Fall recap - part 1

There's a lot to document since the last blog post in early July.  Since that time, we took a mega trip in the 5th wheel with Audrey and Jack...going up to Minnesota, across to Montreal, and back through the Shenandoah Valley.  I also went to Forth Worth to help Joe build a deck for Denise's sister, attended the annual squirrel hunt, took a trip to Colorado for elk and mule deer with Joe and Jack, and squeezed in a trip to Washington DC with Denise.  All this in addition to the daily doings in and around Longville.  

So where to start?  I think I'll start with fall colors.

Even though it was the week before Thanksgiving, there were still plenty of fall colors in our nations's Capitol.

Just walking around the National Mall there were all sorts of nice colors we don't see down south.

We even enjoyed some colors inside of the Smithsonian, especially in the mineral exhibit.

Of course there was a lot of stuff in the color of antiquity, which was also interesting.

Mostly we enjoyed just being in a place with a lot of history.  The Jefferson Memorial was pretty impressive.

The Lincoln Memorial was also a must see.

We spent all day Friday and Saturday walking, and we still didn't see it all.  The Washington Monument crept into a bunch of pictures...it was kind of hard to avoid.

We can now compare the above with the truly great fall colors in Louisiana.  We have yaupon and crepe myrtles in our very own back yard.

...and way more green than we saw in Washington.

We also have some yellow lemons.  Note the new grilling porch Joe built for us when he came to help finish the house painting.

The colors of the squirrel hunt were typical of late October.

...as were the activities.

Since I am now the elder statesman at the squirrel camp, I get to choose my chores.  I pass on the cleaning of the squirrels, but now do the jambalaya.  So far, no complaints.

While the youngsters stay up late in the poker/burre' pavilion, I warm my bones beside the fire.

There's also color to be seen in the November marsh south of town.

And the ride in is always serene.

In Colorado at Steve's place, the colors are past their peak in the first week of November, but still nice.  There was some on the ride up.

It was also nice in the woods out in the pinederosa as the boys located their blinds for the week.

We hunted hard, especially the evening hunt from next to the hot tub.

We didn't see any cow elk, but Jack had a giant 6X6 bull walk right in front of him.  Alas, he did not have a bull tag.  The closest we came to a cow was a fresh set of tracks.  We were able to fill the buck tag, so we came home with a little meat.  It was still a worthwhile trip to celebrate Jack's senior year in High School.

After pulling the game cards, Steve discovered that there were two more bull elk wandering his ranch during our hunt.  I attribute that to the relocation of a family heirloom which now resides on his ranch and located in a place of honor on the mantle above his big woodstove...a long way from the Whitney Plantation.

Joe had to leave early for a wedding, so Jack and I drove home on the last Saturday of the season.  We left early, and when the sun came up, I wondered if passing motorists thought I was smuggling a green party KKK grand dragon across New Mexico.  At any rate, we did not draw any unwanted attention from the State Troopers, so I guess not.

Most of my marsh pictures have been of the saltwater variety from around West Cove.  In October, I did take an afternoon trip to the Sabine River marsh with Scott to cash in on some of the wild bass busting extravaganzas he had been telling me about.  We only caught 1 bass, but the marsh was nice anyway.

I have more fall activities to document and 2 or 3 posts worth of pics from our summer adventure, so check back in a few days to catch the updates.  I need to catch up before the Christmas activities completely overwhelm my backlog.