Skywatch Friday

Recently I set out to Bone Creek Lake to be there when the sun dropped below these clouds.
I hiked down along a game trail through thick blackberries and tall weeds to the lake shore and stood facing west in a row of persimmon trees that clung to their fruit but not their leaves. The cold November air was chilled even more by a stiff north wind. I stood for a while waiting while a few black capped chickadees and a female cardinal spent the last daylight looking for an early evening snack.
We get bald eagles here during winter now, they follow the ducks and geese south. Some swear there is a nesting pair. Very few ducks here on this side of the lake this night just a small congregation of coots. I could see ducks though across the lake in the submerged timber.

Finally the sun dropped below the clouds and the lake lit up with a warm glow. I strained my eyes to see across the lake and could see the silhouette of an eagle perched in a tree, the first of the year.

For more skywatchers visit;

http://skyley.blogspot.com/

ABC Wednesday The Letter R

Yesterday I realized that I needed to find a few photos of things I could connect with the letter "R". I was in a hurry so I drove into to town to run a few errands and thought Ill take my camera with me and let things present themselves.
So off I drove to return "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull" (which had no r's in the title but was Really good by the way) I passed a field of Rust covered milo Ready to Harvest, and a Road down to an old farmstead lined with beans and milo also Ready to harvest.
R is for Round bales of hay. Theres a lot of them here .
Rusty old wire.
A Red leaf.
Some more Rusty wire.
I wish I had named our place "Random" acres.
And finally back at home more Red leaves our maple stubbornly holds on to Refusing to let go..
for more letter R's visit:
http://abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com/

Photohunt Ruin(ed)

I came across this old rock farmhouse last week. It is typical in construction of homes here from the nineteenth century, built from limestone quarried nearby. On this cold November morning I can picture it even as recent as seventy five years ago probably still in use. I can see a few cats outside waiting for a few scraps from breakfast. I can smell bacon sizzling in a black cast iron pot on a wood stove . Coffee is kept warm on the stove as well. Big breakfasts for a day of work outside in the late fall cold.

The thing about old homes here is that they fade fast when families stop living in them. Judging by the roof this home had an inhabitant fairly recently. The hash weather takes its toll quickly, the wooden frame homes disappear faster than these rock homes. Now it most likely provides a home to a few black snakes, maybe a wood rat will build a nest in the back kitchen, raccoons and possums will visit, vines and mulberry trees will grow up in any opening and local teenagers will look to frighten each other here when the moon is full.

for more Photo hunters visit here
http://tnchick.com/ and browse the comments where folks post their links.

Skywatch Friday

Cat at sunrise

Some random images I took over the past two weeks with skywatch in mind.

Foggy Sunrise

Dew Drop at Sunrise

Early Morning Maple Leaf

I found this poem while reading, I like it.

To One Who has been Long in City Pent

by John Keats (1795 – 1821)

To one who has been long in city pent,
’Tis very sweet to look into the fair
And open face of heaven,—to breathe a prayer
Full in the smile of the blue firmament.
Who is more happy, when, with hearts content,
Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lair
Of wavy grass, and reads a debonair
And gentle tale of love and languishment?
Returning home at evening, with an ear
Catching the notes of Philomel,—an eye
Watching the sailing cloudlet’s bright career,
He mourns that day so soon has glided by:
E’en like the passage of an angel’s tear
That falls through the clear ether silently.

For more skywatchers visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Wednesday Quote

"Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so that each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry."
Richard Feynman

Fall Colors

This weekend most if not all of the leaves fell from the maples and other trees around our home. Before doing so for a few warm weeks they provided a great light show.

Cato and Woodpeckers

Yesterday I decided to go for a ride to do some birding and look for Cato, Kansas. It is one of the many old settled areas from the late 19th and early 20th century that you find scattered around SE Kansas. According to the newspaper yesterday there was a small celebration going on at Cato. I had forgotten my topo map of the county so I took off down the gravel roads thinking Ill run into it eventually, and maybe see a few birds along the way.
I came across several old farm houses like this one, almost all abandoned, usually with a new home built close by on the property. The local stone used in these old place is most likely Fort Scott Limestone named after the fort established north of here in the mid 1800's. Fence rows were built as well and many still can be found hidden as they guard the bottoms of overgrown hedge rows along fields. I was surprised to see several still lining the road at several points.
The afternoon was cold and windy, in the forties. I stopped and walked along the side of the road in several places near streams, bridges and pastures. Two different farmers passed me driving old pickups pulling trailers full of cut wood for winter stoves. Looking for hawks and falcons I counted three good size Red Tail Hawks, one female Northern Harrier, one American Kestrel, and several others too far for my binoculars to be identified.
A Pileated Woodpecker flying across the road earlier in the day had prompted me to get out and look for fall birds. Its fairly rare for me to see one. I have only seen a few in the wild. I know the other woodpeckers, Red-headed, Red-bellied, Downy and and the Flickers so seeing one of the "big" woodpeckers is a treat. I yelled "wow" my wife sitting next to me said nothing, I asked did you see it? She replied "I thought it was a crow". I said "Crow, no way". I stopped at Walnut Creek and listened for a while hoping to see another.
So here I was out on gravel roads doing some road birding, and photography. My wife was home napping, crow I thought ," no way".
I came across these two horses guarding what looked like an old school house. It looks like the water pump still works. Not the Cato school house, I moved on.
Finally I came to Cato, which is really just an old church and rock building used as a school house. I was too late for the historical festivities I had read about that were being celebrated here today. Everyone was gone and both buildings were locked up tight.
The church looks as if its still used, I peeked in the windows. The was still an hour or so of light. It looked as if the sun would drop below the clouds for a bit. I decided to head down the road and stop at Bone Creek Lake to watch the sunset and maybe catch a few more birds.