Fall is arriving slowly

Oh, so slowly. There's just a touch of color here and there on the mountain, and the lower levels at the main road have nothing but green yet. The cooler weather is creeping in, as evidenced by the fact that we pulled the radiator heater for the bedroom out last night and turned it on. It was chilly enough at night that we could see our breath in the house, so it was definitely time to get some heat going. It was nice and toasty in there last night, and with the Indian Summer weather we're now getting, I expect that we'll turn it off in the morning, and on about when I head to bed for the next few weeks. After that, it's propane heat all the way, we hope. The boys loved the heat, and curled up on their shelf or the foot of the bed all night to soak it up.

Here they are, curled up on Quentin's side of the bed at the foot. Bouncer wouldn't look at me, and Smudge just kind of gave me a dirty look for interrupting his nap with photo-taking. Sorry it's a bit  pixelated, I took it with the webcam.

Things are slowing down for the winter, and I hope they don't slow down too much. It's getting too chilly out to get much done outside, and dark so early all the time this past week. I could have gotten a lot done, but it's been raining or cloudy every day this week, so by the time I come home and the night's rain is heading in, it's almost too dark to see. This has, however, been a good thing for crafting getting done. The baby sweater is finally nearly done. One more sleeve to do the border edging on, and the border around the bottom, the buttonband, and the neckband, then it's just the buttons to do. Yes, I even seamed it up, much as I hate seaming. That will take about one or two nights, and then another night for the hat and booties, and a couple of nights for the soaker. So, barring major tragedies of time-wasting on my part, and I should be ready to start or already started on the blanket. Then I can work on the socks that have been waiting for my attention, and the Feather and Fan afghan, and assembly can be done on the granny square afghan I've had sitting for months in the front bedroom in a box. (Yes, I hate seaming THAT much. I'll even put off joining squares that are already DONE just to put off sewing the darn things together. I don't even like crocheting them together!) But I will do it. I like afghans, especially if the pattern calls for no seaming, but I'll finish that one up one of these days.

And now for some promised and long-delayed photos!

Looking down the easement a bit, you can see pretty much in the middle a tallish tree that's just starting to turn orange. It's a bit difficult to pick out, but it's right in the middle. The color won't come in better without me washing out the whole picture, and I fiddled with this thing for a bit to get it this good. ARGH!

The new toolbox Quentin built from an old cupboard in the Merlot. It's sitting on brackets screwed to the front of the trailer, and yes, it does have a purpose for those blocks running front to back on the lid. One, they keep the lid from bowing up. The wood for the lid was pretty warped! And two, if hubby is out working on something near the trailer that might roll and get lost, like a small tool or something, those blocks keep things from rolling off the lid while he's working. Dual-purpose and very nice for him to have.

Looking back toward the house, you can just see the fall color starting to pick up in the thorny locust outside the bedroom window. Deep red this year all over the mountain, it's like having a short-term flaming tree outside the window!

This tree is at the end of the drive and just across the road. Isn't it turning a nice yellow?

And this tree is more red-orange than the photo looks, but a cloud went over just as I took the picture. This tree is at the bottom of the mountain road by the cow pasture. (Speaking of which, Mr. McCoy needs to mend fence, his cows keep getting out and into the road! Kind of disconcerting in the morning to be heading for work, come around a turn and there's a black blob of an Angus cow standing in the road like a statue!)

So that's this week's general newsbites. Time for some freebie Kindle books (I am trying to avoid a gazillion cookbooks), and getting my email! Hugs everybody, I need to get some other things done while I can! (Yeah, and grab some nasty McQuack's food for lunch, but at least it's calories. I'm making fettuccine alfredo with chicken and broccoli for dinner tonight. Sorry, not enough for everybody!) (Plus I need to reinstall my Kindle for PC, it keeps exploding on me lately and it's driving me nuts.)

FREE BOOKS FOR THIS WEEK