The Pumpkin Patch

 The pumpkins are doing quite well this year.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don't have much else to occupy my time.

A big ole pumpkin blossom

The beginnings of a pumpkin.

A baby pumpkin

We mostly have little mini pumpkins , like this one.

But somehow this big warty one showed up, its basketball sized! 

We'll be ready for Halloween this year!

What A Whopper!

 First slicing tomato from the garden  and its so pretty!

 It was good too!

Indiana Daytrip #3

 This week, we visited a really nice park in Hendricks County.

McCloud Nature Park is a county park along the Hendricks/Putnam county line.

One of the highlights of the park is this vintage bridge over Big Walnut creek.

The trestle bridge, built in 1913, originally spanned the Monon Creek in Putman county.

It was moved to the park in 2010 at a cost of $817,000.

The view from the bridge.

There's also a nice boardwalk over the wetland area.

Lots of pretty flowers and pollinators.

The park also had unique trail markers, easy for even young kids to follow.

The park is 232 acres of lovely woods, wetlands, and open fields.

There is a nature center, and a live honeybee observation house as well, 

but we didn't visit them, due to Covid.

McCloud Nature Park is one of the best parks we've visited in Indiana.

Since we were in the area, we drove to Amo and checked out the Vandalia Trail.

Its a rail trail, paved from Amo to Coatsville, so far, and part of the National Road Heritage Trail.

Very clean restrooms and an equine trail along side of the paved portion.

Another Indiana Day Trip

 Another beautiful summer day, so time for a day trip.

This time we headed north, near Wabash & Peru.

First stop was Kokiwanee Nature Preserve, a former girl scout camp along the Salamonie River gorge.

It features 4.6 miles of trails among the bluffs of the river. 

In the southeast corner of the preserve is Kissing Falls.

Directly across the river from the preserve is the Salamonie River State forest.

We stopped there for lunch, eating in the Hominy Ridge picnic area.

This is the bucolic Hominy Ridge Lake near where we picnicked.

There were lots of CCC buildings & structures to admire.

Farther into the park, there was the enticing 3 Falls Trail, which we were tempted to explore, 

but we had another nature preserve to visit, so we traveled on.

Near Peru Indiana is the Seven Pillars Nature Preserve.

The preserve features 25 foot limestone pillars on the north side of Mississinewa River.

There was a convenient parking area at the intersection of Mississinewa Road and county road 400

where you can look or wade across the river to see the pillars.

The pillars are considered a sacred place to the Miami Indians who still gather at the pillars.

The preserve also has 2.8 miles of trails along the river.

Along the way we saw this pretty wildflower meadow called Preslie Meadow.

What a great way to end a pleasant day!

The Rainbow after the Storm

This was one of the most vivid and pretty rainbows I've seen!

Busy as a Beaver (even thought he's not!)

I spotted this little muskrat in the creek this morning.

They have poor eyesight so I was able to film him from the creek bank

as he went about his business.

Looks like he's taking some snacks back to his burrow.

Peeping Toad

Somebody was peeking in our sidelight!