Fall is still falling

When I looked out the plane window as we landed yesterday evening, I was delighted to find that I had not missed all of Fall! However, the evening was nippy, and you can definitely tell that colder weather is coming. Here are photos from a longish walk this morning. We haven't dropped below freezing yet, but a lot of the mud has disappeared, because at the end of summer, the thaw layer has penetrated deeply enough to allow the ground to absorb liquid water. I walked maybe 6 miles of trail and only stopped to wring out my socks twice. Anyway, wool socks are still warm when squishy.

This is what my yard looked like this morning:


Walkin' down the street:

This is the same view as in here, only that photo was taken two weeks earlier, last year.

I guess if you're the lone birch in a spruce forest, you go nekkid quickly:


The power line trail, with the aspens in the distance hanging on to their leaves:


Crunch!


The girls still find things to munch on, even as the weeds go into dormancy:


The road home:

The willows give more color than the aspens and birch do nowadays.



When I got home last night, a neighbor had just gotten back from his hunting trip, and the family was feasting on the best parts of the moose--the backstrap and the tongue--and invited me over as they knew I had just gotten back and my fridge was empty. So the girls and I headed over and stuffed ourselves silly. My neighbors are the best!