Fall – Wondrous Fall

By Lynn Harlan

A BLT from a real tomato and peaches off a truck from Grand Junction, Colo. Peach pie, peach crumble, peaches and ice cream. 

Sleeping with the windows open. Watching six-man football in Kaycee – sweaty kids and fast action.

A cool morning on the mountain loading lambs with plenty of neighbors helping, and lots of beer and food throughout the day. Preconditioning the calves – sweaty folks and fast action. 

Getting some fall rain to soften up the grass, and wait! Is that a bit of green grass growing?

Riding a leaf-strewn trail on a good horse with good friends. Getting some time to watch the University of Wyoming Cowboys on TV, and cheering on Josh Allen with the Bills. 

Buck sales, lamb sales, old ewes going on a truck to an easier life back east for a few more years. Shorter days and getting to the house earlier in the evening. Using the oven, maybe.

Campfires. Don King Days. Meeker sheepdog trials, the best of the best.  

Recording the Pendleton Rodeo, and watching the breakaway embraced by many of the big rodeos. You go girls! 

Come on, Lisa Lockhart – you’re on the bubble to make it to the National Finals Rodeo in the barrel racing. As of Sept. 21, number 16 – the top 15 go – with $77,777.78. All those lucky sevens! 

Fall college and high school rodeos. 

Trailing cows and calves off the mountain. Shiny haired, big beefy calves bucking down the hill. 

Oh, they’re beautiful. Letting the ewes head home, they know the way and you have to stop the lead often.  

Everyone smiling with the cooler weather. Silage trucks on the road down at the neighbors – corn silage being packed down, tarped and tucked away for a cow’s winter lunch. 

Pumpkins and all kinds of colored gourds in the store to decorate with. Corn mazes and pumpkin spice – oh my Lord, the pumpkin spice jokes. 

The trees! Just starting to turn, but soon will color in all their majesty. I have a backdrop of green meadows and cottonwoods out my window, leaf peeping at it’s best. 

And the aspens! Wyoming’s answer to fall splendor. 

An early snowfall in the Big Horns to settle the dust. Homegrown apples which haven’t been stored for a year. Apple pies and apple crisp. 

Donning a coat in the morning and shedding it later. House flies and mosquitos slowing down. 

The furor of summer political campaigns over. Kindergarteners getting on the bus for the first time, anxious yet excited. Moms taking a breath as everyone trundles off to school and she has a cup of coffee in peaceful quiet. 

Starting school with a clean slate and a new notebook. Digging up the carrots and potatoes out of the garden. 

Corn on the cob, baked squash with butter and brown sugar. And, did I mention pumpkin spice?  

Homecoming and a friend’s granddaughter crowned homecoming queen. Fresh salsa made with those real tomatoes, the best. Corn salsa made with fresh corn, the best. 

Oktoberfest in Munich, which actually starts in the middle of September. And yes, I’ve been, back in the BB days (Before Bob).

Pregnancy checking the heifer calves, getting that out of the way. Mums in the garden. The Harvest moon. 

Aurora Borealis. Breaking out the Kaycee Buckaroo sweatshirt. Middle school and high school volleyball. 

Wyoming traffic jams – mobs of sheep and cows trailing home on the county roads. Fall horse sales. 

The beginning of the fall run. Putting away the air conditioner for another year. The rut. Bow hunting. 

Driving with the window down. Digging out a sweater. Yes, I love fall best of all.