Fall in the Air.

I love fall.  I love the air and the sounds and the edge of a chill.  Somehow as it gets colder I feel all that much warmer inside.  I think I actually spend a considerable amount of the time from early October through whenever it seems the last snow has fallen in a state of giddiness.  

We have already had several very cold days and a dusting of snow which was lovely.  The high winds blew so many small branches out of the firs in the forest, it really looked like someone had carpeted our driveway with evergreen.  We were fortunate that the only notable tree that came down on our property was an old, mostly dead fir that took out just one smaller noble which is now likely to end up as our Christmas tree.

One of the last flowers to bloom for the year, pink in the shade of the forest.

Apples are ripe, including these delicious Fujis off one of Craig's more recently planted trees.

This tiny mushroom made me smile.  It was maybe the same diameter as a dime.

Grapes ripening.

Craig harvesting green ones.

These were so sweet this year.

I got impatient making raisins and discovered that we like halfway dry perhaps even more.  They also left the best grape jelly on the parchment.  I think next year I'm going to try to do this on purpose and blend up the raisins in with the jelly.

Our last little harvest from our little garden.

More ripe apples.

The top of our Golden Delicious tree was too high to harvest so the pileated woodpeckers helped eat them up.  If I had been about 30 seconds faster, there would have been two woodpeckers in this photo.

Putting away some apple sauce for the winter.

A praying mantis.  We also found an egg sack down in the lower brush underneath it.

Our first persimmon crop off the tree Craig planted 2 years ago!  So delicious!

The elk herd, just a bit down the hill.

Taking a break from munching to have a look at us.

One of the larger bull elk overseeing the herd from back near the forest line.

Craig with a bunch of apples and Asian pears, checking on the hens.

The sunsets start getting extra beautiful here as the sun moves more into the southern sky.

It feels so good to come inside to a cozy fire.  Fall is here and winter is coming soon.

Goodbye Deek.

We got Deek as a pup in the summer of 2000.  We moved to the farm when he was 8 years old, and he loved it here from the start.  He used to go on big hikes, and would run with Craig on his bike rides and me on my trail runs.  Although Tux was faster, Deek could out last him on a long adventure.  As he got older, he spent more time on the couch, and more time sleeping.  And after fourteen and a half years, that was all his old body wanted to do.  And then even that was too much, and it was time for goodbye.

Baby Deek with his favorite toy.


Before Deek was big, he was quite small.


Deek and Tux were best friends from the start.


And to the end.  Deek and Tux on one last, slow walk together.

We took lots of breaks for rest and petting.

I don't know how long it will before I can look at this photo without crying.

The vet took a final picture of the three of us.

This was a hard goodbye.  We miss you.  Rest in peace, old friend.  

Late Summertime

As summer rolls along things get hotter and dryer.  We spend the middle of the day seeking shelter and enjoy the cooler edges outside.  The chickens and alpacas tend to go back and forth between shade and sun; baking themselves until they can't take it anymore then cooling off to go do it again.  Chickens are very funny in the sun...  they almost collapse sometimes just from the light then try to play it off like an intentional sun bath.  

The alpacas don't enjoy being sheared, but they very much enjoy the result.

Feeling much better and looking much smaller.

Craig with our very nice, big rooster.

Plum season!!!

Kitty thinks summer is a bit too hot.

Chickens enjoying a dust bath.  

Little lizard.

Sweet and juicy!

Summer was also the time to put away a bunch of tasty food in the pantry.

This guy takes care not to poke himself in the eye with his butt when turning.

More pickles and tomato sauce.

Down at the stream the crawdads were very active on the hot days, dragging around leaves and such.

This frog was bigger than he looks.

See?  Quite large for a frog.  

Craig had a successful elk hunt last fall, providing us with meat for the year.  The summer sun finished the process of baking the skull.

Summer day down at the stream when the water is almost as low as it gets.

More ripening.

Deer munching in the clover.

Caught with a mouth full.

They are so fast when they run.

Not ripe yet, but soon.

Peeps a Peeping!

The chickens seemed to start laying a bit earlier this year, but none of the hens got broody until later.  We were wondering if we were going to have any peeps for a while, until 3 hens in our smaller coop all started nests around the same time as each other.  Two of them actually shared the nesting space.  When the first few eggs hatched, we moved out one mama and those peeps, leaving the other mama who was still on eggs to hatch out 3 more.  We couldn't put them back together though, because once they were separated with their own peeps, they would peck the other ones.  We also ended up with one peep who hatched too late for and the third mama rejected it.  That peep became known as Peepster, and basically was hand raised for the first few weeks of her life until all the mamas rejoined the flock and the peeps were all put together.  It took some time, but Peepster learned how to be a chicken.

Sometimes the chickens hide their eggs but nobody sits on the nest.  We bought some ceramic eggs that we don't collect to encourage them to lay in the coop.  It seems to keep them happier.

Sometimes they wait in line for their preferred nesting box.

This brown hen was considering joining two hens who were already nesting here, but it was too crowded.

Brand new.

Teamwork!  These two hens hatched out quite a few peeps, including that cute one in the picture.

We tried putting them together after the peeps hatched, but ended up separating the two groups.

Testing out one of Craig's new coops.

The final broody hen for the year.

Success!

One grey, one brown, one black.

Meet Peepster.

Peepster's mama rejected her so we hand raised her.  She spent a lot of time getting carried around in this little basket.  If you put her down she would peep so loudly we'd just pick her up again so having easy ways to tote her around was helpful.

But this system proved to be her favorite.  

And this was a favorite way to nap.