Not Like November

Yesterday I took a walk in our yard.  This in part being that it was a pretty mild day, and secondly because that's the only exercise I'm allowed right now.  Even though I felt a chill and had my gloves, coat and Arctic 180's on, I was surprised to find Mother Nature was still enjoying the last hurrah of November.

The trees, with the exception of the oaks, have lost all of their leaves, so the color of the landscape is only punctuated with green where the moss, grass, or evergreens are present. 

In the garden, I can still see the remains of the chrysanthemums, but they are past their peak also and are fading fast. 

I was surprised to come upon some spring bloomers that had been tricked back into flower by the mild weather.  There were two primroses blooming amongst the crispy leaves.  A pink one and a yellow.

They are certainly showing their hardiness. 

Then I happened upon this little fellow (sorry it's blurry)....

It's a Wooly Bear caterpillar, and he was moving quickly across that terra cotta duck.  I think he knew that the weather was about to change.  There is a superstition about the Wooly Bear.  They say that the wider the black bands are, the more severe the winter will be.  Well, what do you think this one is predicting?

The sun was going down quickly as I moved to the front yard where I could see four deer romping around in the woods across the street (the day before I had seen a huge red fox in that same place as I was pulling out of the driveway).  The deer wanted to cross the street into our yard but seeing me there gave them reason to pause.   I stood poker still and eventually they did cross over, but they were cautious and didn't approach.  In fact, I didn't want to spook them so they would run back across the street in front of some unfortunate motorist. 

Yep, you never know what you're going to find around here.  The day after my surgery HWNSNBP found this in the driveway while he was doing the leaves......

He came running in for the camera (unfortunately he didn't use the zoom) because we don't see these around here much, let alone in November.  We're assuming it was a garter snake close to 2 feet long.  He scooped it up with some lawn tool he had handy and deposited it across the street to slither away. 

Okay, I promise to get back to my cardmaking and crafting now.  Although I still can't sit comfortably on the couch with this corset on, I am able to sit in a straightback chair for longer periods of time, so I'd better put the rest of the time I have off to some good use.