It's a daily celebration

Before I forget (again), I need to let you know that I can't comment on some blogs anymore. I encounter a drop-down window with only one option – "Google Account;" the second option ("Select profile") is grayed out. If I leave a comment in the box and hit "publish," it says it's publishing but my comment never appears. Others are leaving comments successfully, and I can comment successfully on SOME blogs, so I don't know what's up or what to do. Just know that if I usually comment on your blog and no longer do, I'm still reading and enjoying your posts! Maybe Blogger has the flu and things will improve as it recovers – ha!

ANYhoo, Blogger issues can't dampen my enthusiasm for FALL! The light, the colors, the temperature all make my soul sing. Here is the golden afternoon light in the valley yesterday afternoon,

and here is the golden light breaking through the clouds this morning:

And here is my golden-eyed buddy, nearly always by my side:

I worked in town today (because yesterday was a bank holiday), and the row of trees outside my office was just stunning.

The first place we owned in Oregon had sweetgums lining both sides of the long, gravel driveway; I do NOT miss having to rake all those leaves!

On the way home I snapped this photo of one of the three wineries on our side of the hill:

The grass has recovered a bit from the trampling by tractor and manure spreader, so I turned the girls out this afternoon:

The new geranium I purchased in the spring struggled to survive through the summer; deer seemed to snack on it regularly. But the changing weather has revived it (and the calibrachoa in the same planter), and it's flowering again.

Inside, the sixth bud on my orchid stem is finally opening:

Let's tune in to the Chuckie Channel for a moment. He doesn't seem to be a fan of rain (this is his first wet season, after all), so he's been sticking closer to the barn.

But late tonight he serenaded us from the deck, and when that didn't get him the desired attention (because I was blogging, Brian was doing homework, and Rick was turning wood), he started climbing the window screen! (I tossed something at the glass to dissuade him of that notion.) It's hard to leave the lover boy outside, but he has a job, a barn . . . and personal hygiene issues. 😏

That's it for today from . . .

A post of photos and captions

NOT this morning; today we have flat, gray skies.

What was here

is now out there

thanks to my husband with the help of these.

It's fall y'all!

And with fall, these are emerging in my arena.

They are supposedly edible, but I'm a big 'fraidy cat.

Sunny roadside poppies on our Sabbath afternoon walk!

Yesterday Rick and I felled, cut, loaded, split, and stacked two dead oak trees.

These two are slowly making friends. 😍

No lion lying down with our lambs!

The other evening I went in the Sheep Sheraton to put a bigger coat on Bette. You can see how much of her bum was sticking out beyond the coat she was wearing; it was past time.

Even though it was after dark and the light wasn't good, I had to try to get a photo of her luscious fleece mid-side:

And of course, afterwards there were sheep snuggles:

Bette in her bigger bodysuit

Bette's dam Bree pushing in for her share of attention

Chuckie decided to join me, jumping up on the half-door and then down into the sheepfold. Big mistake with Shetland sheep; their momentary alarm turned to curiosity, followed by aggression! I was worried Chuckie might rake some noses, but he just jumped up on the half-wall to escape the head-butting:

If you follow me in Instagram (link up above at right), you may have noticed I'm featuring a few more photos of sheep. That's thanks to one of my fleece customers and farm visitors who requested them. I took a couple photos of the 'it' boys the other morning, and got a good shot of Bardot's spotty face.

So much for the lion and lambs; how about one of our 'wolves'? With the weather cooling down, lap-time feels good to both Jackson and me.

The other way to warm up is to PLAY!

That's it for tonight from . . .

Fan Fest / Feline Fest

We had a fun time with friends at the Trail Blazers Fan Fest Sunday night. This is a free opportunity to see ALL the Blazers on the court, even the rookies, because they divide into two teams and play themselves. And of course I took a spindle – my 'fidget spinner' – to make good use of the downtimes.

Love that dad is covering her tender ear

Even though Chuckie apparently wasn't within the sound of my voice Sunday night, he was johnny-on-the-spot Monday morning
. . . and Monday afternoon . . . and Monday night . . . and this morning. I haven't filled our black oil sunflower seed feeder because he's coming to the deck so often!

Proving that cats are cats are cats, here are photos of the beautiful barn cat at the stable where I gave a riding lesson Monday in the same poses Chuckie struck in the last two photos above:

The clouds were putting on a rapidly changing show this morning,

and my big Japanese maple is just beginning its 'slow burn':

Later, I caught this stunner outside my dentist's office:

Don't you just love autumn? 😊