Signs of Autumn

Okay, so is there anything more relaxing (and itchy) than laying in a bed of leaves with your next door friend and plotting your next seven year old adventure?

I'm wondering if I could bond more with my friends if we did this more often.

Then again, I can't imagine how relaxing it would be, considering I'd probably get leaf shavings in my Pepsi and/or my underwear.

I'll keep my plastic Adirondack chair for now.

Welcome Autumn. I love your cool temperatures and your bright colors. Hang around awhile so we can play outside just a bit longer, before that good ole snow and ice makes us break out coats and boots again.

And Another...

Fair Warning: This child knows where the hedge clippers are stored.

And he knows how to use them.

Do not, under any circumstances, deny him Halloween candy if he shows up at your door.

I can't be responsible for the consequences.

And Another...

This picture is from two years ago but the scene was the same this morning, just with taller kids.

I love looking out the window and seeing the new sunshine, lighting up the turning leaves.

Nothing says autumn like colored leaves and kids climbing on school buses in the morning.

Except maybe stomach aches from eating too many of those yummy candy corn and candy pumpkins with painted on stems.

And Another...

The spider family that lives in our front fence has been oh so helpful by supplying real live Halloween decorations for us.

Now to convince the neighbor kids that it is not dangerous to open our gate. I am sure the spider family has moved on.

If we're lucky the snake family will show up next.

Crop Discounts

This field sits on one corner of a very busy intersection in our tiny little town. On busy days I pass by it several times a day, as do most of my neighbors.

So I wondered, way back in June, what would happen to the billboards that sit right behind this field. They are very effective nine months out of the year. We all spend many minutes, that feel like hours, waiting for that light to change, memorizing the latest ads on the big boards.

But then the farmer came with his tractor. He turned over the soil. He planted some seeds. And the corn started to grow.

Through a wet summer the crop took off and the billboard slowly disappeared. For awhile we could still see 2/3 of it. Then just half. Recently it has almost entirely evaporated from view.

So I am left to wonder....are the advertising rates on these billboards pro-rated? Does the price go down as the corn grows up? Does the bill totally disappear when the billboard does?

Lucky for the advertisers, most of us had committed their messages to memory way back in the early summer. There is not much to look at while sitting at that light.

I count it as a kind of autumn blessing, that our view went from commercial advertising to peaceful farm corn.

I plan to enjoy it for now. Because some day very soon, farmer will be back with his tractor and his harvesting equipment, and the advertisers will pay full price again.

Gremlins with Sharpies

It was just a simple sign, posted on the fridge after just a few too many of my metal baking pans turned to rust in the dry cycle of the dishwasher.

And just after a few too many dishes needed a 'second round' because they had been stacked so strategically I wonder if Hubby is the one who should still be packing the car for long trips.

"Dishwasher" is one of the easier chores around here but even big kids need reminders every now and then.

So sometime in the past week a gremlin appeared. A gremlin who has possession of a Sharpie pen.

I did a double take, thinking I had truly lost my mind , just before making this sign.

Then I got honest with myself and realized maybe the gremlins were trying to tell me something. Maybe I need to be keeping a closer eye on the kitty.

He has seemed extra clean lately.

Content

This picture makes me relax. And not just from the look of bliss on our kitty's face.

Those long fingers in the picture belong to my Big Boy, who seems to be growing more muscular and 'teen-ager-y' with every passing day.

I took this picture after that same hand had spent a good 15 minutes petting and caressing that kitty, all the while speaking soft warm things into his ear.

His voice may be getting deeper and his shoulders may be growing more broad every day, but there are still traces of my sweet- hearted little boy in there somewhere.