Fall has arrived in full force, with almost-freezing temps every morning and jacket weather during the day. We had our first snow on October 7th, which was way too early for my tastes, but nothing since. Many of the trees are still green and fully-leafed, so I’m not sure what that means.

The weather patterns are disturbingly different year after year. We were still having snow in May this year and June was the rainiest month in my recollection. The Snowbird ski resort remained open for skiing until July 4th (probably not the best of skiing that late, but certainly an abundance of snow allowed bragging rights).

“Summer” lasted a scant 2-1/2 months and we reached 100 degrees F exactly once.

Beautiful and dramatic leaf colors changes in the mountains this fall probably stem from the abundance of precipitation.

I’m hoping that snow is scant at least until December, but won’t be surprised at any outcome.

This “breaking news” article was published immediately after Boyd K. Packer’s “insight-filled”, homophobic ranting in general conference. Below that, you will find the final article as published in the Tribune.
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Coming off of two days of high 80s weather — which seems a little too soon for the season. Yesterday, dark clouds moved in, accompanied by lots of wind and the occasional sprinkle. In spite of all that, it was almost too warm sleeping with the windows open last night.

At about two in the morning, we were awakened by what sounded like a young kitten being devoured by wolves. The sound evolved into screeches and ultimately screams. By then, everyone in the house was awake and it became clear that a bird was being attacked somewhere in the close environs.

What predator was causing this furor and panic, I don’t know, but it reminded me of the mallard hen dragged off her nest in our front yard last year — by a raccoon.

I can still see in my mind’s eye the bloody paw prints, large gobbets of blood and ultimately the final struggle documented by wings swept through her own blood on the concrete — with just a few feathers to mark the end.

Nature can be cruel.

Misleading header. It snowed all day yesterday and in reading the papers from Wyoming today, I see that they experienced “blizzard conditions” causing the closure of most of the schools and many of the roads. I guess ours wasn’t so bad; at least the roads stayed clear.

I scooped the heavy, wet snow off the deck this morning and surprisingly, it hadn’t frozen solid. I suspect it will mostly melt today with the temps climbing into the 40s.

More snow predicted on Thursday.

My honey called from Houston and is now winging his way home. It’ll be nice to have him back! I don’t like when he’s gone for this long (almost two weeks).

I mowed the lawn last night so he wouldn’t have to. I hope he appreciates it I’m not a big “work in the yard” type of guy…

Mike called last night and he’s back in Utah and finally done with Chile. He was down there this time almost as long as he was there on his mission back in the day. I laughed at his “price of a gallon of gas” sticker shock. Welcome back, gringo.

The weather turned unseasonably cool last night and I opened the windows to sleep for the first time in months. The wind blew and the kitties snuggled and we all slept like logs.

This morning the lawn and all flat surfaces are dotted with green leaves torn off by the wind. It must have been stronger than I thought.

Ok, ok, I know this is something that I probably would make fun of on someone else’s site, but it made me tear up this morning and we can all use a little sentiment now and again.

I DO wonder how emotional this would be with the sound turned down. The media has certainly trained us to rely on aural cues to help guide our emotions.

As I entered the garage this morning, I was greeted by light coming from a strange location. Upon investigation, I found this box and heat lamp. I guess my honey has decided to see if any of the duck eggs will hatch. I suspect they’re about one week into their 21-day incubation period…should be interesting.

We’ve had three mallards living in our backyard and pond for several weeks and recently the single hen seemed to have disappeared, so we assumed she was nesting somewhere.

When my honey got home from work tonight, he noticed a trail of blood spots and bloody raccoon-shaped footprints leading away from our front step, across the driveway and underneath the neighbor’s fence, ending in a final life-and-death struggle marked only by a few feathers and brush-marks of blood on the concrete.

He followed the trail backwards to the bushes by our front porch and discovered a now vacant nest, feathered in duck down and filled with 13 9 motherless eggs.

It’s kind of sad as she had become pretty acclimated to our yard, dog and us. My honey even hand-fed her dry cat food, which she seemed to love.

I’m not sure what’s next; I’m pretty sure he wants to hatch the eggs out, but then what do you feed 13 9 baby ducks and who’s going to teach them to fly, poop and quack?

Perhaps this is a case of letting nature take its course, as painful as it might be. Scrambled eggs might be out of the question, though.