A Second Look--November 4, 2015

Fall marches on. The trees continue to shed leaves with some bare after heavy rains last week and some have leaves that have just started to turn. The mums and pansies are surviving the occasional morning frost to add extra colors to the fall leaf palate.

The squirrels are busy and are seen more often now with a nut in their mouth as they scamper along. Also, I have seen the first junco which is one of the birds that comes to winter in this area.

Here are a few things I saw this week 

during a Second Look,

A Visit and a Walk

I guess we're really Boring with no heads.

Yesterday, we all converged on Wally's apartment for a visit. He lives about halfway between Theo and us, so it was a good meeting place for all. We had a pleasant visit and it was during lunch that Theo said something interesting. We were chatting about this and that when he said, "I just realized how boring we are as a family. We've just talked about tax laws, zinc, and computer security." He had a point. Those were't usually topics that most (any) people found interesting, but we were perfectly happy discussing them. Let me introduce us--We're the Borings. :)

After lunch, we moved onto the main goal of the afternoon--taking a family picture for the Christmas letter. We didn't have anyone to take it so we used the timer on the camera while it was sitting on top of the car. A method that worked pretty well. While we were doing this, something occurred to me. It would be awfully hard to set a phone camera up to take a picture like this. They really don't have a base to stand on their own. Maybe that's one small reason for the vast world of Selfies. Someone has to be holding the camera to take a picture. Actually, I think there's a lot more involved with Selfies, but that's a discussion for another time.

Then it was time for us to part ways. The brothers wanted some "bonding time"as they call it or as it can also be called--time for playing video games. Ward and I left in search of a place to take a hike.

We stopped at a place we had driven by many times on the way to Wally's place-- Soldier's Delight which had a nature center (closed) and hiking trails. Never really figured out why it's called Soldier's Delight but it may have something to do with the King's soldiers naming it that. Hopefully, the nature center will be open next time we stop and we will get a better answer to this interesting name.

Here are a few pictures from our walk.

This area was made into a National Environment Area trying to preserve some of the rare plants that grow here. Also, as you can read, this used to be an area of chromium mining.

A Haunted Hike was scheduled for that evening and these "spooky eyes" were set up along the trail.  This one is housed on greenbrier vines. As you can see, they are no more that eyes cut out of a cardboard tube with a glow stick inside.

Mushroom that had just pushed its way up through the forest litter.

A shaft opening into one of the old chromium mines.

Blackjack Oak

Oaks are the primary tree there, so the changing leaves had more oranges than reds and yellows. From this point you could see a lot of far away places on a clear day. It was not a clear day.

Thankful Sunday, November 1, 2015

I am thankful for a rose.

(I didn't have a camera with me, so this picture is from earlier in the summer.)

I was visiting a friend yesterday morning and we were in and out of her house and around her yard several times. But it wasn't until I was leaving that I noticed a pink rose blooming near her front door. The rose bushes were big, full of thorns with only a few leaves. But right there on the top of one of them was a lone, beautiful, pink rose in bloom-- complete with the delicate rose scent.

And for the surprise of that rose, I am thankful.

Halloween Candy Favorites

Last years Halloween Candy. Reese's-overall favorite, KitKat-Montana's favorite,
and Tootsie Rolls--New Hampshire's favorite

Halloween is in two days and recently on the news they have been reporting about favorite Halloween candies. (Wanna guess the top choice in the country? Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.) However, what I found more interesting than the overall results was the favorite Halloween candy for each of the fifty states. Influenster polled 40,000 people and compiled individual state statistics.
 
The results showed a wide variety of preferences but basically chocolate and sour candies predominated. The exception to this was candy corn which as the most picked candy with five states choosing it. And what I found very interesting was some candies that one group may consider the "yucky" candies such as candy corn, Sweet Tarts, and Laffy Taffy were top picks for others.

A couple of states stood out to me. Arizona's choice was Toblerone bars. Wow, Swedish chocolate for Halloween? That seemed kind of fancy to me to give out in numbers, but maybe there's some kind of history to that that I don't know. West Virginia's choice was Oreos. They were the only state that chose cookies. Not sure where this comes from either. I never got any Oreos in my bag when I was growing up there and I don't think my mother has ever handed any out. But times do change.

According to the survey, if I want to give out the favorite candy in Maryland, I need to get some Almond Joys. But first I have to figure out the age old question? Do I want to give out a candy I like so I can enjoy the leftovers? (That would certainly be Almond Joys or most other kinds of chocolate). Or do I give out something I don't like so I won't eat the leftovers (That would be Whoppers--Kentucky's favorite .) I think the answer to this question will probably be determined by how hungry I am when I go shopping Halloween morning.

What kind of candy do you like? What's your candy buying strategy?

A Second Look--October 28, 2015

The remnants of Hurricane Patricia are coming today bringing with them a lot of rain. It's amazing to me that a system that started in the Pacific could make it all the way across the country over the varying topography and still have this much rain left in it. Weather and climate are such complex things, I'm not sure we'll ever totally understand them. Or at least that's how I felt after I took a class about them in college.

The leaves are at their peak now and color abounds. Such a beautiful sight everywhere you turn. Since dark is encroaching the day much earlier, I haven't had as much time when I'm at home to do Second Looks. In fact, I didn't go to the back 40 of the yard at all this week. However, I will share with you a few pictures on trees in the front part of the yard as they are showing their colors. There is about a week's range in the pictures and you can see how much the colors changed during that time.

Also, when we visited a local park on Sunday, I talked to the naturalist there about the curious-looking spider I showed you recently during another Second Look. With her help, we determined that is was a lattice orbweaver spider. Although the internet is very helpful with these questions, talking to a real person is even better.

Here are a few things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

Female downy woodpecker.

Lattice orbweaver spider (Araneus thaddeus) The white thing on it's back is actually its abdomen. Once again, I've never seen anything like that.