We were thinking that fall would come a bit late this year - but right after the 22nd of September, the air started to have a slight chill in it. Morning walks with the dog have become own right chilly and swimming ended just around Labor Day. Luckily, we have not had any big forest fire events. And yet, Cal Fire continues with our burn ban.
Jim is still working on the back deck. But he has managed to fit a few other projects in between the deck work - including repair on the rafters in the Screen Porch (one rafter was damaged by our heavy snows last year, so he decided to "double up" on rafters for a stronger roof). We have completed most of the painting on the back of the lodge now and are in the process of removing the scaffolding for the winter. We plan to put it back up next spring so that we can paint the pre-primed hardie panel we installed at attic level.
VIEW FROM BACK DECK
After surgery a few weeks ago, I have been on light duty. But I am in the process of putting away all of the summer chairs (we store them in the basement) and getting everything stored for winter. I have also been doing caulking, priming and painting on the back of the lodge. Light duty ends this week.
Light duty does not free me from my long walks with Taylor. Yesterday, we walked up to the railroad tracks and found the old road that leads down to Bear Valley. This road was used by folks prior to highway 20 being built. It was always a dirt road and not passable in winter -- but it is still there. I am hoping that next week when Katie is visiting she and I can take a hike down to Bear Valley on the old road.
OLD ROAD TO BEAR VALLEY
One minor change to the living room. We moved the shuffle board down to the game room and moved the bar from the game room to the living room. That took away some under shuffle board storage area for the kids toy box. We also demo'd our old broken player piano. We keyboard from the game room will be brought up for Christmas and then stored in the attic (when not in use). We decided to start clearing out stuff we have stored with the thought that it would be used eventually. That allows us to make donations to Habitat for Humanity (they loved the windows we donated) and Salvation Army. We are also going to start thinning out the jackets in the winter closet. For the most part, adults seem to have jackets for snow play. We will keep all the bibs, snow boots, gloves and kids jackets, which have been a hit with parents.
It is nice to walk and drive back toward the falls and take a drive up to the lake during autumn. Although California is not know for fall colors, we do have a lot of yellows with the white oak trees and reds with the dogwood.
STAMP ON FULDA CREEK BRIDGE
Last week, my neighbor and I drove up to one of the "wild" apple trees near Laing Road and picked fall apples. I used mine to make apple butter, apple sauce and apple cider. Here are a couple photos of Emigrant Gap in Fall.
FALL COLORS - OAK TREE
It has been two years since we lost my mom. She loved the lodge and spent a lot of time up here, helping us clear the property (in her 80s) and work on furniture and painting. We have a memorial garden here for her which includes a lovely sculpture and a nice log to sit on. This year I will be adding bearded iris and more daffodils.
