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Sarah had her last soccer practice of the season on Saturday.  It culminated in an approximately five-on-thirty game of coaches versus kids.  The coaches were surprisingly competitive.

Chuck has been spending many, many hours gathering the falling leaves.

We had fine weather all weekend.  On Sunday, Sarah brought out her bug-collecting gear.

Our bluebirds seem to be staying put for the winter.

And our lone swan continues to ply the swamp.

We escaped the devastation of Hurricane Sandy to spend the weekend at the farm.  Okay, where we live, it wasn’t exactly devastation — more like Sarah got four days off from school, and we got free bus service.  Anyhow, here’s what it looked like Saturday morning.  We had no damage from the storm.  Even the basement was dry.

Chuck Kelsoe has been sprucing up the bottom part of the barn.  I think he’s trying to con us into getting horses.

To give you some idea of what it looked like before, this is the opposite stall, still encrusted with birdshit.

We spent the weekend hunkered down in New York awaiting Frankenstorm Sandy.  On Saturday night, we attended Caedmon’s Halloween party, where Sarah got to try out the Medusa costume her mom made for her.

The trees were in high color this weekend.

Even the squirrels got into the swing of things.

On Saturday, we visited the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, where we saw a sheep herding exhibition.

The sheepdogs were impressively well trained, but, frankly, so were the sheep.

Sarah took a break from watching sheep being sheared, milked, and judged for conformity with their breeds, and took in a Mad Science show.

She also befriended a llama.

Sarah made this paper airplane launcher in her after-school Art in Orbit class at Caedmon.

She launched a few before soccer practice on Saturday.  You can see a bit of frost in the high grass by the pond.

The leaves are coming down at the farm.

On Sunday, Sarah produced this self portrait.

Here’s the real thing.

Storm clouds threatened today, but we didn’t get much rain.  We managed to squeeze in a walk.

It’s always easier if you can keep the pebbles out of your boot.

Sarah stuck with it, and found a friend.

The sunshine makes everything look better.

About half of this very large oak tree fell down three years ago; the rest came down on Tuesday.  One thing is for certain: we will never run out of firewood.

On Saturday, the Craigslist gods offered up this kayak.  It was being sold by an employee of the Phantom Gardener at the insistance of his girfriend, with whom he was moving, on Wednesday, to Olympia, Washington.  We have been trying to come up with a name for it.  Contenders include: Lucy; The Indecisive Squirrel; The Poughkeepsie; The Chipmunk; The Pimento; The Sungold; and the PondMaster.  Suggestions will be considered in the order received.

On Sunday, Sarah and her friend Sophie ran a mile for charity.

Jen’s garden is bursting with activity.  The Lugubrious Sunflower was rejected as a name for the kayak, but we have many of these strange orange ones.

Jen and Sarah paddled together.

We had some really impressive thunderstorms Saturday evening.  Perhaps in response, this woodpecker went looking for a safe and cozy spot.  He found one by making a hole about the size of a silver dollar in one of the pillars on the back porch.

The storm also shook loose lots of tomatoes.