Friday, October 03, 2008

Autumn

After a beautiful "Indian Summer" extending into October, yesterday the weather turned and we were treated to a minor wind storm.
One of our aspens just behind the greenhouse snapped off. We have a few new leaning trees in the forest too. Except for two days of rain a couple of weeks ago, we have had a fantastic early fall. It was 25 degrees here on October 1st, and that night we slept with the bedroom windows wide open.

The fall colours are at their peak, and the trees are beginning to lose their leaves quickly now.

Mike and Cody left yesterday after a week at home; they are in Edmonton tonight and on their way to Montreal. Cody will have a new province to add to his travel list. And not only is Cody a great little trucker, he finds moose, too! On Wednesday morning after Mike let the dogs out for their usual 6 a.m. outing the big dogs were hanging out on the porch waiting to come right back in, but Cody was out in the pasture barking. Mike went to investigate, and found a big cow moose. I got myself out of bed with the camera, but it was too dark and the pictures didn't turn out.

Rupert is back to being enclosed in his pen (which is actually the size of a generous back yard on a city lot). We spent Sunday afternoon revamping the fence and adding a farm gate so we can get the tractor into his pen in the winter to clear the snow (it gets past his belly height!) so he'll be able to get around better. He has been lame for a week (that's the second time since August), and is doing much better since he's been confined a bit. When it's hay feeding season, he needs to be kept separate from Buck, as he polishes off his own rations, and then goes and shares Buck's as well. He is prone to hoof abscesses, and has a history of foundering. We're not sure what's going on, and he's been seen several times in the past by the vet for the same symptoms. He's getting bute for pain in delicious but small bran mashes, and seems to be doing just fine since we've been able to curtail his gorging.

Both Buck and Rupert are getting very fuzzy in readiness for the cold weather. I'll make them a farrier appointment next week, and they'll be all set for winter.
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2 comments:

Berni said...

Snow is predicted here for Monday. We are almost ready for winter but we have had a lovely Fall so suppose can't complain.

Ruth said...

You do have warm weather. We are experiencing "winter coat" chill and had snow just outside the city the other day.