Fall arrives in the PNW

A week or so ago, I fired off the Shop dragon after a repair.
I have had it lit several times since then. Yesterday it was lit all day!
Last evening I mentioned that they were calling for 43F last night, I suggested perhaps lighting the kitchen cook stove in the morning.
Liz suggested that her feet were cold and that I should light it right then!  I did, and we both enjoyed a bump in temps.
This morning, we only dropped to 47 F up here on the mountain; down in the river valley, however, is 42F
Working in the Shop today, I expect to have a fire out there again!

…love the cat.  Several years ago we bought new living room furniture.  We errored in not asking our Maine Coon Cat for permission. So, she left home to live on the front porch…for about 3 months.  Our punishment ended when I lit the fireplace in the fall. She ran in the house and planted herself on the arm of the sofa closest to the fireplace and stayed there until spring.

Days are getting short fast. Our morning temps have been in the 30's, had our first couple frosts. Black cottonwood leaves already dropping. Had the woodstove running for the last two weeks or so in the morning. Just a short fire. Lil'B works really hard around here. Her small luxury is coffee prepared, and a fire to knock the cool edge off when she comes downstairs. I get pie and cookies in exchange.
We try to pick cool/rainy days to leave it running for pot roasts and curries. Boost the house temps for her sourdough raising. Dishes, indoor bathing often get done in the morning. The Fisher takes 5 hrs. to cool down once well heated, so even though I start it with the coffee at 4 am., it can still be kicking out a bit of unneeded heat at noon on a sunny day. Our warm water supply pots on the back, coast farther yet. I burn the small spruce saplings from overcrowded thickets, dense and very dry. We have cloudy cooler weather this weekend, woodstove stays lit for all day for canning.  
We bathe during the warmer months using a black canning pot set out in the sun on a large poplar stump in the morning. By 4 it is nice and warm, perfect for a work break and outdoor shower, perhaps followed by coffee or cocktail watching the lake. This time of year the late day sun is trying to hide behind the trees, the hose and pot don't warm as fast, and the breeze out of the woods is cooling. Stump season is ending.
Only three of our eight cats would even dream of coming indoors. The rest see this house as an inescapable prison. Two will tag along on walks, they seem to think they are dogs.
Anyone else have a rodent explosion this year? Four packrats and 20 squirrels so far have retired to the PetSematary, courtesy of Beksi and Sonni. Crazy.
Cats have been leaving partial mouse corpses everywhere.
Steve the cat is back early from his summer woods walkabout. He moves out in May, comes back October. Crane flocks already overhead. This suggests maybe winter is early arriving? Rodents might be bulking up population facing a cold or snowy winter? Maybe last Spring was early leaving and June was dry. Berries and apples seem early this year, huckleberries, cranberries weak or non-existant, roses smaller deep, deep red.

Yes indeed!
We have noticed a huge rodent population this year.
The outside kitties are leaving bodies around the yard, and occasional wet, chewy presents are left in the shop.
The inside kitties are pampered Persians; they would be terrified outdoors!
However, they are not very good mousers. This summer a pregnant mom got inside, and her litter started causing issues...
The Persians got two; I, however, got 8 in a protected mousetrap. Protected from the kitties...
Seems like we have the house back under our control, and Nicky & Sammy have the outside covered quite well.

Last days of stump season.

Although it has not dipped into the thirties here, @2600'
At our son's house in Basin Mt. @ 5350' they have been in the twenties every morning for the past week.
Winter is coming.

We are then at approximately the same elevation, as is our Nevada home.

I like Basin. I remember in the early 70's when the highway still passed through town. I also remember the year, 1976? how surprised we were the Interstate was being completed to pass around. We had a cabin on the North Fork of the Sun, just south of the Bob Marshall. My dad was stationed in SoCal after his second tour, and we passed through every July until we moved back to Great Falls.
I also remember Elk Park just south towards Butte being one of those quirky places on the morning news with the lowest temps in the state, when it wasn't Butte.

Fall starts here in the Portland metro area in early Oct. as its generally warm enough to keep swimming in the river through late Sept.  However this year Oct. and autumn are starting with continued warm-enough-to-swim weather so its Indian summer here presently, meaning I'll get at least one more go in the river!  Now granted the water has gotten colder again but oh well no biggie for me.