The backside of Fall

The leaves have been prettier this year than I originally thought. The drought we had this summer made the colors less vibrant, though they are nice. Now everything is fading to brown. The leaves are falling fast from the Winged Elms. The few White Oaks are a deep red. The Sweet Gums, those that have leaves left have a slate of color from bright yellow to deep purple, often on ONE tree. The Red Maples that have leaves have turned a deep red. The Sugar Maples that have leaves in the Mechanics Creek basin are bright yellow. The Willow Oaks are mostly either green or brown with most of them about 75% bare. The one in my front yard steadfastly and stubbornly holds on to Summer colors as long as possible, but the leaves are going from the top 1/4 now. The rest of the tree remains stubbornly brown, but time and colder temperatures will take its toll, and the tree will generally then release the remaining leaves in a snow of swirling brown leaves.


Powell

Jolene's Birthday treat

I thought about this all afternoon at the radio station. When I got off at 6 PM, I went to BI-LO one of our grocery stores and looked at the meat. I chose a large very inexpensive piece. I have this slow smokeless electric grill that lets the grease dropping fall into the cone shaped reflector that has water in it. It cooked the meat up so nicely. I had some New Potatoes with the feast, and Jolene was hand fed 4 pieces. She is sitting nearby happily.


Powell

Happy 4th Birthday dearest Jolene

found you at Pets INC where I volunteered when you were about 4 months old. You had come there as a mortified and abused pup from another rescue who had no room. They put you in the cat room for awhile. You were mortified of men, but that didn't stop me. I cornered you and took you for long walks. You became social to *ME*.... and when I moved they were going to give you to me. I paid full fee. They told me, that though they generally a no kill, she was unadoptable and her mental state would have eventually gotten so bad that euthanizing you would have been merciful. I took you to the woods of Silverstreet, and decided you had to be an inside dog. I also decided we had to walk at least a mile a day, and the first time I tried this, I thought on that long uphill back that, honestly, I wasn't going to make it back. Now it's a snap. I took you everywhere I went, and EVERY man I met had to pet you, even if I had to pick you up. I took you to all the events at Full Moon Farm, and socializing with all the people and canines there has done wonders for you. And you sure do like the big boys up there. and there's a couple that adore you.
You are quietly lying under the table where I type this.

It kills me that you are skitty of me in the house, and won't come in my bedroom and sleep there. You prefer your own dog pillow bed, your fluffy dog bed, or YOUR sofa ( was my sofa.......


Yes, dear girl, we ARE going for a walk after I eat my grits!

The Gutless Wonder is retired.

On the October 25th postiing I mentioned that The "Gutless Wonder" is retired. 10 years and almost 230,000 miles I retired my 1996 Ranger extended cab truck. Only 118 horsepower it went and went, but never got very good mileage for a 4. On the interstate at 70 around 23 and 60 around 23 and no matter if you drove hard or not. It was time, and I was considering trading the Taurus wagon with the 24 valve 3 liter V-6 on a pristine Outlander van, but they more or less wanted me to give them the car. THEN the 2006 V-6 extended cab Ranger got reduced from $14,000 to around $11,000 something. HMMMM! It has 50,000 miles and is in superb condition. So the old one went for the new one. I expect around 21 miles per gallon. On the trip Friday a week ago to Camden, SC from here round trip is 161 miles and I got 25 miles per gallon. It's 2 lane SC 34 all the way, so I never got to 70. The speed limit is 55. That's what I did. I may drive it to Black Mountain this weekend.

TOO Many Losses on "The Mountain"

As a few of you may know, I volunteer at Full Moon Farm, a rescue for Wolves and Wolfdogs. This has been a year of too many losses. This will be hard to write Delaware one of my heart canines died, from cancer that was not found during his bloat surgery. I have my memorial Delaware coffee cup as well as my Pete one. Pete was another heart dog. Nancy Brown who runs and owns Full Moon Farm says I am a mixture of Pete and Delaware.... a talkative, cranky old man. I guess she is right. I can't drink out of either cup. The coffee for some reason gets too salty. I'm not putting salt in my coffee.....
Pete died a few years ago. Annie, Nancy's first rescue finally died from her mamary tumors. I could give her treats, and she would make funny "squeally" noises of joy, take them from me and store them in her dog house. I never got to pet her. And then recently Zodiac finally went. The last Howl In he looked so old. He was overweight from his thyroid condition, and last Christmas was his last. I thought he was going to drop dead on me. He was around 10, and for the mix he came from that was good, especially being that out of that rescue some died of starvation and Zodiac weighed a breath of what he should have.
Nancy has a new outreach animal and his name is River. Jolene adores him. She also REALLY adores Lobo. I can let River take treats out of my mouth like Zodiac would.
Well that's all right now. Just this much has bummed me out rather badly!

Sliding into Fall

It is November now, and we are back on Eastern Standard Time. The Sugar Maple trees have finally changed color, and right abruptly I might add. My small Sugar Maple in the front yard is a pinkish red. The larger tree in the back yard has become bright yellow. The large Sugar Maple in the Mechanics Creek bed turned orange, but the tree also dropped a lot of the leaves. The Winged Elms are dropping leaves and turning a rather pale washed out yellow, then to brown and on the ground!
It's been quite wet and rainy, though the rainfall totals have not been substantial this time. At least the forecast for now gives us cooler than normal and dry until next week. That will give the standing water and boggy yard time to dry out and the water to soak down into the ground.
Jolene goes to the vet in the morning to see why she has bloodshot eyes. It might be "Pink Eye" but she shows no symptoms other than looking like she's a drunk. And she now has a kitty. It was my neighbor, John's kitten, but he fed him outside, but when he wasn't home he got food if I fed him. John calls him "AC" but I think ACE is a better name. He's an orange tabby with no black pigments.... pink nose and pads. This boy is wide open and plays VERY rough with Jolene which SHE likes. She plays rough back, but never hurts him. I am afraid Ace will try to attack a Coyote, thinking it's a dog. That is not good. Ace is going to be a rather large cat, and he is loving. You can hear him purr in the next county. I bought him a nice cat bed and he didn't want to get in it until I placed him in it on his back. THEN it clicked. So he does like it.