I noticed this lovely mongrel dahlia today--we have both types blooming separately, but bicolor ones are rare.
We call these urchins, since they resemble sea urchins...
This was the view across the mill pond this morning...
This
was the pond/slough at the James Slavin Conservation area southwest of
Spokane this afternoon. The pond was full of ducks and
geese, mostly mallards and Canada... I think it would be
interesting to visit in the spring, since it's a semiarid pine woods
quite different from our area...
Oct. 22 It's
been a slow month, with the killing frost holding off, and forest fire smoke adding a pall to otherwise pleasant fall
days. We only started heating yesterday. We also got the
first measurable rain in months yesterday, and managed to get a hike in
to the high line trail in Farragut Park. In spite of the dryness
some mushrooms were blooming:
It was late fall on the Cannon River in Northfield...
I got to see a red bellied woodpecker
I
walked along the freight yard where I once hopped a train to Chicago
one spring break... The nearly always incomprehensible grafitti
on rail cars always entertains me while watching trains go by. So
much paint and labor sent off to an uncaring world... This
D3UpsideDownPeaceSymbol had remarkably subtle color sense and design
going on... I partially came for my mother's 100th birthday, but
since she's deep in dementia she sometimes recognized me but couldn't
really register whether I'd be there for her actual party (which I
avoided as a dedicated introvert). As too young a child, I read
the orginal Gulliver's Travels, one land was where people lived
immortally. The only catch was that they still aged...
On
the way back, I got to spent an afternoon and overnight at the Badlands
N. P. I took a lot of photos, and these stood out for me:
Although I like the pointy spires, this looks totally primordial...
Some parts look like worn down monuments...
Although I got some closeups of bighorn sheep right along the car, this was more interesting, looking down from a vista point...
In this view there are two bison dots in the middle left, and a car and people on the right end for perspective...
This is another unexpected elephant skin mound at the edge of the formation...
At
the Sage Creek campsite (after a 12 mile drive on bumpy gravel road), I
learned the camp is on a prairie dog town and they were totally
acclimated to people. It was also a bison range...
After
reading the warnings about approaching bison, and having seen a video
of one charging a woman trying to pass them, I wanted to get by a
couple of them to walk to Sage Creek, but this one eyed me coming and
raised his tail, which is a sign of aggression... Instead I
climbed the hill behind the camp:
This
is a view of the edge of the campground with dozens of bison within a
short distance (more than seen elsewhere in the park--I overheard
someone saying they are privately owned like cattle)...
books read
Currently enjoying:
Dark
Currents by Lindsay Burroker Her strength is warm characters and
catchy dialog, and original work in fantasy and SF genres...