Fall Is Here

It's been chilly the past few mornings, but when I looked outside this morning before heading off to the chickens, I decided to bundle up.  The forecast had said a low of 24 degrees, but it looked colder out the window.   Jeans, ragg wool socks, a T-shirt, sneakers, my quilted jacket, and a red and green striped pointed hat with elf ears sewn on and a big jingle bell on the end.  A lot of people driving down the roads did a double-take, and then waved at me this morning.  I smiled and waved back to everyone.  Bounced up the steps onto the bus and jingled all the way - made the bus driver laugh.  It was 17 degrees (F) when I left the house, and 27 when I returned an hour later.
   The hens were ready to come out, but their water bowl was almost dry, so I had to rinse and refill it.  I scattered some scratch and beans for them to snack on today.  Carter, the tom cat, definitely wanted to come outside and wander, but Xuxa, the girl, decided to stay inside where it was much warmer.  I'll get everyone back inside again at dusk.
   The bobcat is still around in my usual house-sitting neighborhood.  My brother-in-law was sitting at the dining room table, doing paper work, when he saw a movement on the patio.  He looked out, and the bobcat was investigating the sliding glass door and the picnic table, then it nosed around the woodpile, where the mink lives.  Jim got up to get his camera, and the bobcat went across the yard to one of the big cottonwood trees, and Jim said that it bounded up into the foliage in the blink of an eye - two leaps and it had disappeared.  Since the bobcat has been in the neighborhood for 2 weeks now, I sent out a reminder to folks to keep an eye on their smalls dogs and cats.  I'm pretty sure the bobcat is feeding well off the huge number of rabbits in the area, but so are the fox pair.
   I am not going to any shopping center or retail store today, Black Friday.  I've already read headlines about shootings and stampedes with injuries - so, as usual, I'm staying away from all that madness.

Sigh - It's Really Fall

I guess I have to admit that fall, or autumn, is actually here.  I wore a sweater this morning when I walked Lola and Cooper, as the 38 degree morning felt a little chill.  Of course, the temperature is supposed to rise back up into the mid- to upper-70s this afternoon, but I definitely needed my sweater earlier.  There's a cloudless, light blue sky outside my window, and the birds and squirrels have been partaking of their nuts and seeds in abundance.  I'll be heading off to walk Rosie in an hour or so, and then I'll visit the public library on my way back - one of the Inter-library loan books I requested has arrived, and I have two weeks to consume it, before it must be returned.
   Yesterday, Beatrice and I wanted to get away from Boulder, so we drove over to the town of Longmont and played tourist.  We wandered through the Old Town area, and we both purchased books at Barbed Wire, a new and used shop.  I found a copy of Carolyn Keene's Dana Girl mysteries that is based on Chincoteague Island - The Haunted Lagoon - and added it to my collection.  I've had several copies of the book, and gave the last copy I had to my cousins, Nancy and Aleda, on Chincoteague, when Nancy turned 13...  A few years ago, Aleda wanted to know if I still had a copy, and I had to tell her that I'd the books to her family, back in the 1970s and hadn't seen them since.  She was able to find a copy in the Chincoteague Public Library.  The edition I purchased yesterday was printed in 1959....
   Bea and I also wandered around the "Old Town" residential areas, and had a wonderful time looking at the older houses and how the current owners have made small changes to fit in with the times.  We saw a magnificent brick house that had been built in 1899 - the original wood floors and woodwork around the windows and all doors and passageways was intact.  It was gorgeous.
   After several hours of looking at the old neighborhoods, we drove a bit down the road and visited Prospect New Town in Longmont.  It's a newer housing enclave that started out on an 80-acre tree farm.  It combines all sorts of architecture and housing, but it's a quiet community with mature trees, great landscaping, wide sidewalks, community areas and play grounds.  You can choose between starkly modernistic buildings or more traditional architecture.  There are condominiums, town houses, row houses, duplexes and large single-family homes.  Some of the buildings have businesses on the ground floor, with homes built above... It's a fascinating and eclectic place.

A Fall Weekend

Fall has definitely arrived, with breezy weather and the temperatures about 15 to 20 degrees cooler than they have been.  The weather forecasters said we'd have a high of 58 degrees (F) today and it would be grey and rainy.  The sun is shining, the sky is blue, there's an occasional breeze and the forecast for today's high is 70 (in Boulder).  We had homemade Belgium waffles this morning for breakfast, as well as some turkey sausage - I had juice and Bea had her coffee.  I was surprised when I arrived home this morning at 7:10 and saw Beatrice out on the balcony - usually she sleeps until 8 o'clock, or so.  When I got upstairs, I asked why she was up, and she said that Lovey had been talking to her.  As she (Bea) drifted awake this morning, she thought there was a small child in the apartment that kept saying, "Hello?  ...  Hello?"  The voice got closer, and she looked down and realized that it was Lovey.  I had thought it would be Nedi, but no - it was the girl.
   Cooper had a wonderful time yesterday, chasing the planes that were flying overhead, along with the gliders.  I'm thankful that there wasn't a home football game, or the whole neighborhood would have wanted me to keep him inside.  But he has a good time chasing the planes and barking - and doesn't run into the wooden fence too often.  Lola, the other dog, just sits and watches him act the fool.  Pounce has been having a fantastic time stretched out along my legs while I'm reading, or watching television.  Tipsi has been busy hunting - he's brought me six snakes in two days, along with one bunny, and a partially mashed frog (it looked like a bicycle had run over both hind legs).  I turned everything loose again, except the frog, which was too badly damaged to survive.
   The Gators started out well against the Tennessee Volunteers, but couldn't hold onto the lead yesterday, so the Vols beat the Gators for the first time in 11 games.  Mizzou had a huge blowout, and at the half, the teams agreed to play two ten-minute quarters to end the game.  South Carolina lost to the Kentucky Wildcats.  And, much to everyone's surprise, including my own, the Colorado Buffaloes beat the Oregon Ducks in an away game....   We'll have to see what happens with the Denver Broncos today....

Boulder Weather

Three nights of sleeping in my own bed, and I feel renewed!  Having Lovey stuck to me at all times, and having Nedi come and demand love has also made me feel much better.  The only down-side of any of it is that Lovey keeps walking on my keyboard and erasing whole pages of writing...  She particularly likes to settle down and then edge her butt and tail closer and closer to the corner of the board, and then I suddenly have a blank page....  But I love her and Nedi to distraction.
  I am headed back to the Denver Airport this afternoon - one of my clients had a death in the family, and I'm at their house until Sunday evening.  Then I have seven days and nights at home - my vacation.  I am so excited.  I am still catching up on all the photos that folks have shared with me from Chincoteague and Assateague this summer - and I've got at least 500 shots from Pony Penning to still open and look at...  Thanks to everyone who has sent them to me!
  It is 50 degrees outside at this point in time (8 a.m.) and our high temperature is supposed to be 63...  Seems like fall has snuck in early, in the Rockies.  I have the patio door cracked, but both kits are inside, and the window is open.  Even though my eat is off, the thermostat says it's 70 degrees inside.  It is drizzling out, and has been doing so since three this morning.  If I were in Scotland, I could say it was a nice, soft day - here in Colorado, it's a cool and damp day.  We have had snow here on this date in the past 10 years, so I'm not really surprised.  Folks have been worried about the weather for the Broncos-Colts game Sunday evening, but Marty (the weather man) says he thinks the rain will be finished and out to the east by kick-off time for Sunday Night Football.
  I had blueberry waffles for breakfast this morning, and will probably have a whole wheat blueberry bagel with cream cheese for lunch - since I need to be at the client's home at noon to go to DIA.

Fall Photos

Duck in pond

Fox

Fall leaves

Beach kiss in Florida

Pickering, the Yorkshire Moors

Cattle at Mutterings, near Innsbruck

Frisco, Colorado

Fall Has Definitely Arrived; Last Flood Photos

The high temperature for today was 50...  the low for the morning is listed as a projected 37 degrees.  The low in Steamboat Springs is forecast for 23...   And we've had a half-inch of rain so far, which was not needed.  Here are a few eye-opening photos from the 100-year flood of two weeks ago:

A sewage geyser on Canon Avenue in Manitou Springs during the flood

The only road through Jamestown, Colorado

US 34, outside of Loveland, Colorado

An over-turned, flooded Subaru at 4th and Evans in Lyons, Colorado

God's Country Cowboy Church near Loveland, Colorado

First Day of Fall Equals More Rain After Flood

Today arrived sunny but cool - 47 degrees and a breath of breeze from the west.  But the clouds have begun to pile up in the west, and we're expecting more rain this afternoon and evening.  At least we didn't have the low that was forecast for one of the ski towns last night, which was 27!  I thoroughly enjoyed supper last night, as my friend Bea and I walked the 9 blocks to Turley's Kitchen, at the corner of Pearl Street and 28th Street (aka US 36).  Besides the the heavenly food, we had a good time observing other customers, and chatting with out server, a young lady from Alabama.  Then we strolled back home, stopping to pick up a few odds and ends at the grocery store.
  My kits wanted out immediately upon my arrival home, and I opened the patio door.  Then I visited the bathroom, and changed clothes.  By the time I approached the patio door, I could hear Lovey in full battle mode - howling, growling and hissing.  As I stepped onto the patio, the girl next door started yelling, "You!  You leave my cat alone!"  I immediately called Lovey and made both her and Nedi stay inside for the rest of the night.  When the girl next door adopted her cat, she told me that she'd never, ever let it run free in the back yard - apparently she started doing so while the kits and I were staying at Kathy and Jim's.  The problem is that after 7-plus years here, Lovey considers herself the queen of the complex.  She doesn't have upper teeth, but she has mighty claws, which move incredibly fast - and she feels the need to chasten anyone who strolls about without her permission.   I hope that Baby and Lovey, and the girl and I, can come to a less war-like understanding.
   I was able to cheer the Gators on yesterday, and am watching the Packers now.  Tomorrow night I'll watch the Broncos, but I also want to see the new TV show with James Spader - The Blacklist.   I have the feeling that James Spader will win in that contest.

How Did I End Up...?

I had an enjoyable morning yesterday - loved my kits, walked Rosie, and then had a tour of the production facility where my nephew, Mike, works.  On the way home from there, I developed a splitting headache, which turned into a nasty migraine.   I managed to get over to Redwood and feed and medicate Sasquatch and Tugger, and then I collapsed in my sister's spare bedroom, with Boo for a bedmate.  I guess I was tossing and turning too much, after I let Boo out for her last potty break, because she soon left the bed.  I had very vivid dreams, and finally crawled out of bed at 6:30 to feed Boo her breakfast and let her out.
  First, I let Boo out into the back yard, then I took a quick shower and dressed.  Once I let Boo back inside, I grabbed her dish, as she sat in the middle of the kitchen and gave her, "Ah-oooooo-ooooo-oooo" yodel, and headed for the garage.  There is a door from the kitchen to the garage, followed by 4 steps down, and the garage floor.  Boo's food is kept on the garage floor.  My brother-in-law also likes to keep anything he believes might be useful inside the garage - there's no room for the car, and just enough room for winding trails through all of his stockpiled items.  I have been up and down those four steps thousands of times, but this morning, for whatever reason, I missed the second step - the heel of my left foot caught the edge of the third step, and I flew down.  I remember seeing my arms flail wildly, like windmills, as I tried to keep my balance.  I don't know when I let go of the dog bowl - but there was a tremendous metallic clatter at some point in time.  I kept thinking that I had just got my new glasses, and I really didn't want to fall face first... Somehow I ended up on my left buttock, with my left arm and hand still moving frantically.  This was followed by a large piece of metal falling forward, to slam the back of my head and bounce back; followed by about 5 loops of metal-enclosed hose line that fell around my head like a necklace.  I sat there for a minute and thought.
  My first thought was that I was one clumsy person.  My second thought was that if I'd broken any bones, I'd be mad; followed by the thought that if I had broken anything, I had to get back upstairs and across the kitchen to reach a phone to call for any help.  So I flexed my hands and arms, and then my feet and legs, and then I removed the metal hose length from my neck.  I had trouble getting the metal plate I'd fallen against to lean back into it's original position, but, after pushing at it for a minute or so, was able to get on my knees. Then I spotted Boo's food bowl, off to the left.  I grabbed it, and got to my feet with a groan.  I filled the measuring cup with dog kibble, put it in the bowl, and climbed back up the (entire four) steps.  Boo met me with a howl of delight.  I had her sit, gave her her food, released her, and then went to check on my injuries.
  I've found only bruises and scrapes, and the knuckles on my left hand look like hamburger - but, otherwise I seem to be OK.  I'm starting to get stiff and sore, but that's only natural.  I'll be taking naproxin for the few days, just to ease the aches and pains.  My last thought about this stupid fall?  I was very lucky!!

More Fall Photos

Grandfather Mountain near Linville, North Carolina

 

Near Holly, Michigan

 

Near Jackson Hole, Wyoming

 

A tree in New England

 

Autumn in the USA

Along the Dallas Divide, near Ridgeway, Colorado

 

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

 

The Blue Ridge in Virginia

 

The Swift River in White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire