Geese really do honk

When we only had to mow the lawn every two weeks, the temperature wasn't hitting the upper 90s anymore, and we could leave the door open without inviting in swarms of flies, we knew summer was on its way out. In St. Louis the air felt positively nippy, but on our return Oklahoma was still warm (lower 80s). Three drizzly days, however, seem to have kicked off autumn for real. The rain is gone, but the nippiness has settled in.

We thought about turning on the heater, but we're holding out a little longer and just piling on socks and sweaters. We brought out a big, floppy blanket to cuddle under while watching TV. It may be a long winter for Uchenna--he feels smothered by all these clothes. In his opinion, you should always be able to wear shorts and t-shirts around your house; anything else is just cold.

We've seen other unmistakable signs of autumn (rather than just absence of summer), such as flocks of geese flying in that v-pattern you always see in cartoons or paintings. They really do that, and they honk like crazy, too. We seem to be in their air-traffic pattern. The other day, geese were flying overhead and letting everyone know they were coming through just as a train was also going through town, letting everyone know that it was passing by (as it always does, multiple times per day. We don't live near the tracks, but you can hear the whistle no matter where you are in town). The geese and the train seemed to be talking to each other, or maybe trying to out-honk each other.

Also, I was looking at the leafy trees surrounding our yard, and thinking that while there are a few leaves scattered across the grass, all those leaves up there still have to come down. While cutting the grass for probably the last time this year (red letter day), Uche attached the bag and sucked all the current leaves. That's pretty slick! But now that mowing is over, we think, raking may soon replace it as the unending task. We did invest in a rake, but I'm wondering how well I could wield the power blower. I never could pile up the grass clippings with it--everything just blew everywhere--but maybe leaves will be more cooperative.

Besides raking leaves, I wonder if there are other things we should do to winterize the house. I'm sure I won't like the heating bills, but I'm glad we have a garage this year, for the first time ever. Yay garage!