LATE SUMMER / EARLY AUTUMN

Wow! I think autumn is here. Sunday was a glorious late summer day here at the farmhouse, but it became windy in the afternoon. I hurried along with the laundry, washing linens and clothes. It's decidedly cooler. Mike lit the pilot on the wall furnace and laid a fire in the fireplace.

We drove here Sunday morning, and I know you're imagining us traveling smoothly along in that bright red Jeep, but no - the Jeep is sitting, sedate and pristine, in the garage. Mike wants the license plates and paperwork in order before we drive it, he says. Okay.

So, we came along in the old Dakota as per usual, arriving before 9:30. "The horse has been here," said Mike in disgust before we even parked. Noting the amount of natural stuff in the yard, he exclaimed that he would have to get the wheelbarrow. And then we saw him. Blaze the Horse was ambling slowly across the north field -- down on the flat, as they used to say -- heading westerly. Mike hopped on the 4-wheeler and took out after him, but the cagey old fella eluded him by running through the scrub. By the time Mike circled around and back behind the house, Blaze had vanished.

Monday morning, we saw Blaze again between the barn and the pond. Of course, he bolted when he saw us see him, but Mike was able to catch up with him on the 4-wheeler. Again he was elusive, running where our 4-wheeler doesn't go. Mike found another horse near the canyon, though, a white mare, and she is emaciated and in bad shape.

Our calls to the outfitter to whom we think these horses belong have not been returned.

Last summer (2018) I let our compost cook, and when Hallie came in May, she helped me empty the bin. My point is that

we started this season with an empty compost bin that is now three-fourths full. Next summer it will be a good fertilizer, whether or not we call it compost.

Today company is coming -- ready or not. KW

[I took these photos at 7:15 p.m. last night (Sept. 16). How quickly the days are becoming shorter! Looking closely at the second photo, perhaps you can see that the solar lights on the fence are already on.]