Signs - by Bruce

Signs of the season's: The thermometer hover's near freezing.

The wood stove is going full blast.
The Christmas cactus is in bloom.
The aspen leaves are off the trees and on the ground.
There is heavy frost on the deck rail and BBQ grill.
Thirty days has September, April, June and November; all the rest have 31 except January and February which seem to have 80 each!

Fall has been grand but from the indicators it appears to be drawing to an end. The air is crisp, the smell is of leaves starting to decay on the ground, the elk are bugling, the bear are gorging themselves for their winter hibernation, the birds have headed South, along with our bat family, and there are few insects to be seen. The temperature seems to be going ever so slowly lower each successive day.

Like it or not, the season is about to change and very likely the next photo's will be of snow. We got the tractor back yesterday ~ it has been serviced, gone over completely and fine tuned and necessary repairs done. The snow thrower is serviced and ready to attach. It is expensive to have tractors worked on ($1,100.00) but when we consider that is only $100. per year since we have had it, thats not really that bad. That turns out to be $8.33 per month. We sure get a lot of use out of it. The repairman told me had it not been so well maintained it would have cost much more. It does pay to keep equipment in good shape. So I guess we are ready for winter now ~ like it or not. I tend not to like it but no one ask me anyway so bring it on.