Autumn in Arkansas

The weather is cooling down considerably most days now. It's Arkansas, so we still have some very warm days ahead as well, but the sun is at a different angle, the days are shorter, and the leaves are changing colors.

It seems like every day there are more Autumn changes around and soon the trees will be bare and gray, and winter will be upon us. The drier air also dries my skin a bit, so when I got ready for bed tonight I rubbed some cocoa butter on my face and hands. It's pure cocoa butter so it doesn't take much!

I've got to get a bale or two of straw and most places have it now so people can use it for fall yard displays. I'll use it for the dog houses, though, and to insulate the red wiggler worms. This is the perfect time to divide the box of worms and have two "farms" going, I think.

The worms have been working hard composting the vegetable scraps and other things I've fed them. I'm seeing some rich, dark soil in their box and that'll be great for plants and gardening next spring. Of course, some of the "livestock" will be great for fishing with, too!

It's also time to "batten down the hatches", so to speak, and get the windows in this drafty house covered with plastic. Not all of them, of course, as that would hold in too much of the stale air and possible fumes from heating with gas. But certainly the windows on the north side of the house need to be covered. We always leave the window near the heater uncovered and raise it about an inch to an inch and a half for good ventilation. See? We're thinking of things like that. I don't want us to wind up being a statistic on the evening news.