Winter around the corner

No picture today...will try to get busy and add one soon. We went over the Snowy Range to Saratoga to get our camp trailer today. It was beautiful and the aspen are beginning to turn. Also the chokecherries are ripe and still some left after a heavy picking season. I am not in a position to be making any jelly so we are not picking chokecherries. Coming back home this afternoon it got a little chilly on top and the temp dropped to 39 degrees with a little rain turning into sleet. No moose or wildlife was seen today. This is the hunting season here in Wyoming and the fashion of the day now is camouflage in every shade and pattern available from the big hunting supply store. In addition, all of the fancy "must have " equipment to aid in the capture of the game of choice is dusted off and pulled out for all to see. Trucks with big tires and engines pulling fancy trailers, some with camping trailers you could live in all year, some loaded with four wheeler ATVs and some with horses, all parading to favorite campsites. This is a big deal here!!! I remember when my dad went after the annual deer to fill our freezer, he packed a sack lunch with a thermos of coffee, headed out in an old pickup with mom in tow and was back in the afternoon with the "meat". When the Mr. and I first started to hunt for elk, we went with a week's worth of food, gas, fuel for the camp stove and camped with a party of several other friends and it became a real social occasion, hunting during the day and sitting around the campfire at night. As our son grew, he too joined the sport with all the experience of the Mr. as a teacher and that first kill is always a bit traumatic. Then came the camp trailers and a much softer and warmer place to stay. Still it was a fun experience and as father time creeps up on us, it has become for us merely a spectator sport. We "watch" the hunters parade down the road. We are amazed at all of the fancy equipment hunters have gathered up and know they must be having a ball, and the youngsters are excited, taking off a day or two from school for that right of passage the first hunt. This will continue here for several weeks and then the bows, arrows, guns, gear and fashionable clothing will be put away until next hunting season. We will be watching for next year's parade.