Halloween Color

Sorry! I still can't post the hubby's outfit because his work party isn't until this afternoon.

I'll try to find photos from years past to show you his incredible work in the field of Halloween costumes.

Until then I'll show you a little bit of Oklahoma color. Most of these were taken on my morning walk a few days ago--before the rains came--and whump! All the leave hit the ground.

I love this vantage point of this walking bridge, I'm actually standing under the bridge in the next photo. Little Haikey Creek runs under it. At the time of the picture, it held barely a dribble of water. After the 3+ inches we got in the last 24 hours, it's probably roaring!

 

The trees in the distance are stunning. The picture doesn't do them justice. To my right is a tree belt that surrounds both sides of the creek. This the bowl between three highways.

 

Tried to enlarge this one, but I guess I still have picture issues. The red in some of these trees is from vines, either Poison Ivy or Virginia Creeper. . . I'm leaning toward poison ivy.

A week ago, you couldn't even see into this green belt next to the highway, The dark trunks are really pretty against the changing colors.

More trees in the green belt.

 

 Again, if I could, I'd enlarge this. This is one of the last sections of undeveloped land about a mile from my house. A doctor's building and hospital are to the right.

Even the crazy vines climbing the support walls are turning into a beautiful maroon color.

A little arch of tuberous begonias. I moved them away from the house so I could enjoy them from my window. Frog watering pot--cute, but I never use it since it's too small for any real usage.

Red Pin Oak on the left, Purple Mountain Ash changing colors, River birch starting to turn yellow.

A Sunset Maple hiding behind the River Birch in the previous picture.

 

Beautiful colors this fall, but they last only a short time since the rains came. We've had a few very warm days at the end of October, that too, is very weird. I can't remember the last time I wore shorts this late in the season. We'll be covering our pool this weekend as most of my roses and other plants are having their last hurrah before winter.

 

Later, Peeps!

 

Autumnal Changes

After a hideously hot summer times two, we have finally managed to cool down a little.

Now we've actually set a record for the earliest freezing temperature, October 6. The previous record was Oct. 20. Our normal freeze usually happens after Halloween.

I don't know how this bodes for the winter, but if it was anything like last winter, it'll be a non-event. The previous winter was a whole 'nuther experience though, with schools shutting down because the cold and windchill, along with other occurrences of over a foot of snow dumping on us and shutting down most businesses for days and schools for a week. Normally, I wouldn't be pissy about the kids missing school, but they had just returned the previous week after two weeks off for Christmas! Aaarrrrgggghhhh!

Anyway, back to this year. Yesterday I tweeted about a few things. You are more than welcome to follow me on Twitter, I'm magolla1. I usually post things about my walks or stuff like that.

• Two chill nights have started the autumnal process. Bright yellows, reds, purples and oranges are dotting the trees along my path. #walking
• A weak, watery sun tries to shine through a shroud of grey clouds . . . it fails. #walking
• Eight Scissortail Flycatchers sitting on a barbed wire fence chittering, chattering, and chortling as I walk past. #walking
• Late walkies, but warmer than this AM. 59 min.
  And last, but certainly not least
• Cleaning house. Then decided to get Halloween stuff out. Throwing lots away. Keeping mummy and headless bride just for the memories!

The trees are changing, which is really a surprise with the horrible drought we had this summer and last summer. In September, we got a lot of rain, not enough to take us out of the 'drought' terminology, but enough to make the trees think it was spring.

 

Yes, the silly Bradford Pears started blooming again. I hate the smell of those 'death' trees!

 

The cliff swallows are long gone, but the scissortails and bluebirds are back in force! They are so much fun to watch and listen to on my walks.

 

The sky is heavier with the sun trying to break through, but mostly failing. I don't think I have SADD, but I do like my sunshine!

 

This morning is warmer than expected and a fog has settled in. I'll wait until drivers can see me before I walk. There's a small section of my walk that I have to walk on the shoulder of a busy road, not my favorite place, but it's the only way to get to my path.

 

We pulled out a ton of Halloween stuff from our crawl space this year. It's time to thin it out and replace the old cardboard boxes with clear plastic ones, like we use for the Christmas stuff. We're mainly throwing away stuff that has seen better days or I stopped putting out. Every now and again it's time to purge, plus it's was the day before trash day.

 

Well, time to wake the rest of the family up for their long days of work and school.

 

Later, Peeps!

Tree Planting Time!

The weather in Oklahoma tends to go to extremes, seriously scorching one day to down right frigid and cold. You could probably say that about many locations, but we had screaming heat this summer with numerous record highs broken by long streaks of 100+ degrees, many days within those 100+ degree days were hovering around 110 degree mark. The last time Oklahoma had such temperatures was during the 1980's and the dust bowl of 1930's--think Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

Anyway, it seems the heat has broken and now the temperatures are twenty degrees BELOW the normal values for this time of year. It's downright chilly. There is no more swimming in the pool, even with heated pool water, because the air temperature is too cold.

This is the time of year when my thoughts turn to gardening . . . and my allergies (itchy throat, watery eyes, headache and overall feeling lousy).

The air is brisk. The grass has slowed down its growing phase and is collecting nutrients to prepare for winter's dormancy. Weed pollen is blowing in the wind. Spiders are preparing for hibernation, with webs all over the place as they suck the juice out of any hapless insect that happens by. Leaves on the trees and bushes are dropping off, but I'll be surprised if we get much of an autumn color this year.

And we unwrap the tape from around the maple tree in the front yard (our front yard gets pounded with the west sun), only to discover ants have managed to find their way inside and destroyed the tree. This was the tree we had planted in May 2010 when we put in a new sprinkler system and sodded the yard. We've battled moles and gophers all year to discover the tiny little ant will cost us $$$ to replace the tree. The tree isn't dead yet, shoot, it's even sprouting new leaves, but it isn't going to make it. There's simply too much damage. Hubster was pushing on the rotted spot of the trunk and if he put any weight behind it, he would have snapped the trunk in half.

So, on Saturday, we went to our tree guy, Rutherford, and picked out a tree. His crew is bringing another Autumn Splendor maple for our front yard. I love these guys. They planted all our trees (2 loblolly pines, 2 oaks, one river birch (different from the one they replaced), 1 purple mountain ash, and a maple (not the one in the front yard). Their prices are cheaper than a nursery, and they guarantee the tree for a year, plus they remove the old tree and take it away. Other than this maple, we had a problem with one river birch that they replaced. It never did well in that spot, so when we had an ice storm that took most of it out, we replaced it with a maple tree.

So, on Monday, after my walk and before Weight Watchers, I'll be supervising the tree planting.

Because this really is the best time of year to plant deciduous trees. I have a few evergreen shrubs that didn't survive the summer heat. I'll replace them in the spring, since that is a better time to acclimate them.

Later, Peeps! I have some more gardening to do. I have to deadhead roses, pull out summer plantings and replace them with fall flowers, clean up dead debris, etc.