I Love Autumn

[JrChurch]

We had a great junior church activity today...with perfect weather...in a beautiful setting.  A couple from church opened their farm, which is on a mountainside.  We actually had to drive into Hoo Hoo Hollow (pronounced 'holler') and through a few more hollers and up a mountain.  The wife's family home was on the property which was built by her grandpa.  The kids enjoyed the history of the place, even going into great-granny's 113 year old cellar.  A hay ride, hike, cookout, cookie decorating, games, lesson and pumpkin search were just the thing for this beautiful fall day. 

 

[Sherryh]

That sounds like a great time..I know what a holler is...

 

[PappaBear]

Autumn is that crisp season filled with vibrant color.  Soon we will make a trip down south on vacation, going through Northern Virginia and seeing some of the most beautiful vistas on earth.  Harvest time and the blessings of God are joys to the spirit.  Awesome!

 

[kaba]

Sad to say I find my pumpkins in the grocery store!  Growing up my father would plant a whole field of pumpkins, when it came to harvest we would spend hours loading the wagon up and putting them in our basement, and dad would then take them to grocery stores to sell. I miss that fall, crisp smell!

I've been looking for some mums to buy. I have two small scarecrows and a plastic skeleton by my front door.

 

[ALAYMAN]

We had a great junior church activity today...with perfect weather...in a beautiful setting.  A couple from church opened their farm, which is on a mountainside.  We actually had to drive into Hoo Hoo Hollow (pronounced 'holler') and through a few more hollers and up a mountain.  The wife's family home was on the property which was built by her grandpa.  The kids enjoyed the history of the place, even going into great-granny's 113 year old cellar.  A hay ride, hike, cookout, cookie decorating, games, lesson and pumpkin search were just the thing for this beautiful fall day.

We do something similar in mid to late October each year, sometimes at the church, and sometimes at our home.  This year we are contemplating adding a new wrinkle to the festivities.  We have a fireworks show at our house every year on Independence Day, but this year, on multiple days we got washed out by excessive summer rains, so the pyrotechnics are still sitting in my garage.  We may elect to set them off as a finale to the merry-making at this year's fall outing, but that will be dependent upon weather the conditions are not excessively dry.  Don't want those pretty leaves on the ground to provide the fuel for an even bigger display of light.

 

[JrChurch]

We may elect to set them off as a finale to the merry-making at this year's fall outing, but that will be dependent upon weather the conditions are not excessively dry.  Don't want those pretty leaves on the ground to provide the fuel for an even bigger display of light.

Oh, I think flaming fall foliage would be memorable.

 

[ALAYMAN]

Oh, I think flaming fall foliage would be memorable.

There's a lonnnnng story in here, but I'll save it for a different day and time.  However, a short story....



Before our usual fireworks celebration on the 4th, several years ago, ALAYboy wanted to see a few of the bottlerockets set off a couple of days before the actual event was slated.  He was about to pee his pants if he didn't get to see a boomer go up in the sky, so I caved.  I was just off my front porch, and lit a couple of rockets.  I think it was the third one I lit, that everything went all wrong.  The doggone thing went up about 5 feet in the air and did a 90 degree turn, heading straight for my shed, which happened to be open, and worse than that, had my new zero turn mower in it, and even worse than that, had several bails of super-dry straw too!  Everything was in slo-motion.  The stinkin' thing went right in the shed and hit a bail of straw.  Instantly there was a blaze, and I could imaging my $8,000 mower was about to be toast.  I ran through the yard as fast as my chubby little feet could run for that 80 feet, into the shed and started beating out the flames.  Fortunately, all's well that ends well, but my heart rate must have been 200, and the most exciting part of the fireworks weekend had preceded the actual 4th of July display.

I have more fireworks gaffes, but that one will do for now.

 

[JrChurch]

I am THAT mom that stands on the sidelines with a big bucket of water during home fireworks.  The fact that the kid's sparklers have never exploded does not mean that it can't happen. 

 

[ALAYMAN]

reminds me of new years even a few years ago...... some people started shooting off professional grade aerials on the street below...(which was highly illegal .. even at new years)..... .not only were the booms from their explosions shaking our windows but the red hot embers from them were hitting our building and landing on our balcony..... so i went out on the balcony with a handful of bottle rockets and starting shooting them straight down at them on the street..... but pretty soon the smoke from all the long strings of firecrackers going off all over the city.... (which is legal at new years) ..... was so thick i couldn;t even see the street or tell where my bottle rockets were landing.... but i went ahead and shot the rest of them all at once then left to go out with my friends to a party.....

my dad was on duty that night.... and very busy responding to all the fireworks related calls at the time....  and my sister and her boyfriend were leaving to go out to a party too ..... but i got a call from my dad at his station before he even left work the next morning and he asked me what i was doing the night before and if there was anything i wanted to tell him.......  i told him the truth and admitted to it....got into a little trouble... :-\.... .. but i found out later out later my sisters boyfriend.....(who is now her husband)...  had actually called my dad right after they left that night and told on me......  :.........brother in laws... .....it made me wish i have saved one of those rockets to shoot at him.... 

bad, bad, bad girl.   Your stories are always so easy to imagine in the minds eye.

When I was a kid my best friend lived right across the street from all of the ball stadiums and fields, near the river.  This was always, and still is, the location where the city fireworks display was held.  4th of July was always anxiously anticipated.  I distinctly remember one year using bottle rockets in a manner like you described, only we weren't provoked.  :-[  We would use wiffle-ball bats for our launching agent, sort of pretending like they were bazookas, and took aim on the innocent bystanders in the park below.  I don't know how in the world we went unsupervised like that, and thank goodness our aim was so bad that nobody ever got struck by any of the rockets.  I look back to stupid things like that I did as a kid and thank God he allowed me to not make a bigger fool of myself than I tried to.