Fall panic

It has been busy on the farm as it always is this time of year. We try and have some fun in between critical chores which makes for some pretty hectic schedules. We went to get the Cooker some new glasses last month and found out she needed cataract surgery. It's done and she no longer needs bifocals. I told them I would like that surgery, also, but only if I could get zoom lenses. I was being facetious, but they said research is getting to the point where that may be possible someday. Whodda thunk it?

The seasons are rapidly changing. I grew up (assuming I finished the process) in Delaware, where autumn and spring linger for quite sometime. Here in Northern Minnesota the change is rather abrupt. There are the usual signs like colored leaves and migrating birds.

The geese were wondering why that jackass with the camera is chasing them.

The Cooker and Stitch went to an ACTHA (American Competitive Trail Horse Association) ride down by Duluth yesterday. Stitch used my horse and came in second in her division. Pretty good present for a first timer and birthday girl. She is leaving the Cooker down there because the Cooker needs foot surgery tomorrow morning. Stitch will bring the horses home and I will go to Duluth to be with the Cooker. We should be home tomorrow evening and Stitch will have left for a work related trip for the week. That means I get to do everyone's chores and play nurse to the Cooker. Well, it's a good excuse to take some time off of work. The Cooker has to stay completely off her foot for two weeks which will make it a challenge for her nurse (me) as she tends to be a non-compliant patient. A good thing I kept those ropes and handcuffs from our younger days! Just kidding! Really!

Some of the weather changes bring some gloomy mornings.

And then we get some windy days to get rid of those pesky leaves. If I were the type of person to rake leaves I would feel useless up here. Nature takes care of that.

These are not "Edmund Fitzgerald" storms, but we may get a couple of those in the coming weeks. It is just part of the moodiness of the big lake. Some days I wonder how the breakwalls survive the pounding, even in the fairly light winds. (Click on the picture to see the outer wall of the harbor a bit larger).

Other days it can be the most serene place imaginable like it was yesterday morning.

This morning I finally got around to replacing a leaking valve that controls my outside spigots. I thought I just finished building this place and now I am having to do maintenance.  Time really goes by fast. The Cooker was just a young chick when I met her and now she needs a little maintenance, too. Time used to flow like a river. Now it seems more to flow more like a bucket. Events seem to have a place in time of their own, but I can't tell if it was a few weeks ago or a few decades ago. Should I be lucky enough to live a couple more decades I wonder what time will seem like then?