The last day of November brought sunshine and above average temperatures (course the average high temperature is only 31 now). But the low sun angle does not provide real bright sunshine or warmth and the freezing night do not allow any flowers to bloom outside.
Lily in July
The cool, wet fall did not help the crops to dry down and during this corn harvest season, there are long lines at the corn drying facilities and even causing some propane shortages. Some farmers who can feed ground cob corn to livestock may pick the ears and crib it to allow the moisture content to lower for storage.
Harvest Time – Corn Picking
Watch the corn being harvested and stored in a corn crib.
It probably would have been a nice walk along a sandy beach on a warm late November sunny day but with winds gusting to 40 mph, the water wouldn’t have been calm and waves would have been rolling into shore.
Calm Water by Sandy Beach
A walk on my trails this afternoon, when the temperature reached 55, felt like an early spring day except the remaining leaves on the apple trees were brown instead of green and there was no white blossoms or yellow dandelions growing in green grass.
Springtime Apple Trees
After the fall equinox occurs, I can’t take a sunset picture from my normal spot because of power lines and houses so I have to hike out into the field more. But I haven’t done that during the deer hunting season since I don’t have a blaze orange jacket to wear just to take a sunset picture.
Non-hunting Season Sunset
Even with the sun out, on a late fall day there isn’t much color to be found without flowers blooming. The pink of wild roses can be seen in the summer but even their colors are only displayed a short time before they fade and drop their petals on the ground.
Summer Wild Rose
The nice brief rise in temperature today would have made a nice day to take a hike to visit a waterfall, at least it would have been before the afternoon rains came. The lower falls of Gooseberry Falls can have very light water flow in late fall compared to spring melt time.
Lower Gooseberry Falls
On Thanksgiving day, dinner often has turkey as the main course but these wild turkeys were safe from being the center of attention.
Happy Thanksgiving 2017
Watching the snowflakes falling this afternoon in below freezing temperatures had me wishing for something else white falling, like a waterfall on a warm spring day. This waterfall sometimes doesn’t even flow in the fall so I rather visit the Now and Then Falls in the spring or summer.
Warmer White Falling
This bat was hanging around my porch in August, which in Wisconsin is the month they normally leave their summer roosts and start moving to their winter habitat by October. They may delay hibernation and remain active into November and December if the temperatures remain above 40 during the day. They are rather ugly looking but a single bat can eat thousands of insects every night so they can eat all the mosquitoes they want in my yard.
Bat Hanging Around
