Where in the hill is Burt?

All the beautiful leaves are gone and the forest is down to it's bare bones.

The prairie at Mosquito Hill, in shades of wheat, rust, taupe . . . 

and bone. 

(Sorry, that was awful but I just couldn't help myself!)

Things are looking a little bit spooky, even in the daylight.

The perfect time for a walk. First stop is the frog pond. No mosquitos today!

It is looking pretty shallow, though.

Next it's onto the hill and the intrepid explorers set off up the north trail.

When Nick stops to take a photo we realize Burt is nowhere to be seen. Where could he be?

Shhh? What is he up to?

 Nick picked just the perfect spot to change the film in his camera.

The perfect spot for Burt, that is.

Ha! How could he not see that coming?

Eventually we reach the top. The view has changed quite a bit since October.

Wow Burt, that looks comfortable.

Then we heard something behind us, a half dozen or so deer!

  Of course when we turned back around Burt had disappeared again.

We decided to go back down the trail expecting we would eventually run into him.

Hope he's not hiding in the birch trees.

When we were almost to the bottom of the hill he sent us a selfie from the top!

Did I mention it was also starting to get dark? 

Actually he was just a few feet away, at the big maple tree, laughing at us!

Ah, November. grey skies, cold winds and freezing temperatures.

Needless to say we didn't let him out of our sight for the rest of the walk.

How is your November shaping up?  

A Pre-Thanksgiving Panic!

Our families are spread out from coast to coast and all parts in-between so we've given up on getting together for the winter holidays in favor of a summer reunion. Except for last year. At the last minute we ended up making Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. To be honest, when I say "we" I really mean Nick, he cooked while I frantically cleaned the house and polished the silver. So to avoid having a last minute scramble to create a festive look, this year we are starting a whole week early. 

 It's about time we got to work hauling all the Halloween stuff upstairs! I'm embarrassed to admit that most years I get the Halloween decorations put up just in time for the big day and then they stay around until well into December. Even though that wasn't the case this year, thanks to Marfi at Incipient Wings and Haunted Humpdays, I still find it hard to put away my favorite holiday trappings. 

Apparently someone else does too.

No hiding, Burt! Time to get packing, it's almost Thanksgiving!

The people who built our house managed to transform every available nook and cranny into a storage space. This was one fantastic idea in my opinion and I've done my best to put them all to good use. Unfortunately, it appears there's not quite enough room for a skeleton in the Halloween cupboard!

Or down in the basement either. Well Burt, I guess you will just have to stay out all year round.

Everything else has to be put away though.

Alright, maybe not everything. Please no more sad puppy dog looks.

Yes, the cute painting done by Maria at CozyComfyCouch can stay, too. It was nice of her to have a great giveaway during the fantastic party hosted by Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist. Thanks to you both.

On the other hand, some decorations are just asking to be put away.

 It's going really well, though . . .

... especially because Burt takes it so seriously!

Ok, the velvet pumpkins can stay, they're in fall colors. Searching the craft stores for anything not

related to Christmas is really pointless past the middle of October. Last year I only had enough decorations for the kitchen and dining room. I did find some cartoonish fabric in autumn colors and made no-sew window valances for the kitchen. Along with a fall travel poster it sort of took on a Thanksgiving atmosphere. No one mentioned the lack of turkey decorations elsewhere in the house probably because we always end up hanging out in the kitchen the whole time anyway.

Well, it's time to swap out the posters, hope he's careful that frame is kind of a heavy.

Oops! What do you think Stewart, is he ok?

Well, he's smiling, glad there's no broken bones.

On to the Thanksgiving decorations. Birds and pilgrims. Pathetic.

To bad we don't have any larger ones.

Thanks Burt, they're definitely larger but not turkeys. Good try though.

Ok Burt, you rest while I get the bunnies and easter eggs out of the curio.

Sorry for being absent for so long. Our internet service seems to be possessed by evil spirits. 

With luck it will be sorted out sometime this week. See you soon, I hope.

Autumn Colors

Autumn is usually colorful here but some years are definitely better than others.

Burt was pretty happy with this one, but then he's usually happy with everything!

I put this post together in late October when the autumn colors were at their peak, but I was having some problems with my internet connection at the time and it failed to publish. Since it's going to snow here tomorrow I thought it was time to dust if off and try again before autumn is really over! 

Nick and I have been hiking the trails of this nature center for years and have been

lucky enough to often see deer, red fox, otters, turkeys and lots and lots of snakes!

On the north side of Mosquito Hill the trees are mostly maples and birch and they stay

green longer than the aspen and oak trees on the south side. Eventually they all catch up.

Nick always manages to find something unexpected in the brambles.

Near the top of the hill the trees were mostly yellow and almost cover the sandstone.

The west side of the path near the top is where we usually find snakes.

This one to be exact. They're harmless and pretty slow this time of year.

This one got very upset at Nick's camera tripod and actually coiled up and hissed at it!

Continuing on, here's one view from the top . . .

. . . and another,

 . . . and of course one more.

Right after I took this photo Burt fell out of the tree and broke his arm, which posed

something of a problem. He was a trooper though and we trekked onto our next destination.

Back down on the east side through the Sumac trees.

Always the first to show some color in the fall and last to leaf out in the spring,

. . . and apparently moving into the prairie.

Our walk finished up at the oxbow lake, which was beginning to look more like a rice paddy.

Then it was home to repair Burt's arm.

Burt's arm was not so much broken as broken off. A rubber band and paper clip fixed him right up. The ice kept down the swelling and he was back to normal in no time at all. In fact he has an improved range of motion! It might be awhile before he gets his strength back however.

Fortunately being right handed, he was easily able to take advantage of some liquid painkiller.

By the next weekend he was all patched up and ready for the Halloween festivities.

Are you enjoying a colorful autumn? Have you ever fallen out of a tree?

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

A Holiday Recap

It was late on Halloween night when our last Trick or Treat visitor rang the doorbell.

Luckily, due to the inclement weather, we had a few candy bars left.

Of course we had to invite him in since it's considered rude to turn away a samurai.

Hope he's careful with that wooden sword, he could put somebody's eye out!

With the glory of the sun, he continued on his quest to fill his bag with candy.

I hope he didn't stay out too late. 

Burt showed up again on Sunday morning to make his specialty, Huevos Rancheros for a brunch in honor of Dia de los Muertos,  A habanero and a devilish grin, what could go wrong?

Oh no! Are those your fingers!

Cheese. I should have known. 

At least he's good about cleaning up or maybe he feels guilty after the scare he gave me. 

Meanwhile, back to the sauce. Burt claims it's the secret to his culinary success.

Lots of tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and spices but no fingers! 

It is a day to celebrate so while his sauce simmered we settled down with a pre-brunch libation! Besides, it was almost noon and we had already invoked the "it's five o'clock somewhere" axiom.

Eventually it was time to eat. Thanks for cooking, Burt!

After lunch a bright-eyed Burt helped set up the mantel to honor our departed family members. We collected their photos from around the house and added a few of their favorite foods. They were mostly all farmers except for Burt's relatives, so the coffee, cheese and butter covered a lot of ground.  

It's quite a long drive to this cemetery where generations of my relatives are enjoying their eternal rest, so we will have to skip that part of the celebrations. The last time Nick and I were checking up on the family farm we stopped by the church to make sure the flowers decorating our part of the graveyard weren't an embarrassment to our living relatives. No matter how hard I try get a photo of it looking erie it never turns out. Maybe it's due to it being only 125 years old or that most of the grave stones are still standing upright. Not many large trees are left. Then again it's hard to make a bright sunny day look spooky. Those solar panels don't help either but at least they believe in science! 

Talk about a dead end. Nick can't get a decent photo either. I grew up playing among these gravestones with all the other kids in Sunday School. We had a great time, day or night. Of course we all thought we saw ghosts! It occurred to me recently that if there really is a zombie apocalypse, my late relatives would most likely skip the desire for human flesh in favor of coffee and a few cookies.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed the Dia de los Muertos festivities if you take part in those celebrations. Sorry for being so late, my internet service has been off and on all month!