Calm before the storm

These good puppies deserved a walk - rain or no rain. We had wind and scattered showers last night. But today we are expecting storms.

We thought we might go to a different part of the wildlife area, but we all slept late and so had to settle for our neighborhood park.

It was a walk of neighbors. It was a walk of fall color and sights.

Down to the park we saw no one and heard only one dog parking from inside his house. We saw the pecan pickers in the park. One man worked on his own while a couple worked under a stand of trees further in the park.

We skipped the dirt road because we were not dressed for mud. Instead we walked along the inner brush-line.

The wind and rain last night scattered the leaves (and pecans and acorns) on the streets and sidewalks. It looked like confetti after a parade.

We encountered  a jogger who abandoned the sidewalk until he saw that we would move the dogs off  and into the nearest yard or drive. Since we are a family of runners (except me) we know what a menace dogs can be. It is only courtesy to give runners the right-of-way.

An older walker stopped to visit with DH as I lagged behind taking pictures and picking up pecans. He explained that dogs, like people are "handed." You need to watch which paw a dog leads with and that indicates if it is "right pawed" or "left pawed." The "right pawed" dogs are supposed to be smarter. Neither of us had heard that tale before and laughed as we watched Paddy and Scruffy. We think they are both "right pawed."

The final neighbor of the morning was the kind woman who came out of her house when I was gathering pecans from the sidewalk. "Would you like a plastic bag?" she asked as she stood at her door, bag in hand. "Oh, no," I said. "I am only gathering enough for a small pecan pie and I have pockets. But thank you!"

It is nice to know, as people come and go, that we are still a neighborhood.



DH with the puppies. See the leaves on the sidewalk and street - and gathering in the gutter.

Large fire ant mounds have appeared at the cracks and corners of the sidewalks.

The sidewalk in the park - note the fire ant mounds forced to the surface by the rains. What we need is a good hard freeze - for about a week (or a few buckets of boiling water - it may sound cruel, but it keeps them out of my yard).

This couple was working the hard way.

A lone picker had a bucket and a "pecan picker-upper,"*

I walked over to him (as DH, ever the introvert, held the dogs and "rolled his eyes" at my boldness) and asked if I could take a photo (from the waist down). He shared with me the best place to buy the "picker-upper" and explained he was too old to bend over to pick up pecans. I told him that I was too, although I filled my pockets on the way back home...just enough for a small pie!

China berries. It's a trash tree, but such color!



I never get tired of taking pictures of this tree. Were I ten years old I would be in those limbs, with a book on a long fall afternoon.

El diablo (goldenrod) does look pretty as it dries and spreads its demon seed.

Sweet Scruffy overlooking a bit of the meadow. Each variety of dried grass giving texture to the landscape.

Oak leaf blew from somewhere in the woods.

No, we are not in Ireland, but this clover reminded me of the ubiquitous shamrock...feeling that pull....

I am not my brothers. I do not recognize plants without serious hints. This osage orange was a bright spot  wedged among the twigs on the tree. I would not have known to look for it here. I love the bois d'arc tree. It reminds me of people I love.

Wow! The bright red berries of the ???**  I know I have identified it before, but I am getting old.

Isn't this gorgeous? I am going to post for my brother to help me.

DH was getting tires of waiting for me and headed up the street. Note the bright yellow on the left and the red on the right.



I know that the next storm may wash these leaves away. This gentleman stopped to talk to DH who was waiting in the drive (It always makes me laugh when a stranger engages him in conversation.)

I love fall!

While stopping for pecans I spied this little guy.

Even the gutters are screaming with fall color!

The sky threatened rain, but we only received a short-lived sprinkle. DH commented that we might have miscalculated, but we had not.

It is not the sunrise. But it works for us today.

DH wears a "survivor" T-shirt. He survived another walk. [I would recognize these hands anywhere (and have - even in a video of a group of soldiers walking down a road in Iraq. The uniforms all look alike, but I know the hands.).]

NOTES:

*TDW walked into my office this week and asked me what you call those "wire things" that people use to gather pecans. "It's a pecan picker-upper," said I. He grinned and asked how I knew that. Well, I know it because I have bought them for my dad and for friends who prefer not to break their backs gathering nuts. I told him that they can be found at the feed store downtown.

**Wait for it....deciduous holly (according to the brother with the degrees in range science). http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ILDE