More Fall Colors

Here’s a couple more photos from the other day when I went with my husband to the neighbor’s farm by the woods:

 

Here’s a confession:  I’ve fallen way, way behind in reading blogs.  I have a couple hundred of them on my Google Reader and I’d been keeping up for quite awhile, but then things got busy around here with lots of things to do and places to go. I’m not the most sociable of bloggers, anyway, which is consistent with my personality, I guess.  We are what we are.  I do love taking photos and then looking at them on the computer screen.  Its just so much fun and somehow very satisfying.       

Barn Charm

Another barn with quilt block adornment.  Photo taken late last month in northeast Iowa.

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Visit Bluff Area Daily for this week’s Barn Charm.

Vineyard Wedding

Over the weekend, besides visiting the quarry, I also attended a wedding held in a vineyard!  Quite a combination of activities, eh?!  Hey, I’m fairly open-minded these days.  A wedding in a vineyard seemed different, but different isn’t necessarily bad.  What was kind of bad, though, was that it was really cold out that evening.  Thank goodness we had taken our winter coats along!    

 

Some of the vines still had grapes on them. I don’t know anything about wine-making, but I heard someone say that a certain kind of wine is made out of these late-harvested grapes:  

 

  Before and after the wedding we spent time in the wine-tasting room and I did go ahead and taste my share of wine since I knew I wouldn’t be driving home.  The place is called Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery and is located west of Spring Valley, Minnesota.  Wish I would have bought a bottle of wine and may do that next time I’m in the area.  They have some good Italian food there, too.     

Quarry Visit

I’m interrupting the fall scenery photos to show you where I was yesterday afternoon---at an open house at a local limestone quarry.  I get emails from a rock club (maybe I’ll join someday) and they recently sent info about the event.  I decided to go since I’ve never visited a quarry before. 

After arriving at the front gate parking area, visitors were taken by blue bus into the main part of the quarry: 

After listening to a short informational talk which included the safety rules, we were free to walk around.  One of the rules was to stay at least ten feet away from the walls in case of falling rocks:

 

Different types of limestone are quarried here.  I thought the various layers were interesting:

Some of the visitors had hammers or rock picks with them so they could hunt for the brachiopod fossils that are found in one area of the quarry.  Mostly it was parents with young children out for a fun and interesting afternoon adventure.  I just walked around and looked at everything and took photos (after making sure that was allowed).  The calcite deposits caught my eye.  They sparkled in the sunlight but I wasn’t able to capture that in a photo.  This one was about a foot wide: 

   

At the bottom of the quarry were pools of water coming from the springs that are uncovered down there:

I had a great time!  Here’s one last shot with the fall foliage on the top rim brightened up a bit:

Weekly Top Shot

I took this photo the other day and was very happy with it, immediately deciding that it was my top shot of the week.  I liked the variety of elements in the scene. 

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Go to THE VIEW FROM RIGHT HERE to find Weekly Top Shot.

Hickory Trees

There were hickory trees in the woods near the farm where I took a walk yesterday.  There’s a couple of them in this first photo---they have the brown leaves and shaggy bark:

I startled up two deer.  As they bounded away I tried to get them in a photo.  All I got was a flash of white tail:

Here’s a closer look at the hickory bark and leaves:

Your Sunday Best

Here’s a photo taken yesterday on my walk around the farm where my husband was helping the neighbors harvest corn.  Timber borders the fields there and I’m so envious!

Visit A RURAL JOURNAL to find Your Sunday Best.

Truck Ride

My husband invited me along for a ride in the grain truck yesterday.  Here was my view out the window…

He was hauling corn for our neighbors.  He wanted me to ride along so I could see the fall color in the woods bordering the field where they were combining corn.  Stay tuned for scenes from there.

Wisconsin Shots

Last Sunday my husband wanted to go visit his brother in Wisconsin, so away we went---with me driving, unfortunately. There were superb photo opportunities around every bend and I suffered in silence as we drove past gorgeous fall foliage in northeast Iowa and crossed over the Mississippi River twice.  The river bluffs looked like a colorful patchwork quilt!

Out of five hours of being on the road, I was in the passenger seat for only a half hour and that was in Wisconsin.  Nice fall colors there, too, of course.  I shot photos like mad, ending up with several that contained road signs…     

There are four arrow signs in this next photo.  See if you can find them all…

 

The road showed signs of split personality for aways…

This line-up of highway number signs caught my eye…

Got this quick shot of a cool theater marquee as we drove through Viroqua (sorry the visor got in the way---better than my husband’s nose which ended up in a few photos!)…

And, finally---just another scene that I liked.  Autumn is so beautiful!  I don’t want it to end!

Skywatch

This evening shot was taken while I was sitting at a stop sign last week.  The red and white sign shows what kind of soybeans were planted in the field next to it.  That's how seed companies advertise their different seed varieties.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Visit Skywatch Friday to find photos from around the world.

Cresco

From Lime Springs I took a road that goes to Cresco to see what I could find in that town to snap pictures of quickly.  The Cresco Theatre, located in the Opera House, looked like a good photo subject.  I was there once to watch my daughter in a high school play that had travelled there to perform.  Movies are shown there, too:

Nearby was the Howard County courthouse:

 

And this locomotive and train cars were in the city park: 

Lidtke Mill

I saw the sign for Lidtke Mill soon after crossing back into Iowa from Minnesota.  I’ve never taken any pictures of it so decided to detour over there.  Its an old grain mill on the Upper Iowa River.  The very dry summer is evidenced by the lack of water flowing over the dam:

This next photo shows a side view of the mill:

Lidtke Mill is located just north of Lime Springs, Iowa.  The town’s very clever motto is “Best Town by a Dam Site”.  It is also home to a huge ear of corn made out of yellow-painted plastic milk jugs!

Minnesota Drive-bys

Here’s some random drive-by shots snapped haphazardly as I drove in Minnesota the other day…

I like the colors in this next one…

This next one is cool in a blurry sort of way…

 

Here’s a sight this lifelong farm girl can’t get used to---semi trucks sitting in farm fields!  Nowadays its how some farmers transport their grain out of the field and some even own their own semi trucks. 

This next one is pretty weird, but cool in a way, I think.  (Don’t know what I’d do without the word “cool” to use.  How else can things be described sometimes?!)  The foreground is a harvested soybean field… 

Lastly, here’s a not-very-good shot of the downtown skyline of Rochester, Minnesota, including the Mayo Clinic… 

I wasn’t driving in this area just to shoot photos for the blog---I was on a legitimate errand and it wasn’t for a medical reason, which is why many folks travel to this city.  I did once tour the Mayo Clinic with a school group.  Long ago there was a Dr. Mayo who was a physician in the Civil War.  He later settled in this area, farming and doctoring.  He had two sons who became doctors.  They founded the Mayo Clinic and pioneered the concept of the group medical practice.  Interestingly enough, the elder Dr. Mayo died in a farm accident when he was in his 90’s.  I learned all this at the clinic tour.

Bicycle Trail

Last Saturday afternoon I took advantage of some beautiful weather and the one working bicycle we have and ventured to a nearby biking trail that was built along a former railroad grade.    

  I pedaled a round trip of four miles.  Not very far, but far enough for someone who hasn’t biked for quite awhile. 

 

The trail section I was on passes under a four-lane highway.  There’s a semi rumbling by in this next photo. 

The fall colors were so gorgeous and the atmosphere was peaceful.  There was a quiet camaraderie with other bicyclists who passed by.  I had a great time and really should go there more often!  

Yesterday

I’m typing this last night and am very tired from tractor-driving.  I chopped and raked cornstalks for several hours and sang my heart out with the songs on the radio.  After that, I took a walk and along the way saw these beautiful trees around our neighbor’s barn roof.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen them this colorful before!

By then, my husband was out in the field with the round baler.  I liked the way this photo turned out, with the clear focus of the machinery and then the autumn trees in the background.  If only there were some bales in the photo since that’s what he was out there for. 

And, so, here’s a shot with some bales in view, too…

Barn Charm

A house on a barn! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Visit Bluff Area Daily for this week’s Barn Charm.

Been Busy

I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth or anything.  Just haven’t had time to sit down and put blogposts together.  There’s a multitude of photos hoping to make their debut online.  I can almost hear them shouting, “Choose me, choose me!” 

Here’s one I took on Saturday morning when I was on my way to some garage sales to look for baby clothes for my new grandson who is due in a few weeks.  The morning light was just right for capturing these bright red sumac…

Back home here on the farm we have finished harvesting and now its time to bale up the cornstalks to be used as winter bedding for the cattle…

Since blogging last I’ve been on drives to Minnesota and Wisconsin and I also went on a bicycle ride on a nearby bike trail.  All with camera along to hopefully preserve some of the absolutely gorgeous autumn scenery.  We haven’t seen the trees this beautiful in years!  Right here in our own yard we have an ash tree aglow… 

Goodness, my husband just asked me if I’ll be available to chop cornstalks today, so blogging might have to be put on hold again!  Maybe I can quick do a Barn Charm post for this evening.