Fall Color and Poisonous Canadian Caterpillar spotted.

Hickory-tussock moth

The colors are just starting to look good this weekend and should come to a high point sometime during the next week. Also on a more alarming note I spotted a couple of these caterpillars from Canada. At first thinking is was some sort of albino caterpillar until I found out they are poisonous. Do not pick one up if you see it. See  video report. These little guys can give a rash or worse. Let the kids know cause they love to pick up any crawly thing they see. Enjoy the great weather and color. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Let the Leaves begin

Every year about this time you can see bus loads of people coming up highway 15. They have a singular purpose to see the woods all dressed up in its finest glory before winter arrives. This is the time of apple cider and pumpkins. It has always been a time we cherish every warm day that comes our way because we know what is a head.  For Lee and I the past 13 years it has been a time of making sure we had enough firewood stacked to make it through the winter. And every Fall with the porches full I always felt rich. This year it will be different for us as we will not spend the winter in my most favorite place on earth. Instead, my home will become like so many others drained and cold through the winter. This was a hard decision for me as my work now is not close to the cabin but a hour away in Wellsboro.  The challenges of winter driving when you have a 8 am - 4 pm job daily did not align with staying at our home in Leetonia. But like the leaves who will soon drop we will be back again in the Spring.
What this means for many of you who depend on my winter road reports are that they will no longer exist. Also the road to our house will no longer be plowed. So it will return to a snowmobile trail and those who choose to drive will be going at the risk of getting stuck without an outpost of help. As with all things there are cycles. I will continue to write this blog as long as possible this Fall. And if any of you going up want to contribute email me and I will be glad to write it up. I will count on my extra eyes in the woods to keep track of things. Mountain girl, Paula logging off.

Fall is here

The leaves are falling and frost has been on the ground four times.  It started the first week in September a bit soon even for us. No hard freezes though so most of the plants are doing fine. I am enjoying the quiet lack of construction in my yard and walks in the crisp air. Sounds like some sort of singles ad. Ha.

Good news for the people of Leetonia who have not enjoyed the trailer in front of Pettites. It has been given to me to scrap out. A friend of mine will be doing it over the next couple months. All that should be left is a lot. The lady who owns it doesn't want to care for anything else and is leaving it vacant. She has said that if any of you want to use it to park a car once the trailer is gone...she would appreciate it if you could keep the weeds mowed down.  Phil and his friends will be doing the scraping and while he is there if you see something you need be sure to ask him. Otherwise help him out. If you see someone else taking valuable scrap. Let me or him know. Most the stuff inside is being given directly to people in need. I am cleaning the dishes and bedding up for a family who just had a house fire and lost everything. 

Not a lot else happening right now. Just watching the color change day by day. It is always so beautiful. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Fall Morning in Leetonia

Fall Color

Cushman View

Francis Rd

It was a crisp, but beautiful start to the day this morning. The color on the mountain is at its peak for this year. While driving around to a job on the other side of the mountain I took a few pictures.
The first picture is just above us shooting through a  logging area. The second picture is a top Cushman View, it was still a bit misty this morning so the colors didn't show through as well as they will later in the day. The last picture is traveling down Francis Road. There was something about the way the light filtered through to the road and the combination of the different kind of trees that made the trip special.
Today, I must get started cutting firewood for the following year. It would be nice to get the huge pile moved before winter so I have somewhere to push the snow. It is supposed to get into the upper 60's today and on the South slope in front of our house it can be quite warm even hot at 60.
Hope you all enjoy a bit of Fall from Leetonia. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Fall is here and fading fast!

Top of Hill

First Fire

Sorry not to post sooner, but I have been gone for 12 days helping my mom move from Iowa to Indiana. At 80, her energy puts most of us to shame. Lee has been holding down the fort.
Went to top of hill to get a picture of the color. Unfortunately, much of the trees have dropped leaves and the colors are hit and miss in different places. Top of our hill is definitely a miss for this year.
It got down to 27 last night, so the wood ogre finally decided I could start a fire this morning. This is our first fire of the season and the push is on to get all the firewood up closer to the house for the winter.
The high today was supposed to make it to 53, but the thermometer says 47 at 1:45pm, so don't think we will make it. The sun and dry weather makes it feel a lot warmer and if you sit out of the wind it is quite comfortable.
My favorite part of fall is the disappearance of the bugs. No swatting at anything while you enjoy the view is a welcome addition to the woods of Leetonia. The smell of dry leaves crunching under your feet on a sunny day is great too.
I did see a strange thing the other day I have never seen before. A porcupine was killed on our road and the Turkey Vultures were having a feast. It was who they invited to their feast that surprised me. Mixed in close among them were several Ravens. Apparently, willing to eat next to the vultures. I have never seen two groups like this share. Usually, it is a fight to the finish on getting a carcass. Maybe a few politicians could take a lesson from these two unlikely dinner companions. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Fall drive up Cedar Mountain

It was a beautiful day today in the woods of Pa. The day started with a hard frost and as the air warmed the vapors from the melting frost formed clouds in the valleys. Then the sun burned everything off and we were left with a beautiful blue sky background the the colorful trees.
The ladybugs haven't been too bad yet, although they have been known to come on warm October days with a vengeance. The leaves are falling fast and the bucks are moving quickly in search of mates for next year's fawns.
The bucks will burst across the road in front of you almost anytime of day searching for that special doe. The archers are out looking as well for that perfect buck. Tomorrow and Friday looks like rain and I even heard some nasty rumors of snow. But the weekend looks dry and perfect for campers looking to have some fun before winter. I will probably be cutting the rest of my logs over the weekend. With each leaf that falls its a reminder that summer is over and winter will soon be here. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Water, wood and weather

The last day of September, mother nature tried to catch up on the rain all in one day. We had four inches of rain. Pine creek started at around 1 foot high and went to 7 foot in a matter of a eight hour period. It is now back down around 2.84 nice day for a canoe trip. The first picture was taken on Oct 1st in the morning at Cedar Run.

We are busy cutting, splitting and stacking wood for the winter. It got down to 30 the other night and I awoke to a white frosty substance covering the grass. A little reminder winter isn't far away. It is hard when it goes from eighty to thirty, but the change in weather always seems to do that to us.
I am a little over half way through my tri-axle load of logs. I have about 30 left to cut. Those will be used next year as they have to dry. Although, I did notice a few dead logs that might be useable this year. The load they delivered was mostly ash and beech. Those will dry much faster than oak, but not burn as hot. The red oak we have for this winter has dried for about 3 years, which seems to be about right for that wood. It is very slow to cure, but a good burner once it does.

The trees are changing and dropping leaves, which doesn't make for long color. Spring and Fall are some of the nicest times of year here cause the bugs aren't hanging around. The color is
pretty in Fall, but, with winter around the corner, seems to put a bit of a damper on it. Spring heralds the end of snow so I lean towards liking it the best.

If anyone feels like they need a bit of extra exercise feel free to come bye and split some wood. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out and starting the chain saw.

Busy Fall time

My nieces and nephews were up over the weekend and we did a little hiking and site seeing. The first picture is Diane sitting next to a wild child, my niece, Haley. The energy from this picture tells you how tired I feel today after four days of keeping up with the twins and their brothers.
I took them to the Colton Point overlook of the Grand Canyon. It is always amazing to see into the canyon. The leaves aren't as spectacular this year as years past. It seems they fell off the trees as fast as they changed color. It was cool during the Columbus Day
weekend, but stayed dry for the most part.
I also had a group of 50 people and kids from St. Micheal's school in Penn Yan, NY. stay over night Saturday to Sunday morning. The night was cool and clear and they got to see our spectacular night stars. The kind of stars you only see in a place without any lights to distract from the natural star light.
They stayed in tents and woke to a crispy 27 degree morning with a heavy frost on the plants. They only do one night as for many of the kids ages 8-10 this is there first camping experience. The
picture of the tents and frost is early Sunday morning.
We also had our first snow this Monday morning. Nothing to stick just enough white flakes to tell it was snow and remind us bad weather is on its way. My nieces and nephews squealed with excitement to see the white flakes. Our reaction is more subdued. In fact, the white flakes signal a mourning for the loss of nice weather and a return to the struggles of getting in and out during the winter.
Many other camps were full this weekend and it seemed everyone
enjoyed the dry, cool weather. It does have the advantage of getting rid of the bugs. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Fall Color and egg color?

We are heading into the peak week or two of fall color. Many of the mountains are looking much like the one to the left. There is a cold snap to the air and the bugs are much better to deal with. I think this year was the worst I have ever seen the "no see-ums" with all the rain we had they made a bumper crop. I have a bunch of kids coming to camp on top my hill this weekend and my sister is coming with her kids as well. It seems quite a few people will be coming to Leetonia to see the color this coming weekend as too.
The second picture is two eggs: one is the normal brown color and the other a light green. The
egg was laid by a chicken at Paterson's Maple Farms. They say it doesn't act much like a chicken and gobbles like a turkey. Seems they have a strange one on their hands and this eggs although the color doesn't show as well here could be from a Dr. Suess green eggs and ham book. If we had any green ham.
Thanks to all for the contributions on the many uses of a hair dryer including: removing bumper stickers and thawing freezers. I am glad we aren't the only ones using our hair dryers for something other than drying ones hair.
Well hoping for dry weather to finish up some outside work and make it nice for all the kids and adults coming to enjoy the Pennsylvania wilderness. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.