It's Been a Busy Day

Dave's Fall portraits!!

This is Dave's friend, we call him Frisky.
Clay took this picture early one morning before work.
This is just a hint of what our ladybug infestation looked like. It started last weekend and lasted for about 5 days.
This looks like what use to be a tomato horn worm, but the black part on the head seems unusual.
The next two pictures were taken on a hike at Glen Alton. These pictures were taken 10-12-08.
This is a sourwood tree. We were excited to see one because Clay and I went to the Sourwood Festival in Black Mountain, NC this summer.

We hiked on a side trail called Kelly Flats, but this is the main entrance to Glen Alton. I love these gates.


Back to 10-18-08 The Wildlife Club at CES had their Fall hike today. We ended up going to Camp Alta Mons, one of my favorite places. I haven't hiked there in the fall. I was a little bit worried about the little ones falling on the wet leaves and hidden rocks, but no one went home with any scars. We had 4 teachers (Including Denise Washington from New Orleans, she was excited to be out with us because she didn't grow up spending a lot of time outdoors, she said she might go home a "tree hugger."), 5 students, 4 parents, and one little brother. One of the girls ended up with a wet foot on the first of three creek crossings. She seemed to be pretty uncertain of the whole experience on the way up, but once she got to the falls she was loving it. She kept scooping up handfuls of water and was so eager to explore everything. She was much more confident on the way home and crossed the creeks on her own with no mis-steps. I think we met our goal of getting some families out hiking and enjoying the Fall colors. Claire one of my co-workers had a great motto she had heard, "No Child Left Inside!" I got some great photos of the students, but I wouldn't want to post them without permission, so I just included some nature shots.

Shelf Fungi.

I named these marshmallow fungi!



We are expecting to have a freeze tonight, so we worked late in the garden. We continued to pull up the tomato plants. I picked the green tomatoes, thinking I could try to see if they would ripen up inside. We pick most of the basil to dehydrate. We dug up one basil plant to pot and bring inside, hoping to keep fresh basil around a little longer. The clover Clay planted is doing well and will make a good ground cover to keep the soil from blowing away and can be tilled into the soil when spring comes. We just left the pepper plants alone to brave the cold. If the plants freeze and die we will collect the rest of the peppers. I didn't have the energy to cover them with a sheet and try to keep them going a week or so longer.


A closer view of the peppers, some lettuce, and kale.



For such a big plant the Brussels sprouts are still very small. I'm still hoping to have at least one meal with them, and I've always liked the small ones anyway!

One last view of the evening before dark.

I tried to post a couple pictures of the October Fun Day that we had at church today, but It didn't work, and I don't have the patience to try again just now. I have to say my favorite moment was when all the adults and one child were doing the Hokie Pokie, while all the kids watched. I'm pretty sure it was suppose to be the other way around!