The annual combining of the corn maze!

It really felt like Fall here yesterday!  A few rounds on the combine always reminds me of the goodness of Fall.  Ken was clipping right along yesterday,  he got the whole maze combined in 5 hours!  Skyler didn't want to get out of the cab every time I  would ask him if he was "ready to go?"  The little JD 4400 still does a nice job and just purrs along.

We got there just in time to meet him at the headland.

Little 444 cornhead performs just like new.  

Looking out the back to the West.

Storm a coming'!

Gorgeous sky with mountains as a backdrop.

Time to unload!

Farming in suburbia.

A very entertained 4 year old.

Looking North across the grain tank and hot exhaust.

Lots of corn going into the bin.

The Peanuts Movie.

We all went to see "The Peanuts Movie" yesterday afternoon.  It was pretty good, most of it predictable and a lot of recycled material from the Holiday specials.  Skyler was pretty much in full beast mode the entire time though, we might be skipping the movie theater for a while...

The obligatory movie poster pic.

Home safe and sound!

Mommy and Skyler made it home just fine albeit rather late last night.  Congratulations Mommy on finishing your race!

At the finish.  Apparently Skyler told her that "she won!"  :)

Sick and alone.

Since Mommy had to run her silly race in Moab today, I'm here, suffering with the flu, alone at home.  She took Skyler along to Moab against my better judgement.  It's kinda weird, when he's here there are times that I just want to run away.  But now that he's not here, I can't believe how much I miss the little guy!  Sigh...

From a few weeks ago, he was inside a toy box!  Can't wait for this afternoon when they get back home.

Mmm, bagel!

Skyler and I are both sick now.  Perfect timing for a road trip to Moab.  :(

Metamorphosis.

A few weeks ago, Mommy found a tomato hornworm in our garden.  Skyler found it and wanted to keep it.  A few pics and more info here.  Fast forward to yesterday morning and the worm has now turned into a moth!  Skyler took the worm in for show and tell so today he's taking in the moth to school.  After that, we'll release the moth outside where it may or may not make it.  Cycle of life!

The chrysalis remains after dumping it in the garden.

Kind of hard to see her, right in the middle.  We added some cut flowers since she eats the nectar of flowers.

Here she is 24 hours later.  I think her wings aren't developed, they seem to be folded or shrunk up still.

Goodbye 2015 garden!

We got most of the plants cleared off of the garden yesterday.  I used the new (to me) 1979  John Deere 317 to till, and then I shredded the plants into the tilled ground.  One more pass with the tiller, and the remnants  magically disappeared!  Mommy got the following shots of the tractor and me.

Tractor in position, ready for action!

Farming with antiques!

Taking a break while more plants are cleared.  Notice the ominous weather to the East.

Final pass.  Hard to believe this tractor and tiller were nearly written off to scrap.  It runs like new now that I've worked it over.

 dg

Not bad for a tiller that was designed in the 1960's.  My newer stuff definitely does a better job, but using the 317 with 33 tiller was a lot of fun!  Notice that the pump track is staying.  Bubbs has way too much fun running around on it and I enjoy riding it.  I think it will get quite a bit of use this winter.

A  final shot of the workhorse in her work clothes.  Not sure if I'll fix this one up and paint it or not.

All finished!!

I walked the dog down to the park Saturday to find that the new playground was OPEN!!  One text to Mommy later, Skyler was on his way.  It's pretty sweet.

Fresh wood chips on the ground.

Testing out the spin-o-matic.

Backside view of the gears I mentioned earlier send ball bearings up and around then down to the cnc machined excavator, truck, and dozer.

The working side of the gears.

I'm going to see if we can purchase one of these for our house.  He's mesmerized by it!

Spiral slide!

Another ball bearing spinning device.

Maizey didn't want to miss any of the action.

She even went through the tube!

The make and model of the playground.

Yesterday we spent an hour at the playground.

Storm clouds on the horizon.

In the tube!  He didn't want his picture taken yesterday.  He had me climb up to the top and turn the gears so he could play construction.  I bet I spun that thing for 30 minutes!

"Some excavators have wheels, some have tracks."

That line is from a John Deere construction machines DVD that Skyler loves to watch.  We see a lot of tracked excavators, not too many wheeled ones.  Until yesterday!  We accompanied Mommy on her run yesterday morning and Skyler found this County owned wheeled excavator.  We had to investigate!

Running around it to see the stabilizer.

"That means warning!"

He knows it says "Cat."

Time to climb!  The I.D. plate said this machine was made in France.  Makes sense, Europe loves wheeled  excavators for their ease of transport on the narrow roads.

The cab was locked.

Lots of Cottonwood colorful goodness!

HALLOWEEN!!!

Whew!  What a day yesterday.  Skyler got to go trick-or-treating TWICE last night.  First, to G&G's where we met up with Karen and Matt.  Then, after a delicious southwest turkey chili dinner, we went around our neighborhood and visited the new houses down the street.  Mommy and I finished the day by watching a little bit of "The Shining."

"My first piece of candy!"

By the time we were finished, his bag was half full of candy.  I caught Mommy eating some of it last night!

His mask was causing some vision problems.

RUN!!

No one home here.  I think half of the houses we stopped at were not answering doors.  Pretty chicken shit if you ask me.

Checking and tasting some of his candy at G&G's.

The spider house down the street.

Unbelievable how much they decorated!