Black Cats

Remember  -  Black Cats are not bad luck. They have always been good luck for me. This was Wiley and I still miss him. We lost him last December. He was a heck of a mouse-er who lived mostly in our hay shed when we lived in New Mexico. I still have 4 cats but only one is black but she has white feet and belly. In all I have had 7 solid black cats and 7 that were black and white.

Witch

A little skeleton witch took a break on this pumpkin.

Creepy Crawly Spider

Actually this is a an orb spider that lived on my sunroom window all summer of 2016. She ate lots of flies and moths. She was large as most garden spiders are if they live long enough. Was probably 2 inches a cross.

Oak Leaves

I had to add this photo of some oak leaves I took last year in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico

Maple Leaves

I did find a bit of color in some maple leaves on our property.

Mandevella Vine

I saw this pretty Mandevella vine at a country store near where we live that was selling mostly pumpkins. I don't know if pumpkins are raised in this area of Kentucky or not but everywhere down the road was someone with a flatbed trailer load of them, trying to sell them. We never got any as we didn't have any place to really display them for anyone to see except us. We have six adults living here and no kids. None of the others here seemed to want to be bothered with putting up any decorations. I was going to but caught a cold and haven't felt like it this week.

One Leaf

An interesting leaf found one morning.

Fall in Kentucky

I have been disappointed in the fall leaves here in Kentucky. I don't know if what I am seeing is normal or its just a bad year. I know there is a lot of weather factors that go into the color of the fall leaves everywhere. In the west we will have really good years for the yellow of the aspen leaves like last year was and I have heard that this year hasn't been near as good.

Blackwater Falls

 The last day of our trip to Petersburg, WV. We said goodby to Lee's sister, Linda and thought we would be back to Bedford, KY at least by suppertime. Not to be. There was to much sight seeing to do. We had been to all of these places before but it had been so long ago we decided to see them again. We first stopped at the Smoke Hole Caverns. We knew there was a good gift shop there to get a few souvenirs. At this point trying to be good and get on down the road we decided to by pass actually going on the cavern tour since we had done it in 1992.

And because I was wanting to stop at Seneca Rocks. A large up-thrust of rock that the Indians used to camp near. It is now supposed to be a great place for rock climbers. I don't do that kind of thing so don't know if it is or not. I do know it is a picturesque place, but on the morning we were there the lighting was not that great as it was very hazy. Lee did say that he had been as far up as the notch in the rocks with a group of his friends when he was a teenager. That it's self would be a heck of a climb.

 Right in the area of the parking lot to Seneca Rocks was an old homestead that the Forest Service has taken over. It wasn't open on this day but I did take photos of the outside. The first part had been built in the 1960's by Jacob Sites. It was remodeled several times. There was a garden on the side that had been planted as it might have been from that time period. There were lots of herbs in it as well as corn, beans, squash, and pumpkins. There was a pumpkin vine on a rail fence that had a big blossom on it the day we were there making a nice photo.

Fall Trees

 A photo of the South Branch of the Potomac River that runs right through Petersburg, WV.

 Golden Rod. The Photo was taken in WV but golden rod is the state flower of Kentucky.

 A different yellow flower, name unknown

roses are everywhere here. We had to fight to keep them alive in NM. Guess I will have to get some when we have our own place.

 It was a bit disappointing that the trees hadn't turned much on our trip. Here are a few I saw in the Monogahela National Forest which is near Petersburg, WV

the red leaves are mostly on the sugar maples