First Week of Fall...

I love living in a part of the country where we have four very distinct seasons.  By the time we get tired of one season, another one comes along!  

I'm having a little trouble letting go of summer this year, though.  We had a fabulous summer, weather wise...just the right amount of rain...lower humidity and lower temps than normal, with just enough hazy, hot and humid days to remind us that we do indeed live in southeastern PA.  I don't ever remember a summer like this, and oh how I would love to see another one like it next year!

There are some definite signs of fall here, and I've captured a few.

The corn fields are disappearing, and the soybeans are turning yellow.  Soon they'll be ugly and brown, and it will be time to harvest them.  Give them another three weeks or so...

These bales were from last week's 5th cutting of hay.  Some of you have commented on how many cuttings we get.  Five cuttings are typical for this area, and occasionally we get a sixth off of a few fields...

Jim's been busy spreading manure on the fields, now that some of the corn has been chopped for silage.  There's still a lot of standing corn.  Some of it will be used for refilling the silos and the rest will be shelled out and stored until we need it...

I can see my neighbors again!  And no...I'm not spying!  She likes it too!

Last but not least...tonight's sunset was so pretty.  It was raining all day, but I think there's better weather coming, at least if  "sky red at night" is true.

Three lonely corn stalks, left by the chopper...

...and the beautiful sunset...

What does fall look like where you are?


*an update on my back issues...
It's been six weeks since I herniated a disk, and it's been frustrating to say the least.  I've waited for doctor appointments, had tests, and waited some more for doctor appointments.  In order to avoid surgery, we've decided to try the epidural steroid injections, followed by physical therapy.  Finally, yesterday, I saw the doctor who will do this.

The last few days were horrible...I think perhaps the worst two days in the last month. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise, though...because when I saw him yesterday, he looked at me...looked at my chart and said..."I can see how long you've been dealing with this, and I can see that you're in a lot of pain.  I'm leaving on vacation..."  and my heart sank.  And then he said, "I'm going to fit you into the schedule tomorrow, so we can get started on this now. I don't want to make you wait any longer."  I am so very thankful that we were able to start doing something, even if it doesn't work.

This morning I had the (virtually painless) procedure, and everything went smoothly.  We should have a pretty good idea by the beginning of the week if it is possibly going to help, and we'll go from there.  But for now, I'm thankful for strong pain meds that make me sleepy, and for finally seeing  a doctor who was willing to go the extra mile for a patient.