Although the temperatures have been a bit cool, this weekend has been a great Fall weekend. We have had lots of sun, a light breeze, blue skies, and the Fall colors are still present along the Colorado River and tributaries.

I did fire up the furnace for the first time this season as overnight lows dropped into the upper 20 degree range. (The outside cat water dishes froze pretty solid last night.) Even though I had vacuumed out the vents and put a new filter in the furnace, the first time or two it runs we get that “dusty” smell out of the vents. It can’t be helped, I guess.

Yesterday afternoon I took an ATV ride into Wild Horse Mesa (after completing various routine chores). Here are a couple photos from that ride:

Rock formation – Wild Horse Mesa

Colorado River Valley from Wild Horse Mesa

It was a very pleasant, if cool, afternoon to go for a ride.

All the Sanderling firewood for the season has been delivered to our local friend.  She reports she’s already heating her rescue pet building with it on these cooler nights.

Closer to home, I have begun some preliminary work on the OC-3 crawler tractor. I removed, cleaned, and rebuilt the carburetor but have not yet reinstalled it; that will be one of today’s tasks. I have a set of manuals on the way which should help me move ahead on repairs. Some general clean-up is about all I have done for far, but I did remove the spark plugs and put some penetrating oil into the cylinders. This should help the engine turn over a bit easier when I get to that point.

Pam’s retirement house hunt has turned up an interesting listing: there is a small church for sale in an out-of-the way Washington town.

Church for sale in Wilkeson, WA

Here is the link to the full listing which includes 13 photos. On acreage with a stream, the building is 1,200 square feet (rather small) and not very ornate inside. This used to be Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church out of the Seattle Archdiocese in its previous life.  Nearest large town, Puyallup (Pew-all-up), is about a 20 – 30 minute drive away. Not exactly what we had in mind, but an interesting idea to contemplate. An internet search turned up several ideas on how to divide and decorate what is basically a rectangular box into an attractive and functional living space. We have been looking for unusual architecture…

I’m planning a solo driving trip back to Wisconsin to visit my mother. This would be during the last full week of October and needs to be a quick out-and-back visit with no side trips. Lots of driving involved (yippee – Nebraska)  but any later in the year and weather starts to become a real factor. More on this in my next post.

That’s about it. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Hey-ho, we get another ten minutes of Fall.  I’ve been scoping out pet heaters for the garage cats, quite a gang of young’uns out there this year. Time for the heated outside water bowl too, I guess.  I mentally resist this change of seasons — but — resistance is futile.

Contemplating changes in 2018, the house hunt being only one of several factors at play.  Employment issues at work appear to be pushing me toward semi-retirement earlier than I had originally planned. (I’m trying to listen to The Universe, as my departed friend Mary always advised me to do.) Watch this space.

Happy Trails.