Meron, Indiana trip....part 2

Merom, Indiana is a tiny little town, but there were two interesting things there that Mike wanted to show me. The First was the UCC Conference Center. Mike stayed in this building recently while serving on a Kairos prison weekend at nearby Wabash Valley Prison.I'll show you the sign with the history first. I thought it was interesting that the name of the original college....Union Christian College.....and the name of the group that has it now....United Church of Christ.....had the same initials!
Here is the front view as you drive through a lane of trees still in fall colors. The light is late in the day.

I like the little structure up at the top.....would love to see the view from there!

Not sure why I slanted this....probably leaning out the car window...but like the windows and trees.

When we were coming back from the overlook, I took another shot from a different angle. Must have been a very small college with basically just one building!

This was a house across the street, that I liked the gingerbread trim on....although not in good shape, it is still very pretty.

Next the Merom Bluff overlook.....Mike says they met there each day for prayer before going to the prison.

This was interesting.

The view of the Wabash River from the overlook was very pretty! That would be Illinois on the far side of the river. Our state song is called "On the Banks of the Wabash" by Paul Dresser. Part of the chorus says:

Oh, the moonlight's fair tonight along the Wabash,

From the fields there comes the breath of new-mown hay,

Through the sycamores the candle lights are gleaming,

On the banks of the Wabash, far away. "

I didn't see a lot of sycamores here, but I live close to the Wabash at my end of the state and there are plenty to write songs about! Interesting fact I learned while looking up this song: It was the 2nd best selling song of the 19th Century in terms of sheet music sold.

A beautiful tree by the overlook wall. Rose of Pics & Pieces has posted the same tree and other scenes from this area a couple of times. She lives about an hour north of Merom, while I live an hour and a half south. One of these days we are going to meet up here!

I liked this view along the wall.

A break in the wall.

Mike inspecting the cannon and cannon ball trim at the other end.

A beautiful yellow tree still in leaf and that red roof of the shelter house for lots of color!

Looking over the wall we could see these nice rock walls which were intriguing. We later drove down below (another post)

I loved how this set of steps going down looked with all its twists and turns. We walked down part way, but decided we wanted to drive down.

There is an old schoolhouse/church? on one edge of the park by the overlook.

A house on the edge of the park looked nice in the leaves.

This persimmon tree was loaded!

Lots of fruit! Mike picked a couple off the ground and we nibbled them a little. I like persimmons in stuff.....I've had wonderful persimmon pudding....but eating them raw can be "tart".

One of the resident Turkey Vultures......more about them tomorrow! Lots of them!

Merom, Indiana trip.....part 1

Yesterday was a beautiful day and Mike wanted to drive up to Merom, Indiana to show me the area. He recently spent 3 days staying at a retreat center in Merom and was impressed with how pretty the area was.Before you get to Merom, he knew where there was a field just off the highway where someone was raising elk. I wish there wasn't a fence in the way, but I was impressed with the antlers on these guys!
Not something I see very often, so this was a fun stop. Two of them were right by the fence, giving me some good photo opportunities.

I like this ones beard as well as his antlers. Looks like an old man :-)

Intent on his dinner.

We took a nice winding road that was a "back way" into Merom, and saw quite a few hawks and kestrels up on the wires or poles watching the nearby fields.

I think this one was a Harrier, from the way it acted and the white rump. It was skimming low over the field and dropped down behind that grass you can see. I was just about ready to turn the camera off when suddenly it shot back up over the hill with a very large hawk after it!

The hawk landed on the pole and I have no idea where the Harrier went.

He was really pretty and I was sure I'd be able to identify it when I got home.....but I'm not sure from looking at books. I've been told it is a Red-Tailed Hawk, so I guess that is not very exciting. It was very large. Much lighter in color than most hawks that I see. It looked like he had streaks on his face, but in the photos I can see that is just a darker area around the lower beak.

Whatever he is, I was impressed and he was the best hawk that I got photos of!

Will get to Merom in tomorrow's post :-)

Signs that winter is coming.....

I had plenty of activity at home yesterday at the feeders. As you know, I am not fond of House Sparrows......however......taken one at a time, a male House Sparrow is a very "natty" and beautiful bird! This one was very pretty.
The problem is that there is never just ONE.....here we have 15 eating everything that isn't nailed down.

The Blue Jay showed up.....I usually only see them as the weather gets cold.

Just to show how "cheeky" the House Sparrows are.....the Red-Bellied Woodpecker was eating suet and minding its own business when this female House Sparrow showed up and tried to share the suet. The Red-Bellied was NOT pleased and twice jabbed at it with its beak. However the sparrow kept trying and finally the woodpecker gave up and flew away! Persistence wins the day for the House Sparrows. I like the look in that one red eye of the woodpecker at the arrival of this unwanted nusiance.

My first Pine Siskin for the season! Another sign that cold weather is coming.

"You looking at me?"

The Junco has also arrived.

5-6 pair of Mallards dropped in and spent the day on our pond. Mike saw them fly away later in the day. Glad we could provide a resting/feeding spot for their journey.

With cold weather coming, what do I do with this Avocado tree??? When it started growing in this pot, I didn't know what it was and yanked it out. The seed was still clinging to the roots and then I remembered sticking one in the pot "just to see what would happen". I somehow don't think that Avocados will do well over the winter here.

I still have a few gourds growing on my vine! A few of the really small ones split open with the weather changes, but this one looks like it will make it. I already have 4 drying in the garage.

I think there are 3 squirrel nests in the Oak tree out front! This one is right above the "squirrel highway"......a limb that allows them to jump to another oak on the other side of the road. How smart of them to not only pick the tree that has the squirrel feeder attached to it, but the tree that is the central tree to the whole "squirrel highway" system! From this tree they can get to the ash and the maple (both of which have feeders) as well as get across the road without coming down. My new squirrels appear to be very smart! With the leaves coming down, I see squirrel nests all over town.

Way up at the top of the neighbor's White Pine trees are some nice bunches of cones.

This may not look like a "sign of winter" to you, but this is our mystery cat who only shows up in cold weather....we call him "Shadow". I haven't seen him all summer, but this morning he was on the front walk staring at the door and upsetting my cats.

I always give him a few dry munchies. I wish some day I would find out who he belongs to!

Not at my house....but another sure sign that winter is on the way. I am seeing hawks everywhere perched where they can watch the fields. This one was on the back side of Mouteau Park, the old landfill, sitting on one of the pipes that release the methane gases.

Saw this one Sunday on the way to church and made Mike stop and park where I could get a picture.

Even though it is still pretty warm here, the critters seem to know that winter is coming!

White-Breasted Nuthatch.....

When I went to Wesselman Woods on Saturday, I didn't see any birds that I don't see at home, but the viewing area is so nice and quiet, I like to spend time there. This part of the Nature Center is like 3 sides of a hexagon jutting out of the side of the building and has glass on all sides. The trees of the woods are right there close and they have added dozens of feeders of all types and a couple natural looking water features. There was a constant stream of birds while I watched and about a dozen squirrels. There is seating built in to sit and watch or just stand at the windows like I did.There was a very busy little White-Breasted Nuthatch that I enjoyed watching flit back and forth. He's getting ready to drop down on one of the feeders here.
Success!

Watching for his turn. He was competing with at least 3 Chickadees and 3 Titmice, plus one Squirrel that was totally wrapped around one of the hanging feeders.

He did like the suet and it was less busy then the sunflower seed feeders.

I noticed that he had a leg band. Wesselman Woods does several leg banding programs so I assumed it was their own band. They also operate the Howell Wetlands on the westside where I take so many photos. Both places are jewels that our city is lucky to have.

Finally got a chance at the safflower and sunflower seeds. I noticed that most of the birds picked the sunflower over the safflower.

I included this badly lit shot to show how he uses his tail for balance, just like the woodpeckers.

While there I saw: White-Breasted Nuthatch, Red-Bellied and Downy woodpeckers, Titmice, Chickadees, White-Throated Sparrows, Cardinals, Towhee, Dove, Goldfinches, House Finches, Junco and at least a dozen squirrels. I was hoping for some Warblers or the Redstart that I saw last time. No luck this time, but it was a beautiful day to visit there. We used to live within a block of this park and I took the kids there every day when they were little. Now I am about a half hour drive on the opposite side of town and don't go there very often. They have a big recycling program to help pay for bird seed, so I usually go when I have stuff to drop off.

Squirrel Sunday.....

I went to Wesselman Park yesterday and watched the birds and squirrels from the viewing room of the nature center for a couple of hours. So.....I have lots of squirrel photos for awhile!

If you can't find any acorns.......then just grab a leaf instead!
I've never seen a squirrel munch on a leaf, but this little guy carried his leaf up the tree and sat there and chewed on it.

Isn't he cute?

I don't think he found it very exciting, but he worked on it.

Then he decided to see if there were any little morsels left on this cob.

Maybe he was trying to make me feel sorry for him, but since I'm not in charge of the food there, it wasn't doing any good.

I loved this....he tried the bottom edge and then rolled off the platform! Naturally I didn't get that shot, but it was funny!

He recovered and came back to try again! I think he is telling me he is done posing, if I'm not going to go find him some food. Squirrels are good at that "I'm turning my back and not speaking to you...go away" pose. Almost as bad as cats.