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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Nature Notes: Wild Weather

I hope everyone in the path of the wild storms is faring well.
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It hasn't been too bad in my neck of the woods.
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The weather has been chilly, windy (but not the high winds some people have had) and rainy.
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Our night temperatures in central NC are staying above freezing so we aren't getting the snow that parts of VA and WV have had.
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The flicker below was feasting on pecans from my tree before getting a sip of water.
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Some of the trees here haven't changed colors yet but many have.
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Even though it's above freezing, the wind makes it feel cold enough to freeze.
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I'm ready for winter so I don't mind the cool air.
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The female cardinal looks so slender in the shot below.
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The male cardinal and american robin below were hanging out on my deck.
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The robin and flicker were getting sips of water.
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The moss and flower were growing in cracks in my driveway.
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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Today's Flowers: NC Arboretum in Asheville

Last weekend I visited the NC Arboretum in Asheville.
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There were still some flowers in bloom and the trees were putting on a show too.
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It was a perfect day for enjoying the garden and woodland trails that are a part of this arboretum.
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I was surprised how many flowers were still blooming although there were also areas where the plants were sleeping for the winter.
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I like the pitcher plants (shown below).
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The pitcher plants were part of a water garden area.
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The arboretum has 434 acres so it's quite extensive.
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They have 65 acres of cultivated gardens.
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They also have 10 miles of hiking and biking trails.
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Although some of these shots don't include flowers I thought I'd give a tour of some of the garden and trails in this post.
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The arboretum's Bonsai Exhibition Garden is very extensive.
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The shot below shows how the bridges wind around for viewing the bonsai trees.
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I don't think I've ever seen such a large collection of bonsais.
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I fear this post is going to be rather long.
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Even the parking lot was beautiful with the autumn leaves on the trees.
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It was difficult for me to decide which shots to use for this post.
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There were so many different parts to the garden and trails.
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I'd like to go back in the spring and see their orchid collection.
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In early April they have an orchid show and sale.
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During the orchid show the educational center has thousands of different orchids.
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When we were there they were having a chrysanthemum show in the educational center but there was so much else to see we didn't even go inside to look at that.
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Friday, October 26, 2012

Photohunters: Spooky and On a Shelf

  Spooky

The signs may not have looked that spooky when they were still on a shelf in the store. I thought they were very spooky on the motel door until I realized that it was Psycho Path not Psychopath, not to mention that it was almost Halloween.
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I think the shot below zipping by the cemetery ended up looking rather spooky.
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The moon helps the dark night not be quite as spooky.
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Nature Notes: Nature on the road and trails

I got home yesterday from a road trip to the North Carolina mountains.
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I live in central NC and it's interesting to see how much farther along the western mountains in my state are in terms of fall foliage.
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This time we stayed in Brevard, NC which is near Asheville in the southern end of the NC mountains range. The northern NC mountain range are usually a week or so ahead of the southern NC mountain range in terms of fall colors.
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The two shots above and one below are from the Graveyard Field Trail
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I thought we might see some bears  because camping had been closed at that site although the trails were open.
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When I read the sign about why they closed camping at the Graveyard Fields, it said that a bear had ripped open a tent gone inside to grab some food and that people were inside the tent when it happened.
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The sign went on to say that no one was injured in that incident but that it was the latest of a string of recent human and bear encounters that made them decide to temporarily stop people from camping there.
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The next shot is of Bearwallow Falls which is in a different forest from the Graveyard Field trail.
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It's not unusual to see black bears in these mountains and they rarely bother people unless the cubs are threatened.
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Still, I wouldn't want a bear coming in my tent when I was in it.
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The shots above and below are ones I took in the NC Arboretum in Asheville.
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The trail below is also at the Arboretum.
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In addition to enjoying the fall trees on the trail at the arboretum it was a bonus that there were still some flowers and butterflies. 
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Driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway is always fun. 
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Below is a shot of Looking Glass Rock that I took from the Parkway.
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It's nice to be a passenger in the car and be able to take photographs.
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Every now and then Bill would spot something he thought I might want to photograph at a stand still and he'd pull over.
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