Doesn't it seem like summer is abruptly coming to an end?  As I was driving to the Dollar General to rent some Redbox movies on Saturday afternoon, I noticed along the country roads the leaves are already starting to take on a subtle red and orange tint.  Today, I notice that last weeks' green stalks of corn are turning a harvest gold.  Wooly worms were in full force as I was spraying for weeds in the pasture to prepare for planting of alfalfa and red clover before winter hits. 

How many of you have heard the old wives tale that you can predict the upcoming winter by looking at the fur of the wooly worms?  You know...white means mild, brown means average, and black means we are going to have a doozie.  Well, I started off by seeing a couple white wooly worms and I was feeling pretty good about it. Then I uncovered about four or five of the brown ones. Toward the end of my spraying job I had found more black ones than either of the other colors.  In interpretation, I think we will start off mild and get gradually worse until we get buried under the blizzard of 2018!  Do any of the rest of you follow old wives tales or the Farmer's Almanac?  My dad swore by the almanac and my mom swore by the old wives tales.  Me?  I think I probably go by a little of both!

Enough of that.  I absolutely love fall.  Fall brings on a myriad of jewel-toned wonder in nature. It brings on crisp dewy mornings that hint of later sunrises and earlier sunsets.  Sleeping without the air conditioner at night so as to let the fresh air drift in through the billowy curtains at my bedroom window.  Pumpkins, apples, nuts, witches, scarecrows, sunflowers, Halloween.  High school football and bonfires. A time to get the garden leveled, the flower beds mulched, fill the barn with hay and straw for the animals and stock up on wood for the wood stove. I think if I had to live in any one season, fall would be it!

The canning of all the garden stuff is almost complete save for a few more beets, a few pumpkins and maybe one more batch of tomatoes for spaghetti sauce. Oh, let's not forget the potatoes that are patiently waiting to get dug up out of the ground! 

You know what that means?  It means I have more time for writing!  More time for doing some crafts!  More time for reading and baking and snuggling in on a Saturday night to watch a movie or two.  It means it's about time for those Hallmark holiday shows that my youngest offspring makes fun of me for recording on the DVR.  Hey, at least when the satellite signal goes out you have something cheerful to watch on the television. Right?

Okay, I have to get back to working on my latest manuscript...Saved by Luke...which will be releasing on September 12th.  Watch for an excerpt in my next blog entry and an exclusive opportunity to get a boxed set of one of my series...

Have a great Labor Day weekend and I'll be back next week!

It's that time of the year when the garden is in full production mode...which in turn puts me in production mode.  I have had to fit writing in between picking and canning beans, tomatoes, beets, making sauerkraut, and waiting for the pickles to come on.  In addition, I have a few new additions to the household. 

The middle of July brought me Smith and Wesson, a pair of pygmy goats.  And they are twins even though they look nothing alike.  Smith is the little white one and he's rather spoiled since he was the tiniest of all the goats at the farm.  Face it, he's just cute as a button and the most loveable little fellow there is.  Then Wesson, he will hopefully be finding a girlfriend in the fall so that we can have babies come spring.

The coyotes have been a pain in the you know what this year.  I started the spring with two ducks, five hens and a rooster.  Now, all I have is Moe the House Hen.  You might say she is 'chicken' to go outside by herself at night so she has taken up residence in a dog crate in my living room at night.  And, she thinks she's the queen of the house. You can find her snatching pizza or noodles or even peanut butter sandwiches right off of plates or sitting in places where she keeps a watchful eye out for poor little Oscar.  Who is chicken of her because she runs up and pecks him every chance she gets.  Heaven forbid if he tries to get a scrap off someone's dinner plate when they are done because she will chase him away.

But, I am writing. And I hope to have a new release at the beginning of September.  Maybe, I should say WILL have a new release.  The book is titled Saved by Luke and is a western romance inspired by my recent trip out west.  Keep an eye out right here on my page for new release information.  I'm kind of loving the story. 

I'm off for a trip this weekend to Nashville, TN to promote Wild Deadwood Tales Anthology which, as I said in an earlier blog post, all the proceeds go to support the Western Sports Foundation.  If you are in Nashville this weekend, look me up at the rodeo because I'd really love to meet you!

I hope you enjoy the pics from my little place of heaven...