Fall is Truly Here

Oh my goodness, your blogger is so glad fall is truly here. 

The verges grow more brown and yellow by the day. 

The light is changing almost daily. 

My compost heap is blooming!  The milo on the right hand side of the picture is beginning to mature and turn yellow and bronze. 

That space in the middle is the chicken dust bath, and all those flowers were volunteers from dumped pots. 

The poison ivy growing up the trees is turning bright red! 

Since my last post, the buff Orpington I put in with Doug decided to vote with her wings, and flew out.  Doug was all alone, and had actually stopped crowing.  Last week, I went to Leavenworth and met a wonderful young woman who is breeding in her backyard.  I bought a mixed pullet from her, and a young Silkie pullet, like Doug.  

He is crowing again!  

Ummmm we are having a problem with this guy, Rocky. 

Rocky was a this-year's baby, and was weaned a month or so ago. 

He has been eating cat food and chicken feed here.  

He eats with the chickens and cats all around him on the deck of the big hen house, where he is here... but we know that will not go on long.  He is maturing. 

He comes on the porch, where he pays no attention when my son is out there, just eats the cat food. 

Last week, I heard screaming from the big hen house in the evening.  I went out there, and Rocky had made himself at home in a nest box.  I shoo-ed him out the door. 

Fifteen minutes later, I heard screaming again, and he had gone in the little henhouse next door to try to lay down in a nest box there. 

I removed him. 

This is him the other morning, he was waiting in the huge maple for me to come out and feed the cats and put all the bird seed out. 

I have the big trap out, and am afraid I am going to have to catch and remove him... he will have to go out to the Leavenworth County Fishing Lake.  The thing is, I know that catching him and removing him to a strange place will likely kill him.... but... I may not have an alternative, because it won't be long until he wants chicken dinner for himself.  

I am in a quandary, because you know I cannot kill a living being. 

Two weeks ago, I had the tree eaters here to trim the huge maple by my house.  They told me they estimated it had probably four or so years to go, because the center is rotting. 

This is the limb I initially called about, because I felt it was on its way down. 

THEY LEFT IT. 

The guy told me it would "heal itself". 

This was the partial eclipse of the moon as seen from here last week. 

At 1:30 in the morning two mornings ago, I got up to let one of the cats out 

the back door. 

This is what I saw: 

That's all I've got for today! 

Those of you in the hurricane's path, please take care of yourselves as best you can.