Almost Fall Morning.

Fall is in the air!  

Some of the tulip poplar leaves are yellowing.  It won't be long before the trees are golden.

Not a usual fall bloomer for me.  But I'm pleased that the clematis returned after I whacked it to the ground because of the blight it had.  Now its given me some blooms.

Obedient plant is  also blooming.  Its a steadfast fall performer.

Discovered this little guy on the sedum.  I suppose it would have let me pet it but I didn't even try.

Thanks for stopping by.

Animal Battles

I've written about my battles with the deer and the measures I've taken to minimize the damage from their eating habits.  I can say I have partial victory in that regard.  Only partial because my Deer Protection Plan is concentrated in the backyard and the deer still manage to browse through out front.

Look carefully at this Autumn Joy sedum in Mom's Garden out front and you'll see they've been eating the leaves and some flowers.

This silhouette shows the damage.

Fortunately they don't like the pink muhly grass.

Another animal I battle is the ground hog.  I saw yesterday that it was gathering dead leaves and taking them into its den under my porch.  Won't be long before its hibernating but in the meantime it is munching away.  Lately its been favoring some new yarrow that I planted so I had to take action to keep it out.

They (I think there is more than one) live under the porch.

Here are the two entrances.  The chicken wire did no good.

It's an easy toddle for them to the Perennial Garden.

One stop is here to eat the forget me nots.

They've been in this patch of black eyed susans.

This bed is where I planted some new perennials.  The aster has a fence of bamboo stakes around it.

The yarrow has a tomato cage with netting newly installed this morning.

When I planted these several weeks ago I thought the cone flowers would be their target plants so protected that with chicken wire.  Didn't know they liked yarrow.

Next year I will have to do better to get those ground hogs out!

High Bridge

My last post on our visit to Appomattox, VA.  From the bed and breakfast we headed east to Farmville to visit the High Bridge - a railroad bridge that Lee's forces tried to destroy to keep the Union forces from following them.  It didn't work, another failure that led to Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.

We arrived in Farmville only to discover that the bridge was outside of town.  The railroad bed has been converted to a trail and is now a 30 miles rails to trails park called High Bridge Trail State Park. In downtown Farmville without bikes it would have been a 3.5 mile walk to the bridge.  Instead we drove to the next parking lot where it was just under a mile to the bridge.

It was a beautiful morning, low humidity and though it would eventually be a hot day, it was perfect weather for walking.

The bridge spans the wide valley made by the Appomattox River.

This isn't the original bridge that Lee's infantry forces crossed.

There is evidence of that one when you look over the railing.

The artillery and calvary would have crossed through the valley and then over a wooden bridge, long gone.

At several points there are overlooks where the railing is lower but I still found it easier to see by standing on the benches.

People walking the bridge were very friendly.  One man we spoke to had work on the renovation of this bridge.

Here's the Appomattox River.

The bridge is a half mile in length.

It was a nice 3 mile walk round trip.

See related posts here and here.

Lovettsville, VA Church

We stopped in this town on the way home from Appomattox, VA last weekend.  My husband's maternal grandmother was a Lovett.  We don't know how the town got its name or the connection to her family.  I'll have to do some digging.

Joining Inspired Sunday.