Today has started off cloudy again so this might be the only sun I see on a Sunday.
‘Sun’day Bright Colors
Picture of the Day for October 13, 2012
The seagulls were enjoying a nice warm fall day on Little Long Lake and it was real peaceful watching them and to soak in the colors.
Seagulls on Little Long Lake
Picture of the Day for October 11, 2012
The recent winds have taken most of the maple leaves off the trees, leaving the oaks and a few other trees with color yet, and so the colorful fall passed too quickly again and I will have to do my leaf peeping on computer looking at pictures instead.
Colorful Hillside
Picture of the Day for October 9, 2012
Many of the birds have made tracks south and hopefully the hummingbirds have left since the sugar water froze the other night and could freeze again tonight.
There are only a handful of current railroad companies running on the tracks now in Wisconsin compared to all the companies that existed in the late 1880s. The tracks may exist yet if the small company merged with another but other tracks are no longer being used and some are now bike or hiking trails.
Heading Down the Track
Picture of the Day for October 6, 2012
The round barn in yesterday’s picture had a milkhouse next to it, and many of the milkhouses were built of stone or concrete for better insulation so long after the wood barn is gone, the milkhouse may remain as testimony of a dairy farm which once existed.
On some farms the early milkhouse and pump house were in the same building and later milkhouses would be next to the barn after sanitary regulations required that the milk be stored outside of the stable area. Windmills would pump water to the cold water reservoirs which held the milk cans waiting for pickup.
Milkhouse of Yesterday
Picture of the Day for October 5, 2012
A round barn is a historic barn design that could be octagonal, polygonal, or circular in plan. Though round barns were not as popular as some other barn designs, their unique shape makes them noticeable. The years from 1880–1920 represented the height of round barn construction, especially in the Midwest.
George Washington designed and built a sixteen-sided threshing barn at his Dogue Run Farm in Fairfax County, Virginia in 1793. It is considered the first American round barn.
Round barns were cheaper to construct than similar-sized square or rectangular barns because they required less materials. Agricultural colleges began to push the design in the 1880s as they taught progressive farming methods, based on the principles of industrial efficiency.
The spread of machinery, especially with the Rural Electrification program, eliminated the advantages of labor-saving designs that were more complicated to build, and the popularity of round barns faded.
The list of current round barns in Wisconsin show only this one in Washburn county and I was able to visit it this week with help of a relative driving me to it, so a special thanks to Roger for the fall driving tour pass the round barn which was built in 1918.
Washburn County Round Barn
Picture of the Day for October 3, 2012
A slowly turning windmill, colored leaves gently rustling in the wind and birds chirping in the trees made a soothing, tranquil scene to enjoy the sun’s warm rays.
Autumn Windmill
Picture of the Day for October 2, 2012
Even if yesterday’s horses were more interested in grass than the color foliage, I was definitely on the hunt for the colored leaves when I went leaf peeping on Sunday with my mom. We both liked this spot on a side road and I was glad that no one was behind us since I would stop every few feet to snap some more pictures before inching forward to soak in the glorious color and view that pulled at your soul.
Autumn Allure
Picture of the Day for October 1, 2012
While I was out leaf peeping Sunday afternoon again, these horses didn’t seem to care about the colorful leaves as much as finding grass to eat.
Horses Ignoring the Autumn Colors
Picture of the Day for September 28, 2012
Since I used a digital painting of a photograph for the prior post, I thought I would do one more painting of the rustic road that I was on yesterday. And it is a ‘rustic’ road since the Wisconsin Legislature established the Rustic Roads program in 1973 to help citizens and local units of government preserve what remains of Wisconsin’s scenic, lightly traveled country roads.
To qualify for the Rustic Road program, a road should have outstanding natural features along its borders such as rugged terrain, native vegetation, native wildlife, or include open areas with agricultural vistas which singly or in combination uniquely set this road apart from other roads.
Rustic Road 4 description on the WI Rustic Road web site, the rustic road I traveled on yesterday, says “Beautiful fall colors mark the road in autumn, along with many coniferous trees. Watch for glacial rock formations and wild turkeys.” I saw the rock formations and caves, fall colors but didn’t see any turkeys but plenty of other birds.
Rustic Road 4
And the original photograph that I took of Rustic Road 4 before I made a painting out of it.
