It is officially meteorological autumn and things are doing what they do. Every living thing in this part of the world is either getting ready to go dormant, hibernate, or migrate. Most of these activities require fattening up. If I wanted to do all three, and there are many days that I do, I would need to eat a lot and practice sleeping. And there are many days that I do. Practice filling a suitcase would be another useful task, but alas, I am not able to accomplish any migratory desires. Sometimes living vicariously through other species will have to do. Take for instance this enterprising spider. It is a very nice web, but with morning dew it loses it's invisibility and effectiveness. Until the dew dries up.
Another species that fattens up and flies south is the hummingbird. The ones that nested here are already gone. I suspect these are young Canadian bred (I could swear I saw a few with little hockey sticks) hummers on their first trip to the Gulf of Mexico. Most will probably fly over the gulf to Central America where they hang out on beaches sipping little nectar umbrella drinks for a good six months before returning to the north country to
have orgies create little hummingbird families.
We had some company last week when a young woman from central Minnesota came up here with her horse and met her trainers from Ohio who brought another horse back to her. Several days of riding on our local trails with the Cooker as their guide was last weekend's big fun. Here are the trainers holding up their local newspaper (apparently some kind of tradition in Ohio) and the Cooker sitting on our mule, "The Colonel", who is probably the awesomest mule in the whole county. A good time was had by all.
The skies are losing their summer appearance as the weather does it's seasonal change. The days are noticeably shorter, the leaves are changing color here and there, and it is a bit chilly some mornings, but still above freezing. Here is a little rain shower out on the lake.
The sky last night was showing us some "mares tails" and this morning I had to put on a light jacket when I fed the horses.
So before I start seriously tackling the weekend chores I think I might start to prepare for the coming winter. I will have a piece of pie and a nap. Winter! Bring it on!
