The Colors of Fall

I was very surprised when I checked and saw that I had not written in over two weeks. Now that the kids are older they don’t say as many cute things that I want to write down. Add the normal routine on top of that and two weeks can click by before I notice.

UNEXPECTED COLOR. We had such dry weather all summer that I didn’t expect an impressive display of fall colors from the trees. I guess we got enough heavy rain last month to make the colors really pop out. The odd thing is that our trees peaked later than normal this time. Right now about a third of our trees are in color, a third are brown, and the remaining third are bare with the occasional green tree trying to hold out here and there (like the maple right outside my window).

I did catch my favorite tree on its best day in perfect lighting conditions on my way home from work a few days before Halloween. Its now the wallpaper on my phone so I can enjoy it longer.

TRUNK OR TREAT. Speaking of Halloween, we had our Trunk or Treat at church a week ago Saturday evening. We had a lot of kids to come through, but not as many as we’ve had before. I think our having it the night after Halloween had something to do with it, but we scheduled it that way to avoid a conflict with the high school football game. Besides, the wind chill on Halloween night was pretty rough on all the little spooks around here.

Jenna and Vicki dressed as Mary Poppins and Bert this year. The boys decided not to wear costumes and I wore a sweatshirt that Vicki painted to read, “HTTP ERROR 404: Costume not found” (a play on the error one gets when trying to access a web page that doesn’t exist). It was cold enough that I kept my coat zipped up the whole time so I can reuse my “costume” next year.

BASKETBALL ACTION. The East Robertson Middle School boys now have two games under their belts. They’ve lost both by five points, but they sure did make their opponents earn their victories. Ben has been starting as the center. He played really well his first game but got into foul trouble early in the second game which kept him on the bench most of the time.

This team is very entertaining to watch. There is a lot of raw talent on the team. All of them really stand out in their own way. I hope they can figure out how to play to each other’s strengths before the end of the season.

THE RETURN OF DADDY CAT. It has been about three years now that Jenna and I stopped by to see Mom and Aunt Mar and heard cats crying in the corn field behind the house. We finally located two kittens and an old tom cat that we coaxed up to the house. (He was so shy we assumed he was the mother cat at first.) If I were a betting man I would have placed money on the guess that the old tom cat would not last too long. He looked ragged and beat up with a ragged ear to boot. He also walks with a limp due to arthritis.

This cat, whom we call Daddy Cat, is the only survivor or the three and any cats who have appeared at Mom’s house since. He must be a really tough customer. The summer before last he would disappear for days at a time but last winter’s cold weather kept him close at hand. As a matter of fact the cold weather made him so stiff I wondered how he would survive. When the spring weather hit Daddy Cat disappeared and stayed gone for weeks. He turned up in mid-summer just skin and bones. We fed him and he disappeared again. Well, Daddy Cat knows who his benefactor is and has made his appearance once again. He’s not staying at Mom’s house full time, but he’s frequenting her door enough to let us know we need to put cat food back on the shopping list. If I were a betting man I think I might now place my money on him outliving all of us.

Joe