A Moody Morning

Yesterday morning brought one of my favorite types of autumn days - the moody ones.

We reached the barn before sunrise.  Not surprisingly, there was no actual sunrise.  Light just began to penetrate the mist.  Moody, and lovely!

Moonie was ready - standing in the stall so that I could put on his "shades" and his halter.  Jack haltered Red, and then I walked both boys up to the upper pasture for a bit of grazing.

In the neighboring pasture, the ponies were grazing as well.  Surprisingly, no one seemed interested in the others.  They all just continued their quiet munching.

Horses on the left... ponies on the right...

You can't beat autumn sunrises - they are different every single day - and sometimes it's nice to have a moody sunrise.... so peaceful.  

Did you know...we are in the midst of a solar event that happens approximately every 11 years - the sun's magnetic poles flip causing an increase in solar activity which in turn can intensify weather events on earth, as well as making for spectacular auroras.

As I walked back to the barn to clean up manure, I noticed Forrest had found a frisbee.

As I've mentioned before - everything becomes a game of keep-away, and frisbees are no different.  The funny thing is - when he runs with a frisbee in his mouth, he holds it upright which blocks his vision completely.  Watch out!  This crazy boy might run right into you in an attempt to keep his frisbee all to himself!

By mid-afternoon, the clouds had parted and we enjoyed a few hours of blue sky.  

You might remember that I planted a crop of loofah gourds this year, which grew across the metal arch - their fruit hanging down from the top of the arch.  I have come to the conclusion that we have too short a growing season for easily growing these gourds.  I had started the seeds in the greenhouse last March, and still, some of the gourds have not dried out enough to harvest.

I was able to peel a few of them and will let them completely dry over the coming weeks.  However, some of the gourds still are quite heavy... signalling that there is still quite a bit of water within.

For 2025's garden, I am going to plant the loofah seeds a month earlier in the greenhouse in order to get a bigger jump start on their growth.  Gardening is always a learning process - no matter how many years you do it!