My weiner is already roasted!

Saturday, the Collinsssss hosted their first annual Fall Harvest Picnic at Island Lake State Park. I whipped up some pumpkin bites (yum!), and we headed out to Brighton. We'd never been out there, but I must say we can't wait to go back and check more of the park out -- it was awesome! We basically had the park to ourselves, and Tracy and Fred set up shop at a pavillion near an open field and the woods (which held human poop for Brad to step on!). The company was great, the food was tasty, and the graffiti was amusing. And, of course, Fred provided the colorful quote of the day.

Nature interjection: Last week, Tracy helped me determine what sort of plant was out front, dropping red berries that Heidi loves to eat. Turns out it's a Japanese dogwood, and the berries are poisonous to dogs. Of course. Anyway, at the picnic, Tracy showed us a neato nature trick. To determine if a tree is a dogwood, you hold a leaf between your two hands and gently pull to separate. If it'd a dogwood, you'll see tiny silk strands between the pieces of the leaf.

My mom and Larry went on vacation (yeah for them!), so I'm checking in on Gerdie while they're gone. I love the drive out to Manchester. And the weather has been so beautiful, it again reiterates why I love fall so much. I've been itching to do some pumpkin picking and cider milling, but the timing just hasn't worked out yet. To tide myself over, I stopped at a roadside farm stand out on Scio Church and picked up some pumpkins and butternut squashes. I also got the funniest looking green squash that reminds me of a swan. I decided to take a stab at carving a few of them this afternoon and I've got this to say: I suck at carving pumpkins. It looks like a six-year old carved them. HA!

Heidi and I also took a trip over to the dog park today. There was this little brown and black dog there, and I heard her owner call her Olive. I immediately thought of Olive from the humane society a couple of months ago. I asked him about her, and it wasn't her, but she was from our humane society (her name when they got her was Monique! ha!). He raved about the facilities and went on about how happy they are with Olive. It's always great to hear happy success stories!

PS. We had a little visitor this evening!