Dinner

After school today Odin and I made pumpkin cookies with frosting. He insisted that the frosting (maple, powdered sugar) be orange. As we were waiting for the last batch to come out of the oven I distinctly heard five gongs on the clock, it's dinner time what are we going to eat. (?)
Just then the doorbell rings, Odin and Sampson both start barking and running down to the door. It is our Neighbor (the best in the world) with dinner (taco soup and cornbread). How wonderful.
We ring her bell moments later with a couple of our pumpkin cookies fresh from the oven and just frosted.
Dinner was delicious!

Leaf pile going strong

Snow/Leaf pile

Last Saturday it snowed, about 4". It stuck to the ground but not the roads. It also made all the (green) leaves fall off the trees. Not much color this year. We are having a blast in our leafy snow pile. The pile got to impressive heights this year, thanks to Odin's new rake. And thanks to townhouse living we can leave our pile all week and play in it each day! I keep thinking the leaves will get vacuumed up soon, but not yet.

Opples and Bononos

Before the snow came (this morning) we made it out to the orchard to pick apples and pumpkins. We fed the chickens, the turkeys (briefly, Odin thought them impolite), the miniature donkey and ran with the dogs. This year he rode in the wagon more than he pulled it and hardly sat still the the obligatory photo op.

Camera Photos

It's no iphone, but I recently got a new phone. It has one of those fancy cameras in it. And thanks to overstock, I got a tiny little card for it. Here are a few from the new device. Thanks Jenny for telling me how to do it!

in the chicken coop at the MN zoo.


At the County Fair, he asked me to take his picture by the tire - That is why it is so sharp, he stood still.


A "hike" at a local park


Fall walk

Permagrin

To torture skiing fans we went to a ski swap last night.. Yes, in SEPTEMBER! The goal was to find a pair of small fry skis and boots. The rental fees were killing us last year. We had looked on CL and Ebay, not finding much in a reasonable price range.
Ski swap was the ticket. I can say I am giddy. We found a pair of 90cm Atomics for the little guy with bindings, brand new for $99, sweet!
I even got some new skis. I think John was wanting to level the field (although to truly level the field we would have to do this for the next few years) because I left with two brand new pairs of skis w/ bindings FOR SUPER CHEAP(!).
I just googled one of the pairs and the cheapest I could find it for online was more than we paid for Odin's skis, boots, and both of my pairs of skis. John is almost beside himself happy.
So now, we just have to wait a few MONTHS to use them...

Rain

It rained today for the first time in weeks. I we decided to go raspberry picking. It eventually worked out... Jenny and I picking and Odin and Laura RUNNING and JUMPING into mud puddles. Not sure who had more fun, us or them. Jenny was at least smart enough to bring a change of clothes for Laura. I had Odin's raincoat . . .