This Mornin'...

Good Morning, or, more accurately, good evening, but these pictures were from this morning, so pick which ever greeting you prefer--today I'm offering them both! :)




Ours was a nippy morning... A crunching under my shoes caught my attention as soon as I stepped off the porch, but it was not for a covering of leaves, as has been the usual reason for any crunching lately, but rather, a heavy frost that was making the sound. My footprints trailed behind me in the frozen grass. I noticed the frost had been very thorough in its coverage, even climbing vertically, to cover the buildings, cars, trees and everything in its path. It seemed as though the animals--their little puffs of steam lifting softly off their nuzzles--were the only things left uncloaked by the sparkling whiteness.


The kids came in, nothing short of refreshed and rejuvenated, after completing their farm chores in the nippy freshness of the morn.


Feeding some spoiled and beloved bunnies...


Feeding chickens.. (the guinea keets clean up the spillage after Johnny extracts some grain from the  large bin to soak in five gallon pails).


Johnny has been insisting we get out the winter garb soon... after that it will be the shovels and sleds, shortly followed by, "when are we going to get our Christmas tree??"
(Can you tell I know this boy's seasonal anticipations quite well?)


A cow waits for Michael to deliver his morning minerals...


Some fuzzy horses and mules. We're glad to have a recent sale of one of our mares, as well as securing a new and more comfortable home for our blind mare, before the harshness of winter sets in!


The only boy in the pasture... can you believe he's almost three already? Seems like he was just born!


Despite the innocent looking face, this mule is terribly evil!! The other night when we were out riding, she suddenly came tearing up the trail behind us and spooked all of our horses. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but we're growing more than sick of her fence jumping antics!


The tomatoes and peppers have all been killed off by the frosts outside, but thankfully, those lucky enough to be sown inside the greenhouse are still quite fresh and unharmed by the heavy frosts (despite not even having a heat source in there yet!).


While most of the leaves have settled down onto their respective places on the ground, there are still a few patches of lingering color, which continue to delight our eyes on our daily walks!


Signing off now with some of the boys photography fun..

Michael's Nothern Lights (weren't uploaded when I made the last post).


Stunning... enough to draw the whole family out into the yard in short sleeves and socks!


  I've been immensely enjoying the simple everyday joys of the season: bringing in firewood for a crackling fire, knitting, hauling manure, hoeing weeds, helping youngsters with school work, carrying Donna piggy back on a fall walk, horse back riding through woods, fields and streams with the kids, talking to God alone in the woods with the song of birds around my head, doing crafts with the kids, Donna's hugs and declarations of her "best brother" (I keep telling her I'm her sister--doesn't seem to make a difference), the chatter of young excited voices as they play hide and seek on a rainy day, with Donna's adorable attempts at counting and pathetic attempts at keeping her eyes closed... As I write this up, it's striking me that these joys aren't so everyday for most people, and I realize just how immensely blessed I am! Some days there's nothing I can do but sit back and be awestruck and humbled by the simple beauty of life.
 

Enjoy these lovely fall days and thanks for dropping by! :o)