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Fall Favorites

cooby Sep 26 2014 02:10 PM

I know we all have one. Let me tell you about my afternoon... Due to an extremely busy last three weeks, I figured I was done swimming for the year. But I left out one swimsuit because I knew in my head that I wasn't. My pool is full of my neighbor's maple leaves. We turned off the pump days ago because the water was too shallow to skim. After yesterday's rainstorm however, I decided to give it a whirl. Works fine but I had to wait about a half hour to skim off the gnats on top. Plus I dumped out leaves four times. While scouting around for nasties, I saw that there were spider webs in the corners of the pool. That's how long it's been. Scooped some monster spiders out before I got in. I can see why bigs spiders are a symbol of Halloween...they grow to such a size in the fall! Why today was nice: Water was brisk but the sun was hot! Everytime the breeze blew I could hear clanging and banging all over the neighborhood from nuts falling on roofs. Cool! I stepped on an acorn once; it reminded me of stepping on a shell in the ocean My buddy Bennie the cat could come outside with me. It was not too hot for him. I looked down once and saw a tiny salamander playing at my feet. Salamanders are beautiful and charming visitors to our pool each September. I look forward to them every year Grackles and crows were squawking in the background...one of my favorite noises. Yeah, I miss the summer birds but fall birds have such attitude! My flowers are still blooming as gorgeous as they were all summer, so I could admire them This is a big one....as I stood there in the pool working on my embroidery project, it occurred to me that I did not have to worry about a neighbor wanting to come swim. I know that might sound selfish, but well.... But there is no way anyone else in their right mind would take one look at our pool and want to get in it but me!!! It's all MINE :) By four o'clock the shadows were creeping (six o'clock in the summer; we live beside the woods) and I knew it was time to come in. I have a bunch of housework to do because, well, it's been an extremely busy last three weeks.....

d'Kong76 Sep 26 2014 06:26 PM Re: Fall Favorites

Grackles are cool. We have a pack of 20-25 of them now and it's funny how they stay together. I wonder if one is in charge or if one just decides to flee and the others follow.

Edgy MD Sep 26 2014 06:43 PM Re: Fall Favorites

One post and I'm already hooked on cooby's blog.

cooby Sep 26 2014 07:20 PM Re: Fall Favorites

Well, it's for everyone to post in... :) And yeah, I LOVE grackles!

Ashie62 Sep 26 2014 08:26 PM Re: Fall Favorites

I am feeding two squirrels, three turkeys, one chipmunk, three bunnies and many birds out back. I enjoy it very very much.

cooby Sep 27 2014 06:55 AM Re: Fall Favorites

LOL, okay Ashie! But it IS late September so it was all special :) Come on, where is everyone's posts about pumpkin beer and so such?

Ceetar Sep 27 2014 01:07 PM Re: Fall Favorites

jinx, it's hot and humid out today. :-(

d'Kong76 Sep 27 2014 01:35 PM Re: Fall Favorites

Humid? It's perfect out, everyday should be like today!

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Sep 27 2014 02:38 PM Re: Fall Favorites

I know, right? Great day for popping on a belly shirt, cracking open a hydrant, and sitting on your stoop in a kiddie pool with a Molson starting Nails for the fifth time... y'know, perfect fall weather.

Ceetar Sep 27 2014 03:28 PM Re: Fall Favorites

d'Kong76 wrote: Humid? It's perfect out, everyday should be like today! I'm sweating, I dunno about you. 60 and breezy is my ideal.

d'Kong76 Sep 27 2014 04:09 PM Re: Fall Favorites

No humidity is key.

cooby Sep 27 2014 04:19 PM Re: Fall Favorites

Hubby cleaned pool today, much much better!

Fman99 Sep 27 2014 07:32 PM Re: Fall Favorites

I love fall. It's unquestionably my favorite time of the year. It helps that I live upstate, in a part of New York particularly enjoyable for foliage watching. It also is the best time of year to be an outdoor runner as the temperatures become more moderate. Plus, you know, apples and apple cider and applesauce. We went apple picking last week and there is, no joke, 10 lbs of applesauce in my refrigerator and freezer. I do much of my running around Onondaga Lake, which has a park and 15-20 miles of paved trails on which to run, walk, bike, etc. It's great and a 5 minute drive from our home to the park. Some fall photos:

cooby Oct 02 2014 08:10 AM Re: Fall Favorites

Beautiful. I like the fall decor people put out, but really autumn is gorgeous on its own with no help from us :)

MFS62 Oct 02 2014 08:19 AM Re: Fall Favorites

That reminds me, where's my snow shovel? Later

themetfairy Oct 02 2014 10:21 AM Re: Fall Favorites Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Oct 02 2014 08:38 PM

Ceetar Oct 02 2014 10:26 AM Re: Fall Favorites

good job, but Apple Spice over Pumpkin Spice any day. I'm making apple cider mini-donuts for Saturday. boom.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Oct 02 2014 08:30 PM Re: Fall Favorites

Depends on the thing. I mean, I'm not putting cinnamon-spiced apples in my ravioli. Okay, I'm probably not putting cinnamon-spiced apples in there. But yeah, I'm generally with you on apple-over-pumpkin flavors. Hell, pumpkin doesn't even make the best pumpkin pie. (Try squash instead.) Made three varieties of applesauce-- apple-apricot, berries-and-lemon-zest, and "mulled" spice mix with raisin-- with the remainder of the shit-ton of apples we dragged home from Jersey a few weeks ago. Damn if they didn't work out pretty nicely. Only thing is, my wife just decided she didn't really care for applesauce anymore, and my daughter has decided that, from now on, she does not like apricots or raisins (she's going through a Making Declarations phase as far as likes-and-dislikes go).

Ceetar Oct 03 2014 05:46 AM Re: Fall Favorites

i'd eat cinnamon-spiced apple ravioli. the mulled spice with raisins sounds good though. I'll eat it if your family doesn't want it.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Oct 03 2014 12:30 PM Re: Fall Favorites

Seriously, if you were, like, less than an hour-and-a-half away, it'd be yours. As it stands, I think I'm going to go with making muffins out of them.

Ceetar Oct 03 2014 12:34 PM Re: Fall Favorites

I bet that applesauce would actually be a good mix-in ingredient for my apple cider donuts too.

cooby Oct 03 2014 04:39 PM Re: Fall Favorites

Weather doesn't look like I will get many more swims in but I always like to get one time in October. Pool girl coming October 9 so I'd better hurry!

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Oct 05 2014 12:00 AM Re: Fall Favorites

Ceetar wrote: I bet that applesauce would actually be a good mix-in ingredient for my apple cider donuts too. It makes a wet batter-- which may or may not be donut-prohibitive-- but, James Worthy, did those muffins turn out noice. (1 cup rolled oats, 1 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup milk, an egg, 1 tbsp vanilla, 4 tbsp butter, 1/4-to-1/3 cup sugar, 2/3-1 cup flour, some baking powder, some baking soda, and a messload of cinnamon, clove, allspice, and cranberries. And a little salt. Then some cinnamon-sugar, maple syrup, and lime juice emulsified for the just-before-finishing glaze. 375 degrees for, say, 15-20 minutes, adding glaze 2 minutes or so before doneness.)