Darn, it keeps happening

First, I went down to the Highland Festival and it turned out it was fifteen bucks admission. I thought that was excessive since once you get in you're going to spend money on haggis and bagpipe lessons and whatever, so I passed. But I did have a pleasant walk down country lanes with the beech leaves turning yellow.

So now it's a week later and most of those leaves are on the ground. The oak leaves are still mostly green but the maples are turning red. The grass has pretty much stopped growing, although we've had no real frost yet. I'm waking up in the dark now and pretty soon it will be dark by the time I get home from work. We had a mild week but yesterday afternoon I built a fire and I'll need to do it again today. I've always said it's important not to hibernate, and you can avoid it in the city, but out here there's not much choice.

It's good that we have to go through winter, I suppose. A regular challenge overcome keeps us strong. But that's what it is. As a kid, the difficult parts were somebody else's problem and we could just enjoy sledding and snowball fights, but now it's a real pain in the ass, frankly. Maybe I shouldn't admit that but honestly, I'm not looking forward to it this year, intrepid though I be.

What's in a name?

Lest you think we do nothing but drive tractors and milk cows out here, every year we have a Highland Games festival where men in plaid skirts throw telephone poles and what not. Why does it happen here, you ask? Because the name of the town is Scotland.

That's the only reason. We don't particularly have people of Scottish descent here, and we aren't actually in any highlands -- in fact a river valley. But, the festival organizers figured it would be fitting to have people come to Scotland for the purpose. They have to park 2 miles away in a hayfield and take a shuttle bus because there isn't enough parking at the historical society property where the festival is held, which, is by the way, mostly not in Scotland at all but in Sprague. (Ssh!) Anyway, I'll check it out and let you know how much fun it is, it's an easy walk from my house.