Summer is starting to come to a close. The evenings are considerably cooler. The chickens’ laying has gone from about 5-6 eggs a day (from 6 chickens) down to about 4. The sunsets are just gorgeous and it’s the perfect temperature outside to sit outside and watch the chickens as they strut about. We have been harvesting our peaches, plums, cherry tomatoes and herbs. The watermelons, squash and cucumbers are still growing so we still have some time left yet. It is bittersweet because we know winter will be here soon and this outdoor life will soon be shut out (and we will be shut in) again. But, the really scary/exciting/strange thing is that this will be our last winter in Colorado! I think it’s starting to hit us…the change is coming. Or rather, it is always here, but sometimes you can feel it as it moves under your feet like an earthquake or underground rumbling river.

And so, sometimes you just have to look out your backdoor and appreciate all the beauty around you right now. Schnoodle is getting really old and each day has a harder time, each day another change comes for her. She loses her sight. She loses her hearing. She loses her teeth. She loses control of herself and where she is. But she gains so many years! She is about 15-16 years old! Our own little ancient being. And still she hangs on. Still she loves a treat and being pet. How do you know when your loved one is ready to move on, that the big change is ready to come? Who are we to decide her fate when she still seems to have joy in living?

Schnoodle with strawberries earlier this summer

We are also planning our trip this week to the western slope to visit my dad’s grave in Meeker and to see Palisade and the Peach Festival. Strange to remember my dad’s own big change from this world to the next was just (or is already) two summers ago. Changes come. We can fight them and we can hold them back or we can let them flow. Either way, changes come.