Fall Always Creeps Up on Me

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Fall keeps creeping toward her full regalia. Photo by Wendy Stieg

Perspective Matters

View from Cerra Summit, off Highway 50, Montrose County. Photo by Wendy Stieg

We’re at the tail end of September. October is almost here. This time of year, I find myself looking at life from two perspectives. Ordinarily, this is a good time to start reflecting on how things have gone and what goals I still have for the rest of the year. This year has been odd. Paul and I had job struggles, money was tight due to economic uncertainty, and we ended up selling our Cortez house and moving to Montrose. This year in particular, I prefer to look forward.

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Fall caught me off guard, as I was spending a lot of time getting inspired about next year and our plans for the new house, travel, skiing, and getting outdoors. As so much has happened, looking forward and reaching for inspiration felt good. There are definitely a few things still up in the air, and I find myself wanting to write an article that says, “We are successful!” Instead, I seem to be in the messy middle. Still. That means we seem to be waiting on a few things, while life moves really fast all around us.

Still in the messy middle? Me too. I wrote about being unfinished rather than broken in Michelangelo and the Moving Truck.

Getting Lost in an Olathe Corn Maze

Our friends Josh and Kelsey were visiting. Kelsey said she really wanted to go to DeVries’ corn maze in Olathe, near Montrose. I have to admit, I had never done a corn maze, and it had never occurred to me to try one. But we are surrounded by farm and ranch lands. Farming and ranching are a major part of the economy here, and also of the culture and lifestyle. I grew up in cities and spent a lot of my life working and living in and around resort areas. This is definitely different.

This is Kelsey and Josh. They are about to go into the Corn maze. Photo by Wendy Stieg

Kelsey said she really wanted to go to the corn maze in Olathe. Olathe is known for its sweet corn. But also, apparently, its corn mazes and pumpkin patches. Kelsey got Josh and me excited about going. Paul did NOT want to go. He made rumblings about his teams. As in fantasy football teams. I mentioned that they would still be there even if he did go to a corn maze. So we all went.

Paul’s reluctance to join an otherwise lovely outing is familiar territory. See A Beautiful Evening Accompanied by an Annoyed Paul.

This is Paul. Could he be having fun in the corn maze anyway? Photo by Wendy Stieg

Apparently, you can get lost because the back of the maze directions says in big bold letters to call them if we can’t find our way out. It also said to be careful of getting speared by the corn. I did wear good footwear that day. Paul did not. Yes, corn is dangerous. Who knew? So we made it out without having to make a phone call and just in time to buy several pumpkins. I bought five, to be exact. That was the end of our time with Josh and Kelsey. They headed toward Ridgway to ride their mountain bikes.

DeVries Farm in Olathe, CO. Photo by Wendy Stieg

Our Garden

The hummingbirds are gone. But several of their feeders remain. Paul is leaving them there for the bees. Bees are considered to be endangered. I will let bees drink our sugar water all they want. We did, in fact, look it up. Apparently, when they don’t have much left in terms of food, the little worker bees fly around looking for other food sources and will tell their hive mates about things like hummingbird feeders. Paul would fill it up in the early morning and it would be almost emptied by the afternoon. I have never seen that before. So we welcome these little visitors to our garden.

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The hummingbirds left. The bees moved in. They nearly drained the feeder in a single day. Video by Wendy Stieg

But the yellow jackets are not welcome. We had a bumper crop of them, and they had nests under many of our eaves, including the house, shed, and garage. Not to mention the fence. We went to war with the yellow jackets because they actively go after you to sting you. Bees only bother you if you come near them. We were concerned about the pets too. So a combination of dish soap and peppermint oil with a little water in a spray bottle did the trick and didn't hurt our pets. No bees were harmed in our yellow jacket war. We succeeded in getting them to leave. 

The thing that got me was the many black widows. I have never seen so many. I didn’t even know there were this many in Colorado. Yes, apparently there are. They don’t like the dish soap and peppermint oil combo either. I sprayed them and got rid of the fake, broken plastic wicker outdoor furniture that was only good at being a spider habitat. I think the spiders will have to find a new home. I don't mind the wolf spiders and jumping spiders, as long as they are outside eating bugs. But the black widows definitely got to me. I know we have not won the war, but we have succeeded in seeing a lot fewer. So our rules are: outdoor non-poisonous spiders and bees are welcome. You aren’t allowed if you are a black widow or a wasp of any kind. 

Fall means…

Gibby in the garden. Photo by Wendy Stieg

Having to think about winterizing the house. Thinking about tires for the car. Needing to finish paying off the ski passes and evaluating what winter gear needs replacing. Figuring out which Buff games we can realistically get to. Fall also means finding ways of being present. Which is hard for me: easy to think about and hard to do. We have dreams including travel to Spain and France, trying to find a time to chase the cyclists in Spain’s La Vuelta race. Trying to figure out the next steps as we inch toward retirement.

Choosing how to live while things remain uncertain is something I explored in Safety Third!

It also means squeezing in as much hiking and as many outdoor activities as we can. Gibby is loving it because he does so much better than in the hot weather. Maybe it is time to dust off the apple pie recipe or go back to the pumpkin patch to get some dried multicolored corn to decorate my front door. 

Where Things Are Right Now

What to do with five pumpkins? There are lots of mushrooms everywhere. Photos by Wendy Stieg

Back to presence because none of that matters in this exact moment. I just met a new neighbor named Deb, who adopts elderly black dogs because they are the ones least likely to be adopted. Gibby and I are finding lots of mushrooms everywhere from last week’s rain. I am also trying to decide what to do with multiple sizes of pumpkins. One thing is for sure: adventures await, but today’s are simple and quiet. I can’t complain.