Autumn Chores

Tamaracks changing colors before their needles fall

      Autumn is one of my favorite times of year. I enjoy the beautiful colors as the leaves change. The ferns go from green to yellow to brown over a short period of time. The temperatures are moderate to cool and the bugs that annoy you during the summer are gone. 

      It's a nice time to take long walks in the woods, go camping without the summer crowds, etc. Even though autumn is listed as 3 months in duration on the calendar it is in reality only about 2 months long here in the UP of Michigan. That's why it seems to go by too quickly every year. In addition there is always so much to do to prepare for winter which is just around the corner: raking leaves, trimming raspberry bushes, cutting and stacking firewood to sell, winterizing the travel trailer, changing oil and adding Stabil to the fuel tanks in the lawn tractor, mower, roto-tiller, sno-blowers, etc., putting shrubbery protective covers over the front bushes, etc. 

      One of our favorite things though is filling the hot tub with water and firing it up for the season. On a cold night relaxing in the hot bubbling water does wonders to your cold, tired and sometimes aching body. We enjoy using the tub at night the most, especially when the skies are clear and you can see the brilliant stars above, an occasional airliner or satellite traveling through the sky overhead. Some nights we are lucky enough to see a few falling stars while we stargaze.

      As mentioned before we have been quite busy cutting, hauling, stacking and selling firewood. We have lost count of how many cords of wood we have sold, but the total so far this year is in excess of 30 cords. It's a lot of work but it's good exercise and always fun to be in the woods. My chain saw broke down last week and we are awaiting repair parts. That has kind of forced us to slow down on the firewood a bit and focus on other chores around our place. Hopefully the snow will stay away awhile longer and we can continue working in the woods.

Firewood piles

 Thimbleberry unloading firewood