My Driveway

 Last year we got some snow on October 5, so ever since that day I've had this feeling of anticipation.  The cloud cover keeps looking like something's going to happen, then the clouds disappear.  No rain or snow yet.  But the feeling is still there.  I took a stroll down my driveway to photograph things that I found beautiful while imagining them being covered up with the white stuff any day now.  The last Daisy in my front yard was still hostin g what might be the last bug of this type until next year.

 Of my two remaining birch trees, the one that's been bent over and buried by snow blowers gets its fall colors several weeks before the other one that still stands straight and tall.  I think this year we'll need to cut this one down before it ends up on the roof of the garage.  I'll miss the foliage and the patterns of holes drilled by the Red-breasted Sapsucker.  He hasn't visited recently, perhaps having that same feeling of anticipating winter.

 For several days I thought the Oak Treehoppers were gone for the season, but they appeared again on another branch, several of the nymphs having undergone their last molt and are now young adults with red and white longitudinal stripes.  Click on this one for a close up of these beautiful insects.  Better yet, visit Main Street Artists Gallery and buy one of my note cards with a photo of these critters on the front.

 Our homestead is shaded by tall Douglas-fir, White Fir, and Sugar Pines.  In fact, we are so thoroughly shaded that our little hill is known variously as The Cold Spot and Pneumonia Gulch.
Here's a branch tip of Douglas-fir whose needles grow from all the way around the branch and whose lower branches droop, more or less like a Weeping Willow.

 Here's the unmistakable Douglas-fir cone, the female flower, with its cute three-pronged bracts between the scales.

 The White Fir needles grow out from the sides of the branch resulting in a flat, fern-like appearance.  Also, each needles has a twist at its base.  You might want to click on the photo to see this detail.

 The White Fir cones are usually near the top of the tree and they poit upward like candles on a traditional (dangerous) Christmas tree, while the Douglas-fir cones hang downward and may be found anywhere on the tree including the lower branches.

All these photos were taken as I walked down the right-hand side of my driveway.  The next post will include photos taken from the other side on my way back up to the house.