Even living in the city, we know harvest is on because of the look of the dusty, hazy air. At night, there's no mistaking a harvest moon. Somehow the combine dust particles do something to change the look of the sky and you just know what time of year it is. The air is becoming crisp and soon it will be Hallowe'en.
My back yard looked to be in a real mess this weekend, so Saturday morning was the day to get to work. I have a huge maple tree that although lovely, tends to shed small dried branches whenever there's a wind. It's been pretty windy lately, so the lawn had to be raked before mowing. The outer edge of my backyard has shrubs, flowering plants and grasses. I have an assortment of cedars, hostas, rose bushes, chives, strawberries, raspberries, lilly of the valley, peonies etc. In my tiny garden in the corner, I planted a very limited taster's garden only of cucumbers, green and yellow beans and swiss chard. One lonely swiss chard plant has thrived against all odds, I guess because I deliberately left it untouched all summer. It has the deepest green leaves and the brightest red stock and stands up as straight as anything I have ever seen...especially for a swiss chard. It looks more like a rhubarb than anything, but it isn't (at least I don't think it is.....) It began as a bedding plant, started by some local greenhouse and I haven't had the heart to disturb it and neither have any of the other little creatures who live around there, including the woodpecker. He's been hanging around two of my trees and he makes an awful racket. He's white with black markings and has a red cap on a distinctly Woody Woodpecker shaped head.
My deck is not as exciting and is beginning to rot in spots. Looks like the odd board will soon need to be replaced...maybe next year. I swept off all the leaves and branches and gave it a good hosing down. I put things away like lawn chairs and small tables, readying the place for the inevitable snowfall. I have a shed of sorts under the deck where I store a few things, but now I kind of hesitate to go under there....so left everything sitting outside, or maybe it'll wind up in the garage.
See the back of the chair in the reflection of the kitchen window? See the size of the spider? She escaped from me and went down into my under-deck shed about a week ago and I was not impressed. I swept away her food trap, the big web on the window and even used the little bit of RAID I had left, but I doubt it fazed her. (I've since gone to the store and bought the really nasty stuff in the black can this time RAID MAX). She had built another big web on a pair of my outside shoes which I'd kicked off and left there one muddy day....(imagine stepping on her?) and another on a basement window. She's a master at spinning webs, so I think I'm probably fighting a losing battle. I expect she's a mother and has had a nice, big family this summer with a multitude of babies who will grow even bigger than her.. like most kids do... I'm asking that her and her offspring please stay out of my house if the universe has anything to say about it. Incidentally, I found two smaller spiders in the basement sink the other day and immediately drowned them both. You know the story about the water spout.
As I worked outside, I could hear flock upon flock of Canda Geese flying overhead. As you know, at this time of year, they're flying south for the winter. Many Canadians do the same thing. I wish I was one of them! The geese somehow know exactly the right time to leave for a warmer climate and I wonder how. My folks used to make a break for warmer climes on occasion, only to get caught in a snowstorm by about Salt Lake City, Utah. I guess if you're outside 24 hours a day, you'd soon get out of a place that freezes your beak and the webs between your toes too! The photo below is of a small grouping, but generally, there are thousands flying together and much higher in the sky. They talk all the way there and back because if you're outside, you can hear them honking from very far off when they leave in the Fall and again when they return in the Spring. I know some people like that. I went to Arizona one winter and found that the Americans don't call these same birds Canada Geese at all, they call them "honkers". They think we're crazy because we think they're OUR geese. They do have a point. I never realized the Americans think they're THEIR geese just as much as we do!
I watched families of geese up close at the lake for a few summers and found that the male doesn't leave the female once the baby goslings are born. One or the other of the adult geese takes turn standing guard at all times. They are exceptionaly family oriented and appear more monogamous than some humans I know.
Once on my way to Edmonton, I saw a family of geese standing on the side of the highway. One of the adults had been hit and killed. The other adult and the babies stood alongside the lifeless body, stock still, waiting and waiting. The cars whizzed by, but none of them moved and it was such a tragic and sad little sight.
Geese are not like ducks, where the male is long gone and the female is left with the troupe of seven to ten or more ducklings to care for on her own. They are so cute and can those little gaffers ever swim fast. I followed eensey weensey ducklings in a kayak once and they would only be a day or two old! They kept ahead of me as I paddled along for quite some time, until their mama shooed them off to the shoreline.
If you don't think there's anything beautiful about Saskatchewan in the Fall, you need to get off the beaten path and find out for yourself!
This is canola being swathed with a self-propelled swather vs. a pull-type. It looks like a bumper crop!
\Our forests are many and gorgeous
Ride a ferry across the Saskatchewan River...
You can't beat Saskatchewan all year round, but especially in the Fall, it's great!
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