After a few fall garden chores, we spent a whole hour on the patio this afternoon with our next door neighbor chatting & watching the squirrels and chipmunks and their antics. Especially cute was the family of chippies sharing the "squirrel-proof" bird feeders with a wide range of birds, filling their cheek pouches and scurrying off to hide their winter food supply. I was wondering why I was going through 5 pounds of bird seed every 2 days...now I know.

The last couple days we have seen the bee activity decline, the geese fly South, and the flocks of red-winged blackbirds disappear, and there is one loan butterfly left on the flowers. Winter is coming. Earlier this morning, there was all sorts of racket outside the bug window, and every 2 & 4 legged critter disappeared into the branches of the big linden tree - apparently the hawks were hunting again before they head South.

It's only a matter of a few weeks before we join them.
Sue