Autumn

     There are a couple of raccoons that have decided to take up residence underneath one of the grain storage bins just a couple hundred yards away from our house here along the Western Slopes.  Mike saw them the other evening when he was walking Sally and came back to tell me about them.  One was a fairly good size one, the other not so much.  They are helping themselves to supper on whatever they can find in the garden's leftovers and even the compost pile.  They are smart and realize that the times are a changing and they are making shelter wherever they can find it.   I'm not a big fan of raccoons.  They are cute in pictures, even charming as little babies.  But grownup ones?  Nah.  I don't think so.

     In June of last year Mike and I  found this little baby raccoon trying to wander around the yard dazed and confused.  He'd evidently fallen from a tree during one of the wind storms the night before.  We actually found another little baby, lying dead just a few yards away.  This one soon succumbed  as well.  I had been here only a month and found myself helping to bury the first two critters of the season.
     There is wildlife all around us at the outskirts of the city, just outside of the city limit sign.  All last summer, the daily deer parade caught my attention as herd after herd would walk through the alfalfa field to the south of our front porch as they looked to graze at the table of fresh hay.  We have seen the deer much less frequently this summer and the small herd that we do see has kept itself pretty much hidden in the acreage of cornfields to our west.  Seldom did we see them leave the confines of the farmer's neatly planted rows.  Lately in the past month or so they have been much more brave, even daring to skip along the alfalfa field and travel to another patch of corn on the east side.  There were twins born to the herd earlier in the summer and it was always fun to see them playing alongside one another.  From our vantage point you could see them frolicking around as they played tag with one another like little children.  One of the twins got a little careless and decided to cross over to the other side of the road and got hit by a car back in early August.  The twin that survived was the one who didn't leave the safety of our side of the road.  I hate it when a deer has to get hit like that.  It can happen to anyone around these parts and I have lost count of the times that I nearly had one run right in front of me as well.  Safety for deers, safety for drivers.  Soon the cornfield will be cut and the deer family will move on to their place of rest for the winter months ahead.  Maybe next summer they will return.  I hope so.  I love to watch them.

    I loved this photo that I was able to capture one morning last summer of these two mighty creatures as they stood and had a bite to eat in the new clover.  I took a gazillion pictures of them last year as I found out that if I kept my mind busy with other things, I didn't have as much time to be homesick for Kansas.   A strategy that mostly worked.
     The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is right in our back yard and one of the first things that I saw when I opened up Facebook yesterday was a post of a couple of bears that were feasting on acorns there over the weekend.  The long winter lies ahead for them and it's their time of year to keep on getting fatter and fatter.  They look for food wherever they can find it.  The news has been reporting numerous bear sightings all over the state as bears come into "civilization" closer and closer each day.  They need food, plain and simple.  People are being reminded all of the time to not leave things out that would attract a bear to come and find it.  Good common sense has to be exercised on the part of all people.  Bears are really only doing what we as people do ourselves.  When hunger strikes, you find something to eat.
     With just a few last days of summer left "officially" on the calendar, I am reminded that autumn is already here for all intents and purposes.  The leaves have begun to change, slowly and surely.  The beautiful and stately Cottonwood trees that ring our front yard have begun to show signs of a golden leaf or two.  They "jumped out" at me yesterday as I was noticing them for the first time.  Kind of akin to finding your first gray hair in your once dark brown hair or something.  It was a bit of a shock to see.  What happened to summer?  The same thing that happens every year.  Time flies when you are living life.
     The air seems a bit more brisk and chillier.  The sky looks different to me as the days go by.  Yesterday I had a melancholy feeling about me, for many reasons but maybe it was partly  because I am in that "autumn" season of my own life.  Spring and summer came a long time ago for this Kansas farm girl.  I've been hanging on to autumn for years now :)  I am not ready to give in to "winter" just yet.  There is much to do ahead of me and I pray to be able to accomplish things that remain in my life.   
     One of the things at the top of my "list" in the days and months ahead is to get "the 22" where they need to be in order to be successful first graders and future "second graders" by the end of May.  Nine months seems like a long time to have to accomplish such a formidable task but in all reality it's just not that long at all.  Days go quickly and we have to be careful to not lose much precious time as we go about our tasks for the day.  I love those little people, ones with spirits about them that make me feel like I'm back in the "spring and summer" of life.  Children are gifts.  Blessings.  Each one of them.  Every single one of them.
     This is the 16th day of September.  What shall the day bring?  I have awoken and if you are reading this, then so have you.  There was a reason for that, you know?  Time to go out now and find it.  Have a great day my friends and family.   Peace to all of you this good day.

A beautiful Kansas sunset, taken earlier this past summer when I was home to visit my family and friends back in the Sunflower state.

The view from Cerro Summit, about 15 minutes from our home here along the Western Slopes as we made a journey one evening late to see the sunset.