Halloween Entertainment

  Tom and I walk the neighbor's lane many days and today we were treated to some Halloween entertainment.

 I first saw this dark object in the distance, black fabric dancing in the breeze. It's just good the day was well begun because I wouldn't have wanted to come upon this in the dark!

 Having completed a length and started back out the lane, this foot was embedded in a tree trunk.

 Pinehaven is in the distance on the far left among the stand of trees.

 Finally there was this witch, crashed face-first into a power pole. The white hair, moving in the wind, made it seem that much more real.

 Halloween decorations courtesy of the Erisman family. They had a final fall party last evening.

Fall Colors Peak

  I figured our extreme dryness (only 0.75" in the last 40 days) would put an end to any hope of a colorful autumn. It's been too warm. But I was wrong.

09/30

 By the end of September some promising golds began to show on the maples. This shot is of the late day sun shining through limbs of the maple nearest the kitchen window (north of the house).

10/01

 A look at the south side of the house showed equal promise, especially the large maple on the left.

10/01

 Here's a closer look at the  same tree. The top areas in particular were beginning to go gold.

10/08

 A week later and this same tree, now viewed from the second floor bathroom window, was awash with brilliant colors. Even without looking out a window, the golden hue permeates the house, as though there is a nearby fire. It is beautiful but it is also a bit frightening. How can anything so deep green suddenly switch to this shade? If we had never seen fall colors before, we'd drop everything and cry.

10/08

 Same tree again - now from ground level -  shows its carotenoid pigments. The chlorophyll is gone for this year. The colors are a science to themselves.

10/08

 As I start back the neighbor's lane for my daily laps. Pinehaven sits chilled in the early morning air while the trees all stoke the fire.

10/08

 The north maple - looking up from ground level - still holds most of its green and gold leaves. But not for long, I'll wager. Give them a week and the tree will stand bare until next April.

10/08

 This maple is at it's golden peak. It will soon darken and  drop its leaves, almost overnight. Tom and I will man rakes and complete our yard work for another season.

10/10

 And two days later, the darkening has begun. Of course the sky is cloudy, too, and that deepens the final shade. It is a hint of the short days, the darker days of winter to come. But for these few final moments, we attend a magic show, science doling out its hidden liquids that were there all the time.

 The rabbit was already in the hat.

Two More Pines Down

  The pines continue dying. It's mostly the changing climate, I think, though Tom says these trees are old enough that I need to expect them to expire. I planted most of them about 32 years ago.

 Nine days ago I called Dave with Joe's Tree Service. We always have him do our work: best prices and excellent work. The clean-up afterwards can't be beat, either. He sent me a text this morning that a larger job was cancelled due to the predicted high winds (up to 40 MPH) but that my job was small in comparison and could he come today?

Dave started with the spruce at the northern edge of the property, adjacent to Clayton Road. I'd say both trees were in the twenty foot range, too big for Tom and I to tackle. And this one was  too close to the power lines; the other was too close to the house.

 He starts by taking off all the side branches. A worker on the ground collects them as they fall and runs them through a chipper/shredder.

 Tom provides ample supervision ...

 Within 10 - 15 minutes the tree was down.

 He cut several large sections while still upright, dropped them to the ground and then cut them into manageable logs there. He cut the stump so close to the ground I can easily mow over it. Bravo!

 Now to the tree alongside the driveway. We might have been able to do this one except for it being so close to the house. A mistake would be costly. And the electric chain saw we have has but a 14" chain and this tree would have been on the ragged edge of possibility.

 Dave used the same procedure for both: take off the side branches then begin cutting the trunk in fairly large sections at the top first.

 I'll miss that tree. It was a beautiful blue spruce but it began dying several years ago and was completely dead this year. A companion tree was removed years ago.

 A bucket truck is a real plus (and probably a necessity for safeties sake).

The logs were left beneath each tree per contract but Tom began moving them all to this pile by the driveway. A neighbor who heats with wood is going to pick them up and haul them away.

 So Pinehaven becomes yet a little less of its namesake.

Next day. Dave cut the stumps off so close to the ground  they're virtually non-existent. How did he do that?

North tree ... South tree

Caesar Creek Fossil Hunt

  Tom and I met Jim Saylor at his condo in Lebanon about 10 AM yesterday and drove to Caesar Creek Lake for a fossil hunt ...

 We spent about three hours combing both sides of the spillway located  about a mile south of the Visitor Center. Permits (free) are required. Check in here for location and additional information. And here's a good post specifically about fossil hunting at the spillway.

 Due to COVID, the Visitor Center was closed. But a ranger told us to call the phone number posted on the door and we could get a verbal permit. Jim gave his name and the type of car we'd have parked at the spillway and the ranger said that was all that was needed.

 Both sides of the spillway are  cut  into the Ordovician strata. That's the  same as the railroad cut in  Miamisburg where Jim  and I previously hunted. To the right of this photo is a large, level plane (see below) , also littered with rocks that share the  same age (488.3 to 443.7 million years ago).

 This area is known for brachiopods, cephalopods, bryozoans, gastropod, crinoids and horn coral and trilobites. We were specifically hunting for trilobites, but found none. The others are easy to find. Jim talked to another man who was also hunting trilobites. He also left empty-handed.

 The wall on the south side is marked "no climbing"  but it's a fairly gentle angle and is easily scaled. Here's Tom (l) and Jim near the top. The north side is a much more gentle slope.

 I, meanwhile, stayed closer to the bottom. As I age (71) I find walking on rough ground more difficult.

 Jim really got into this work.

Every rock has thousands of fossils embedded in it.

When we got home, Tom sorted through his collection and left them atop our picnic table for the rain to wash clean.

 These are typical of what we found. Brachiopod (l), cephalopod (2nd from left, top), gastropod (below), another cephalopod and who-knows-what on the right.

 This free four page pamphlet is available at the Visitor Center.

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 Here, for comparison, are some fossils I found in Miamisburg in 1970:

Trilobites

Crinoid

Pelecypod

Apple Cider Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Buttercream

  It seemed like the perfect time to try this new recipe. I've been wanting apple cider anyway so when I came across this recipe I had another excuse to buy a carton.

 The recipe is here.

 I have only a few comments about the recipe:

a. I had to bake mine for 21 minutes.

b. I used salted butter and margarine and skipped the addition of salt.

c. I'd say the recipe for frosting makes easily double what you need. Look at the picture above. I piled the icing on thickly. I saved half for some future project.

d. How does it "serve 15-17" when it makes just a dozen cupcakes? Use all the batter in an even dozen for normally-sized cupcakes.

 When the cupcakes came out of the oven they had tiny craters on top. I'm not sure  what that's all about but it's actually nice. The indentations hold onto the icing.

 I'm always making my applesauce-raisin cupcakes. This is a nice variation that makes use of the apple flavoring in another way. They seem perfect-made for the fall season.