Autumn remembrances

Let's enjoy today's and tomorrow's weather while we can. It looks like Autumn [should that be all caps?] arrives over the weekend. As far as I recall, we haven't yet had a hard frost in my neck of the woods. I was thinking earlier this week, that while I'm all for air quality, I certainly miss the autumnal aroma of burning leaves that I remember from my childhood. It usually followed, by a few days, the pleasures of jumping into the big piles of leaves that had been raked up by hard-working, long-suffering parents who, only incidentally, thought of the pleasure they were bringing to their offspring. What we didn't have back in those good old days were young turkeys in the front yard. This was taken through a (very dirty) window in the downstairs laundry room. There were a few more jakes that couldn't be fit into the frame.

 front yard jakes               © harrington

The phone rang inside the house and spooked them a little. Then they circled around the north side of the house and when I tried to quietly get a better picture from the west side deck, they decided to head elsewhere [little teeny dots to the left of the small pine].

jakes headed elsewhere   © harrington

I remember the first time I went turkey hunting in southeast Minnesota about many, many years ago. At the time, I had never seen a wild turkey within shotgun range. During scouting, we'd seen some dark spots moving up hill and been told those were turkeys. Minnesota DNR, and the turkeys themselves, should be proud of their successful restoration. Take a look at their current range.

Since the sun was shining and the weather warm, today seemed like a good time to go check on how blue the juniper berries had become.As you can see, there's been some progress, but not a lot.

Pattiann Rogers has a wonderfully appropriate poem for this time of year. It mentions junipers, cedars and the changing weather. Enjoy. Thanks for listening. Come again when you can. Rants, Raves and Reflections, often with a side of poetry, served here daily.