Your Shadybrook / Fernbank Drives picture is a prime illustration how you have to get into the habit of looking at what is behind your prime subject before you focus on the foreground.
When you look through the viewfinder pay attention to the background - walk around if you have to before concentrating on the main subject.
Maybe you should change the music you're listening to while composing as the music may be too busy and is not allowing you to pay particular attention to composition.
That manhole cover throws it all out of whack. The only time it would be acceptable is if there were a counter-balancing subject, like a blue bird perching on the signpost which will pull your attention away from the manhole cover. It would have to depict some sort of action - like it just landing; a static shot would not afford you an excuse.
I actually like the last shot - you could crop at the right fence / house in the background, and the truck bumper on the left and it will evoke a better sense of composition. Put two pieces of paper, one on each side, and push them towards each other so that more and more of the left and right sides are cropped off.
Want to know what makes that shot (besides the flow of the hills and the mirroring flow of the house tops)? It's that red "thingy" in the foreground in contrast to and with the orange fence. Now imagine a little girl looking out of that big empty window in the background... or a boy tossing a frisbee to his dog on the lawn... a kid on a bicycle going downhill... a person hiking down the hill (he can't be hiking up the hill)...
I guess you can photshop in a Rainbow, a daylight full moon or a sky full of stars.
But as it is, the only thing living is the hills. It does evoke peace and silence, though, so in that sense the picture is a success. Now if only the hills were full of sheep or cows... I guess you can photoshop in some laying cows.
