We are noticing the change in our weather - the little hints of fall like the occasional maple branch flaming red among the other yellowing leaves and roadside weeds.  There's that "fall smell" to the air, too, and the chirping of crickets and brazen screams of jays that let us know summer is nearing an end.

Our summer has been more hectic than usual.  We've had many trips to medical appointments in  Lebanon, Burlington, and most recently Portland, Maine.  Each trip has been mostly enjoyable, with stops at favorite stores and restaurants, but we could have done with less of the reasons for taking those trips.  Fred has had some health issues going on that seem to baffle the doctors; but through it all, he is feeling good and is staying active.  I had a long reprieve with no shots for my macular degeneration, but this past week Dr. Kim decided I needed more, so the trips to Burlington will resume periodically.  

We have enjoyed our new deck a lot this summer - used it more than we did the old one, I think. Because it came out looking so good, we decided to have Bill Jones rehab our tractor garage.  Luke Persons fixed the foundation for us a year ago, so the bones of the little shed were good, but it was showing signs of needing attention and we were not looking forward to scraping and painting it again.  The top picture is how it looked before - actually the picture was taken in January of 2014, so it had weathered a bit more since then.  You can see in the next photos, Bill has put on a new corrugated roof and is nearly finished with vinyl siding.  We had an overhead door installed to replace the "barn-style" doors my father had built, and the little access door overhead was in sad shape, so Bill made a new one that is now vinyl clad.  Looks great.   In spite of the weather delaying work considerably, Bill has made good progress and it's looking really nice.  It's a lot tighter than it was, and we may not be bothered by bees building nests high in the rafters, or squirrels making winter homes in there.  The only living thing we've seen so far is a snake that has remained in residence among the crushed rock.  With a new, tight window in place, it will look great and be virtually maintenance free.  Bill has a keen eye for detail and we really like the updated look he devised for the front of the shed.

We will be thinking about cutting back flowers for the winter soon - which may or may not get done.  Sometimes if I don't have the energy, I wait to clean things up in the spring.  Flower beds got way ahead of me this year, so I will probably try to get them cleaned up nicely this fall.  Fred has trimmed more branches out of our evergreens between the house and the road, and we'll run them through the chipper soon for mulch.  I like working outside once the weather has cooled off a bit in the fall.  With luck, we'll get everything done before snow flies.