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.

Where's the Squirrels?

9-27-21 SHORT HILLS: The Equinox has come and gone, but it’s still warm in the afternoon and cool at night with no AC or heat necessary. There are hints of foliage color here, but the big show is weeks away. We go back to VT for the first few weeks of October this weekend. Between then and now house painters will be here and maybe the basement contractor. 

For me last week was exciting. I had a stress test on the treadmill that was easy and stressless, except that it was positive, showing EKG changes that the cardiologist was concerned about. That lead to a cardiac catheterization. I was expecting to be stented, but the arteries were normal. I guess that’s the reward for decades of statins.

We have been walking a lot and went to the South Mountain Recreation Complex for a walk around the reservoir. It’s a flat two miles that we did with the dogs. There were lots of people walking, running, fishing, dog walking, boating and the kiddie park was full. Essex County did a great job with this park. We saw lots of turtles sunning on floating logs  and an egret. Yesterday we walked with Bebe and Ronnie in town. 

On our walk this morning we saw a few birds flitting around, but it occurred to me that we have no squirrels or chipmunks at all. Pesticides? Herbicides? Epidemic? 

A bunch of turtles and an egret at the resevoir.

There are fountains at the resevoir that keep the water aerated.

A flock of swan boats.

The Equinox Approaches.

9-20-21 SHORT HILLS: Nights are a bit cooler, but the house plants outside are still enjoying their vacation. We are having some inside painting done and will leave the plants until it’s finished. We are also going to have those basement windows removed, and the foundation closed up to eliminate any more flooding from that source. 

We did a walk at Loantaka Park recently and saw a blue heron and great egret in the pond. I only had the iPhone so the pix are poor. The bird situation here is distressing. There was an epidemic of some sort in the Mid-Atlantic states involving eye disease in song birds. It is apparently over, but our bird population is severely reduced. I don’t see but a few and don’t hear but an occasional peep, and the feeders have attracted almost no one.  

The Autumnal Equinox happens on the afternoon of the 22nd. There is a full moon to mark the occasion. In a few weeks the days will be noticeably shorter.

The covid vaccination center is open again, and I was there as a volunteer this morning. It was not very busy, maybe 75 people in 4 hours, a small fraction of the potential capacity of the unit.

Nice rose, the bush is recovering from the summer heat and deer browsing.

Blue Jay scolding me for being near his/her tree.

The house plants, on the left are the basil and rosemary from Vermont.

The pond at Loantaka Brook Park. The Blue Heron is on the left and the Great Egret on the right.

Great Egret.

Blue Heron. These last two pix could have been better with a real camera.

Fading Into Fall.

9-13-21 SHORT HILLS: It still feels like summer here, we’re in the 80’s today, but the calendar says Fall starts shortly, and the days are shrinking away. I’m a bit depressed by the prospect of winter and the short days and the cold. 

Leaves are starting to turn here, a few burning bushes especially, and a few maples. 

Our basement and garage are finely dry. We’ve decided to close up the basement windows, which were the source of the water we had. Those windows were done in past times but not necessary any longer, and really have no point in the age of electricity and air-conditioning. We’re collecting bids from contractors.

I filled the bird feeders when we got back here, but there has been very little bird activity as yet.

New blooms: white aster.

Rose-of-Sharon is another kind of hibiscus and looks like a smaller variation of the one I showed in Vermont a few weeks ago.

Caryopteris is another fall bloomer with clusters of blue blossoms that last into October.

Abelia, another deciduous shrub that makes a big mound adorned with white flowers in fall.

Lady Cardinal has been one of the few customers we've had so far. I did see a grackle yesterday for the first time this fall. Catbirds and robins are still here.

Everything is mostly green, but you can see some red starting to appear.

A Major Storm.

9-2-21 SHORT HILLS: We’re back in NJ. Our arrival coincided with that of TS Ida. She was a storm of biblical size, dumping 4 inches of rain here before the rain gauge fell over. Nearby rain fall recorded amounts were closer to 8 inches, in just a few hours. Probably not so much for some areas of the country, but unheard of here.

This house was built in the 1940’s when foundations were made with basement windows. Outside the window are window wells. 3 or 4 feet deep to allow the window to open for ventilation, I suppose. We have seven such windows. Four of them leaked, letting water pour into the basement from the window wells that filled with the rainwater, in spite of covers that are supposed to prevent that. 

There was so much water coming into the basement that the sump pump was overwhelmed. It was working, but the water level was rising faster than it was getting pumped out. Out of desperation, I rigged up a tarp outside, nailed to the windowsill above the largest window well to divert the water away from the well. Inside the basement, I nailed another tarp under the window to steer the water into the old laundry sinks. Reducing the water flow allowed the sump pump to catch up, and then we were able to sweep the water to the sump to clear a lot of it. This morning I swept a lot more of it to the sump, and cleaned up the garage and driveway.  

There was no damage to the yard except a few small branches. There was not much wind, but there was  lots of L and T. There were tornadoes in some areas of the state. Downtown Millburn had severe flooding from the Rahway River.

In bloom: crape myrtle, white snakeroot, caryopteris, purple lamium, hydrangea, clematis, rose-of-Sharon, abelia.

Not as pretty as some of my pix, the driveway drain filled with debris from the storm.

The tarp diverted the water away from the window well.

The other tarp in the basement putting the water into the sinks.