Nature’s first green is gold,
Robert Frost
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Hello, friends. How has autumn been treating you so far? Maybe it’s doesn’t feel like fall where you are, but here the night temps are starting to drop to the high 30s, which is a pretty swift change for us. Temperature hasn’t been the only big change, we’ve gotten a pretty rough introduction to the high winds that Eastern Idaho experiences. Randomly during the day, although the weather report didn’t alert us, the wind became so extreme that it picked up my chicken coop, yep, the steel and heavy duty Omlet one, and rolled it across the yard. It didn’t stop there. It swept the extended aluminum run, which is quite large, across the yard, bent it like a paper clip, and flung it over a water spout, breaking off said water spout which proceeded to flood part of the yard. I was able to grab the run and stop it before it ravaged the neighborhood. Even then I had to sit on the ground gripping it so it didn’t take me with it. Needless to say, it was a pretty devastating situation. We’ve gotten things battened down better now we think. Pro tip: staking it all in the ground does nothing. The good news is: all the chickens are just fine- they didn’t even turn a feather.
I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.
L.M Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
We have been winterizing as quickly as possible between all our activities and the various repairs that the house needs. But despite that I still feel so busy that I can’t get everything done around here. I had hoped to have a fire pit built and some trees put in, but it looks like we won’t get to that till next fall. Along with being busy with work and school and the house, Chris and I are deeply involved with the leadership aspects of our extra curricular events, which is very fun, but very time consuming. I’m hoping with football ending, and our 4H club meeting less often, that we get a few more free evenings.
The kids and I have a goal to read The Lord of the Rings aloud over the next year. We’ve read The Hobbit last year, the whole Chronicles of Narnia the year before that, and we finished the whole Harry Potter series earlier this year, so I feel like it’s time! They can handle the density of it. I had contemplated doing the audio book version but… I feel like I would be tempted to turn it on and then do other work. I think this is the best way to keep it a bonding activity between me and the kids. However, ask me how I feel about that half way through The Two Towers. haha! I’ve already gotten a comment that my “Dumbledore voice and Gandalf voice sound a lot a like.” Well kid, I’m trying. I’ve only got so many old man voices in my repertoire. I’ve been able to reinstitute tea time to much general excitement. Lil C just loves setting out tea time, which buys me some points with her and some good read aloud time to the bigs. Usually, we plow through the school readings first then get to “the good stuff.”
(why is the clock crooked? Ugh)
Ah, yes. I forgot to mention, I turned 34 this month! It does feel strange. I don’t feel nearly as together and grown up as I imagined I’d be around this age. But I have some lovely role models here in the women I’ve met. They are quite admirable and I hope to learn a lot from them. As usual I was quite spoiled on my birthday. Husband got me several of amazing cast iron pans (the ones I’d worked on for ages to season got lost on the move! We think the guys didn’t pack them). He also got me this epic set of sourdough starter jars that measure the temp and growth of the starter. I’m quite official now.
I am hopeful to get another tour update soon: the tv room! It’s very different than the rest of the house because it was Husbands choice in the decor. I really like it! We look forward to hosting some tween movie nights over the fall and winter, as well as open house soup nights, so I imagine it’s gonna get quite a bit of use what with the weather being so snowy in the winters here. The big kids are very excited for all the happenings we’ve planned, hopefully we parents can keep up.
Sing a song of seasons!
Autumn Fires- Robert Louis Stevenson
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer, fires in the fall!