Fall officially arrived weekend before last and I feel it's effects. Our weather remains changeable. It is sometimes fantastic for several days in a row. Just the way I like it - very little humidity, gentle breezes, sunny, warm - mostly in the 60s,70s, and lower 80s and then we have more Fall like weather. The drought is over though and we are having more rain now so the mushrooms have returned. It did get down to 38 degrees a couple of nights and one night we had thunderstorms, tornado watches, and warnings all night long - wave after wave directly hitting my specific county. It made it impossible to watch T.V. or use the internet but at least the power only flickered and then came back on. We may get our first freeze this weekend. Today was 55 and rainy.

The mosquitoes and chiggers were pretty bad like they usually are from the end of July through August and part of September. Hubby and I have had more than our fair share of bites.

Lately Hubby and I have been able to squeeze a few walks in here and there and I feel better when we can. I'm working on getting back up to speed on my exercise. I miss it and I need it.

My MRSA is in remission now. I'm trying to get back to eating on plan. It's challenging as the bad choices have caused me to have triggers. I should do a Phase One but am not ready to give up fruit as right now as it is one of the few things that is satisfying me.

I picked a bag full of colorful peppers a few days ago. I love peppers. They are so pretty but I try to take it easy eating them as they are in the nightshade family and contribute to inflammation. The garden season is almost over for me and I will be putting the garden to bed soon. My mums are blooming. Most of my impatiens are still doing well other than a few casualties. The leaves are starting to turn, subtly at first but it will hasten until by the end of October our trees will be bare.

We saw Daisy again eating out of the compost pile. She took off as soon as she saw us. We were hoping to coax her to come to us but she is still leery. I saw here again yesterday in another neighbor's yard and talked to her and talked to the neighbor later on. He is willing to give her a home and really likes her. He is a creep but he does like dogs. He was civil to me for a change and commented on my gray hair. LOL. He and his wife are around my age but they are dying their hair. I don't like to use a lot of chemicals. Gray hair is normal for older people but everyone seems to think they should cover it up. The neighbor didn't realize I'm 60. He is 61.

The turtles don't love the cooler weather and my feeding station really slowed down when the temps dropped. They love the hot humid temps. I had not had 9 turtles in days and have had none for over a week. I had not seen Big Boy in quite a long time before they disappeared and "S" didn't come much either. Big Boy was the turtle that "S" mated with. I think something happened to Big Boy. We found a turtle shell in the creek and it could be him. I hate it as he was one of my favorites. We also found a small turtle by the pond who was sick and eventually died. I so wish I knew how to save them. We have a lot more females than we do males here.

Hubby and I are keeping the bird feeders full. The hummers have not completely left yet but they will soon. I think most of them are already migrating. I saw three juveniles fighting last week at the feeder but they may just be ones passing though on their way south. The other birds are at the feeder a lot more than usual at this time of year. I think the drought caused a shortage of food for them. The birds who migrate, like the indigo buntings, are gone.

We have a ton of squirrels in the yard again and something new we have not had before - a white one!! There is a town in southern Illinois that has a lot of white squirrels and we even had one at our post office but this is our first one here since I've lived here for 28 years. The squirrels are still leaving the feeders alone as there are plenty of nuts.

My hubby celebrated his 56th birthday on the 14th. Hubby took the day off as a vacation day and my son was off already so the 3 of us went to the metroeast St. Louis area as we needed chinchilla food. We got food at a Petsmart in Belleville and then one in O'Fallon too. We went to Home Depot, Lowes, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Barnes and Noble. I bought a new paleo cookbook. We ate at Culvers.

We went to my MIL's house on Saturday like we do every Saturday. Hubby mowed and he sold the coffee table and 2 end tables plus some other items. This is the first furniture that we sold other than an ottoman. We have sold a desk chair now.

The next day we had to drive to St. Louis because Blocker is not feeling well and is losing weight. She had surgery on her teeth and then we went to Trader Joes and Whole Foods. I think hubby and I could enjoy these stores but they are so crowded that it isn't fun at all to be in them. We didn't buy a lot as we could hardly look. We ate at Culvers again and came home. Blocker is feeling great again but Porkie will need surgery soon.

My son went on his trip to Akron. He rented a car. It was a pretty easy drive in Illinois and not too bad in Indiana other than road construction on the latter. But he didn't like the drive around Columbus and said the rest of the drive from there to Akron was really long. He had a good time though and saw some neat things in Columbus, Cleveland, and Akron.

The other neighbor is still working on his pole barn and the tree trimming crews are still working in the area. They worked on the property next door to me yesterday and clear cut a huge path under the power line that goes over the neighbor's property. They are going to do our driveway soon.

I am trying to keep up with blogs and such but still seem to get behind. I am keeping up with my work around here better and actually getting some extra stuff done. I am sleeping better and am less stressed but still need to work on my diet and exercise.

Practically everyone has quit at the plant where my husband works except for the salesman, 2 people in the stamp room, the yard man, and hubby. The yard man is looking for a job too. We are not sure why. The owner is starting a second business a couple miles away.

We have been watching some new shows on T.V. when we have time.

Well, I'm tired. My son has 3 days off and we did 4 loads of laundry yesterday and then I worked on a ton of paperwork, and did a bunch of decluttering. My son and I cleaned 6 pet cages today and the bathroom, vacuumed, and then I did more paperwork. I'm tired but am going to do some more decluttering.