Rain and falling leaves

We have had fast changing weather patterns the past week, with more on the way. Here are some shots taken yesterday after a night of rain. Three from early morning, one mid-day with sun, and the last as the clouds return. With the wind and rain, I now need a couple of dry days to do some raking.

Fall colors

After a rain Friday and Saturday, today was bright and sunny. The trees here have finally donned their fall attire!

Wind and rain

Wind's a blowing!

Rain's a coming!

Wind and rain together!

Contrail shadow

Did you ever see the shadow of a contrail? I spotted is one Tuesday afternoon. This one is on the flight pattern of planes heading west from Baltimore. With the sun low in the sky and high clouds, the shadow of the contrail was visible on the clouds.

Verified words? - 9-th edition

Here are more of the "word verifications" I spotted while commenting on blogs; along with my impression of their meaning. Each one has been verified against dictionary.com and wikipedia. First edition was posted as Round 1. Today's words:

ruffleas
dictionary.com - NOT a word, suggested "ruffles "
wikipedia - NOT a word, suggested "ruffles"
Lew's definition: ruf-fleas - don't mess with these little pests, they bite!

fletag
dictionary.com - NOT a word, suggested "flotage"
wikipedia - NOT a word, suggested "flag"
Lew's definition: fle-tag - what ruffleas play on your ankles.

tochek
dictionary.com - NOT a word, no suggestions
wikipedia - NOT a word, suggested "touche".
Lew's definition: to-chek - what one should do to spelling before posting.

Wet and yellow

We bought some mums again this year. This bunch provides a dash of color on a rainy Thursday.

Then and Now - Corn harvest

Back then, corn harvesting was a very labor-intensive job, even with the machines of the early twentieth century. At the Rose Hill Manor / Farm Musem fall festival some of the early machinery to aid the harvest was demonstrated. There are three steps: cut the corn, remove the shucks, and shell the corn. I did not see how they cut the corn in the field, but it was brought to the shucker on a wagon. This old corn shucker is powered by a belt driven by a tractor. Corn, stalks and all, is fed into shucker. Corn on the cob comes out green tube on the right and drops into a wagon; chopped stalks and shucks come out the pipe on the left.

This corn sheller is even older than the shucker. It is belt driven, powered by a one-cylinder engine. The corn is fed (again manually) into the trough on the right. Kernels of corn come out the white tube. The cobs ride up the trough on the left.

Now, this machine cuts 6 rows of corn, shucks it, shells it and leaves the waste in the field for compost. When its internal bin is full, it stops by the truck in the far end of the field and unloads the corn and goes back across the field.

Ice house, Rose Hill Manor

Before refrigeration was invented, winter ice was stored to provide cooling. This is the ice house at Rose Hill Manor, a home built in the late 1700's.

Penultimate lily

This yellow lily gave us a late burst of color, with maybe one more bloom to come.

Chainsaw sculpture

Getting started

These men have a rather noisy method for carving wood. Start with a log 10 - 12 inches in diameter and 18 - 30 inches long, crank up the chain saw and dive right in. In a few minutes, the basic shape is done. Do a little more detail sawing and apply a little paint and you have a finished sculpture. See Marianne's post for more of their work.

Rough shape

Finishing touches

Marianne and her new halloween friend!

Oktoberfest music

The Heidi and Heimat Echo band provided the music for Oktoberfest in Frederick this weekend. Their music was traditional German music, but they play a wide variey of styles, including French, Italian, jazz and country. They had people dancing, including some of the kids!

Little red shed