Fall is Officially Here

My pumpkin pile continues to grow.


I replaced the tomato plants with mums in the planters. Notice one cherry tomato bent over the edge of the planter. It continues to produce yellow pear tomatoes so it was spared.


A pile of cornstalks ready to use in decorating. My cornstalks are always green when they go up and then look like these after Thanksgiving. We have had so little rain that the corn dried out early this year.


The magnolia leaves are changing.


Even the arborvitaes are dropping leaves. It is surprising how many leaves these evergreens lose in the Fall.


The oak leaf hydrangeas have turned brown.


And the maples are starting to turn red.


The pool is about to be closed for the season. I don't think anyone stuck as much as a toe in there this year!


The tomatillos are ready to be harvested.


Of all the things I planted this year, these have been the most prolific. I have no idea what I am going to do with them. This is the first year that I grew them.





*Halloween Memories: Well, sort of. When I was a little girl, I really wanted to be a cowboy. I wore cowboy boots all the time. I had my little fringed vest and my cowboy hat that hung down my back when it wasn't sitting on my head. I think I had two pairs of shoes, my Sunday black patent leather Mary Janes and my cowboy boots. I also wore a deadly pair of six shooters.There used to be men that would come through the neighborhood with a horse and charge you to sit on it while they took your picture. I was always ready for them. I dressed like this all year long but especially for Halloween. I guess I stopped wearing cowboy boots when I was about 8 or 9. Being from the Northeast, cowboy boots are not something you regularly see. When you do see them, that person is immediately put into the Country Western category. However, I never lost my fondness for cowboy boots. From time to time I would peruse shoe sites, checking them out. A couple years ago, my son and I went to Nashville, Tennessee. He got a pair of black boots but I could not seem to find a pair I liked. Over the years I did narrow down the brand I wanted...Lucchese! Made in Texas. It would be absolutely sacrilegious to buy cowboy boots that were made outside of the USA. One morning about a week ago I turned on my computer to find an add for a huge sale on Lucchese boots. It was an omen. I bought my first pair of cowboy boots in almost 50 years. And I am not just going to wear them on Halloween!


Ahhhhhhh....cowboy boots!!!!!! I am home again. I did not get the pointy toes. Though I am a big fan of Patsy Cline, John Prine, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, I don't consider myself "country" and don't want to be labeled as such. I don't think I could escape that if I wore pointy toes.


Caymen crocodile. And far too clean. I have to find some horse crap and kick around in it for a while.


And made in the great state of TEXAS!!! Yippee Yi Yo Yi Yay....partner!!!


Teddy update. She is showing little improvement. She has to be on a leash to pee and poo and then lay right back down. Surprisingly, she seems to have acclimated herself to this routine. I have read everything I can find on ACL injuries and this is going to be a very long, slow process to get her back to where she needs to be to have any kind of freedom. I am still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that this happened in the new "state of the art" veterinary hospital! damn!!!!