The temperature was 33 degrees this morning and there was frost on the ground when we left the house for our walk. We are now getting into the true northern Minnesota fall weather--freezing nights with afternoons in the 50's. While walking we still see water standing in the ditches, but so far haven't seen any ice. That will most likely change over the next two weeks.

Since the days have continued sunny and cool (perfect weather for cutting and stacking firewood), John went up to Matt's again this morning to get another load of wood. After lunch he started cleaning out the garden--cutting down weeds and pulling tomato plants--and getting it ready to be tilled. I tackled the job of cleaning out the files in the office and gathering the info we will need to take to Texas so we can do our taxes after the first of the year.

After supper, John cut up the carrots he pulled yesterday and then I blanched them and put them into bags for the freezer. They should be very tasty in stews and soup.


One of the best things about the fall is the sunsets. Tonight's was especially pretty. We spent the rest of the evening watching baseball and CSI New York.

It was another nice morning for a walk down the road. The sun is rising later each morning, so it is almost 7:15 a.m. before we leave the house. We wait until it is light enough to see everything--we don't want to run into a critter that might not be friendly.

After breakfast John went up to Matt's to cut some firewood. When the pipeline ran another line on his property, they cut down quite a few trees and and left the logs there. That is what John is cutting up for firewood. He cuts the large pieces into smaller logs and hauls them home to stack by the furnace in the backyard.

Today I started some of the winter preparation chores. First on the list was to remove the screens from the windows and store them in the basement. Since it was such a nice day I managed to get a couple of windows washed as well. I also started to gather up some of the items we want to take to Texas for the winter. Our tentative departure date is the middle of November after deer hunting.

Today we learned that Jenni won an award for the best fire prevention poster, so after supper we ran up to John and Jo's to see her prize. She got $10 for first place in second grade and a plaque for the best poster in all the competing grades. Her picture was also on the front page of the local newspaper.


While we were at John's, Julie gave us a little concert on the piano. She just started taking lessons from her Mom and really seems to like playing.


Since we were right around the corner from Matt's place, we decided to swing over and see Sam. He got his cast off yesterday and we wanted to see how his arm looked. He has a lump where the bone healed and his wrist is a little sore from not being used for over a month. Other than that, he is good as new. He just has to be careful of the arm for the next month.


We ended the evening watching a couple of our favorite TV shows while John cleaned a few more knives.

We had another beautiful fall day--sunny skies and cool temps. Each day the high is a couple of degrees cooler than the day before. By next week our highs will only be in the low 50's with nighttime temps in the 30's. We are slowly returning to normal temps for the middle of October.

After breakfast, John once again headed down to the shop to do some more assembly. While John was busy with that, I had the pleasure of heading off to the dentist's office for my semi-annual teeth cleaning and checkup. This is really not one of my most favorite things to do, but I got through it and had a good report--NO CAVITIES!

John was finished in the shop by the time I returned from the dentist. We ate lunch and then headed into town to the post office for some stamps and then to Bemidji to do some banking and grocery shopping. While I stowed the groceries away, John finished storing the potatoes he dug up yesterday.

When we were back east, John picked up several rifles and a whole box of hunting knives that once belonged to his uncle. We picked up some bass cleaner today, so this evening John started sorting through the knives, looking them up on the internet to learn more about them, and began cleaning them. They should look like new when he gets them done.



I spent the evening watching Survivor and a couple of other new shows as well as getting started on a new book.

Today the temps were about ten degrees cooler than yesterday--looks like our warm fall weather is over for now. After breakfast John headed down to the shop to help make some parts and to do some assembly work. I did the rest of the laundry from yesterday and hung around the house waiting for a repairman to come.

While we were driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a rock flew up, hit the windshield, and left a little starburst crack. I filed a claim with our insurance company over the internet and they called right away and set up an appointment for a glass technician to come out to our house and repair the windshield. The guy called a little after 8 a.m. this morning and said he would be at our place in about 2 hours--it was more like 4. The job took about 20 minutes to complete and now the windshield looks good as new.


Since the afternoon was cool but sunny, John decided it was a good day to dig the potatoes in the garden. He only planted a couple of rows, but they sure produced a good crop. He still has about a half row of carrots to pull and then the garden is done for the year.



John spent the evening watching MLB while I watched The Biggest Loser--it was a pretty quiet night.

John had an early morning PT appointment today, so we were up and out of the house by 8:45 a.m. His therapist was very pleased with the progress he has made over the past three weeks--his range of motion is almost 100%. Mandy told John his remaining therapy will consists of strengthening his shoulder muscles. She gave him exercises with stretch bands that he will do once a day for about the next six weeks. He does not have to see her again unless he has some questions or problems and has no restrictions as to what he can do.

When we returned home, we found Joanne and the kids were here--Jo was working in the shop and the kids were playing in the yard. This is the first we've seen the kids in two weeks, so they had much to talk about. Julie's big news was a loose tooth and Josh and Jenni filled us in on what has been happening in school. Pop Pop ended up playing some football and baseball with them while I visited with Jo in the shop.

This afternoon was the final 7th grade football game which was played in Argyle, MN. This little town is about two and a half hours away and just 50 miles from the Canadian border. We met Matt, Sara, and the kids at their place so we could follow them to the game. The Bears lost, but put up a good fight.


After the game we all stopped at Pizza Hut for supper before we started the long drive home. Sam's cast might be coming off this Wednesday, so he will then be able to start thinking about playing basketball.


After John and I got home, we spent the rest of the evening watching Monday Night Football and catching up on blogs and emails.

John was feeling slightly better this morning and wanted us to get back into our routine, so we took our usual walk. The morning was clear and fairly warm--60 degrees. We met our neighbors, Dave and Sheila Otting, along the road. They were busy cutting some brush by a pasture gate to clear the access to the field for loading and hauling their cattle back to the home place. They told us they have a calf missing. Seems like something spooked the cattle and caused them to break through the fence and one of the calves wandered off. They hope it wandered into another pasture with some other cattle.

We didn't attend church this morning as John still didn't feel 100 percent and didn't want to give his cold to others. He spent a little time outside on the lawn mower gathering leaves and getting the yard cleaned up and then came back inside to watch the Sunday football games. I managed to get the suitcases unpacked and at least one load of laundry done. The evening was spent watching both Sunday night football and the Phillies game.

John and I were up early this morning even though we did not get a good night's sleep. John's cold kept him awake most of the night and thus I did not get much rest either. The motel had one of the best breakfast selections we have ever seen and we were able to have a good meal before getting on the road.

Since the traffic was so light today, we were able to reach home by 3 p.m. We had stopped in Little Falls, MN for a late lunch and then made another stop at Dairy Queen for some ice cream. Another stop was made in town for some milk and fruit for tomorrow's breakfast.

It was amazing to see how much change had taken place over the two weeks we were gone. When we left here on September 24th, our trees were just starting to show their fall colors and now most of the trees are completely bare. I feel like I completely missed the fall season. However, we did get to see some beautiful fall colors traveling through Ohio and Wisconsin.

John fired up the outside furnace while I unloaded the car. We got a few things unpacked, but decided to let the rest go until tomorrow or Monday. John's cold is really wearing him down and we're both pretty tired after not getting much sleep last night. The evening was spent watching major league baseball and college football. GO PHILLIES!!!