Of Late

I kind of stink at this blogging gig, don't I?  Summer is fast coming to a close and there's not much here to show for it!  

It has been the hottest and driest Idaho summer that I have ever experienced.  A mild winter combined with hardly any rain in the spring and summer has left us very dry indeed.  The skies have been a dingy brown-ish grey from all of the fires in the area.  I can't remember there being this many fires in Idaho, either.  It's crazy.  But these past few weeks have brought cooler temperatures, and a bit of rain!  Yippee!!  Thank you, Lord!  

And with the moisture, and that hint of fall in the air, my creativity and enjoyment of every moment returns.  Yes, autumn has always been my favorite time of year, and it can't come fast enough this year for me!  I'm ready for chilly mornings, wrapped up in a cozy sweater, with a warm cup of tea.  I'm ready to sleep buried in mounds of blankets pulled up to my nose.  We're not quite there yet, but we're so close! :grin:

However, despite the heat, the drought, and the fires, this summer has been a fun one.  I've got quite a few photos to share from Bluegrass festivals, and wool sorting with Hank, which I hope to share soon.  No promises there, but I'm certainly going to try.

Lately, I've been enjoying my new cat.  Meet Stu!

He loves "his" dog.  And Bonnie thinks he's rather wonderful, too.  

Stu is 5-months-old now.  You many remember my first fluffy grey kitten, Merlin.  I may not have mentioned that Merlin disappeared last year shortly after Hank and I began courting.  I don't know what happened to him, but he is greatly missed.  Stu, while definitely not a replacement, is Merlin's brother.  He's a sweet, playful kitty, and I'm so thankful to have him.

Mostly, I'm looking forward to meeting Baby in two and a half months!!  Baby has been quite busy, spending much of the day (and night) kicking and moving around inside.  It's amazing to feel, but also slightly creepy to have something alive inside me. But mostly amazing. :grin:

Yep, that's Baby!  Well, Baby's profile, anyway.  This is from my 26 week ultrasound.  I'm at 28 weeks now.  We've been working on getting Baby's room ready, although he/she will be sleeping in our room in the beginning.  Yep, totally looking forward to this!

Lately, I also made Hank a peach pie.  It was sooo good!

And we kitty-sat this cutie for a couple days.  Stu hated him.  They wouldn't even be in the same room and Stu would still be hissing and spitting.  It made me laugh. :smile:

We thought he looked cute in Hank's shoe.

Hank has been busy finding quality hay for us to buy and storing our winter supply.  The hay in the above picture was from about an hour north of us - really beautiful oat hay.

In addition to several of those bales, we have round bales from Hank's grandpa and alfalfa from some folks south of us.  I think we're set for winter!

Our pigs went to the butcher's a week ago.  Looking forward to filling our freezer and tasting that meat!  Each pig weighed close to 300 lbs at this point.  Big, and no manners at all.

Well, that's about it for now.  Thanks for reading!

So how have all of you been?
Does it feel like fall to you?
What have you been doing to prepare for winter?
I want to know!