cool days

It’s a gorgeous morning, sunny and cool here. The only thing wrong with late summer – fall mornings is that they are so wet- the dew drenches everything. Just walking to the barn left my pant legs soaked and the grass is short. Golden rod is blooming, which signals the end of summer. The buddleia is looking nice too. I have seen the biggest, fattest hummingbirds I have ever seen this year hanging around them. I think they are stocking up to migrate but I have never seen them this fat.

Our hens are laying quite well now although the eggs are a little small still. I picked up 5 by 9 am and I know more hens were laying. The turkeys were out as usual. Turkeys look so pre-historic to me. The bourbon red crosses I have are very pretty but they fly very well too. I must have the white ones butchered soon. Raising my own meat doesn’t seem as easy anymore.

Squirrels are back on the property. The mean little red ones too. I saw cedar seeds had been munched on the other day and today the first thing I heard when I got up was a crabby squirrel scolding something. There are some acorns and walnuts this year although I don’t know if the crop on either will be huge. I think what killed or drove them off this spring was a lack of food, there were few nuts last fall. It’s just as well because the population needed thinning.

I walked around the pond last evening and scared up the little night heron that always seems to be around this time of year. The pastures are thigh high except where Steve has mowed a path through. I always think of what could be eating that grass, even though my desire to have large animals around is tempered by knowing that winter feed is expensive and caring for animals in winter is a lot of hard work. Still some nice pasture raised beef would be real tasty. Steve kind of wants to do pigs again, you can get them raised in one season and butcher them before winter.

We still have three of the mixed cocker puppies left to find homes for. They are the biggest cry babies of any puppies we have ever raised. If one gets the slightest put down from a big dog or gets its toes stepped on it screams bloody murder and the other two join in like they are all being killed. They seem friendly enough and we are giving them more attention to try and work out the silly screaming business but boy, they can use their lungs. They seem to be joined telepathically or something, when one is injured or scared they all start screaming. Buddy and Tina, as the next youngest, seem to enjoy provoking screams, which they can sometimes do just by running up to one of the crybabies. They are as big as Tina, but then when she was six weeks old she was wrestling puppies twice her size and winning.

I wish this type of weather could stay around all year. I love cool nights and sunny, not too hot, low humidity days. The sky in late summer is so deep blue, and if rains have been good as they have been for us this year, everything is so lush. But I always get this lazy, hazy feeling in fall, the days are perfect for work but I don’t want to do it. I do want to store food like a little squirrel and cooking and baking seem more inviting. I guess I am preparing for winter- I am one of those people who are affected by seasonal depression – I want to sleep through winter. When the days get shorter my energy does too. I guess this type of hoard food and conserve energy instinct was good for my ancestors, so I'll live with it.