It is still autumn, but there are signs of impending doom winter. The days grow short and I have to turn on lights to feed the horses. We have had our first frost and while it was several weeks later than "normal" it was having some effect on my little part of the world. When I looked out that morning I knew it was frosty because there are no less than 4 different colors of shingles on the run in shed on a
summer day.
Another sure sign of fall is the return of
Professor Batty and the Weaver to the North woods all the way from Flippist World Headquarters to the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It was a fun visit as usual sharing a meal at Trail Center on the Gunflint Trail. This is getting to be one of the annual highlights of autumn. Pardon the blur, but low light, no flash, beer, and poor judgement are somewhat responsible. At least that's my story.
On the way back down the Trail we came upon a younger, maybe a thousand pounds or so, bull moose trotting along the road. At least he stayed on the other side of the road and made no attempt to attack the car. However, as a result of this chance encounter I kept a death grip on the steering wheel, slowed down a bit, and my vision miraculously improved for the remainder of the drive home. It was a dark and cloudy night.
Despite the frost and the wind and rain there are still some bright colors to be seen. Here are a few around the house.
Last weekend was another nice one with a bit of a chill in the air. A couple of friends came over and we all decided to go for a walk in the woods and take a look for mushrooms. It has been a wet year and the tasty ones have kept us in fungus for most of the warm months. We brought books, baskets, and bags to look, gather, and study our discoveries.
We didn't have to go far to find an abundance of 'shrooms of various colors, sizes, and shapes. I think we identified about half of them, but there are always lingering doubts. We have a strong tendency to be careful as we are all too young to die from a mistake caused by ignorance.
The squash harvest was also pretty good with some rather large samples. We have already started to eat some and give some away. Some are fairly huge so to judge the size you should know that the table is three feet wide.
We'll be eating well this winter.
No snow at the farm yet, but a few miles inland and farther from Lake Superior they have had a little. It won't be long now before it's time to get out the snowshoes, skis, shovels, and make sure the tractor is ready to dig us out.
