Fall is fading

Fall is fading but that is normal for this time of the year.

However, some of the colors hang on in the oaks and maples.
The other morning the fog was very thick in the valleys.

After living here for nearly 20 years, I know that the fog will generally rise to the ridge tops after the sun has risen.
Sometimes...not always!

So I took a gamble and went out to find what might be a good spot to watch over the valley.

However Mother Nature was not co-operating with me.  She insisted on bringing in the fog faster and thicker than I thought she should.

So I did what some photographers like to do...if the view in front isn't good, then turn around and see what is happening.

Riley road seemed to disappear off the edge of the earth!

I figured the morning would be a wash so I started home and the sun took that moment to break through layers of fog.

This is the same spot only looking back east.

Then I headed out the ridge further.

After I took this, the fog socked me in and I knew that I wouldn't get any more good shots.

So I headed home and imagine my surprise after the fog cleared about an hour later.

Stunning blue skies with pure white clouds.  I shot this looking up at the birch trees near the bottom of our driveway.

And the day turned out to be incredibly beautiful!

Today however I intend to take a trip to the valley and see what the creek has to offer and what colors and interesting things that Morris and I can find there.

Fall is fading and we are moving into the 'brown' season as I call it.

Afternoon in Paradise

I took Morris for a walk up on the ridge.

We've had three killer frosts in a row, everything in the garden is done done, done...

I found out that the mules love the sunflowers. They eat the heads and chew on the stalks.  
Good thing as we had so many of them we weren't sure what we were going to do with them all.

The afternoon sun was so warm that I was tempted to just lay down in the yard and soak up the warmth.  A nap would have been perfect.

However the day was taken up with making sure my recyclables were all tidied up and taken to the town recycle center.

On the way over I couldn't help but stop and take a photo of this tree.
[edited for textures]

Tonight's forecast is for rain starting and carrying on for a few days.

Well that doesn't make me smile.  But we have had a wonderful week of gorgeous days and cold nights.
The colors are quickly fading and if we get heavy rain, the leaves will come off even faster.

Parading by Opal

It started with her calling me to come on over.  Val had the lead rope.
Sometimes the lead rope just means a grooming and brushing along with a bit of sweet feed.

And sometimes it means you get saddled up and ridden.

I guess this was the riding day.  She got me ALL gussied up.  Ribbons in my tail, a fancy necklace to wear with a brass bell, and a pretty colored blanket.

First stop was the neighborhood kids' place.  The whole family came out and that really nice girl came out and petted me on the head.  I don't let adults pet me, or get near me if I can help it.
But this girl is so nice.  I even think I like her as much as ... Val.

The other folks stood back and admired my sparkly blanket and remarked at how pretty I was.
Well isn't that nice, maybe humans aren't as terrible as I think they are.  At 28, I still don't trust strangers.

We had our photo taken by the little girl and off we went.

From what I understand, this was a Parade with only one mule.  Me.  I'd done one before with Fred.  He complained the whole time.
This one was nice as it was only me and her.

Most of the ride was pretty quiet.  We were up on the ridge where there was a nice breeze blowing and it kept the bugs away.

At the place where there is usually barking dogs that like to come out in the road an annoy you,...there were two ponies!

They came running to the fence nickering.  
"What you doing?"  
"You have a horrid human on your back!"
"What is wrong with you?"
"What is wrong with your ears!"
"They are huuumongous!"

I gave them a glance.

"My ears are for hearing better than you.  My human is not horrid or she wouldn't dress me up special to take this ride.  Besides I am NOT in a fence and you are!  I am on an adventure.
Oh
And what is wrong with your ears?  I can barely see them?"

I snorted at them and walked proudly away.  Some Ponies don't know much.

At the bottom of the hill there was a whole bunch of human people and kid people.  They all called out to Val and asked her to stop so they could come and take pictures.  Val explained that this was the 5th Annual All Mule Parade In Folsom WI.  [Yeah, one mule parade]

They got all excited and wanted to pet me.  
I gave them the stink-eye as Val explained my non-human nature.

We continued on down a steep road and into a shady lane.  Val likes this road to go down...she usually takes the valley... but this was The Parade and we headed up back to the ridge.  
Our ride would take us 6 miles and would pass about 8 houses or farms.

 

Notice how relaxed I am.  Flopping ears tipped back to listen to Val tell me what a pretty girl I was.  What a good mule I was.  She even reached up and rubbed my ears.  Don't tell her I liked it.

 

On top of the ridge I saw some horses.  They looked up at me and whinnied.  The nerve, they didn't even come to the fence and talk.  Instead they took off like the dickens.
Must have thought I was a long eared monster mule.
Silly horses.

The traffic on the roads wasn't too bad, I didn't even have to yield.

 
But we did see two cars on the gravel road.  Talk about eatin' dust!
Soon we got to the Folsom School.  For some reason Val likes to have a photo of the school each year.
Something to prove she was in 'Folsom' I guess.

They put a pretty new red roof on the school since last year!

Then it was down the County Road towards home.  I didn't mind the black top, it was smooth and nice and trotting was easy.
Except.
Except...
....when those Mule Eatin' mailboxes presented themselves.  I simply had to turn and walk sideways past it.

Poor Val, she had no idea how lethal those things can be, she kept telling me it was OKAY.  Little did she know that us long ears know that mailboxes will literally launch themselves at you.
Well, that is, except the one at home where she gets the mail from.  I know that mailbox is friendly.

 
The rest of the trip was pretty quiet.  Nice blue skies and fluffy clouds.  Val even let me stop and graze a bit.
I think I could do this again some time soon!

All in all I think we saw 3 cars, 8 people, 2 dogs, and lots of farms.
It was a good day.
And I definitely looked most excellent in my red, whites, and blues.