An Indian Summer

Northwest Oregon is known for its Indian summers....

Sunny...:

Hot...:

Dry...:

Lazy, September days...:

...best spent doing playful things outside that include a cool glass of lemonade afterward:

Hmmm...ok.
Truth be told, this is not even remotely how it is around here right now. And trust me, everybody is very surprised by the wet and gloomy we've got going on:

According to our calculations, there are still four days of summer left:

But Pete and Reggie already seem to be hunkering down for winter. I can only coax them out of their house by tempting them with tasty greenery outside their door (and under the eaves):

My garden is confused - "There's still so much to do," it says. Tomatoes need to ripen:

Grapes need more sun to finish up:

Raspberries still need to turn red:

Instead, we've got heavy heads:

...which come from feeling just a bit sorry for ourselves:

It's been a challenging growing season. This year, we had less than 2 months of the mild, dry, smile-inducing summer weather that we come to count on after Oregon's wet and rainy fall, winter and spring:

Oddly enough, the chickens don't really seem to mind. Not as long as their breakfast shows up on time:

Oh, and Dottie?:

Just as a side note, she laid again yesterday afternoon:

She has now laid officially one full week longer than last year. Paula, over at Weeding for Godot, left a comment on my last post suggesting an egg wager, you know, for folks to try to guess just exactly WHEN that girl's "final lay" date will be. I'd have to come up with a really good prize, wouldn't I....