Ruggin' Up for Winter

The seasons they are a-changin’.  The signs are all around us. Here in the northern hemisphere the colorful, lovely leaves are falling fast from the trees and all God’s creatures-humans and animals alike-are preparing for the cold weather months ahead. 

At this busy time each year I’m reminded of the lyrics from an old Men at Work  song entitled Down By the Sea:

Down by the sea
I found your hidden treasure
Just you and me,
We overdosed on pleasure

Yonnies in the wind,
We're ruggin' up for winter
Putting out the bins
In cold and windy weather

I really like the phrase “ruggin’ up for winter.”  It’s Australian which I find amusing as the temperate season “down under”  hardly seems worth the implied effort.  Regardless, it’s a great term for places like “rugged” Minnesota.  

Around Bon Bon Pond, the Blue Jays are screaming for more and more and more salted-in-the-shell peanuts to cache, the red squirrels are digging up and stealing my landscape fabric for winter nests, the gray squirrels are eating everything in sight to fatten up  and the chipmunks are hoarding seeds. 

Human activity is at a frenzied pace, too, as we rush to get the outdoor furniture and assorted lawn ornaments put away in storage.  Today the wind chimes went down, the fountain was drained and the now-deceased New Guinea Impatiens hanging baskets were taken down.  Farewell, my beautiful friends, and thanks for the exquisite  beauty you added to the landscape.

The end of the outdoor season is bittersweet.  It’s sad to say so long to afternoons spent with my wildlife working in the yard yet I love cool weather and all it brings.  Nothing beats a warm woolen sweater, a cup of hot cocoa and a Brian Freeman mystery novel while cuddled up by the fireplace and watching snowflakes dance by the window.

But until then, there’s much more “ruggin” left to be done!  

A jowl pouch full of seeds!  Alvin and his relatives are ruggin' up for winter.