There is one thing about living here that drives me "nuts"!!  We are surrounded by beautiful, old Oak trees and we all have metal roofs.  Every year at this time, it sounds as if we were at war and being attacked day and night.  The cause, you ask? We have squirrels that jump on the oak limbs until a shower of acorns hit our roofs like tiny bombs!  Even our dog Fred has been known to run for cover during some of these raids.  Soon enough it will end and we shall have peace again throughout the next several months.  Would I trade living here because of this?  Naw.....I really love the little critters despite their little antics that we seem to have to end

My Dad sent this to me this morning and even though there were quite a few quotes, this one is my very favorite!!

Paragraph.Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.

Our Grandson, Shelby, just called to let us know he will be leaving for Iraq by tomorrow.  Our thoughts and prayers are with him, his wife, Heather and his parents, Kathy and Chris.  This is one of the hardest things in life that we have had to endure.  Sending a family member off to war.  This is a time when family members are even closer no matter the miles between us.  I know how I felt when Ben went to Iraq, I am finding the same feelings I had then.  May God place angels round about him and keep him safe.  May he feel the love of his family during the darkest hours and always.  Shelby, we love you and look forward to the day when you come home, safe and into the loving arms of your family.

Summer is ending on a cloudy, damp note and temps not quite reaching 70.  I'm not sure what is going on, but when I took Fred out this morning up on the hill, I was greeted with the cries of blue jays, chickadees, titmice and nut hatchers all around me.  One chickadee was brave enough to land on a branch not more than six feet in front of me.  They haven't been eating at feeders for the past couple of weeks and I'm hoping that changes soon.  I miss looking out my window and seeing them all on and around the feeders and the bird bath in my garden.

Preparations are being made for winter here.  Yesterday Steve, Dee, Verne and a couple of friends of theirs painted the new shed.  What we thought was a sage green turned out to be more of a pea green, but that's ok.  It's nice and bright and looks good.  One more coat and it will be finished.  We have to start going through the contents of the old shed and weeding out what we actually use and need and giving away or throwing away the rest that have just been stored there for the past five years and haven't been touched or used.  Steve is going to organize a tool and workbench area and I am going to organize my garden area just under the window on the opposite wall.

We had our last, big outing with Sally for the year.  We saw High School Musical at the Ugunquit playhouse in Maine on Saturday.  She had a great time and even had her playbill autographed by the cast.  We are going to have it framed for her to hang in her bedroom.  Only one more play for this season.  On Oct. 5th, Steve, myself, Dee and Verne are going to see La Misaralbe (I'm sure I spelled this wrong.  It's as hard to spell as it is to speak!).  We are looking forward to this.

After the play, Steve and I are going to take our yearly anniversary vacation time (We have been married 14 years) and then we are going to hibernate for the rest of the season.  I have some projects that I need to get into like making the Christmas presents I have planned for and writing down more of the genealogy that has been found and searching for more pieces to that huge puzzle.

So, now it's time for me to get into this day!

I awoke this morning to clear, blue skies and very cool temps.....around 50 degrees.  For the next couple of days, it's not suppose to get out of the sixties during the days and could go down into the thirties at night.  Just the formula we need to get the leaves on the trees to change and give us a gorgeous autumn that New England is known for.

I have been switching over the clothes from summer to fall and winter.  I keep a few favorites out because I know we will still have some very warm days for the next four weeks or so.  We still have officially four more days of summer, but you wouldn't know it to step outside.  Even Fred is getting anxious.  He just wants to run!

Well, camping is over for this year.  Steve has the day off today and he is moving the camper to his brother's in Hampstead to be winterized and stored.  We didn't use it much this year, but we plan to use it quite a bit next year.  There are times I really miss us being on the road, but we knew we had to settle down at some point in our lives.  I love our home.  we have made it into a wonderful cottage and just cozy enough to hibernate during the cold winter months.

I hope Steve gets back soon.  We haven't been to a fair yet this season and we were thinking of going to the Rochester fair today.  There won't be any crowds to worry about.  Deerfield fair starts soon, but we will see about that one.  There aren't many people that we know there.  The only problem with the Rochester fair is that they don't sell the fudge that I wait all year for.  Mrs. Nelson's fudge is by far the best in the industry.  They make a wonderful maple fudge that is worth the wait.  Deerfield will have it and so will Center Sandwhich fair.  I may wait for that one.  That was always our favorite fair.

May we all enjoy this day we are blessed with.

So, this year my son, Adam, called me.  September 11th will always be a bond between us and I'm just so grateful that his plane to Atlanta never got off the ground that fateful morning.  One way or another he and I always talk on this day, as we will for many more years to come.

Autumn is trying to tease us these past few days.  Cool nights and warm days, but not so hot that we have to turn the air-conditioning on.  It's wonderful to hear the crickets outside my bedroom window when I go to bed at night.  The real turning of leaves has started and in about four weeks time the autumn season will be at it's peak here in New Hampshire.  Am I really starting to put away the summer clothes and bringing out the warm fuzzies for fall and winter?  Ahhhhh.....such is life!