Do you wonder why I had to go into my archives for an autumn entry?

[Celebration]

This should explain it. I keep searching for signs of autumn here and the most interesting thing I find is what I call the tennis ball tree (though the tennis balls are heavy like cantalopes!)


Here is the minimalist version


Non-minimalist


Of course, if you want to add a season to this, how about a bluebird. OOPS we are talking autumn aren't we?


Crime Scene?


This MUST have to do with autumn. Anyone? I am no horticulturalist...........


The next three are why I started this thread. My first ARMADILLO photos! Who said they aren't autumn? First time I have seen one in Tennessee--alive, anyway.

[Solly Mack]

1. He's a cutie!! I like armadillos. I've rarely seen a live one though.

Neat looking tree.

[qnr]

6. I had one run up my foot and try to hide in the leg of my pants once, when we

owned a place in rural Oklahoma. It was running from my dogs (who weren't actively chasing it, just curious about it).

[Solly Mack]

8. I'm laughing just thinking about it. Sorry! Was it scary? Sounds kinda cute now but

it sure would have caught me by surprise if an armadillo tried that with me. I probably would have yelped in fear. I like them - they're fun to watch....just not sure I want one snuggling against me. I think it is cool that it felt it would be safe with you though. How neat is that? Great story!!

[qnr]

10. Not precisely scary, but certainly unexpected. I was kind of proud that I didn't

reflexively kick it off, which was my very first instinct :)

I don't think it thought it would be safe with me as much as it thought my pants were a tunnel or something. I believe I've heard their eyesight is nothing to brag about, though I could be wrong.

[handmade34]

2. smiles :-)

the tree is an Osage Orange and I love them! ( http://www.gpnc.org/osage.htm )

I had a close-up meeting with an armadillo on a path one early morning walking before dawn... surprised both of us! ...didn't know they lived in TN. Great pictures!

[HarveyDarkey]

3. Those trees are Osage orange (known here as hedge apples)

Grown primarily for the wood as fence posts.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

4. I thought their primary use

was teenaged boys hurling them at people, at least that is what we used them for in the 60's in Kansas City... but we did not have a lot fences left in the west bottoms by then

[HarveyDarkey]

5. Well, we did that too, and boy do they hurt

and they're sticky & hard to get off too.

[KC]

7. In Texas

we always called them horse apples.

[Cassandra]

11. The fruit is good against roaches, too.

As a teenager, we used to throw them from an overpass until we hit the hood of a car. No more after that.

[Mira]

9. Fascinating. If it weren't that Dixiegrrrrl posted a shot of Armadillos in her yard

in the deep South last year I would swear they are mythical animals and don't really exist. Now I see these great closeups - it's unsettling. And I read about
ONE RUNNING UP A LEG
and my coffee wants to no longer go down.

And tennis balls on trees.

And a murderous blood bath of feathers.

You have thoroughly entertained me, Celebration. And you have a classy classic shot as an entry.
COOOOOOL!

[Cassandra]

12. Those fuzzy things are the seeds of..

a daisy-type of flower. The seed head is dandelion like, sort of.