The critters must have heard the forecast of the freezing temperatures tonight since they were stocking up on food but the chipmunks seemed to eating more than storing for the winter like the squirrels were. But the chipmunk had to settle for an acorn since the little red squirrel has claimed all the bitternuts.
Hungry Chipmunk
A tree frog is any frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, so I guess I will have to call this a porch frog since he spends most of his time hanging around my porch and on the porch door window at night catching moths and other bugs.
“Porch” Tree Frog
More than a decade before Laura Ingalls played on the banks of Plum Creek, a girl named Caroline “Caddie” Woodhouse roamed the Wisconsin wilderness. She came of age during the Civil War and loved the outdoors, gathering hazelnuts in the woods, dodging rattlesnakes on the bluff and poling a log raft on the lake. She rather hunt than sew or plow than bake.
She was friends with the local Indians and she often forded the river on tiptoe to watch them make birchbark canoes. When she overheard settlers making plans to attack, the 11-year-old girl got on a horse and rode over at dusk to warn them.
While she had no TV series, her stories relayed by her granddaughter in the 1935 Newbery-winning children’s classic “Caddie Woodlawn,” still fires the imaginations of young readers. Carol Ryrie Brink lived with Caddie from the age of 8 and the real life of her grandmother inspired her to write the book Caddie Woodlawn in 1938 and the sequel book, Magical Melons in 1939.
Caddie Woodhouse’s 1856 home still stands in Caddie Woodlawn Historical Park on Wisconsin 25 which I visited yesterday and looked out the bay windows at the turning leaves. For that time period, the house seemed to be a mansion and not a log house or a dugout. I’m sure the old house holds many stories of Caddie and her six siblings.
Caddie’s Rural Wisconsin House
The dry conditions are affecting the fall colors as some trees just dropped brown leaves, but when I took a walk yesterday afternoon, there are some maples showing bright, colorful leaves. I love the variety of colors one tree can have; from the green, yellow, orange and red. It is almost a rainbow of colors.
Rainbow Maple Tree
Last night there was predicted frost but it didn’t get as cold as last year when I was camping on the North Shore. While at the Gooseberry River, I went out early to get the sunrise picture over Lake Superior and had grabbed a towel to wipe the water off the bench while I waited. But I didn’t have to worry about the rain drops from the overnight sprinkles since they were frozen solid because it was 24 degrees out that morning!
But a few minutes after this shot, the sun made its appearance, creating a beautiful sunrise, melted the frozen water drops and a created a perfect day to explore the waterfalls.
Early Sunrise at the mouth of Gooseberry River
When I went to collect the mail this evening, I noticed the sky and had to hustle back to the house to grab the camera since the sky changes so fast at sunset.
Sunset Rays
The majestic, yet delicate giant swallowtail feeding on beautiful, colorful flowers seem like the appropriate picture for a Sunday.
Giant Swallowtail Butterfly
When I got home this evening, I was tired from the day’s activities, but there was a glow on the colored leaves from the sunset so I grabbed my camera and headed out to the trees. And while when hiking on my trail, I noticed my old oak (which I have taken pictures of before since it looked like a critter coming out of the tree) had grown a beard since the last time I was on the trail.
Bearded Oak Tree
It was this time last year when I took a trip along the Lake Superior shore in Minnesota in the area called the North Shore. I figured technically it would be the northwestern shore since the true north shore would be in Canada, but with the angle of the shoreline, you can look directly south and see Lake Superior. The angle of the coast line makes it a little difficult judging where to line up for the sunrise shot without a compass.
Last year, I just rolled out of my tent to watch the sunrise by Split Rock Lighthouse before hiking the trails and exploring the rest of the day. Split Rock is still my favorite lighthouse, maybe because it is one of the closer ones to me, but mainly because of the location and the work involved to build it when there was no roads and all the building materials came by water and lifted up to the top of the cliff.
As a scenic photographer, I normally try to eliminate people from my scenes, but I left the two people standing by the fence in front of the lighthouse to the right (dark coats) just to give some perspective of the grand undertaking of building in that location.
Majestic Split Rock Lighthouse
Another sure sign that winter is approaching was seeing all the robins gathering on the lawn yesterday, including the ‘little’ babies from the last batch.
Big Baby Robin
