Crispy Color

The front lawn under our two old sugar maples is ankle deep in crispy, crunchy color. Walking to the mailbox brings back so many childhood memories of autumn leafy antics. These need raking, but the skies have opened this week and it looks to be a wet one. It's absolutely the worst weather for a fall leaf clean up. 

We have a large area to rake ourselves, we do have some calls in to landscape folks, but so far they have not come out for an estimate. My brother used to do it  yearly with an attachment on our shared John Deere lawn tractor. The tractor is old now, and we are all not as young as we used to be as well. It's a big job to haul them up into the woods.

Speaking of my brother, there was some excitement at his house(now quieter with the grandchildren and family in their new home), early Saturday morning. My sister-in-law Donna and my nephew Greg heard odd noises in the early morning. My brother had just returned the day before from closing up our old family place in Maine for the winter, so he was still fast asleep. Their house cats seemed very agitated when Greg came into the living room, suddenly he saw a tiny squirrel attempting to climb the walls! Not a gray or red, common squirrel, but a tiny, big eyed, gray nocturnal Flying Squirrel. It must have ended up in the chimney, the fireplace damper was closed, but rodents like that can squeeze through tiny spaces. So in the living  room it came. Donna is not fond of squirrels and she hightailed it to the bathroom and locked herself in. She wanted to wake up Clark, but Greg said he had watched me charm squirrels and chipmunks over the years and thought if he opened the front door he could coax it out. He did!  Eventually it took off from the top of the door and glided to the dogwood tree in the front yard. One house cat took advantage and escaped as well, but they got her in easily. A wild wake up!

It is very rare to see them, they are nocturnal and quite secretive. This must be the 20th great grand squirrel of one we saw at his yard years ago when he was doing his spring burning of fallen limbs over the winter. We were there and saw one glide from a bird house to the trees, what a sight. It was obviously living in the house and needed to escape the smoke. 

For the Record, 
This day came in gloomy, cool and drizzly. A rainy few weeks ahead as the gloom of November looms.

Al hands wary, and I'm sick of bland food already, colonoscopy on Thursday morning.