I THINK THIS COULD BE THE LAST OF THE FALL COLOUR!

 Yesterday I took my camera out looking for photos for this month's assignment for camera club which was to get some backlit images.  There were still some pockets of colour along my walk.  Today started off sunny but it didn't last long before the forecast clouds moved in.  The wind came with the clouds and we've had a blustery afternoon.  Snow was in our forecast but with the temperature hanging around +2 and +3C, we've just had rain.  There is snow right above us though so very close at hand.  Tonight the wind is howling sounding like a freight train coming up the street.  The leaves were really being ripped off the trees this afternoon so I imagine there won't be many left by morning.

Female House Sparrow.

Milkweed.

I picked this tomato November 14th off our traveling plants that I moved into the house.  We'll have a few more yet!

Saw this Cooper's Hawk this morning on my walk.

This immature Bald Eagle was across the river from me this morning.

STORMY YESTERDAY BUT SOME SUNSHINE TODAY.

 
We had lots of fog and some rain yesterday.  I took the fog photos out one of the bedroom windows when I first got up yesterday.   Other than a bitterly cold wind at times today the weather was much improved.

McIntyre Creek, across the street from us has a good flow of water thanks to the recent rain in the mountains.  Perhaps also now that it is fall the water isn't being diverted for irrigation further up.

This Sharp-shinned Hawk is pouting as he just narrowly missed capturing a little bird right in front of me.

I think these are winter resident Canada Geese.

I think these are winter resident Canada Geese.

Still a wee bit of colour left along the Okanagan River.

Mallard drake in the sunshine in a slough alongside Vaseux Lake.

Mallards in the sunshine in a slough alongside Vaseux Lake.

From up above on the hill I had seen the Trumpeter Swans tucked in behind some brush near the viewing platform on Vaseux Lake but when I walked out there, they were too hidden.  I had carried on to Okanagan Falls to do a couple things and on the way back I noticed them flying north towards Skaha Lake so I jammed on the brakes and managed to get a few shots.

Trumpeter Swans.

LATE FALL HAPPENINGS.

 I took my neighbour Rob for a ride up in the hills on Thursday.  We ran into lots of snow and finally decided we'd better turn around since we were all by ourselves and it would be a long walk to anywhere.  Aileen and I went for a little drive this afternoon between here and OK Falls and lucked out with the three point buck and then a few minutes later a little band of bighorn sheep.

Trying to keep busy, I went to the clubhouse Thursday evening to play crib then again to the clubhouse on Friday afternoon for the once a month music jam.  I keep a steady supply of books coming from the local library too.

We were following pickup tracks and they had iced over.  My wheel tracks were a little narrower so I would be slipping with one wheel and pushing frozen snow with the other so lots of fishtailing happening.  Finally turned around because I didn't want to get down a hill too steep to get back up.

Looking down on the town of Oliver.  Mt Baldy ski hill in the distance.

We stopped to chat with a guy at Burnell Lake who had this little fire burning.

I was surprised to find this newly opened Brown-eyed Susan along the river trail this morning.

Nice buck with a doe and fawn this afternoon.

Nice three point buck this afternoon, he's lucky I was just shooting with my Canon this afternoon!

Bighorn Sheep.

Bighorn Sheep.

Bighorn Sheep.

Bighorn Sheep.

Bighorn Sheep.

Nice Ram.

GOT LUCKY WITH AN EAGLE THIS MORNING.

 It was only 2C this morning when I went for a walk up the river trail but there was very little wind and I dressed warmly so it was okay.  

The Sockeye are starting to die off.  I thought this was a nice final salute.

Mature Bald Eagle.

Oregon Junco.

I tried to get better light on this vineyard but when I went there yesterday, our big windstorm had stripped most of the leaves.

Immature Bald Eagle.

Immature Bald Eagle.

Immature Bald Eagle.

Immature Bald Eagle.

Immature Bald Eagle.

Immature Bald Eagle.

My buddy the Sharp-shinned Hawk greeted me this morning.  I see him most mornings.

The Barrow's Goldeneyes are back in the river for the winter.

The Barrow's Goldeneyes are back in the river for the winter.

The Barrow's Goldeneyes are back in the river for the winter.

As a followup to those who saw our travelling tomato plants this past summer.  Our neighbour gave us these two plants in the spring and I thought they wouldn't grow very large, wrong!  They ended up over six feet tall and proved to be difficult to load in and out of the motorhome.  I had to keep finding taller poles to support them and it's a wonder they survived after getting blown over in the wind several times.  However, they produced an abundance of great tomatoes  and they are doing very well still.  I took this photo yesterday and there are over two dozen tomatoes on the plants.  Still producing flowers too.