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Perhaps you have been thinking, gee, there haven’t been enough bird pictures lately.  I hear you.  Here’s a red-bellied woodpecker on the hickory tree next to the barn.

This bluebird found a convenient shelf on which to rest.

And here’s a mourning dove, who was sad that we had only one day in the country this weekend.  We returned to New York early this morning to watch the marathon.  We did find some time on Saturday to roast the seeds from Sarah’s Halloween pumpkin, which were delicious.

We had a short weekend in the country.  In fact, we spent only Sunday there, so that Sarah could go to her school’s Halloween party Saturday night.  This morning, Sarah had a riding lesson with Rocky.

In the afternoon, Daisy had agility training, but she was not very enthusiastic about going over this frame.  She’s having a tiff with the trainer, Karen, who, in Daisy’s basic obedience class, made the mistake of pulling the tail of her star pupil to illustrate a point about teaching dogs to be relaxed around children.  Daisy really holds a grudge.

Halloween preview: Sarah is Ron Turcotte.

Today, Sarah and I visited the Sheep & Wool Festival at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, with John and Diana Rice and their son Mason.  Jen stayed home to work on Sarah’s Halloween costume.  In addition to sheep, we saw goats, llamas, alpacas, angora rabbits, vincuñas, and many, many, women who seem to spend an inordinate amount of time knitting.

We encountered many exotic varieties of sheep.

This was a very busy weekend.  On Saturday, Sarah’s babysitter, Susi, visited with Susi’s boyfriend, Dustin, and his dog, Bella.  Daisy and Bella got along very well, even though Daisy seemed unapologetic about stealing Bella’s green ball.  Daisy had another doggie guest today: the Rices’ Maggie, a border collie.

On Saturday night, Susi broke out her LED hula hoop.  Sarah gave it a whirl in the front yard.

Our beautiful fall weather has continued.  Here’s the maple tree by the riding ring, which has been featured once before.

We had a spectacular Columbus Day weekend, with mild weather, colorful trees, and a happy puppy.

On Saturday, Jen, Daisy and I climbed Burger Hill while Sarah was on a playdate with her friend Anna.

On Sunday, Daisy graduated from obedience school.  Here she is enjoying a cheese stick.

This turkey, a survivor of last weekend’s Neighbors’ Gun Club turkey shoot, surveyed the overgrown field in front of our house.

While this particular bird is safe, we are already preparing for Thanksgiving — we’ve been gathering hickory nuts for pie and brittle.

On Sunday, cutting vines in the hedgerow, I found an old apple tree, a vestige of the farm’s orchard.  This apple wasn’t much to look at, but it was quite tasty — firm and tart.  Maybe next year we’ll get some more, now that the vines are gone.

Today we hosted the Landsman Kill Trail Association’s Fall Trail Ride.  Sarah was in heaven, with horses all about.

Rich Contini, past president of the LKTA, offered Sarah a short ride.  Daisy was extremely unhappy to see such a large animal on the lawn.

Here she is looking luminous in the Saturday evening light.

Halloween is around the corner.  Jen and Sarah took a trip to Kingston this afternoon to start organizing Sarah’s costume.

On Saturday we went apple picking at Cedar Heights Orchard in Rhinebeck.  We got about 20 pounds of apples.

Daisy came with us, but she seemed a bit wistful — hangdog, you might say — and, surprisingly, she did not eat any apples.

Then we started cooking.  Sarah made an apple pie.

I made a childhood favorite — apple butter, and, along the way, applesauce.

We had our first obedience lesson with Daisy at Doc’s K-9 Center in Red Hook.  Actually, it was the second lesson for each of us: Daisy had a private lesson with Dr. Karen (at right) during our summer vacation, and the first Puppy Kindergarten lesson, last weekend, was a people-only affair.  Daisy was a star performer, and served as Dr. Karen’s go-to demonstration dog.  At far right you can see the father of Sarah’s friend Sophie with his dog Willie, whom he improvidently adopted during a weekend at the Kennedy compound at Hyannisport.  Willie is a handful.

The tomatoes are starting to produce.  Here is a Kellogg Breakfast, tipping the scales at just over a pound.

The roses are enjoying an early fall resurgence.

Here’s Daisy, in her customary happy and excited state, at Bash Bish Falls.  Sarah had a ladies’ camping trip at Taconic State Park Saturday night; Daisy and I visited for the hike to the falls, which are just over the Massachusetts border.

We managed to stretch Labor Day into a four day weekend.   We had a decent excuse: we had to be there on Friday morning to superintend the installation of an an invisible fence, so that Daisy will be able to roam freely.  I’m sure she will be disappointed that the pond isn’t within her range.  That morning, we went down to the barn and found that the swallows had departed.  That’s how we know when summer is over.

The Landsman Kill Trail Club (or, more precisely, Del Wolcott) very kindly built us this new bridge over the stream in the woods.  It made a fine resting spot for Sarah and Marin and Graham Diz, who visited on Friday and Saturday.

Maybe summer isn’t completely over.  Yesterday Sarah found this Monarch, just emerging from its chrysalis.