Summer is still hanging in there!

Eleven days to Fall, and the weather is finally showing signs that something is 'a-changing'!

We've had 2 or 3 very nippy mornings this week, with temperatures in the low 40's (6F)! Brrr!

                       

We needed both the sheet and comforter, and even had to add a blanket in the early morning hours!

Too early for flannel sheets but it's coming!

Also, a strong storm-system barreling through the area on Tuesday, finally brought us some rain too!

                                             

But, everything is calm once again, and the forecast is somewhere in the high 90's for the next couple of days!

I guess it's a little bit of a roller-coaster right now, another sign of fall approaching ..

There's a little bit of 'color' in the canyon, but it's more because of the drought than anything else I think.

                                        

                               

And either I didn't notice them, or something else has changed, but all of a sudden I see a lot of (small) butterflies:

That middle one (and top right) is a Common Ringlet, the yellow one is a Clouded Sulphur, the one-eyed one is a Small Wood-Nymph and the orange one is the smallest, a Field Crescent.

After our weekly golf-game last Saturday, we took a coffee to go and drove the short 2 miles to Tolo Lake, a spot we had not visited yet. We've seen the sign for it since we got here a year ago, and drove by numerous times, always saying we'd check it out one of these days, so I guess this was the day ..

             

 

It is is the largest natural water body on the Camas Prairie, and was (re)named to honor a courageous Nez Perce woman, Tolo, who helped the settlers in the Indian wars of 1877, who had become her friends.

It has been a gathering spot for animals for many thousands of years, and it was a traditional gathering area for many bands of the Nez Perce Indians as well.
 

On September 2, 1994, large bones were discovered buried in the mud of the lake, which had been drained to deepen it for better wildlife habitat.
In all, according to the Mammoth Replica Committee, remains of more than 200 Colombian Mammoths, which became extinct 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, were discovered. 
It is believed these prehistoric mammals may have come to the lake area to die.

One of them, 14 feet height and 17 feet long from tusk to tail, is on display in the park behind the Grangeville Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center.
It was a five-year project to partially recreate the creature, based on bones discovered at the lake.
Of course we drove over to take a look at him. Wow, what a beast!

It being Labor Day last Monday (already? really!), the guys were off, and we got to enjoy a very quiet and peaceful weekend 'at the ranch'.
For a change of view, we installed ourselves on the deck of the new house for our coffee breaks:

And what a view it is! You can just see the river from there (in the middle of the pic, all the way to the right).

Since James can not sit still if his life depends on it, he was 'putzing' the whole weekend, doing stuff that is easier done by himself or is just a job better done by only one person.
I just sat there and read .. hey, somebody's got to do it!

The guys finished the roof on Tuesday, and have been working on the siding since.
Finally the scaffolding in the front could come down! What a difference ..

But now it moved to the side .. sigh ..

                                

Derrick has made a start with the stonework around the fireplace:

          

And James and his inside crew have almost half of the door and window casings done:

  

I've been recruited to paint, or 'lacquer', after Austin and Lee are done sanding them.
Should be a fairly easy job .. (famous last words)

I've not done a whole lot else this week (what else is new), just more reading, and blackberry picking (still!), and finishing another puzzle.
Same-o, same-o ..

                           

I baked another cobbler, an unusual banana-bread one this time.

It came out a bit weird looking, more like a crumble bar of sorts, but at least it tasted good. Banana, brown sugar and chocolate .. hard to go wrong with that!

   

O, I almost forgot, here's a surprise (drum roll please)... after we leave here we might end up going to Arizona for a bit, instead of driving 'straight' to Oregon! (yeah, that would be so boring)

James' brother Doug has sold his house in Oregon, and although they will buy another smaller one there, they also bought one in Arizona!

It's a gorgeous house in Florence, AZ, on a golf course, and it looks perfect to us, but he wants 'some' stuff done to it, so he might send us down there for a work-vacation (paid!)

James is all for it .. Arizona in the winter .. golf! Me, I'm thinking of the long drive down and the (still) high temperatures, but  .. we'll see!

What can I say? Always something, never a dull moment in the Hess-mobile!