Change Is in the Air, Brrr!

Just a few minutes ago, I added the turtleneck to make it a three-layer day----in the house, that is!  At least a fourth will be be added with the next trip outside, maybe even a fifth.

A space heater ran all night in the garage where Kiwi sleeps on her couch.  

Yesterday,  several mousetraps were reloaded and set in strategic spots leading to the house.

Norm, the chimney sweep, showed up yesterday also.  Usually, he's calling us in July to set up the annual chimney project. 

Cooler weather and overnight freezes are finally prevailing.  I can't figure out why this change is a month late when most everything else has happened a month early this year. 

Oh well, no need to find an explanation---just rise to the situation and do what is necessary to adjust without too many frustrations. 

The weather change was apparent yesterday when my sisters and I took off for an afternoon with our cameras, looking for golden-leaf leftovers.  

We found some, but our job was not easy. 

"Let's go to Bloom Lake," Barbara suggested.  So, we did.  

As we proceeded further up in elevation to get to the small lake near Elmira, we were seeing more and more naked deciduous trees.  

And, when we stepped out of the car to walk the dock, we about froze to death.  Well, not quite, but it sure was a lot colder than it had been a few minutes before down in the valley. 

We drove a few more roads south and north of Bonners Ferry, finding not a lot. 

Then Barbara (who has an amazing new lens which captures really crisp images) suggested turning off on the road to the Bird Refuge, northwest of Bonners Ferry. 

Good ol' Kootenai River---it never lets us down, especially reflectively speaking.  

We stopped several times on the road across the valley---once for a bald eagle surveying the river from its perch in a tree alongside the road.  Barbara captured some phenomenal shots of the bird.

Later, when we spent at least 15 minutes trying to outwit a mama doe and her baby, Barbara captured some really exquisite shots. 

We tried the patience route, hoping the pair would go to the shore of Deep Creek for a drink, but they won, eventually disappearing to an area where we could not see them. 

Still, we built a relationship with all that time inching the car forward, then back, then forward again.  I think we did that about half a dozen times but never did catch a Deep Creek drinking scene. 

I was kinda fascinated with this pair because they had ears like mulies but the showiest white plumes ever for whitetail.  I'm wondering if deer species mix when they reproduce.  
Whatever the case----we who see deer more than enough times a day out our living room windows, eating our gardens, and standing on their hind legs at our apple trees----we just couldn't get enough of this pair. 

I'm thinking deer get a lot of free passes just cuz they're cute. 

We spent some time taking pictures along the Kootenai where a variety of colors blend amidst the shoreline foliage and dramatically duplicate themselves within the river water. It's always a spectacular sight, wherever one happens to stop.  

The afternoon of challenging photographic pursuits for the the sisters three had its rewards with some nice images AND with a tasty 25-cent chocolate-vanilla swirl cone at Super 1 grocery store in Bonners Ferry. 

Plus, we had a good time visiting. 

On this particular Sunday morning of bundling up, there's a wonderful sensory pleasure going on outside on the deck.  Those two sets of big chimes, which were added this summer, are putting out some lovely sounds, thanks to a brisk wind.  

What's lost in eye candy may be found with those melodic tones.   Nice. 

Happy Sunday.  Stay warm.