Oct. 6th! I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. Here it is just a few days before Thanksgiving and I believe that fall is finally upon us. The pecan trees are almost bare and the oaks are beginning to change colors. Speaking of the pecan trees, it was a terrible year for the pecans. I have two trees of the "native" variety and they produced so few nuts that I could have held them all in two hands. One of my neighbors has a "paper shell" variety and it usually drops nuts all over the sidewalk and street which encourages me to go for a walk around the block to fill my pockets. Her tree has not produced either. It must be attributable to the extremely dry conditions we've had this year, 12" below normal rainfall.

We have reached a new benchmark in the life of young Austen. He helped me mow the yard this weekend. He ran the mower on the front yard by himself.