Our Pond Runneth Over...

When we first dug the pond, it only took two months for it to fill up. It’s spring fed, so that made a difference. I'm sure it would have taken a lot longer if rain falling in the pond was the only source of water.

Then came the drought. Months and months of little or no rain, and the water in the pond went down, down, down, until it looked more like an overlarge mud puddle.

Lately we’ve been getting more rain and the pond slowly started filling back up. When I went outside this morning, I was thrilled to see it is totally FULL again.The water is right up to the overflow pipe. Who'd have thought it would be so exciting to see water running out a pipe?

Ahhhhh, the lovely sound of running water....

Hooray! Here’s hope we don’t see such low water levels again!

The Frost is on the Pumpkin

Okay, I lied. The frost is NOT on the pumpkin. However, we did finally get a hard frost last night, and as I was headed out the door to take pictures this morning, I was just sure I'd be able to use that title. Wouldn't you know the few little pumpkins I bought were in sheltered locations and didn't get frosted!?!

You can see it on the windshield of Youngest Son's car:

You can see frost on the sheep's wool and where they were sleeping:

The last of the roses got frosted:

And of course, the grass and fallen leaves are frosty:
The sun hitting the newly frosted leaves is causing a shower of leaves to fall this morning:


Right now the oak trees, like the one shown here at the end of our driveway, still have most of their leaves:But the leaves are falling faster and faster:


So I figure it won't be long until all the trees look as naked as the walnuts do:
(... that picture is for you Robin! See, you're not the only one with leafless trees!)

And last, though you can't see the frost on the trees in this picture, I decided to include it because I like it, even if I do have it upside down here:
It may not LOOK upside down, but it's not really a picture of the trees, but a picture of their REFLECTION in our pond.

So, even though the frost wasn't on the pumpkin...
It was on most everything else this morning!

It's really fall...

Today was a beautiful fall day with lots of sunshine and a vivid blue sky. It was just a tad chilly, with lots of wind. It was my kind of day!

The pine trees to the left are along the front edge of our yard, and the big tree at the right is a huge oak sitting at the corner of the yard by our driveway.

We don’t seem to get the right weather conditions to have a lot of leaf coloration in the fall. Most of the time the leaves just turn brown and fall off the tree, but we do have a few with some colored leaves.
Here's a close-up of some of the leaves near the top of the oak. It was tough to get a sharp picture since the wind kept blowing the leaves around!

There were all kinds of bugs out busily gathering nectar from any flowers they could find.

This goldenrod seemed to be a particular favorite for all kinds of bugs and bees!

Somewhere along the line this summer, some butterfly bush seed must have floated over to the pond banks, since I see we now have a little bush growing there. It's even blooming!

The pond water is beautifully clear around the edges. A lot of leaves have fallen into the water, which the wind has blown to the edges.

If we're really lucky, we'll have a lot more nice weather like today. I'm not going to count on it though. A hard frost can't be too far away, and winter coming fast behind that.

But for today, it was fall and it was beautiful.

A Change in Weather

When I looked at the weather forecast today, it said the high would be 95° F. (35° C.). I thought, “Wow! It’s going to be a lot cooler today!”

You know it’s been too hot for too long, when 95°F. sounds cool!

It’s probably cooler because last night it rained. Not just a little-bitty, very brief hardly-wetted-down-anything shower, which is all we’ve got for weeks and weeks, but an honest to goodness thunder storm that lasted for hours. Wooooowwwww…. there was actually 2 ½ inches of water in the rain gauge this morning!

The garden was actually wet without me having to water it!
The dirt in the flower gardens was actually damp!

The pond had more water in it, which was all stirred up from the rain!

There were actually still WET spots on the driveway and road at mid-morning!

There was even a puddle of water on a little table on the front porch!

Did you notice all the fallen, brown leaves in these pictures? That's because of the drought, cause it certainly isn't fall, and the weather certainly hasn't been cool, let alone frosty!

Yes indeed, we sure could use some more of this change in weather.

More rain, and cooler temps please!