What a nice day today here!  We had sunshine for a good part of the day and the temperature has been pretty nice.  I think it got into the 50's for a short time, but is now slipping into low 40's.  The clouds began to come in late this afternoon and we are expecting rain tonight - and off and on for the next several days.  I guess we can't complain, we've had a great autumn.

These two pictures were taken late this afternoon as the clouds began to roll over us.  The view from our front deck (top) was rather dismal, but from my office window (bottom) looking southwest, there was still nice blue sky - with dark clouds lurking, as you can see.

I got inspired just after taking these pictures to give a couple windows one last wash before the weather gets too cold to be outside.  That done, we put the vinyl covers on a couple of the basement windows - it's clear vinyl secured to make an air-tight seal that really helps a lot.  We're mostly tightened up for winter now.  It always seems warmer once we have these little chores done, even though I know it probably doesn't make that much difference.  

In the meantime, all the snow the ski areas made this past week will probably get washed away this week; but there will be a fresh new coating of natural snow by this weekend, according to the forecast.  It seems as though the ski season is opening awfully early this year - or at least the resorts are trying to open - more power to them.  I'm not quite ready for real winter, but we'll take what Mother Nature sends us and hopefully make the best of it.