A Change of Scenery

Winter is coming. Get your colors while you can.

Harvest Fest

It was time for Harvest Fest, round two, as we headed to the end-of-the-season CSA party at Eener's Farm in Wisconsin. This was our last chance to stock up on pumpkins and cider and free hay rides "for the kids".

This is actually not a dog, but a goat named Larry. Larry has a pretty good life.

Poor Maynard, eight years old, was joined by a new puppy this year, and he's really showing his enthusiasm for the partnership.

New World Record!

Stillwater recently held its annual Harvest Fest, and we headed downtown to check out the festivities.

The river is still quite high following some fairly severe rains, so all boats - not just the paddleboats - have been waiting for the lift bridge.

There were rumors of a world record pumpkin on the premises; we thought we'd try to guess which one.

This pumpkin stated (with a handwritten note) that it was the tallest pumpkin in the world. I can't imagine there's that much competition.

Finally...coming from New Richmond, WI, the world's biggest pumpkin! I think the official weight was 1810.5 pounds, but it needs to be verified by the folks at Guinness.

Loser pumpkins

Obligatory group shot

Random children

Cars on the river, per usual.

I think these are the remnants of the pumpkin regatta. Otherwise, I'm not exactly sure what's going on here.

Until next year, happy pumpkin and flood zone season!

Fall is for (Apple) Farm

With the Erickson and Laughlin families in tow, we headed to Aamodt's Apple Farm and Vineyard (for the adults, of course) for a quality nature experience.

I think Wade and Ryan actually did a fairly good job of matching their expressions to those of the children.

All the easy picking is over for the season, so you just have to try a little harder to get the good fruit. Wade and Adam developed a helper system that, honestly, worked better than it looks.

Wade then offered Tessa her first taste of orchard apples, with Emily's approval.

Wade tried to offer Tessa her first taste of caramel apples, with Emily's disapproval.

Sarah and Lucy with Emily and Tessa - babies are hot this year.

There are a lot of attitudes coming out in this picture.

This was an unplanned shot, obviously, but the Apple Farm was just that good.

We Found Jesus!

So, our Buddy Jesus had been lost for a few months, but no one really seemed to notice so it wasn't a big deal. Then, on Saturday, I had to move the bookcase to do some deep cleaning, and lo and behold! - there was our friend Jesus wedged in between the paneling. He was held so tightly that even the power of our vacuum hose could not dislodge him.

He's back on display now, with just a touch of blue paint permanently scuffed on his sandals.

Happy Labor Day

Don't work too hard.

Butterflies and Bees

The gardens have been active with insect life lately. Here are a few photos of the happenings.

Also, in honor of the almost two-year anniversary of the blog, I've finally decided to customize the template. I'm still having issues with photo posting/editing/lay-out, but I'm working on it. Happy (early) Autumn!