FEELS LIKE FALL, LOOKS LIKE FALL -- MUST BE FALL

Rainy and bleak to the south. (Sept. 20)

Tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day, they say. Tomorrow (Sept. 22) it will officially be fall. Well, tomorrow’s date is just a line in the sand. It’s actually been fall for several days. The official calendar makes no difference to the whim of our weather patterns. The trees have yet to dress in their autumn colors, but it won’t be long. And I look forward to it because the bleak landscape could use some color.

To the north -- more bleakness

Locals have not enjoyed the sudden shift from hot to cold. Last Thursday as we left the farm, I pulled the electric blanket up as I made the bed but stopped short of putting out my winter pajamas. I needn’t have been reticent. Returning to the farmhouse Tuesday evening (Sept. 19), I turned on the electric blanket, pulled up the quilt, put a pillow at Mike’s feet, AND put on my winter pajamas.

Today -- low clouds and unsettled

Not only is it cold, but it has rained off and on since Sunday, and we need that rain here. I know, I know -- it’s tough to understand this when everyone talks about water devastation in Texas and Florida, etc., but it’s dry here, and we desperately need the rain. Rain makes for a dreary day, but we just have to appreciate that moisture.

It was almost suppertime when we arrived here Tuesday evening. After performing the ritual of arrival, Mike took down the hammock frame and put it away. He also started a fire in the fireplace. He has yet to light the pilot in the wall furnace – not one of his favorite chores. 

Pumpkins #1 and #2

Pumpkin #3

I visited the garden and was happy to see that it didn’t freeze. I picked a few cherry tomatoes, noted another zucchini coming on, and checked the pumpkins. Pumpkin #2 is still green but twice the size of Pumpkin #1, which is now a deep yellow-orange. Pumpkin #3 is still very young but has doubled in size since last week and developed some striping. I found two more young ones. You might recall that the first of August I was ready to tear out the pumpkin, vowing never to plant pumpkin again. I’m glad I left it, but I fear that the young-uns won’t mature.

Yesterday afternoon a satellite repairman came out from Lewiston to fix our Dish satellite. We’d been missing half our channels for several months, but now that football season is upon us, it was finally really important to fix it.

The lilacs, stressed by the heat, are feeling much better now.

While we were gone, Farmer Kyle apparently raked our fields again, obliterating our pathway and knocking down our temporary landmarks. It’s okay though. It’s easy to walk across the fields now, even after the rain, but it will all be over soon when the fields are planted again. I think it’s winter wheat, and I look forward to amber waves of grain again.

Later . . . KW