Outside, Before the Snow

I felt like October and early November were overall pleasant, but once the cold came at the end of November, it has refused to let up.  Here are some outdoor pictures that I took before it became painful to be outside.

On the way to William's robotics in Mason, I saw one of the biggest gaggles of geese that I'd ever seen on a pond!  So, after dropping him off, I headed to the park to get a picture.  I did follow the path by them, but they didn't attack me, instead choosing to run to the saftey of the pond.

In the morning, I ready the kids in two rounds, since their busses come around 50 minutes apart.  Right after the time change, we had a few days of sunrise, so one morning after the big kids got on the bus, this was the sky.  It got even prettier, but I didn't get a second shot.  

Star watching that early in the morning, before the time change was pretty awesome on cloudless mornings.  Facing South, on the right you can still see Orion's Belt, though it did scootch over a bit to reveal Canis Major.  I did my best to connect a few of the dots.

And to the northeast, I could see the big dipper!  The light noise is because we are facing Lansing this direction.

I spotted this Asian Lady Beetle sunning itself on our front bush one day.  It looked so comfy, I wanted a picture.

Okay, this one wasn't outside, but I'm pretty sure this was the bird that I saw outside of our kitchen window, eating on the tiny blue berries that are still holding out.  I didn't have my book on hand, but after looking at it and intentionally keeping beak color, wings, and talon color in mind, I'm pretty sure it was an Eastern Pheobe.

Now that it's cold, I anticipate far fewer outside pictures while I hibernate for the winter, though I'll still take pictures of interesting things, when I'm forced to go out.

later days