55 degrees

...and quite mild outside.  Despite the rain spells, it's getting harder and harder to convince myself that we're still in the winter!

Farmer Flood Superheroes

There has been a lot of flooding here recently, and while we are safe from the water ourselves, not all of our friends have been so lucky.  Last week I took Jack, Caiden and Rebecca to a nearby farm to help them harvest as many crops as they could before their land went underwater.  (I left Evie with Auntie Alison -- she's a bit young yet to be out in the muddy, rainy fields!)

In the car on the way over I explained the situation.  The kids decided they were Farmer Flood Superheroes, and they were going to rescue all the plants!

They look thrilled to be here, right?

Second attempt was not much more successful!

The view from the farmers' front yard.  Normally there's no water to be seen here!

Looking over from their front porch.  Those are their greenhouses in the middle of the river!

Here's the farmer loading up blue boxes of produce to bring in from the fields.

Naturally, once we reached the fields the kids were much more interested in digging up worms, smashing clumps of dirt, explaining how cold they were and so on....  So it was up to me to dig.  We stayed for an hour and dug up one box of potatoes!  Considering the amount of Other Activities we were also doing, I'm proud we got this many out of the ground!

Here they are being totally proud that "we" dug up all those potatoes!  Also being freezing.  ;)

Once they knew we were heading home, they were in high spirits over how much "we" had accomplished.  :)

"We" dug up the whole row from where I was standing to the end of the field!

This was after wiping as much mud off my hands as I could manage.  I got REALLY dirty!

Making our way to the farm house to wash up....

Of course we had to take a closer look at the flood before we left!

That's a mostly-submerged fence in the middle of the shot.

They were very smart (knowing they're in a floodplain) and oriented their greenhouses to let the floodwater flow right through them!

Cooooooooooooool.

Just before we left, we found this forklift!  It was the icing on the cake to the whole visit.

And look!  It's growing GRASS!

Then it was time for a change into dry clothes, and a snack of granola bars, apples, cheetos and doritos on the way home.  They earned it!

the chilly entryway

The thing about owning your own home is that there isn't necessarily someone looking over your shoulder asking you the important questions like, "Are you sure the reason you're getting that TERRIBLE draft around your front door isn't -- just maybe -- because you didn't close the window to seal up your storm door's screen?  So the breeze has been blasting right through it?"

....Yeah.  I figured this out yesterday.  Once I sealed the storm door properly, the draft was *miraculously* gone!  Since it's still our first winter here (and barely officially started at that), I'm going to count it as a success that I noticed the open screen before spring rolled around!

seasons

It's worth mentioning that the last few months have encompassed one of those rare spans of time when nature and the weather agree exactly with my idea of what should be happening. Hot when we're ready for it, cool and breezy when we need a break. Cloudy only when the sun threatens to become monotonous. And the rare splashes of rain have happened (I kid you not) on every night that I've forgotten to water the garden.

Tonight I was planting some perennial bulbs in the front yard (more on that excitement later, with photos, of course) and reflecting on how tomorrow is the first day of September and really fall is just around the corner. I'm ready for falling leaves and pumpkin patches. Today Jack and I were remembering last year when we got a hay ride in a big wagon pulled by a farmer's green tractor. He's ready to do that again, please, but takes my word that we have to wait *just* a bit longer before those are available.

Well, back to tonight. I was outside at 10:00 p.m., planting the last of about 50 bulbs. It was cold and my nose was just a little runny. The wind suddenly gusted and the night air smelled like wood smoke and slightly damp soil, and everything felt just... like fall. And I tell you what -- I have never been happier than when I get the first signs of summer's end, and this year was done particularly stylishly!

So I do have to commend Mother Nature on her timing and attention to detail. Well done, madame! I hope to see you continue this trend right on through the new year. ;)