Fall Color

After traveling over two thousand miles a couple of weeks ago in search of autumn color, I returned home to be greeted by this bright little tree right in my front yard. And, now just a few weeks later, I am surrounded by the ravages of fall. I have autumn leaves on my lawn, (see right) driveway, porch, deck, gutters and, unfortunately, still on a few trees. In past years leaf cleanup was helped by prevailing west winds which resulted in a relatively clean lawn for me and some real leafy lawns for folks down the street. But this year, thanks to Al Gore and his "Global Warming", the winds have come from the south. This has two results. First, the leaves decide to remain in the comfort of my property and second, one can really get sweaty raking leaves in warm weather.
Another way to solve (temporarily) the leaf problem. Hop in the car and take ride. Maybe take a few pictures and just plain enjoy the scenery. Another reason was to celebrate that the price of gas in town broke the $3 barrier ($2.95). The scenery was great. One road, Grandview, certainly lived up to its name. You could see acres of puffs of color miles and miles away. Plenty of photo opportunities but few places to pull off the road. And too hilly for me to park and hike to a vantage point. So, you'll just have to take my word for it or come over and I'll give you a personal scenic tour. After I roamed around a bunch of backroads for about an hour, I ran across some new kind of color in the landscape. Around here one is used to seeing the livestock in black and white. A lot of Holsteins and Angus and a few other breeds are very common throughout the area. But that day I found some new color in the autumn scene. The color belonged to a pair of Scottish Highland cattle, a mom and calf. I've seen this breed around but never stopped to photograph them before. I found a spot to park and got some shots. At first the calf was off by himself but as soon as I approached he (or she) ran over to mom's side. She was very protctive of him and didn't take her eyes off of me until I left. Anyway, here they are.

I kinda like the hairdo.

Sort of a modified Mullet.

As Jo was leaving (no pun intended) for work this morning
she called for me to come out on the deck and bring my camera.
Here's why!