crop of Charmin.

The problem with the high-end stuff is that it spoils us for the inexpensive, recycled newsprint that we usually buy.

Things are dry and crispy around here.  The strange object at the bottom of the photo is my weed cutter.  I use it on Canadian Thistle.

A Blue Jay had a bad day.  He was flying across the pasture when a bolt out of the blue whacked him.

My guess is that a Cooper's Hawk got him.

The persimmons are starting to show some fall color

This is a grafted tree and you can see the variability in fall color.  The two sprouts midway up the trunk are much "hotter" looking than the top of the tree.

Close-up of the sprouts.

Swamp White Oak.  This little tree is about 1.5 inches at the base and I can see at least three acorns in this picture.

Bur oak

English oak

On the ground beneath the English oak.

I got to go to Grand Valley earlier this week.  I needed to expedite some documents from Belladonna.

Yellows are Goldenrod.  Pinks and purples are New England Aster.  Whites are some other kind of aster.

They had some high winds over the summer that knocked the snot out of some of their facilities.

One of my neighbors has some interesting Goldenrod growing in an unmowed area.  No matter how deep and crusty the snow gets, these mounds do not get flattened.  Pretty good cover for wildlife.

Seed pods.  Based on the flowering habit, this keys out as S. gigantea even though this site is not "wet".  I think I will try to grow some of these as seedlings and move them to Salamander's farm.

Leaves.

Steuben grapes

Cukes that I let go to seed.

More cukes.  I will harvest, ferment and dry the seeds.  I consider it a hobby and cheap entertainment.

Tomatoes.

Some of the persimmons are starting to color.  Most of this tree is a variety called Morris Buron although it has Szukis, I-115, K-6 and Lena grafted into it.  This is a one-tree seed orchard.

Milkweed with pods