A Fall Collage

Autumn Collage
(found online)

Can you believe that today is October 1st ? It seems like only yesterday we were tilling and planting the garden, swimming, and enjoying our longggg summer vacation. Well, it wasn't very long at all. HA !
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We are settled into our new home. Everything is unpacked, and life is back to normal. One big difference here is the privacy, which we have not had in many years now. We see a car pass on the road out front every few days, and that's it. Oh, of course we also see the Mail Carrier daily. The Cherubs are enjoying exploring -- the barn loft has become their "fort", the woods are full of new treasures to identify (leaves, nuts, creatures), and the open fields are full of spinning giggling children playing ball or tag or some other delightful game every afternoon.
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The leaves are beginning to change ... as we look over the woods and mountains, we can see tinges of gold and red mixed among the deep green foliage. We are waiting anxiously to see the mountains in their glorious autumnal splendor. It shouldn't be long now.

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Our dogs are heading to the groomer soon, each for a Day of Beauty. A good bath, nail trimming, and a nice haircut. Daisy always enjoys her appointments. But Bella does not really care for this routine; she is in dire need of a bath however and so must go. HA !
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Our horses have settled into their new stall. We managed to get the fencing finished on the upper pasture, and now we can visit with them while they graze. There have been some issues with Estrella since we moved, however. We consulted our vet, and then consulted a trainer, regarding Esstrella's aggressive dominant behavior which was more than we could handle. The trainer came yesterday afernoon for the first time. We watched her work with Estrella, seeing the wonderful, sweet dispositioned horse that we knew existed. It seems that the "issues" are ours, and not Estrella's. HA ! We, as human horse owners, have not been good "leaders", and so Estrella took it upon herself to step into the "lead mare" position with her whole 1500 pounds. Hummmmm. It seems the trainer will be coming to train us, rather than to train Estrella. HA ! She will be coming biweekly for quite a while, providing troubleshooting right now, and eventually teaching us horsemanship and horse management. Someday we will get into riding instruction. In the end, it was wonderful to discover that the troubles can be resolved, and fairly quickly, with training and education. And that in the near future our family will again have a respectful trusting and loving relationship with our horses. Sunny was a bit of a brat while the trainer was working with her Momma -- it seems she felt a bit jealous about the shift in attention. It was rather comical to watch, but we will be working hard with her as well to get these behaviors under control before she gets too big to manage. It has certainly been educational !!
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Our girls are hoping to join a local Horse Club; we are awaiting more information and the next meeting. In the mean while, they are enjoying quiet time with DadToCherubs when the boys are out. They giggle abotu having him alllllll to themselves for a few hours each week (while the boys are at their Scout meetings).
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And our boys are really enjoying Scouts. Cherub 6 just started Tiger Scouts, and was awarded his very first badge last week ! Cherub 1, Cherub 3, and Cherub 4 have been working on their tenderfoot raink, and on a hiking merit badge. Cherub 1, Cherub 3, and Cherub 4 will be attending a competative event in the near future where they will camp and complete with other troops in the areas of First Aid, Cooking, Knot Tying, and other skills. They are very excited. All 4 boys will be working this fall on a 100th Anniversary Service Project in the Smoky Mountains -- they are super excited about the opportunity.
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School is going really well this year, despite having taken 2 weeks off while we were moving. Next Tuesday will mark our 5th week of school. The new schedule, schooling Tuesday through Saturday, is working really really well for us. On Sunday we go to church together, and on Monday we spend time doing some projects all together, and ususally manage a full little outing together too, going to the river or to the falls or out for an icecream. DadToCherubs is enjoying our new schedule too -- he actually gets to spend some "quality time" with us other than dinner and the bedtime routine. I wish we had thought to match our school schedule to DadToCherub's work schedule a few years ago. HA !
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There is a lovely garden spot here, and the soil looks fairly rich, although it is currently heavily overgrown with weeds. We have plans to get the garden spot cleared of HUGE polk berry plants and MILES of bindweed, and then to start amending the soil with leaves and such, for next spring's planting. There should be lots of fall leaves to be chopped (thanks to a push mower with a bagger attachement) and added to the soil. In the mean while, we want to build a few raised beds topped with old windows, so that maybe we can grow lettuces and things through the winter. The raised beds will be rather like hot boxes. We loved the raised bed gardening we did last summer, but growing through the winter will be a new experience for us.
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Cold season clothing -- can you believe it is time for that again ? Soon we will be sorting through our crates of fall clothes, and then (gasp) it will be time to do some shopping for needed items. (Did I mention lately how much I hate to shop ?!?!) And not long after all of that, it will be time to get out the winter coats, hats, and mittens.
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That's it, in a nutshell. Now that things are in order, we will begin to take up our cool weather routines -- warm mugs of tea with bedtime readings, bonfires with friends, long leisurely drives in the mountains to see the leaves, sipping warm cider in the cool fall air .... ahhhhhhhhhhh ... 'tis fall.