It’s been a while since I posted. Nothing much has been happening, but I took a few pictures.

The blackberries in the valley are ripe now, but up here on the mountain they’re running behind.

They are prettier when they’re still red, but taste much better when they’re ripe and plump. Unfortunately, even the black ones still lack a few days before they are completely ripe. I ate one, which was semi-OK. The dogs know exactly what’s going on and want in on the action. I gave one to each. They didn’t complain.

On one of our other walks I heard some scrabbling around in the weeds beside the road. I expected an armadillo, and was not disappointed. It was about half-grown. The dogs were extremely interested. I thought I had included the armadillo in this shot, but I can’t find it. They are well camouflaged.

I don’t know how hard an armadillo shell is, but it must be proof against whatever predators they had to face when they evolved because they seem fearless, even with two fairly large dogs and a human almost within grasp. I suspect Zeke wouldn’t have much trouble with the shell.

We have had a few fairly windy storms, although not what some other areas not far away have had. I have been finding limbs on the road, but I had not seen any downed trees until I saw this one.

I have taken a photo of this tree before. It was a large oak tree, huge in these parts. I imagine that it was in the yard of an old farmhouse. It’s hard to tell from this photo just how large this one was. Apparently it was old enough that the center had rotted. It seems to have split down the middle. It’s sad to see the end of this old grandmother tree.

The full moon passed a few days ago. I took some shots of it as it rose. This was just before it was full.

This was just after.

And now for another movie experiment. Open garage doors seem to be irresistible to hummingbirds. We have had quite a few fly in and not be able to find their way out again, both in this house and our old house up on the mountain. This one managed to find its way back outside.

I really like hummingbirds, but I am afraid they aren’t the brightest of all the birds. Another small bird has flown into the garage on at least two occasions lately. It flies around frantically but then sees the open garage door and escapes. The hummers can sometimes manage to see the huge opening to freedom, but often can’t. They seem to focus on the white ceiling, apparently thinking its’s open sky.

I am not sure this movie will play. It plays on my laptop, but when I try to preview this post, it seems to hang up. That might be because I have a slow connection tonight, or there might be something wrong with the movie. Let me know if it doesn’t play and I’ll try to load a different version.