Autumn Preparations

Autumn approached about a week ago as stealthily as a fox! The corn has been shucked and the golden fodder stands in shocks. Luscious apples have been plucked from every supple bough. Sweet-scented alfalfa for the cattle has been stowed in the mow. In yon woods the trees wear robes of brilliant yellows and reds. Excited children have been burnishing the runners on their sleds! The rasp of crosscut saws resounds from yonder oak tree grove, As many cords of wood are sawn for the parlor heating stove! Skeins of majestic geese grace the sky in their southward wing. We'll miss their haunting cries but they'll return again come spring. Cellar bins bulge with onions, punkins and sweet pertaters. Shelves groan 'neath jars of corn, beans and beefsteak termaters! Tom Turkey is being fattened up completely oblivious of his fate. Unbeknownst to that strutting dude, he has a portentous dinner date! Squirrels scurry about collecting nuts with vigorous animation, Hiding them hither and yon about my lawn for later exhumation! Wafting leaves weave a carpet of gold and scarlet upon the lawn. The rising sun tinted the first snow on the mountain's crest at dawn. Vagabond zephyrs that now gently shove the lifeless leaves around, Anon, will become shrieking gales piling drifts of snow upon the ground! Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired © All Rights Reserved