This 'n That

This Northern Flicker was posing on my bird feeder so, of course, I took a photo!

Lake Arrowhead was looking especially beautiful yesterday.

My cottage is all ready for Halloween. 

The color of the trees up here this autumn are really spectacular.

This photo is from five years ago when Alyce was a kitten.  She just loved playing in the Halloween tree! 


I hope everyone has a great Halloween and, if you have critters, be sure to keep your pets inside to keep them safe. 


Linking with Saturday's Critters

Skywatch Friday

Autumn is well under way up here in these mountains. 

The cooler temperatures remind the forest creatures that they need to fatten up for winter, but I think if these raccoons and skunks were any fatter they might burst!

Preparations for Halloween are all done, although if I get any trick or treaters I'll be surprised.  Last year I got exactly none.  Back when my husband used to make the yard into a haunted house we got them by the hundreds.  The churches and the merchants of the little village I live in do quite a bit for Halloween, so perhaps the parents just feel it's better not to let their children go to strangers' houses.  I hope your Halloween, if you celebrate it, is a good one for you!


Linking with Skywatch Friday

O is for October

And October is full of  friends, young and old, dropping by...

Sometimes from unexpected places, waving hello as we observe them from the ground.

Whirling, swirling...

beautifully colored leaves.

October is full of orange pumpkins small...

Orange pumpkins glittery and scary...

And some orange pumpkins that are glowing.

October is full of Halloween parties...

With an over-abundance (as far as my waistline is concerned) of lovely treats to eat. 

And, at my home, October is full of kitties snuggling on the hearth, oblivious to Halloween decorations.  (That's Stella on the left, Penelope on the right).

I hope the rest of October is full of happiness for everyone...

Linking with: ABC Wednesday

Out Driving Around...

I could only find two houses with Halloween decorations!

One was in Lake Arrowhead, the other in Running Springs.  So many homes up here are only summer homes, but usually the year-rounders have up more decorations by now...I plan to keep looking!

We got more rain :) last night, but the thunder and lightening were terrible.  I have the news on right now, and out in Palmdale (in the desert to the north of us) they had flash floods and hail just a few minutes ago!  Lots of cars stuck in mud but, so far, no one hurt, thank Goodness.  I guess crazy weather is the new normal...

Malcolm and Alyce

The Halloween decorating is nearly done...none too soon!  Usually I'm finished long before this, but stuff just kept happening.

"Umm, Mom?  Alyce is getting ready to be bad...again."

"Ooh, this looks interesting!" 

"Well, this is comfy.  And it didn't take long to get up here!  But I saw some things at the bottom of this giant cat toy..." 

"Yup, I knew it...these things don't have any guts!" 

"My work here is done.  I'm a much better decorator than Mom." 

"That girl is out of control." 

Wow, That Was Fast

I can't believe that tomorrow is Halloween.  October always goes by fast, but this one flew at warp speed.

Soon I'll have to put away all my Halloween things. 

All the pumpkins and kitties in their Halloween costumes...

All the witches and jack-o-lanterns...

And Miss Luna Witch, who watches everything from her perch on the moon.   But...maybe they'll stay for a couple of weeks more...at least until I can start putting the Christmas decorations up!  Somebody needs to invent something that will make time go really sloooooow from October through December.

Finally, Rain

It rained all day yesterday!  Real rain, the kind I could see and hear, not just mist gathering on trees and dripping off.  I had the first real wood fire of the season; I'd been afraid to burn real wood because of the forest fire danger.  It snowed, just a couple of inches, during the night but melted when the sun touched it.  I'm too superstitious to say definitely that the fire season is over for this year, but I'm hoping it's over, done, gone.