Friday Morning at the cabin

Well Thursday was another gorgeous day for being outside and we did spend most of the day in the beauty of the woods, the gardens, pumpkin fields and hiking across the top of the mountain and by late afternoon we were seeking some shade to cool down. It was in the middle 70's on the back porch and quite warm while gathering pumpkins in the open field. When the sun disappeared behind the clouds at times the difference was very evident with the coolness and by dark the real change began as the temps dropped back down into the low 50's. Next week the high's are only in the low 60's and the low's down in the 40's. This is what's called Indian Summer.

Well after my usual wake up at 6'ish I left Nancy sleeping in until nearly 8'ish. I did my quiet time, had a cup of hot green tea and then posted this ramble all before she ventured out. It is pitch black at 6 AM and usually stays that way until a little before 7 here in the woods. I love the stillness of the early morning with just the sound of an occasional drop of moisture from the upper dormer onto the tin roof. The Fall Daisy's look like they are glowing in the dark with their brilliant whiteness as they stand out in the early morning darkness.

I noticed 4 more morning glories blooming yesterday and their "heavenly blue" color is so beautiful along with the many shades of red, pink, orange and white zinnias which ate in constant bloom. Such a beautiful flowering plant and I'm so disappointed I haven't been seeing them in my garden for years. What a great fine they are and they are so hardy as well surviving the dry season and then the 15 plus inches of rain all in 12 days or so. I worked up the ground in the upper garden and sowed some beet, kale and lettuce seeds in the ground and the sowed some jalapeños pepper seeds in a pot in hopes they will mature enough to take them back to Florida for my winter gardens. I did clean out the bean poles and tomato stanchions and stored them under the back porch for next years crops. I staked the Bell and jalapeno pepper plants which are still producing as the heavy rains had them somewhat laying on the ground. I noticed I have some carrots and beets in the one patch as the deer have mainly eaten the tops off.

We took off for town around 10:30 and stopped at the old Mill Pond on the parkway to view the changing of the leaves. many trees were bare but a few haven't completely turned as of yet. The heavy rain and wind has decimated many of the Maples which seem to show their colors first along with the sweet gum trees. Most of them have lost their leaves. We shopped for a few items then stopped at the library for a couple new reads before heading home for a lite lunch of salad. We saw neighbor Gerald who was down from Blacksburg for the weekend but received a call that he would have to leave much sooner than he planned due to a very ill father in law. He wanted some pumpkins to take back with him so we headed over to our "mountain moms" cabin and once again loaded up a couple dozen pumpkins plus ears of field corn to feed the deer. That kept us entertained until it was time to take a hike to the top of the mountain.

We stopped and chatted with the Cline's(Ann & Sandy) then saw where Norm's son Troy has moved into Norm's cabin and then stopped and chatted with the Browning and Rex and his dog Prancer as well all met at the Brownings. We came back as the evening chill started to fall and became quite noticeable. After a supper of tacos with guacamole I headed outside to piddle around until dark which is now around 7:30'ish. Just a few months ago I was outside until 9:30'ish before heading in for the day.

I tuned into the Fox news channel and tried to watch a little MLB playoff and the NFL games which really didn't interest me or maybe it was because I was plum wore out from being up and down this hill and on my feet all day. After a hot shower around 9:30 I could barely keep my eyes open so I retired to read a new book by Erskine Caldwell. It was nighty nighty by 10'ish, LATER