The days are noticeably shorter, less than a month away from the autumnal equinox. The sunset last night was beautiful as a direct result of smoke in the air from forest fires to the south and west of us.
Not a cloud in the sky as far as our eyes can see.
The nights are cooler; this morning our low temperature was 41F (6C). It is so much easier to get a good nights’ sleep in these cooler temperatures. Fall colors are starting to appear in some of the lowest underbrush in the woods. In less than five weeks the trees will begin to turn. So exciting, my favorite season of the year is approaching.
The hummingbirds are gone now and we have taken the feeders down and cleaned them. Flocks of small birds fly past the house, in and around the bushes and over the tops of nearby trees in the forest. Goldfinch are feasting on grasses heavy with seeds, golden and waving in the breeze, joined by sparrows. In the evening, bats speed through the air around our front porch, harvesting moths and other flying insects drawn to the lights from our windows.
We caught another packrat on the front deck last night. Mishkin was wild when we got up this morning. He could hear the packrat attempting to escape from the cage but he was unable to see the sound of the noise. He took his wildness out on his stuffed toy lion, and has been running full tilt around the house for a couple of hours. When Dan moved the trap to the edge of the front deck, Opal could see the packrat and she shrieked, letting us know we had caught something; she is really good at stating the obvious. Terry, on the other hand, was unimpressed; it wasn’t a bear. Evidently anything smaller than a Bobcat doesn’t count with that bird. We wonder how many millions of packrats there are on this mountain, and we have come to the realization that we are going to have to continue trapping.
I’m baking a rice pudding this morning, the good old fashioned kind with raisins and lemon juice and cinnamon. It just went into the oven and it will be a half an hour before it begins to perfume the air. Anticipation of the smell that emanates from the oven is half the fun in baking, and an excellent reason to indulge in such behavior, in and of itself.
After the pudding comes out of the oven, we are going to go down by the river and take a nice long walk. Mosquitos are history for the year.