More Fruits and Berries.

10-31-21 SHORT HILLS: Happy Halloween. The treats are already out on the porch. Because we’re a bit farther from the road than most houses and down a hill, we get few customers. It finally cleared up, we got another 0.75 inches of rain before the sun returned.

We had dinner at Lynn and Bill’s Friday, went down the shore to Seaside Park to visit Chris and Bob on Saturday. They threw a seafood lunch that I will remember for a long time. It was nice to see the sand, surf, gulls, ocean after a long spell. Today we dog walk with Bebe and Ronnie and Sonny. 

I have lots more berries and fruit to show. It has occurred to me that the point of the colors of the ripe fruit is to attract birds and other pollinators. The fruit is eaten and then pooped out with a drop of fertilizer some place else. The run through the GI tract is sometimes necessary to activate the seeds. Most fruits are green before they’re ripe so that they blend in with the leaves of the tree or shrub and don’t get eaten too soon.  

1. Introduced shrub from Asia.

2. Pods are the hallmark of legumes.

3. A showy late bloomer.

4. Also comes in larger size for people.

5. Dramatic color.

6. Not dramatic color.

7. Should be an easy ID.

8. Also available in red, A as in....

9. A shrub with yellow flowers.

10. Not much to attract the eye here.

11. Almost apple sized.

1. Asian Holly. 2. Catalpa tree. 3. Crape Myrtle. 4. Pear. 5. Beauty Berry. 6. Andromeda. 7. Juniper. 8. Apple. 9. St. Johns Wort. 10. Spirea. 11. Quince.

Berries and Fruit.

10-28-21 SHORT HILLS: The sun is back and it’s a little cooler. We ended up with five inches of rain from the last storm, and another one is in the Mid-West. Enough weather news. 

I try to do an end of the season post of the fruits and berries on the trees and shrubs here and in VT. This year there seem to be a lot of pix, so I’ll do all the red ones first. To make it a quiz, I’ll number the pix and list the names at the end. 

1. Well known tree.

2. A tree-sized shrub.

3. The leaves might be a clue.

4. the leaves might be a clue.

5. The leaves will turn orange soon.

6. Often sold for seasonal decorations.

7. Notice the stickers.

8. An evergreen with needle/leaves.

9. Another evergreen, but with broad leaves.

10. A small tree, widely planted ornamental.

11. Same family as 10.

Answers: 1-Apple, 2-Siebold viburnum, 3-Holly, 4-Burning bush, 5-Chokecherry, 6-Winterberry holly, 7-Barberry, 8-Yew, 9-Southern Magnolia, 10-Dogwood, 11-Kousa dogwood. 

Wood Ducks Are Here.

10-26-21 SHORT HILLS: Well, the time slips by. The basement windows are gone, all bricked up and the window wells filled in, all just in time for the storm that started last night. We have, so far, four inches of rain without much wind. It began last night with L & T that disappeared after an hour or so. It’s a Nor’easter for sure and possibly a ‘bomb cyclone’, but the lack of wind, I suppose, makes that unlikely. 

The basement is bone dry. The sump pump is pumping away. Other recent basement activity—we needed a new hot water heater and new chimney pipe for it. The old pipe had been eaten away. 

I’ve done a few outside chores, putting stuff away for the winter, a bit of trimming. It has stayed warm with the coldest temps only in the mid-forties. 

While doing dog walks in town, we saw ducks on South Pond and a few pics revealed them to be Wood Ducks. They have been there for a couple weeks, presumably a rest stop on their commute south. North Pond has Mallards. Maple color is good here. 

Twice this week I saw clusters of birds in the area. Some birds form big flocks for migration. There still is minimal activity at our feeders. 

We were in NYC a few times. First for dinner with Elaine, Richard and Ronnie, and the next day we had a few minutes and a coffee with Lily before brunch with Roger, Helene and Paul. At one place we were carded—vaccine cards needed to be shown.

Judy has started doing pet therapy visits again and has been at Covenant House in Newark twice. She and Maizie were also part of a promotional video shoot for CCPT, one of her therapy organizations.

Nice color in NJ.

Wood Duck, male, looking resplendent.

Two males and a female, one might be an immature.

Male on the water and female on the beach.

Stare down.

Mallards cruising for handouts.

Turkey Vulture circling.

Walking at Loanataka.

10-17-21 SHORT HILLS: We’ve been back for several days—warm days, like early September—until last night when a front came through with rain and wind and cooler temps. We had been in the high seventies, but are now in the fifties. In prior years we would have had a frost by this point in October. We are predicted to have a first frost in mid-November, Vermont may get a frost in early November. This is not my father’s fall.

We still have no chipmunks or squirrels here and almost no birds. I refilled one bird feeder one time since September 1, and the others have not been refilled. They all used to need refilling almost daily. 

Today we did a dog walk at Loantaka Park along with lots of other people and dogs. There were no water birds at the pond, but we did see a skein of Canada geese in flight. In the pond there was a rock to log in the middle that had an odd look. I got a picture, below. 

Canada geese in a loose formation headed north at the moment.

A better look at the geese/ They are all honking away.

The pond at Loantaka Park. The leaves are turning, but no ducks.

Is that a log or rock in the middle of the pic?

It's a turtle con! Some of them are pretty big. I think they are all painted turtles.

Fall Party.

10-11-21 VERMONT: The color here is deepening by the day. The two new red maples are showing nice color. Over the weekend we had Alison and Dan and Anna and Gardner and for dinner last night Ken and Jane and Steve and Diana joined us. A skunk made a brief cameo visit before hiding in the culvert, no later sighting or smelling occurred. 

Tomorrow we go back to NJ, leaving A and G in charge.

New blooms: cimicfuga.

The color here is developing nicely, especially on that far hillside.

Another look at the hillside.

Pasture color.

Great Blue Heron on our road next to a stream. They haven't moved on yet.

Back in VT.

10-7-21 VERMONT: We’ve been here for several days, arriving in the rain last Saturday. Yesterday was the first time we saw blue sky, and today it’s almost completely clear. It’s pretty warm for October, afternoons in the 70’s, nights in the 50’s, which retards the development of fall color. There is scattered color here, but yesterday we drove north as far as St. J., Cabot and Peacham for good foliage. 

The new pond level is low again, and we need more precip. The new length of perforated, drainage pipe was put below the new dam where the ground is wet. I seeded the area. I also spread about a cubic yard of gravel in the driveway, mostly in the spots that get muddy.

Lots of family arrive for the holiday weekend, starting tonight with Anna and Gardner. 

Unlike NJ, there are lots of birds here. The hummers are gone, but the warblers are here on their long commute. We have lots of robins, busy eating the little apples. The feeder birds are here also, and bluejays, thrushes.

New blooms: red asters.  

We had a few visits from this Merganser, female or immature male, who did a lot of diving.

We do have some color here in the pasture.

Better color in Peacham, a beautiful village.

Most of the time in VT, you're either going uphill of downhill.

Further north the color is probably at peak, those black dots are cows.

Near Danville, lots of dairy farms.

A Robin in our yard eating an apple.

A Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Today started with dense fog, but totally cleared.