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Autumn was spectacular at MeadowWild this year. |
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The goats enjoyed roaming about on the cool, crisp days |
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or just Chilling out in the sun. |
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The lush greens of early September |
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gave way to an especially colorful leaf-turning this year. |
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and then to that more subdued colorscape that glows for awhile before everything turns white for too many months on end. |
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Fall is breeding season, and the goats got right to business. |
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Chill did his duty. |
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We’re pretty sure that Cheeky and Kuiper are preggers |
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but Nine hasn't yet settled. She's on a course of fertility meds that we hope will do the trick. |
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Fall is also time for a last few snow-free walks around the neighborhood – |
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greeting the curious neighbors at a socially safe distance – |
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and for final bike rides on the Munger Trail, |
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with a visit to the outdoor sculpture gallery in Mahtowa. |
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Time also for further preparations for winter: |
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and conversion of the apple harvest into bags of dehydrated fruit that will last much of the winter.
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Deer do some final harvesting of their own.
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Hard at work in her laboratory, |
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Barb crafts batch after batch of soap
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working to keep up with orders ahead of the holidays. |
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In the garage, Momma Kitty enjoys her heated water bowl and supply of fresh goats' milk
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which she shares with foolhardy mice
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and Pepé Le Pew |
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As their own preparation for winter
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Pepé and family have excavated unsightly burrows in our front lawn |
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beneath the fire pit
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on the slope abutting Red Oak Lane
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and under the poor beautyberry bush that the deer keep nibbling back. |
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Momma wonders if the skunks want to come out to play. |
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Thanks to Pepé, we may not win this year's Best Lawn Award.
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Gorgeous as it was, autumn didn't last long. Premature winter arrived on Oct 17 with a few inches of snow. That first snowfall is always magical enough to warrant some video – at the end of which a wary Momma saunters up looking for lunch:
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Lots more fell a few days later |
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and temperatures plunged |
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so it stayed on the ground. |
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By the third “snow event” (as weatherpersons call them) on Oct 23, we had come close to the snowiest October on record
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and the white stuff had already lost its magic. |
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We’re going to be mighty tired of it come late March and early April. |
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Seasonal migrant that he is, Dustin bade farewell to his summer haunts |
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(mostly the study desk, which he considers his domain)
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yawned
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and settled down in his favorite winter spot
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wedged in a kitchen corner next to the heating vent.
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Between naps he works on his Christmas wish list. We remind him there are several holidays before December.
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And so the Lords of Darkness
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Chiller
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and Count Dustula
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join the Weird Sisters in wishing everyone a very

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