2 November 2013 - Last good day?

What a gorgeous day today! Deep blue sky and 60 degrees. I worked really hard in the yard again, blowing leaves around then mowing them up to add to the compost piles. It was a noisy day in the neighborhood. I think every yard had someone using blowers or trimmers or mowers--the last gasp of fall yard work.

I moved the tomato cages to the outside of the deer fence around the veggie beds and staked them up. I'm hoping this will help keep them out of the garden over the winter. 

Last fall Jack planted garlic. I harvested it early summer and it was amazingly good. Scrumptious, actually.  I bought four different kinds of garlic and got it planted and mulched. Hope they come up in the spring!

I dragged the 10' ladder to the front of the house and raked pine needles off the roof. Ended up covering the small lawn in front with a foot high layer of needles, which I also had to mulch up, bag and spread. The valley on the backside of the roof is also deep in needles. I put the ladder up in the L of the roof, but not only could I not reach the needles, I couldn't bring myself to climb on the roof. I admit it. Heights do me in. 

I found a large dead bird in the yard while I was cleaning up.  Could not figure out what it was, so I posted some pictures on ubird. Discovered I had a Ruffed Grouse. Where the heck did that come from?  Pretty bird, and so soft. Guess I can put it on my list, even if wasn't breathing. 

While I was reading people's responses IDing the bird, others were talking about seeing a Lewis's Woodpecker up Parley's Nature Trail. I decided I had worked hard enough and since the weather was cooporating I needed to get out.  Did a bit of googling to find out where the heck this nature trail was. Five minutes away. Had no idea it was even there. 

To my delight I found the bird!  These woodpeckers are large-- about the size of a Flicker, and they are colorful! 

Greenish back, pinkish rose belly and the males have a red face with a whitish collar. I first saw him in the sun and he was gorgeous, but by the time I got the camera turned on, he had moved to the shaded side of the tree, and he was far enough away it was hard to get details. But it was a thrill for me. 

He is a bit blurry here, but you can get a good idea of the dark red face. 

The area where I found him was beside a crazy hard course for bike riders. These kids must have fallen on their heads too many times--they think it is fun! 

I thought it was pretty terrifying. It was quite a large course and maybe as many as ten teenagers were riding up these steep embankments.

To get to the nature trail head you walk through Tanner Park, where I ran into a group of 20 or so SCA folks in full costume engaged in ferocious one-on-one battles. That was quite amusing! At least five were women, holding their own in the broadsword duels. 

Then you walk a trail through a dog park-- hundreds of dogs, mostly big ones-- until you get to the nature trail where no dogs are allowed. Amazing how many people don't "see" the Absolutely NO  Dog signs. But nevertheless, it was a lovely day to be out.

 

The trail was wonderful, but there were some oddities along  the way that made me laugh and wonder what? 

First there was a doll hanging from a limb over the path. 

There were also quite a few large pipe cleaner spiders swinging along the side of the path as well. 

And finally, Barbie in a wedding dress. Hmm. It does make you wonder. 

The sun was close to setting as I was driving back home. At the bottom of my street, there is a house hidden behind a pyracantha hedge--easily 10 feet high, behind the pyracantha was a pear tree in full color. The low sun made them glow.

I hope the snow misses us tomorrow, because there is still so much of late fall to be enjoyed.