Autumn is a very pretty time of year here in the river bottoms. Leaves are changing and everything is preparing for the long winter rest. The frost has been hitting so hard that the pumpkins are no longer safe in the field and must be stored. We had a great harvest of them in spite of my whining two months ago that there wasn't a single pumpkin on the vine.. and the weather was never really pumpkin friendly. You need warm weather at night to grow big pumpkins, we didn't have warm anything this summer.
This pumpkin was my favorite for the year.... it just about grew into the "perfect" pumpkin shape. Did you notice I am missing a boy..... it is a cruel part of life that children grow up. For the past sixteen years we have spent maybe a handful of days apart and now this summer I rarely see him.
Ah, back to the squash. We grow a lot of squash and beets for the livestock. They keep well and provide good roughage during the winter. We strive for the biggest production in the smallest amount of space. Often running vines through the corn patch as well. This year a banana squash grew up a corn stalk. It made for easy picking and someone jokingly stated we grew a banana tree in Idaho.
After a full day of harvesting we ate hamburgers and headed to the reservoir. The air was crisp and the spray refreshing. It was something to see how much the water had gone down over the course of the summer. The fish were frisky ~ jumping completely out of the water to show off their shiny scales. Eagles and Hawks were soaring searching for dinner while the pickings were still easy. It was pleasant. As we started to turn the boat back toward home we noticed another boat up a cove sending out a distress signal. There had been maybe seven boats on the lake the entire night. We went over to see if we could help. They needed towed to land. Rire reservoir has two docking ports, one on each side. The stranded boat needed to go to the Blacktail dock and we had put in on the dam side.... but what do you do? We were the last two boats out there.
The boat was Heavy, and the going slow... Darkness was settling in and we hadn't even docked the other boat yet. Even the ducks had settled in for the night. Finally, just as my mind was threatening to panic.... we docked the other boat, there was no time for proper introductions or thanks. We waved as the other boater offered to pay us. Shane said "No, you'll need to tow me some day..." We took off as we still had a 15 to 20 minute drive to get to our dock and there was little daylight left. As we sped away a wad of money landed in the bottom of our boat. There was no time to argue, we just kept driving. There was $25 ~enough money to pay for an entire tank of gas in the boat. I can't believe him.
About half way across the reservoir, the sun was gone, our daylight has shortened tremendously. Praise God for the moon, calm weather and a running motor. The water was like glass as we cut across it. Pretty if I could have just relaxed. Slowing when the reservoir narrowed we picked our way home. I am thankful that they are familiar with the reservoir..
After a full day of harvesting we ate hamburgers and headed to the reservoir. The air was crisp and the spray refreshing. It was something to see how much the water had gone down over the course of the summer. The fish were frisky ~ jumping completely out of the water to show off their shiny scales. Eagles and Hawks were soaring searching for dinner while the pickings were still easy. It was pleasant. As we started to turn the boat back toward home we noticed another boat up a cove sending out a distress signal. There had been maybe seven boats on the lake the entire night. We went over to see if we could help. They needed towed to land. Rire reservoir has two docking ports, one on each side. The stranded boat needed to go to the Blacktail dock and we had put in on the dam side.... but what do you do? We were the last two boats out there.
The boat was Heavy, and the going slow... Darkness was settling in and we hadn't even docked the other boat yet. Even the ducks had settled in for the night. Finally, just as my mind was threatening to panic.... we docked the other boat, there was no time for proper introductions or thanks. We waved as the other boater offered to pay us. Shane said "No, you'll need to tow me some day..." We took off as we still had a 15 to 20 minute drive to get to our dock and there was little daylight left. As we sped away a wad of money landed in the bottom of our boat. There was no time to argue, we just kept driving. There was $25 ~enough money to pay for an entire tank of gas in the boat. I can't believe him.
About half way across the reservoir, the sun was gone, our daylight has shortened tremendously. Praise God for the moon, calm weather and a running motor. The water was like glass as we cut across it. Pretty if I could have just relaxed. Slowing when the reservoir narrowed we picked our way home. I am thankful that they are familiar with the reservoir..
David, sitting in the bow acting as lookout sees the lights of our dock. All ended well.
Gorgeous pictures!
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