Getting Ready

We have had cold temperatures and snow flurries the last few days.  The winterizing chores are done, and we look to the holidays and the winter.

All is quiet around the yard.  I hear the the calls of Chickadees in the trees.  All is still . . .

Like clockwork, we put up our Christmas Tree.  It is an old family tradition to put up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Hundreds of ornaments, each with a memory and a story.

Most of our holiday shopping is done (we hate the crowds at the mall).

Now to start on the Christmas cards . . .

Red and White

We spent the last few days visiting our daughter and her family in Indiana.  The drive out there took us through rolling hills and farmland across New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.  A good opportunity for some casual barn spotting.

I was amazed at the differences in the barns in Ohio and Indiana.  Most of our barns are red, though there are a few white ones, like this beauty which is about 5 miles from our place -

This white barn is found in Ohio (isn't it obvious!).  A classic gambrel-roofed barn.  I like the state pride the owner demonstrates!

More white barns . . .

This is not to say that red barns weren't around.

Though most of the red barns were older, there were some new ones.

There was a trim detail on many of the older barns I noticed.  Here are two examples that have it.

Do you see it?

If you look closely at the doors, you find that they are trimmed in a circular white pattern like a Paladium window.  I have never seen this here in New York!

It seems the white barns in Ohio and Indiana where typically newer than the red ones. I wonder if new manufacturing methods drove the greater availability of white paint?

Roaming Around

I felt like taking a drive and stopping on the side of the road to capture some photos.

People are surprised by the number of maple sugar shacks about.  There are quite a few sugar maples in the area.

I have never lived in an area with so many farms and barns.  I read somewhere that there are more barns per square mile in this part of the country than anywhere else in the USA.

Many of these building are slowly decaying.  This building was covered at some point with asphalt shingles.  My barn was covered this way.  I never quite understood the benefits of this type of siding.  It tended to fall off over time.

Other structures are racked and will succumb to the pull of gravity . . .

The tamaracks (American Larches) are at peak.  These trees will be the last to drop their needle-like leaves. This stand really popped against the hillside not that all is left are 'sticks'.

I came across an abandoned truck in a tall stand of knotweed.

It was a 1960's era REO.  They combined with the Diamond T company in the 1970's to form Diamond REO.  REO was named for Ransom E. Olds, a founder of the Olds Motor Company (later Oldsmobile). Diamond REO is now defunct.  I wonder how long this truck has sat there?

First Snow

The storms of the past week have slowed, but the cold front that is sitting over us has turned the drizzling rain to snow showers.  As the temperatures have dropped below freezing overnight, I awoke to snow.

The ground is too warm for the snow to accumulate, but a dusting was seen on some car hoods and roofs.

I think I'll pick and freeze the rest of the kale.  My gardening is over for the season.   Our freezers are packed.  Time to sit back, look forward to the snow, and then to the Spring . . .