It is November!

In the past, I've complained about November and the time between the gorgeous fall colorful leaves and the ick yuck of barren trees. However this year I intend to find a way to enjoy it visually. Miss Aurora said I needed to go out and find the beauty of November for there was a lot to see.

Okay. I'm in on this. The month of November will be a search for beauty in this time of the year. I'm committed. What will I look for? Fungi? Tiny things? Landscapes? Skylines? Moss? 

Nature's Artwork that we don't see when the leaves are full?

I'm going out on a mission to find beauty in November.

There is something to be said to be able to go out and enjoy the sunrise and the brilliant colors of the morning. Especially since the sun comes up at such a reasonable time these days!

There is still time to get out and take a nice walk before the weather turns...

or just get outside and enjoy some nature.

I'm determined to find things I like about this brownish-russet season.

It will be a change in my thinking but I'll give it a try.

The Brown season turns to....Lichen

The brown season is coming in strong. The last few cold nights of 24 degrees F have caused leaves to do sudden dumps.

The maple forest was incredible with spots of yellow where the maples dropped everything overnight. The oaks before the last cold days still had the brilliant red. I checked the leaves and the brilliant reds were Red Oaks. The dullish leaves were White Oaks.

Oaks in the distance before

two nights of 20 degree weather.

The green in the lower portion of the above photo is of those nasty Buckthorn Trees. They stay green well into late November.

A White Oak with a nekked Birch in front of it.

Yesterday in the late afternoon, I decided to take Charlie and just look for Lichen. Perhaps with a different subject to find, I'd feel better about the brown season.

What I did not know is that some Lichen actually prefer fall and winter. There is more moisture and it isn't as hot. Some Lichen go dormant in the cold weather. Either way, they are easier to find in the fall and spring without all of the other plants hiding them.

Lichen are super easy to find. This is a shot of a tree trunk on a trail and two different Lichens on the tree.

Some sort of Foliose Lichen with some 

sort of brown/blackish lichen or moss?

More Lichen.

I have no idea!
Found on a mossy rock.

Logs, logs...logs.
This seems to be a great place to find Lichen. See the arrow? That points to the place where I used my macro lens to shoot this lichen embedded in moss. 

I used a small pouch filled with soy husks as a tripod and set the camera to its very narrow 'focus' stack feature.

I'm not going to try and ID it, but just thought it was rather pretty and amazing that we can see something So Tiny!

Here it is in a larger photo. I just dig the colors.

It just looks like a crazy foreign world doesn't it?

I found some dried up orange fungi mixed in with some pretty greenish/bluish turquoise colored Lichen. The orange fungi is often called False Turkey Tail.

And I leave this blog with my favorite shot of a beautiful Yellow Lichen, which is rumored to be a Sunburst [common name] Lichen.

First my finger next to the multi colored Lichens...

Then The Happy Lichen.... isn't it cute? Look at the brilliant colors!

Like

Lichen

November

Now I think I realize why people decorate indoors with lights and bright colors this time of the year.

It is dull and dreary outside. Well, at least in the Midwestern Climates it is. Dull with no snow, no leaves on the trees, no flowers blossoming...grey ... everything is slowly turning colorless...

However, once in a while at dawn or sunset, the sky will light up with color. But mostly.
Dull.
Boring.
Oppressive.

Sounds awful doesn't it?

So we try to find something pretty about November. I see stalks of old flowers in my flower bed. The Juncos like the seeds in them so I leave it messy.
The moles are having a field day in the yard that is going from green to brown...

By Thanksgiving I am tired of fall colors and orange. Really tired of orange. Blaze Orange in particular. It seems that the 9 day deer gun season drags on forever. I'm tired of orange so I take down all the fall decorations I put up which aren't very many.
I start to eye the living room up and think about some nice pretty lights to combat the dark evenings.

I sneak out during the day wearing that awful orange to hike down in the woods along the creek. My husband says I need to stay OUT of the woods during gun season.
I go crazy when stuck inside 4 walls all day. Especially after I've cleaned all the walls. I could do windows I suppose. I should do the windows.

Nah.
I'm going to sneak out and walk the creek bottom.

I take my teddy bear 'ornament' and clip the band off from his hat. This little teddy bear doesn't want to hang on a tree. Nope.
He wants to be out in the woods.

I stop hiking in the middle of my walk and sit down. As usual, I've brought all the gear necessary to take a little water 'fall' photo.
And I do....

It sort of turns out bland also.

I finally turn and walk slowly up the trail. I have to go back and make sure the mules have water. And then go back in the house to play cribbage. [I still don't understand that game at all, but Rich loves it.]

I hear bluejays and a woodpecker, I hear the water tumbling over rocks below me.
The sky is grey and yes...very dreary.

But it is okay because when I get home I can turn the lights on and be cheered. Even after it gets dark.

I may even take the rest of the day and do something 'crafty'.

Dull Days of November

Welcome to that time of year that things to photograph are utterly ...

un

inspiring.

I call it November Yuck. When things are sort of brownish icky-ish, the weather is cold and windy, or cold and rainy. Or

just

dreary.

The fun of hiking seems to be on hold. Well, that is, unless I can convince some other soul to join me in a walk/hike in the muddy dreary weather.

Charlie is always up for it as is Dixie.

See? Charlie is always happy now to lead the way...and come back when I call him!

Truthfully I do get bored of the sameness of the grey skies and the dull colors of November.

So I sometimes modify it.

Here is a photo of the forest run through an AI program called Deep Dream Generator.

Then there is the meadow photo run through DDG:

During the rain and windstorms on Monday, I went back into JWildfire and composed some fractal flames, then combined them just for fun.

I get tired of the lack of color before winter really sets in. November is a transition time for me. I am coming off the glorious short lived colors of fall and jumping into dark days of winter.
I seem to need a bit more rest these days and my urge to get out and hike is also dulled by the slate grey toned skies.

CrossFit is still going strong. Today I did something called muscle ups along with Calorie Rowing. I did a modified Muscle Up per the coach. I watched Josh do them and was amazed.
These Muscle Ups were things I did easily when I was in High School gymnastics.
So the coach modified my Muscle ups into two steps...

I did something called Ring Rows, they almost seemed too easy and the coach said I did I great job... [I was pretty tickled with that!] I did another thing that was pretty cool. Don't ask me what it was. It was similar to me placing my hands on a high log laying across a trail and sort of pushing myself up and over it.

When I finished those I told him that next time we'd have to make them a bit harder for me.
He smiled and said that he wanted to make sure that I didn't hurt myself doing a new WOD, however any time I felt I needed more of a challenge...just ask.
Oh... WOD. What the heck is that? I looked it up.
Simple.
Workout
of
the Day.


Thursday morning, I am meeting up with a camera club pal and we are going to venture out and take sunrise shots over the Wisconsin River. Well, that may be the plan. If it doesn't pan out, I'll be doing CrossFit.

I spent an hour the other morning in a bow hunting blind a friend of ours put up facing the meadow. I spent an hour this evening out there too.
Deer watching was pretty fun.

I got some really nice photos too.

So I guess my November is not as Dull as I thought it was.
More about the Deer Blind later...

Still Kicking

I hope to catch up soon..
meanwhile enjoy some shots from my visit to LaCrosse yesterday and a sunset last night.

November is here.

Oh a quick word about going for my oil change and the customer service I received. I was greeted like a long lost friend, the service person brought me some popcorn while I waited for my vehicle....
later on the very same person walked me to my vehicle and asked how I liked my Subaru...
I love it of course.
They asked about Charlie's Car Seat. I showed them how it worked. They asked if I could please bring Charlie in next time. They have a mini dog park and pets are welcome in the dealership.
My satisfaction at their service and happiness with my vehicle is their main concern.

Hmmm.
A bit different than my truck experience of earlier this summer.
Color me happy.

Just some Sunshine

Our wonderful red headed Molly Mule Sunshine and I took a ride yesterday. She has been sort of 'neglected' in the riding department. That is what a two year mane growth looks like on some mules. Wild and crazy.

I saddled her up and we rode in the winter pasture. Since she hadn't been ridden in nearly two years I thought it best not to just take her to the woods.
Let's say, she did brilliantly. She didn't want to take the bit at first but a bit of lunging helped with that.
Then she dropped her head into the bridle and she sighed.

Her sister is an elegant and beautiful red molly mule. Sundance.
It is time to get her started under saddle so hubby and I can ride matching mules eventually.

Sunshine has sort of been an overlooked mule of ours. She has proven herself time and time again to be very reliable under saddle.
I mean really...she is very dependable!

This is a shot of about 8 years ago. Hubby took Grandson Dennis for his first mule ride on Sunshine I believe.

But I wanted to work with Siera and get her to be an incredible mule and since Sunshine was so easy and so well behaved I let her sit.

I can't believe the weather for this time of year. November 1st and I wore a tank top when hiking in the woods!

I can recall some really cold starts to November!

I guess I won't complain.

I'm hoping to take advantage of this week's nice weather to brush up on riding with Sunshine. She makes a good little winter riding mule also. So after deer season is over I'll be working with her and her sister.
Perhaps this is the year I get Eddie the donkey under saddle too.

Too bad that 4H won't let kids show mules in the Horse Project. Mules seem to get a bad rap and I don't think they deserve it at all.

Gusty Winds

So the NOAA for our area put out wind advisories with gusting winds up to and above 50 mph.

Yesterday morning precisely at 6am, the winds picked up sharply and we heard something shatter in the woods and felt a thump.

An old oak tree that was dead had given in to the high winds and had come down.
We went out to do chores and thankfully the worst of the winds were above us on the ridgetops.

We live in a slight hollow and are sometimes protected from the high winds depending on which direction it is coming from.

While doing chores we heard two more trees crack and fall in the distance.
One thing for sure, the high winds were going to keep us out of working in the woods today.

After the winds die down later today I will go out to check the fences in both the woods and the meadow.

By next week at this time all of our critters will have to be moved to their winter lots.

Count down to Gun Deer Season is 8 days.

The last day of October

Well I didn't say Happy Halloween!  But then again I've worked so many Halloween nights that I guess it doesn't get me excited any more.

October was an incredibly beautiful month, full of changing colors and weather.

Now we enter into November, the month I call ...the Brown Month.

Photographically November can be challenging.
But most of the colors that can be found will either be close to the ground or in the sky...

I also use November to work on projects.  Like the Family Calendars for those who want one and a 'Morris Adventure Book' perhaps.
The longer nights always give me more inside time.

November means moving the animals into winter pastures and setting up water heaters for the stock tanks.
Adjusting water hoses so they can be drained afterwards, and making sure the long johns are easy to access.

My favorite Holiday comes in November.  Thanksgiving!  Family!
My unfavorite time of the year comes in November.
Gun Deer Season.

I am not against the hunting, however I am against those hunters who are irresponsible.

So for 9 days in November I stay out of the woods and do my winterizing of the house and bring out the Carhartt's ... rotate the photos on the wall to more seasonal things...
and wait for the first snow fall.