It's October.....Already! October 4, 2014

It is October, already.  I just don't know how that happened.  It seems we were just getting started on our fall season, after a much too short summer.  The leaves started to turn color and my sister-in-law and I started talking about our fall hikes and next thing, the leaves are down.  It just happened so fast, I can't believe it.  And.......I have had quite a few years to watch these things now.  With a winter that wouldn't end, a spring that wouldn't get started, and then...a short, cool summer......I just don't see how fall colors came and went so fast. 
I have been busy trying to do all the things that need to get done around here.  Compared to some busy people in this community these days........I don't feel "that" busy now.....but, I always have something to do.  There is the garden, the yard, the trails.......and oh yes, always housework!
Sadly, my trails, especially the ones on the steep end of the property going up to the Superior Hiking Trail, didn't get mowed.  Some way over east I ski all winter didn't either.  Too wet.  It was August before I got some of my main yard mowed because of wet and standing water.  Argh!  ....or something.  Staying so damp or really wet on the ground meant that the big DR mower I use was either bogging down to the point of getting stuck or spinning out on a root.  It was a lot of work to mow a trail this year.  But, thankfully, I did get a lot of it done despite the problems.  It means alder and brush, in some areas, is going to have a head start on me next year.
The garden.....oh, it's been supplying us with food alright.  But, even that isn't up to par.  About half the cauliflower didn't turn out well.  Tomatoes have tended to rot on the vines.  Cucumbers were few and far between.  However, I got bumper crops of carrots, turnips and rutabagas....beans too and oh yes, the radishes......  The broccoli is still producing nicely.  There won't be many potatoes as many rotted in the ground instead of growing.....that in raised beds!  Oh well......
As usual, I am always out and about trying to get some fine photos.  Even those adventures have had me ranging less distance than usual.  Early on, the bugs were so bad it was hard to take a shot without a swarm of bugs in them.  Not to mention.....if you wanted to walk some place in the woods.....you had to put a ton of bug dope on so as not to get eaten alive.  But, I have managed some nice stuff despite the weather. 

Here's a shot I took along a trail to one of my favorite spots the other day.  There is some color there, but, passed peak....for sure.  I am wondering if we are going to have another long, cold winter. 
There aren't many mountain ash berries this year for all the birds to eat all winter.  I think they wore themselves out making so many last year.  Many apple trees are also bare.  One of our trees made just over a dozen.  The others, nothing.  Pretty slim pickings!
Still, just a couple of days ago a bear had to climb up in the top of our "wild" apple tree....just out of sight of the house.  It broke the whole top out of it and a lot of other branches besides.  There wasn't apple one in it this year.  So.......why it was up there is beyond me.
I will leave you with just one more color shot of our area taken October 1st!