November's Full Moon

It rained lightly all last night and part of this morning.  We had "tree rain" for the rest of the day.  I'm grateful for every drop! 

I went outside not expecting to be able to see the moon, but the clouds were moving pretty briskly, so I waited a bit and got lucky.  My Oglala Sioux ancestors called November's full moon "Last Leaves Falling Moon."  You can find dozens of websites purporting to know the names that the tribes of the First People called the moons, but I find that very few match exactly what my Sioux and Cherokee grandparents and parents told me.  I'd tell you the Cherokee name, but I can't remember it right now.  Darn memory.

Bliss

The chrysanthemums are doing great and the bees are loving it.  Mums are one of my favorite flowers because they're so easy to grow and they don't need a lot of water.

The sky today was that beautiful deep blue that I only see up here in autumn.  The summer sky is almost as blue at this altitude, but not quite.  The leaves on the Box Elder tree aren't as pretty as they usually are this time of year.  Usually they're all a brilliant yellow, but this autumn only a few are turning while the others are mostly just drying up and dropping off.  I'm hoping the dogwoods, maples and oaks put on a better show.

 

I just got such a fright!  I looked up and saw what I thought was smoke drifting by the window.  I rushed outside and found it was a heavy, wet fog.  The Ponderosa pines are collecting it on their needles, where it drips off and provides 'tree rain' to their shallow roots.  Not real rain, but better than nothing.  That is one of my pathway lamps above.  I was trying to think how to take a picture of fog at night and this is the best I could come up with.  It's really dark except for where the lights are.

 
It was chilly today (yay!) and it actually felt cold when I was outside, so I came back in and made a fire for the kitties.  I'm going to have to clear everything off of the hearth except for cat blankets because Merlin takes up just about all the space by himself!  Our low for tonight is supposed to be 33, just one degree above freezing.  Bliss!

Tree Rain

We got a bit of 'tree' rain yesterday and the night before.  It's called 'tree rain' here because when the Marine Layer, low altitude stratus clouds which form out over the cold waters of the Pacific ocean, is thick enough and high enough it comes all the way up into these mountains.  Then it condenses on the trees until there is enough water to drip off and . . . voila! Tree rain.  But, it doesn't provide much water unless it happens for a week or more at a time and it quit doing that about five or six years ago.  We need rain, real rain, desperately. 

Rain, Blessed Rain

Gorgeous thunderheads on Sunday had banded together by Sunday night...and draped themselves gently over our rain starved mountains, entwining themselves around the trees, adding soft layer upon soft layer of cloud on the trees' branches, leaves and needles...
until they could hold no more and begin to let tiny pieces of cloud in the form of water drops fall to the parched earth below. Very early in the morning hours of Monday more clouds came to join the ones already here, and they enthusiastically set about the task of washing everything clean, giving all living things a good drink, and refreshing a land that has not seen real rain since last May.

It rained most of Monday and Tuesday, and temperatures dropped to nearly freezing. Outside, the feral kitties curled up in their little houses that my husband made for them (insulated, double wall construction, waterproof), each with plenty of regular blankets plus a special small blanket on the top that acts like a heating pad, but without any cords. They work by reflecting the cat's body heat back to the cat. I've put my hand inside a house just after a kitty has left and it's surprisingly warm. They look like this (they also come in black and grey) they measure 18" by 22" and the item number is 9B - 13563

and I get them at

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/

Inside, all was cozy, too. My husband made a pot of beef stew for himself...

and the cats and dogs (they each get a few spoonfuls of gravy). I made a pot of vegetarian rip-your-lips-off-hot chili for myself. Yes, I am the only vegetarian in a houseful of carnivores. I've given up on trying to convert my husband. And the animals...well, they were created to be carnivores and I think it would be bad for their health to feed them a vegetarian diet.

And, of course, George was hogging the hearth!

Spring Cloud Day

It was a lovely, cloudy day here today. I don't say "foggy" day, because this isn't fog. At this elevation we're actually up in the clouds. When I took this photo yesterday it was sunny behind me, and I was watching the clouds pour over the ridge down into the deep hollow where I live. Last night we had "tree rain," which is what we call the moisture that condenses on the trees, some of them 200 feet high, and then falls to earth.

The silence of a day like today is different from the silence of a snow shrouded winter day. This silence is also devoid of human noises, as in the winter, but not animal sounds. I made a large fire in the fireplace and then opened the windows. My animals always think I'm nuts for doing this, but I like to hear the sounds of a spring "cloud day". The quiet patter of the tree rain dropping down, the creek gurgling along, happy to be free of the ice...

The Red Breasted Nuthatch checks out one of the feeders...

so does the Chickadee.................

while the Steller's Jay has his peanut!

I can hear these birds, along with the Purple Finches, Acorn Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Robins and a flock of Song Sparrows calling to each other as they wait their turns at the feeders. Maybe they're sharing the latest news of the day; who saw what, the fine piece of yarn Mrs. Jay found for her nest, and the trouble Mr. Chickadee got into with the Mrs. when she found out he was twittering at that flirty Miss Chickadee!

The squirrels come in for their peanuts after the birds have left. I can hear their little claws on the bark of the trees as they scramble down to the feeder...

I love the sounds and the sights of a spring cloud day, and it always makes me happy knowing that the birds and squirrels who have come here hungry are going back to their homes with full tummies because of the food I've put out for them.