I know fall is here when I start hearing the buzz of the chainsaws in the valley.  Dave has been adding to this melody the last few days.  The hurry up is on to get the wood in for winter.  Thankfully he has had some help this year - not only from me - but some of his buddies have been by to help out as well.  With his back the way it is right now he can't do much without stopping frequently.  So the help has been appreciated.  We have five acres of pine trees that manage to keep us in wood through most winters.  They have been bugged so bad and are all slowly dying so he does some selective tree cutting and tries to save what healthy trees we have left.  He's probably taken down over 150 trees in the last five years and another 15 or more will go this fall. 



Part of the mess ..... the back yard looks like a tornado went through ....



Wood piles everywhere ... kind of hard to see ones in the back ... but they are there!



Clean up ....

Dave went in for his MRI on Monday.  Waiting to hear what the results are.  Not a patient waiter.  Hopefully this will provide some answers.

Mom had to go and give a pint of blood yesterday in preparation for her knee replacement surgery.  She is on blood thinners and they wanted to have extra blood on hand just in case.  Her surgery is the 20th.  This will be a hard time for Dave and I.  She will in the hospital for 4 to 5 days then home.  I just hope this helps her.  It hurts her so bad to walk.  Dave says after this is done there will be no stopping her.  That could be good and that could be bad.  Time will tell ....

Stashmo had his visit to the vet today for a blood sugar check.  It's gone down some but not enough.  We will be increasing his insulin again.  His back legs don't work well anymore.  Doc says his nervous system is shutting down.  He's not in pain though ... his legs just don't work so good.  Not sure how much longer we can go on ... it's so hard ....

We've had a couple fires in the stove already.  Mornings are down right chilly.  The veggies are definitly done now.  Damn!  It was a good summer for them though.  Still getting raspberries everyday!  How much longer???  It rained a bit today ... not really enough to do any good ... just enough to make the cars look dirtier than they actually are.  Alright ... I'm lying .... they are really dirty and now they are really muddy.  YUCK!  Was hoping for that downpour!

Closing with more pictures of Elvis and the Eggplants ... there may be 20 more Eggplants soon.  Oh yeah, Elvis has gotten mighty protective of "his" eggs.  I haven't been using the back entrance to the nests because it's easier to just go into the coop and get the eggs.  No more ... Elvis is in attack mode these days.  I even look like I'm going to take an egg and he attacks.  He's taken to sitting on them as well.  Bastard!  I keep telling him he's gonna be dinner ..... !



Elvis ... singing .... loudly .... !



Elvis and the Eggplants .... happy chickens!

Peace.  J.