Fall colors are spreading and today is the first chilly day since rare snowfall earlier this month.
The local rock squirrel has been busy this week gathering mullein seed by the double cheek full. This one has become pretty cheeky, unafraid of me as I go about my pre-winter activities, including canning chokecherry jelly and preparing freezable fresh foods for winter storage.
Fifty one-half pint jars of jelly isn't too bad a haul for such a sparse crop from the few bushes bearing any good berries this year.
Shelf-stable foods have all been stored away and with all perishable foods prepped, packaged and fully frozen while longer sunny days for running the freezers a few extra hours lasted, there isn't much more to do before the heavy snows begin to fall. Time to relax a bit.
I won't be growing any fluffier with extra fur like the rock squirrel is, but I will be enjoying meals at a more leisurely pace now that winter preparations are finished.
So taking it easier now, simply enjoying the change of seasons as this crazy year wraps up.
