Autumn, “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness…” or something like that. All so poetic, all so wondrous, ripening fruit, leaves transforming from green to gold, creeks rippling with sparkling alpine water…….fog, mud, floods, torrential rain. Rotting fruit alive with cold aggressive wasps, mounds of decaying leaves everywhere and little peep holes in the condensation on the window screen when you breathe too hard. Autumn here on the ranch means preparing for Winter. Anticipating the worst and praying for the best. Autumn here on the ranch means hauling hay out to hungry animals in fields devoid of grass, rugging up horses in the damp early morning chill. Going down to the barn in the pre dawn gloom, leaving the barn in the early evening darkness. Spiders as big as your hand emerging out of every dark corner of the cedar barn their intricate webs woven into apparently lacy diamond studded wall hanging eerily defined by frozen dew. Autumn is a time when the bovine alarm clock tells our herd of pampered cows that its 6 o’clock and the old clock on the barn wall has fingers pointing to barely three. The sheep huddle up by the rusty old gate and the goats barely leave their warm clean pen. The horses, having long practiced and recently perfected the art of looking "losing the will to live" miserable all day, heads hanging, manes and tails dripping, come back to the barn, bodies steaming under muddy, wet rugs. The chickens, also working on a time clock and clearly working on Union time allocate to go on their Autumn vacation, it's "drop wings, lift tail and it's a walk out."....all at once, no negociations, no discussion and 100% support .!!!! Egg production all but ceases, the roosts are occupied by chickens puffed up to counter the cold winds and idle hens occupy empty nest boxes. Sparkling lazy creeks turn into white water and the farm pond overflows the road. Size 8 turns into Michelin woman as layer after layer of warm, warmer and North Pole resistant outer wear covers under-garments that would cause “Victoria Secrets” a seizure.
Autumn….oh yes, I forgot the best part….Autumn means re-activating the idle wood stove in the barn kitchen, curls of grey smoke hanging in the cold still sky. The sweet smell of contented cows ( really,..they have , at least one end of them!!) Horses happy to be warm and dry, wickering gently at the sound of your voice. Cats curled up on dry horse rugs. Loving hugs on a frosty morning. The cosy warmth of a crackling wood stove, steaming woollen gloves drying, the smell of freshly brewed coffee permeating the air and warmed Cosco chocolate muffins for the 10 o’clock break time. Autumn means spicy mulled wine served in coffee mugs….. mmmm, you know what….come to think about it, maybe Autumn isn’t all that bad. It’s got to be better than Winter, right ????
Time to go, the rain is falling, the spiders are weaving their wondrous webs, the pond is overflowing and it’s cold. Guess it’s time to start thinking about Christmas !!!!
Good night, take care, keep safe, M
Autumn….oh yes, I forgot the best part….Autumn means re-activating the idle wood stove in the barn kitchen, curls of grey smoke hanging in the cold still sky. The sweet smell of contented cows ( really,..they have , at least one end of them!!) Horses happy to be warm and dry, wickering gently at the sound of your voice. Cats curled up on dry horse rugs. Loving hugs on a frosty morning. The cosy warmth of a crackling wood stove, steaming woollen gloves drying, the smell of freshly brewed coffee permeating the air and warmed Cosco chocolate muffins for the 10 o’clock break time. Autumn means spicy mulled wine served in coffee mugs….. mmmm, you know what….come to think about it, maybe Autumn isn’t all that bad. It’s got to be better than Winter, right ????
Time to go, the rain is falling, the spiders are weaving their wondrous webs, the pond is overflowing and it’s cold. Guess it’s time to start thinking about Christmas !!!!
Good night, take care, keep safe, M
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