Fall Ritual...37º

Several years ago, Herb and I both volunteered at "Mule Days," he was usually on garbage duty and I worked the souvenir booth...One year as we did the final cleanup, bales of straw were left in a stack for anyone to take home...That first year the bales were delivered to our garden, they had served their purpose, so we paid the farmer, who had donated them to the event, and it was a win/win situation.

Early Tuesday morning, with trailer hooked to Herbs' little red pickup, we arrived at the fair grounds to get our 10 bales of straw that we use for mulch in the vegetable garden...As Herb got ready to move the first bale, a voice out of nowhere said, "Need some help?" We said, "YES" in unison...A girl in her late 20's (I assume) had all the bales loaded in no time...She was a pro at throwing bales...Her family had participated in Mule Days and would soon be heading for the Pendleton Roundup...We thanked her profusely and were soon back home, where both of us got the bales off the trailer and stacked for the winter...As we were doing that I said, "Herb, we should have brought that girl home with us!"

Temperature dropped to near freezing last night and we are well on our way to the fall cleanup, hoping for a few weeks of Indian Summer before harvesting potatoes and planting the garlic...Our little grapevine is loaded this year, I'm trying to have positive thoughts that they will ripen but the cool nights won't help, not sure that green grapes will ripen off the vine, any more than half green peaches ripen off the tree...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Rustic pie from Gravenstein Apples

Half ripe purple tomatoes

Dinner of stuffed peppers, corn from our neighbor.