Stressed

We finally got rain over the weekend, but the water table is still well below normal. I can't remember seeing the trees so stressed.



It's not really fall yet.



The sycamores in particular seem to be adopting this strategy.

While walking in the woods, we came across these fruits that I thought at first were wild grapes.



But they're not. When I saw the caps I realized that they were actually persimmons! Really, really undersized persimmons.



When I broke one open, they were wormy inside too.

Snake, it's a snake!

Art Lad, the talented 6-year old son of Magazine Man, started a blog recently. The post that started it all is here. (It's great, go read it!)

"I need to find that picture of the Copperhead that I took last year," I told my husband. "I'm going to make a post about how much Art Lad likes snakes, and send some people over to see his new blog."

Only I couldn't find the picture. I'd evidently put it somewhere really good. I just wasn't sure where. Dagnabit.

In between picture searches, I happened to look at my blog's statistics page. My traffic had exploded! Wait, they're all coming from... Art Lad???

Turns out he'd been mentioned on BoingBoing, one of the oldest and most popular blogs on the internet. He was getting thousands of hits, and since he'd linked to me I was basking in the reflective glow.

So, it's not like he needs the exposure now, but go visit Art Lad anyway.

Oh yeah, I still can't find the Copperhead pic. But here's a couple of Black Racers we saw yesterday.

Hubby found this one, curled up off the path.

His close-up.

I found the second one.

OK, I almost stepped on him.

He seemed darker than the first one.

I believe they are both Northern Black Racers, Coluber constrictor constrictor. Despite the name, it's not a constrictor!

The second one slithered away so fast that I was reminded how they got the name Racer.

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Edited to add:

Thanks to commenters Jenn and Ron, who pointed out that the first snake is probably about to shed its skin! Besides the lighter color, the milky eye is apparently also a clue.

Let it snow, let it snow!

As y'all know, Northern Indiana and the Midwest got hit by a snowstorm yesterday. According to the local weather people Whitley county got about 10" and Noble county (where I live) got about 12". I just talked to my brother and he measured the snow in his back yard (in a woods in Kosciusko county where little wind gets to it) and he says they got 15" of snow.

For me, the issue isn't the amount of snow but rather the wind. It whips around the buildings in the complex where I live and causes large drifts. Below is the view from my front window, the first one taken at 10 a.m. and the other at 1 p.m.



The window is about 18" off the ground and the snow is packed onto the front porch. The drift on the outer edge is about 3-3 1/2 feet high. It runs clear across the driveway too. If I get energetic I might go out and shovel a bit this afternoon. Or I might just wait until the maintenance people come and let them shovel it out. My neighbors were out for a while and cleared off their porch and drive.

The delicate lines of the snowdrift outside my front door. It is about 3-3 1/2 feet high.



The view from my front door. Looking south, then looking west.



The sun started breaking through the clouds a little before noon. The day is shiny and bright. And I'm glad I don't have to go out in the cold wind and drifting snow.

Painting with Light in Lake Tahoe

Tahoe, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

I was standing in the water when I took this picture.

With my phone on maximum brightness, I painted the word "Tahoe" in air during a 30-second exposure with my camera. This is the end result...and the best one out of at least a dozen attempts!

Jemez Pueblo

A photo of the visitors center, and one of the places where the Jemez Indians sometimes sell fry bread that they bake on the spot.

Owl & Birds

This owl can be seen from Paseo Del Norte highway that runs right beside the small park where all the wooden sculptures are. It was because I had seen the owl that I finally decided to stop and see what was at the park. I was amazed at how many wooden animal sculptures there were and that I had never heard about them on the TV news or anywhere else.

It's About Time...

For those of you who have been wondering where I've wandered off to... let's see... I left Maine on the 28th of September and spent a few days in New Hampshire.







One of many lakes in northern New Hampshire, this one near Milan on Route 16.





As it had been for much of the previous week, it was a foggy, cloudy, rainy day.





But the fall colors were gorgeous.


Then it was a quick drive through Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania to spend the first weekend of October with my Aunt and Cousin and her family in Rockville, Maryland. It was great getting caught up on all the family happenings of the past 3 years! The kids, Connor and Melanie have gotten so big! Thank you to Carol and Eric and Aunt Shirley for their hospitality.



After leaving Rockville, I returned to Berks County, Pennsylvania for two days then headed west to Ohio. Not wanting to return exactly the same way I came into the state in early September (on US 30) and not wanting to take the Toll Road, I took US 22 from Harrisburg all the way through Pittsburg. It is a mostly 4-lane highway through some beautiful countryside. It wasn't quite as "challenging" as driving US 30 but it still had plenty of hills to get over and curves to go around.



After spending one last night in Pennsylvania (at Keystone State Park, east of Pittsburg) I made my way next morning (October 11th) to Lisbon, Ohio and stopped in at the Columbiana County Archives and Research Center. This is a wonderful resource for anyone with Columbiana County ancestors. One of the ladies that works there (both are unpaid volunteers who devote a huge amount of time organizing and indexing their material - a huge Thank You to both of them and the other volunteers) happens to have the "other" John Hoffman in her husband's lineage so we compared notes trying to figure out if or how they might be related.



The next morning, I returned to the Columbiana Archives for a few hours before heading westward once again. It was about then that I realized that I could probably make it to Fort Wayne for the Midwest Geneabloggers .. Fall Meetup! It was about noon on Saturday when I got to the Allen County Public Library where everyone else was already hard at work. After the library closed we all converged at the home of Tina Lyons for a Pizza Party.



I'm so glad that I was able to make it to the meetup and see "old" genealogy-friends again and meet a few new ones too. I had a great time - thanks to everyone there and thanks especially to Tina for organizing it and to her and her husband for hosting the after-research party.



So, here it is, October 23rd, and where am I? Still in Indiana, where I'll be for a little while longer until I get a few "things" resolved. And then? I'll be heading out to somewhere a bit warmer, at least for a little while...



And, because my grand-nephew, Zachariah, was born 18 years ago on this date, I want to wish him a very special birthday...






Ah, yes! We were both much younger back then! Happy Birthday, Zach.