Fall Finale

Pumpkin season at Hickey Farms ends today. 

SHS Girls soccer ended yesterday with a state championship.

Snow appears lower and lower on the mountains. 

Fewer and fewer golden leaves cling to trees.

Horses are eating more hay as there's less grass for grazing in the fields. 

Most apples remaining on my tree have frozen and turned soft. 

While bundled up with my heavy winter coat, zipped clear to my chin, I could hear crunch, crunch beneath my feet while walking the lane this morning. 

I could have scrawled a message or two in this morning's edition of windshield frost.

Rain and snow clouds of the past few days have vanished, clearing the way for visions of stars in cold, clear skies of dawn. 

I love days like today where walking surfaces are clean, and the ground has turned hard. 

I bet those potholes stretching down the road in a perfect line-up yesterday have frozen over this morning. 

 No mud. 

No snow in the valleys.

Pretty snow in the mountains.  It can stay in the mountains. 

Though plant growth has stopped, the dreaded nuisances of winter have yet to start. 

As far as I'm concerned, it could stay this way from now until May. 

My personal concerns, however, are but a bleep on Mother Nature's agenda.  

She's got plenty of tricks in her bag for the months ahead. 

 As always, we'll take them as they come, deal with them and grouse and moan about the long, hard winter months. 

For now, I'm happy to know that several days like today lie ahead this week, offering relative ease in tending to the final touches of winter preparation, such as mowing dead grass in the fields, picking up and hauling away leaves, putting away rakes and hoses and pulling out and placing shovels in strategic spots.

Lovin' this morning's fall finale beauty. 

Happy Sunday.  

Congratulations to Sandpoint's girls soccer team. 

We are proud of you.