It's Already November

I had wanted to go back this morning and take pictures of the cotton-
wood trees in the sunlight, but several people were burning their slash piles and the valley was filled with smoke. This is the best I can do. I really wanted to show how glorious these trees are, an explosion of color against the blue sky, and there are very few days left before the leaves are gone for another year. Shoot.

Migrating birds enjoy this pond behind the trees, but most have gone on, though there are a couple of ducks, black specks on the right. Ross Creek is dammed to create three ponds, and this is the bottom one.

Speaking of shoot, don't do that here, or swim or fish, or anything else on the other side of this antisocial sign. This pond is leased by a fly fishing instructor and he's not sharing.

When the birds are migrating, they often stop over here but there are no birds today. On the USGS 15 minute map, this is called Renner's Artesian Well. We call it the marsh and many birds call it home. I love the mirror image. I'm not loving the smoke.
Time is flying by. I took this picture on an earlier morning walk with the dogs. Those mountains are the Sierras just above Frenchman's Lake and where we will be cutting our Christmas tree - in three weeks! A group of us drive our trucks up and cut trees with Forest Service permits, then drive back to the small community of Chilcoot for a meal. It's a tradition I have grown to love. It will snow before then and we will get wet, muddy and cold. It's Great!